Prepare to increase speed...
F A S T E R By Gino C. Ortiz
Edited by Streak the Hedgehog
Part One: Why I Hate Fan girls
There wasn't a moment when I blinked.
I ran so fast, and I couldn't have stopped. My feet were sore... MY feet! These feet which have thudded so powerfully against the hardships of every element, the same feet attached to the same legs that have carried me through all of it, from beginning to end. I was running again. One more time. Running, like I always did.
Things were not the same as always though.
I needed to run that time; I needed it more than I had needed it before, ever. And, it occurred to me that maybe it was more than just the luck of the draw that dealt me this incredible power. Maybe it was fate.
Why was I running? You probably want to know that, huh? Well, I didn't know it then, but there was a reason. I had suddenly been given the urge to get up and jet over the dusty ground. I leapt up from the spot below that peaceful palm tree where I had been relaxing in great contrast to the blur of motion I was so often. I had been lying there on the beach, blue skies and white sand, and the sprawling blue ocean before me.
I remember so clearly that my leg started to tingle, and then I was up and charging, leaving a trail of dust and cobalt in the furious wake of my blue quills. I would run wherever my feet would carry me.
Like I said, there wasn't a moment when I blinked, so I knew it was coming when I ran SMACK! Into that girl. Also, like I said, I ran so fast... I couldn't have stopped.
S O N I C the H E D G E H O G In:
FASTER
It was a breezy summer day. The sun slid lazily across the blue sky above, casting golden rays upon the shimmering ocean. The white gossamer sands of the Emerald Coast scorched in the heat of July, making each reclining chair with its red and white umbrella an oasis amongst the sea of burning sand.
Waves of cobalt water lapped at the fine rocks. Sea foam poured upwards to fizzle away in the heat. It floated up to join the wistful white clouds hanging softly in the blue sky between Heaven and Earth. The air was hot and dry, despite the spray of saltwater and the moisture floating up from the warming foam. Still some moisture found its way to the outside of a cool glass of sweetened lemonade set upon a white plastic table alongside one of the plastic recliners that dotted the beach.
From within the drink, the long white and green shaft of a plastic straw protruded. It leaned idly against the rim of the glass, right up to the place where the thin plastic crimped to make the drinking utensil pliable enough to bend without breaking. Crossing the straws plastic path, a little parasol made of wood and paper, and sketched with a soft, flowery design of pink and green finished the drink. The paper umbrella christened it as one of those simple, summer pleasures.
A hand encased in a white glove made of leather closed around. The ice spun with the yellow lemonade, crashing about like little glaciers on a miniature sea, as the drink was lifted from its resting-place on the plastic table. Soft, peachy lips closed tightly around the little green and white tube of plastic, and drew the sweet lemonade up from its container. The level of the liquid within dropped an inch with every audible gulp until all that was left in the glass was the melting, rounded remains of ice cubes. Sonic the Hedgehog set the finished drink back on the table.
There he was, enjoying summer, as it should be. Everything was way past cool, from the rolling blue of the ocean way out there, to the rolling blue of Sonic's quills. Early July and the end of June were when summer got into full swing, and those were Sonic's months. Nothing to do in Station square in the summer but to laze about the beach, chill in the cool, clear ocean, and stroll up and down the boardwalk looking for trouble. It was Sonic's kind of life.
"Ah, this is the life..." Sonic felt peaceful as the cold liquid disappeared into his stomach, it's chill echoing in his chest and letting his skin take a break from sweating. The sweet and sour lemon flavor served to cool him down. Black sunglasses covered his large, emerald green eyes. One of his hands rested behind his spiky blue head. He lay back on the little beach chair with one leg bent and the other one straight, his right arm leaving the empty glass of lemonade, and finding the magazine he had been reading.
It was a small, 35-page zine that only existed within the boundaries of the coastal city of Station Square. It was titled RUN. It was Sonic's favorite magazine, because it was the only one he could think of that he was always in. However, beyond the hedgehog's narcissism, the magazine also happened to be produced by his best friend, a young fox named Miles Prower (who everyone called Tails). RUN's monthly issues covered anything that spiked interest. Whatever, whenever. Cream the Rabbit, a close friend of Tails, was the only regular journalist for RUN. Most months, they would compile the zine from guest articles, things people sent in, and photography of local events taken by Tails. It was really hip, and quite popular in the area.
Today, Sonic was studying an article Cream had compiled about a bank robbery Sonic had stopped about two weeks ago. He smirked as his eyes scanned the page, the girl rabbit's recalling of his "heroic exploit" proving to be more amusing than he could have imagined. Sonic's gloved thumb picked at the corner of the page, and it turned slowly. The crisp, fresh-printed page settled, showing a full-color picture of Sonic standing over the unconscious forms of two bank robbers, one hand on his hip and the other raising a thumb triumphantly skyward. He was winking.
Of course, even Sonic could get enough of himself, and he flipped the page once more. His eyes scanned the next article, and the title caught his eye- "Angels" by Amy Rose Hedgehog. Sonic chuckled. Amy Rose was a girl who had loved him for years, or so she said. He dismissed her obsession as a simple, fan-girl style crush like so many people had for him. Still, she was his friend, and he endured the nagging obsession in his own way. It intrigued Sonic though, that of all the people in the world, carefree, breezy little Amy would write an article on anything. Well, he could see if it were on shopping... or on him... Sonic decided it wouldn't hurt to take a closer look, and read the first line of the article.
Angels
By Amy Rose Hedgehog
I'm a 16 year-old girl who lives on the North End of Station Square. I'm not a journalist. I'm not even a very good writer. However, I do have something to say, and Tails has been kind enough to offer me a spot in his magazine to say it. Thanks Tails.
I'd like to start by saying, first of all, that this isn't something I often do. I'm not usually the serious type. This may even surprise those of you who know me. I know I'm usually very carefree, but this is the exception. It's just too important. I can't say it lightly. I...
"Sonic!" Sonic jumped as a familiar voice filled his blue ears. His eyes darted from the magazine upward to where Tails stood, arms cross, looking down at his friend. "Hey, is that the new issue? You know it doesn't hit shelves till tomorrow, so what are you doing?"
"Oh, hey, you know..." Sonic chuckled nervously. He had taken the issue off of one of the print racks just moments after the ink had dried, and before Tails had packaged them for shipping. The magazines printed two days before issuing, so Sonic had had his own private copy 42 hours earlier than any consumer. "I took it from the print racks."
"You did?!" Tails yelled, his eyes widening. "Sonic! You know you aren't supposed to do that. I only have the materials to make so many, and if one of my orders is off I'm toast! I had to start the entire machine up again to print ONE copy!"
"Hey, chill little bro!" Sonic urged, shoving the magazine at Tails. "Here you go: you can keep it. I already read the part about me."
Tails sighed, ripping the magazine from Sonic's grasp. "You know, if you had wanted a copy, you could have asked. I would have made one for you. Just don't go messing with my print racks again."
"Right on, little bro. No sweat. So, what's happenin'?"
"Happenin' with me, or happenin' in the way of the world?" asked Tails, flopping down in the shaded sand under Sonic's umbrella.
"First one, then the other." Sonic replied, sitting up and removing his shades. He set the dark glasses on the table, and gave Tails his full attention.
"Well, since it'll be easier this way, I'll give you the local forecast first. Tonight there's that little happening over at Twinkle Park; you know that all-night thing with the fireworks show for the fourth? Pretty much everybody who's anybody will be there, and Cream and I are covering it for next months RUN. That's why I'm here, cause I need to find Amy and get my camera back," explained Tails.
"Amy has your camera?" asked sonic, lifting the empty lemonade glass and tipping it till one of the malformed ice cubes decided to slide down into his mouth.
"Yep- she said she needed it to take some photos. She's probably been followin' you around, and peeking through your bedroom window at night." Tails teased.
"Hey, shut up. So, is she meeting you here or are you flying blind little bro?" asked Sonic, crunching the piece of ice.
"Well, you know how Amy is in Summer- just like she is in winter. She's usually not more than a mile from you, so I figured if I..."
"Give it a rest!" Sonic shouted. "So, where is she then, Mr. Smart- fox."
"I don't know; I got sidetracked when I saw you reading her article from a magazine that HASN'T BEEN RELEASED YET!" Yelled Tails, waving the magazine around in his hand.
"Sorry..." Sonic chuckled again, smiling weakly.
"It's okay, I'll get you back by putting some of the pics of you in the shower Amy probably took while she had the camera into next months issue." Tails chuckled.
"Hey, now THAT's a low blow!"
"I can see it now: How to Wash a Hedgehog! A photographic lesson by Amy Rose!" laughed Tails.
"Hey! That's not funny! How would you like it if I poked fun at you and Cream, huh?" Sonic couldn't help laughing.
"What about me and Cream?" Tails stopped laughing, and he raised an eyebrow at Sonic.
Sonic smirked at Tails for a second, and then burst into laughter.
"Hey, no fair! What about Cream and I, huh! Stop it Sonic."
"Oh, nothing," Sonic chuckled, "Nothing at all."
"Hey!" Tails fumed, clenching the magazine in his fist.
"Relax, little bro!" said Sonic, and it came out sounding like "reee- laaax". "You know I'm only playing with you."
"Yeah, well," said Tails, but he couldn't think of anything else to say, so he just tried to straighten the crumpled copy of RUN as best he could.
"Well, if you're looking for Amy, she isn't around here. I guess I could help you find her, if you really want me too," said Sonic, rising from the beach chair. The hedgehog stretched widely, and yawned.
"I don't think that's going to be a problem." Tails said, chuckling.
"Why not? You said you needed to find her, and..." Sonic's sentence would never be finished properly, because it was interrupted by a blur of pink quills. The empty lemonade glass toppled to the sand, sending what was left of the cool ice to melt amongst the little grains of rock.
Amy had managed to knock the plastic table out of her way. She had stepped over it, or stumbled rather, right onto Sonic. Of course, none of that mattered much now, cause her objective had been accomplished- Amy Rose's arms had encompassed her idol and crush, and they had done so to the point where "crush" was becoming too accurate a word.
"Sonic!" called the energetic girl-hog, her gloved hands reaching far enough around the slender blue hedgehog to grab her elbows. She softly nestled her face against his, sighing sweetly. Sonic might have noticed how nice she smelled if he could have breathed in through his nose. Her cheek felt hot against his and her fur was soft, but he didn't notice that either cause the shock of being suddenly tackled by a teenage girl hadn't worn off yet. "I'm so glad I found you- been looking all over you see. I was just gonna come by and ask you, since I know you'll be going cause you always do, if you'd go with me to the Fourth of July party down at Twinkle park tonight! You can't say no, because you know if you do I'll just find you there anyway, and make you dance with me just like last year."
Sonic wanted desperately to run away, but the adolescent death-grip he faced made that impossible. Instead, he tried in vain to wheeze a reply.
"Well, aren't you going to say anything?" Amy asked sweetly, her face still nuzzled against Sonic's. "C'mon, don't be shy."
"A-A... Amy..." Sonic managed to choke out.
"Yes, Sonic?" said the girl-hog, expectantly. Tails stifled a giggle.
"Amy... I..." if he could have turned blue...
"Yes, Sonic??" the suspense was killing her. Tails too, as a matter of fact, as he could barely hold his snicker now.
"You're..." he had begun to black out by now, as Amy's grip only seemed to get tighter.
"Yes???" she would explode if he didn't answer! Tails was having more difficulty breathing than Sonic was now, just from holding in the laughter.
"You're choking me..." breathed sonic, the last desperate little particles of air he had all poured into the sentence. He sounded altogether asthmatic.
"What?!" Amy pushed the blue hedgehog away from her, and he landed in a heap. Sonic began gasping for whatever air he could get. Amy folded her arms across her chest, and rolled her eyes dully: another let down.
Tails, who had stood there watching all of this, finally couldn't stand it another second, and erupted into laughter. Laughter so hard, he fell to the ground, gasping for air alongside his blue buddy (although much more joyfully).
"You know, that's really pretty pathetic, Sonic," said Amy, offering a hand to Sonic. He refused her help and somersaulted to his feet.
"What are you talking about?" Sonic tried to scowl, but it didn't really work. After all, it's hard to look angry when you're struggling for oxygen. The hedgehogs tongue was draped out, like a dog, and he panted to return the precious air to his lungs.
"Crushed by a hug from ill' old' me?" chimed Amy, striking a girlish pose, "Why, aren't you stronger than that, Sonic?"
"Hey, c'mon, I was just trying to get you off of me," said Sonic, shaking his head. His breath was finally returning to him, and he examined his ribs with his palm, making sure they were all in tact. That girl must have been taking steroids. Sure, she liked to do the tackle and squeeze routine, but she'd never crushed him like that. Maybe he had been taking it TOO easy over the summertime.
"Yeah, yeah," Amy laughed, "SO, now that you CAN breathe... wanna take me to the party tonight?"
"Why would I want to take you?" spat Sonic, indignantly. He still marveled at the fact that after all these years, Amy STILL hounded him for pathetic little dates. It was as if the little girl was deaf.
"Because you're such a sweet, nice guy?" proclaimed Amy, stepping close to Sonic, "Because you are caring, and compassionate, and have feelings for me."
"Reality check, Ames." Sonic mused, scoffing audibly. He gave her a look that crushed her innocent act like a wrecking ball hitting a straw hut. Deciding to quit while she was ahead, the little rose dropped the act.
"Okay, fine... because you know I'll force you to spend the whole darned thing with me anyhow," said Amy, and she pressed a pointing finger into Sonic's soft, blue chest as she did. Her eyes met his, and she gave him a confident smirk.
"Ha!" Sonic said, placing his hands on his hips. Then, turning his nose up at her, he gruffly said: "Well, it so happens I'm not going."
"Oh?" asked Amy, tilting her head sideways. She flashed a faux look of disinterest, and she went on, "Well that's too bad."
"What, you're not upset?" Her ploy had worked: Sonic was offset by her sudden indifference. The cobalt hedgehog stared down at her expectantly from where his olive nose was still pointed skyward.
"I'd be more upset if I thought you were telling the truth," she affirmed her unconcern with a wry smirk.
"HA!" Sonic repeated, disdainfully. He tried not to care. He didn't care. Why WOULD he care? "Yeah, sure."
"Oh, come on, I'm not twelve anymore Sonic. I can tell when you're full of it," Huffed the she-hog. She let her hand absently brush the tips of the quills on his chest ever so slightly, and then let her arm fall to her side. "So, why not just say yes?" She finally pleaded, her emerald eyes and ruby face softening in hope.
"You know what the word 'no' means, right?" Sonic's stubbornness endured. The harshness- or perhaps the brusqueness -of his tone cut her like a knife. Amy wasn't about to show it though.
"Whatever," she retreated to her veil of disinterest, shielding herself with the allusion that she didn't really care, or didn't believe him. "Just pick me up at my place around eight if you get over yourself. See you at Twinkle Park," said she, making a point to sound sincere without being giddy.
"Whatever yourself!" Sonic berated vainly at the retreating hedgehog, both taken aback by her listlessness and just plain out of words, "You're hopeless, you know that!"
"Well, she certainly is breezy," commented Tails.
"Who does she think she is?! Stepping in here and expecting me to drop everything and take her to that dumb party," Sonic yelled. He was angry now. Amy's "breeze" had blown him right out of a happy mood.
"She's right you know," Tails said, simply.
"What?" Sonic's eyebrows pointed down, as he whipped his attention Tails' direction. Tails' might have winced at the severity in Sonic's gaze had he not still been watching Amy now dashing along the boardwalk in the distance.
"You know, you'll end up going, with or without her," explained the fox, his eyes shifting back to Sonic. The hedgehog's expression softened a bit.
"Yeah, well... she still shouldn't show up acting all... however she acted, and then just waltz off," Sonic's voice trailed as he realized he was babbling. He didn't even know why he was mad. She must have done SOMETHING though.
"You really didn't think that one out much, huh?" chuckled Tails.
"Hey, shut up! Don't you have a camera to catch?" retorted Sonic, his mood worsening. As much as Sonic loved his little buddy, he was eager to get back to relaxing ALONE.
"Oh, that's right!" Tails realized, dropping the magazine and slapping a palm to his forehead. He turned and dashed off in the direction Amy left, yelling, "Ammmmyyy!"
"Finally," Sonic said, bending over and picking up the crumpled copy of RUN from the sand, "I can get back to relaxing."
Meanwhile, on Indigo Avenue elsewhere in Station Square, Cream the Rabbit was busy preparing for the night's events. The action would revolve around Twinkle Park that evening, as they celebrated the Fourth of July. It was a unique celebration Cream had learned. The party was held on the night of the 3rd and ran until the morning of the fourth. At midnight, fireworks.
Cream had bee living in Station Square less than a year now. She had moved there the previous September, and now it was July. Since that September, herself and a very special fox she had met, named Miles, had created a magazine named RUN. She was proud of it, her first excursion in her one true passion: journalism. Cream was only sixteen, and her fox boy counterpart was two years her junior, but together they had managed to make the most successful zine in Station Square history. Though, most of the hype was about their regular and exclusive coverage and interviews with Sonic the Hedgehog, it was still impressive that the two kids could make something so cool.
"What do you think, cheese? How do I look?" Cream asked her little pet chao, doing a twirl in her soft, blue dress. It looked good, if a bit simple with her velvety, orange fur. She had her ears pulled back into a ponytail of sorts.
"Moooof!" cheered the little blue chao, nodding approvingly. Cream giggled. Cheese had been her only real companion through most of her life, having come from a family of seven children and parents who were always busy. The girl-rabbit snatched the little chao into her arms and planted a small kiss on its 'nose' (or where its nose would have been, had chao had noses). "Moof!"
"So, you like it? I'm glad." Cream said, setting Cheese down on her vanity. Cream lived in the print shop she and Tails used to make RUN. Tails lived there too sometimes, when he wasn't living in the Mystic Ruins, working on airplanes. Cream had never really understood Tails' passion for mechanics, but that was all right, seeing as it helped get the magazine printed. After all, it had been Tails' smarts that had made their custom presses, and maintained them.
Cream turned around and walked across her room to her dresser. The room had never meant to be a bedroom; it was the upstairs office of an insurance agency once. Tails had put a wall in, making two rooms out of the one. Now, he and Cream each had their own separate spaces on the second floor. Below, the front counter and printing presses lay. They would make RUN, take orders for businesses that wished to stock the monthly issue of the zine, and sell comics, candy, and Sonic-related merchandise. It was a great little setup, and best of all it was profitable. She picked up her purse and a pad of paper from her dresser, and turned to leave.
Cream stepped out the door to her room. Both Tails and her rooms had awkward doors, mostly because they each had to share the same end of the same hallway. Originally, there had only been one door at the top of the stairs, and now two had been crammed into the same space. It left little room between both doors and the walls.
Cream stepped downstairs and into the front room. There was a sign at the base of the stairs reading "Employees Only" in large red letter. The shop was closed early this afternoon, and a note reading "Out to the party, see you there!" was pasted to the front of the door. The lights in the front were dimmed, and light could barely filter through the little openings in the blinds of the large front window. Decals were stuck there, announcing to the world that this spot was "RUN Central" with the magazine's motto, a goofy quote by Sonic that went "Quicker than Quick, and Way Past Cool!" written underneath.
Cream walked right past the shielded window, and behind the counter. A door back there led to the print shop. She stepped through. The machines were all off, so the print shop was eerily quiet, save for the resounding click of her heels on the linoleum floor. Cream walked past the machines, all the way to the back of the big room. There was a door there that led to their bathroom. She opened it, and stepped inside. Since Tails was hardly living there anymore, she had proclaimed that it was her bathroom more than his, and as a result the whole room was adorned with Cream's hygienic supplements. She searched the forest of bottles on the bathroom counter, and picked one- a crystalline, green vial. Then, she applied a dash of the vial's contents to her neck.
There, now she'd be ready. The rabbit strode out of the bathroom, purse over her shoulder. She stopped as she was leaving; pausing to look at herself in an old mirror hung on the wall of the back room. She looked a lot older than 16 in that dress. She looked like a real, professional reporter, she thought. Tonight she would cover RUN's biggest story yet, and she'd do it in style. Maybe some reporter would see her and offer her an intern job? Who knew? Anything could happen.
Cream stepped out the door to the shop, closing it and locking it behind her. She stared up and down Indigo Ave. She had to admit: if she did make it big, she'd miss the place.
Without another thought, she hailed a Taxi to Twinkle Park.
It wasn't far away at all that Tails was catching up with Amy Rose Hedgehog that very moment.
"Ames! Hey, wait! Dammit, you've been chasing Sonic so much you're getting to be as fast as he is!" Tails was dodging in and out of some trees. The tall ones were the most difficult, and he had to struggle to pay attention to both his flying, and the girl below. Amy was running surprisingly fast. The chase was becoming ridiculous, but if Tails didn't get that camera back before it was time to head to Twinkle Park, there would be hell to pay.
Tails could barely keep up as Amy darted along the ground below. She was snaking along a path down a hill when he lost track of her. Panicking, Tails eyes darted over the ground below, searching for some sign of the pink Hedgehog. Finally, he saw her, still running along on ground. Tails sighed with relief, just before he collided with an oncoming tree branch. "OWTCH!"
"Huh?" a voice caught Amy's ears, and she stopped in her tracks. She had been running through beachside park, a little green area just off of Emerald Coast. It belonged to the community, and was a regular hang out for kids, bicyclists, and anyone looking for a good place to recreate outside without sand. She had been grinding rails, a trick she'd picked up from Sonic. It was surprisingly fun, and she'd been determined to get better at it than he was just to make him mad.
Amy stopped her dash, skidding to a halt on the heels of her SOAP boots. She turned around, looking for whoever was calling for her. She saw no one. Amy gazed, blankly, at the empty park road for a few moments. Just as she was turning to leave, she heard it one more time. Her pink ear twitched, and she held her breath to make sure she'd not miss a sound.
"Ames! Hey!" Amy's head rotated madly, looking for whoever was calling her. As the yelling continued, it sounded like Tails.
"Tails?" called Amy, "Where are you?"
"Up here!" Amy looked up to see that the fox boy had gotten him tangled in a tree. A tall tree.
"What are you doing up there?" called Amy, mystified by Tails' predicament.
"Looking for you!" Tails yelled back, struggling with a knot in one of his orange tails. When he had hit the tree, they had wrapped around a branch something fierce. A good tug, and he'd be free, but that was easier said than done while trying to keep from falling at the same time.
"And just why would I be in a tree?" Amy mused, chuckling.
"I crashed, nitwit! Get me down, will ya?" screamed the fox, wincing slightly as he pulled too hard on his delicate fur. He'd need a pair of free hands to get anything done, and if he freed his tails with both hands, how would he hold onto the tree?
"Not if you're gonna be so mean. Maybe I'll leave you up there." Declared Amy, beginning to turn away. She knew she wouldn't leave him, but she may as well give him a hard time if he was going to be so severe about it.
"Amy! C'mon, I didn't mean it! Let me down!" Tails called back, sounded suddenly more humble. Amy chuckled to herself something about men before turning back to look up at Tails once more.
"You didn't say the magic word," chimed Amy, sweetly.
"Please!" said Tails, very eagerly. He didn't care if Amy asked him to recite the alphabet backwards, as long as she got him out of that tree. His arms were starting to get tired, and his tails were throbbing from the uncomfortable knot. If he were to fall, he'd never be able to wind them in time to fly.
"Hmm... Okay, I'll get you down." The feisty pink hedgehog reached into a pocket in her red dress, producing a small, yellow box. In the center was a red button, which her thumb quickly found. She pressed the button, and the little yellow box hummed and flashed, and in a second Amy was clutching the yellow handle of a hammer. She braced herself to swing, a glint of impishness in her green eyes.
"Not like that!" called Tails, struggling wildly in a vain attempt to escape the coming chaos. It was too late, however, and Amy swung her hammer hard. The rushing yellow hammerhead connected audibly with the trunk of the tree, and a loud cracking noise followed. Then, there was silence. "What happened?"
"Just wait a second!" Said Amy, standing with her hammer still pressed against the tree. She grabbed the handle with both hands, and choked up a little bit like it was a baseball bat. She nodded to herself, reassuringly, like a major league player getting ready to swing. Then, she gritted her teeth and got ready for one more swing. Reeling back, Amy swung again, just an inch higher than before. As the hammer connected the tree fell sideways, sending Tails toppling downward- it seemed the force had been just enough to loosen the knot in his orange after parts. Amy leapt on the trunk of the falling tree, running toward it's top. Just as the trunk was about to hit the earth, Amy smashed her hammer down, cracking the trunk a second time: Not only did this send Amy flying up in the air, but the strike acted like a catapult, and the sudden change of direction sent Tails flying too. Amy and Tails' courses intercepted, and she grasped the fox's hand, pulling him with her as they sped back for land. They hit a soft tuft of grass, and rolled, landing in a heap at the base of another tree.
"Owtch..." said tails. He wasn't entirely sure what had just happened. He opened his eyes slowly, and realized his face surrounded by warm quills. "Sonic?"
"That didn't work quite how I would have liked..." said Amy, reflectively. She massaged a tender part of her pink head where she had impacted the dirt particularly harshly. She looked down to see Tails had landed on top of her, and his head was nestled right between her... "GET OFF OF ME!"
Tails' eyes shot wide open as he realized where he was, but he didn't have time to move because Amy had already kicked him off of her. Tails landed, possibly even more awkwardly, a few feet away. His gut stung where the polished heel of her boot had impacted. Despite his pain, he could still feel his cheeks growing hot and red. He tried to hide his embarrassment as best he could, "Hey, that was your own fault! If you had gotten me down like a NORMAL person!"
"Hey, is THAT how you thank a lady? I got you down, didn't I?" Amy said wryly, brushing dust from her dress, "Besides, you have to admit I'm getting pretty tough."
"Well, yeah, I noticed. You did smash right through that tree. You taking steroids?" Tails chuckled.
"Hey, you better watch your mouth unless you'd like to get the same treatment as that tree! It so happens, Mr. Prower, that I have been training," she stated, proudly, and perhaps a bit haughtily. Tails thought she sounded a little like Sonic for a moment there.
"For what? A Mr. Universe competition?" Amy had had enough, and she let Tails know with a swing of her hammer. The tap on the head left a red bump. "Ow."
"No! Must you be such a smart ass?" Amy huffed, obviously less-than "I'm training to be stronger and faster, so I can keep up with Sonic."
"I should have figured," said Tails, getting to his feet. He glanced at Amy, still holding her hammer in one fist. She did look fierce, but in that cutesy kind of way. "Anything for Sonic, right? I hope you know what you're doing, Ames."
"I do," said Amy, simply. She did something to the hammers handle, and it collapsed back into a box, which she pocketed. She smiled weakly as she brushed loose quills out of her eyes. "I've been chasing Sonic for years. It's clear to me that there isn't any alternatives to this that'd make me happy."
"As much as I admire your courage, you're forgetting one thing," said Tails, matter-of-factly.
"What's that?" asked Amy, raising one eyebrow quizzically at the fox.
"You still have my camera," declared Tails. Amy looked confounded for a moment, but she quickly snapped alert after taking a moment to absorb Tails response.
"Oh, yeah," said Amy, thoughtfully, "I left it at home. We'll have to go get it from my apartment."
"Okay! Here, grab my hands, we'll fly!" said Tails, excited at the prospect of finally retrieving his camera. Amy didn't look so excited.
"And get stuck in a tree? I don't think so. We'll walk."
Back on the beach...
Sonic had laid there for not more than ten minutes after Amy and Tails were gone before someone else came along to bother him. This time, it was just a fan girl, looking for an autograph.
"Sonic? Sonic the Hedgehog?" she was a mouse, squeaky and small, with her tail wrapped around her waist like a belt. She was wearing a white mini- skirt and a bikini top that covered her small chest nicely. Her fur was short, and yellow, and her eyes were big, glossy things, colored sapphire.
"Yeah," he droned back, completely monotone. He absently flipped the page of his magazine.
She let out a gasp, as if she really couldn't believe it was him. Nothing unusual, Sonic got this kind of stuff all the time. He removed his shades, and pried his attention from the RUN magazine once more.
"Well, what is it?" he asked, staring her down expectantly. He knew that that kind of thing (coming from him) intimidated fan-types, especially the really giddy teenage ones, but he could care less in his current mood.
"Oh!" She cried, startled by the sudden break in silence. She fumbled with something in her hands, and nearly dropped it. Then, she shoved it at Sonic. He looked at what she was offering him- a pen and a Polaroid of him running. "Would you sign this please, Mr. Sonic? If you're not too busy, that is."
"Yeah, sure," said Sonic, trying not to sound angry. He knew that she hadn't done anything wrong, but Sonic wasn't in the mood to deal with any 'fans' at the moment. He was still boiling over his little encounter with Amy earlier.
Something about Amy lately had Sonic peeved. He wasn't sure what, but he knew something was different about Amy lately. It was as if she had become a completely different person... and at the same time, she wasn't all that different.
She still followed him, bothered him, and asked him out on dates to dumb romantic places. However, something in Amy's movement, or maybe her voice, or even her attitude had changed somehow.
Anyway, she was a real pain to Sonic. He wished she'd just knock it off, and let him be. After all, who needed someone like that hanging all over him, anyway? All that would do would be slowing him down.
Sonic accepted the pen and the photo, and scribbled his signature on it. He tried not to groan as the little girl who he was signing it for giggled nervously. "Whom should I make this out to?"
"Macey!" chirped the little mouse, her large brown eyes welling up with tears of joy. Sonic thought he might puke.
He scribbled "Macey, keep on runnin! -Sonic-" on the picture, and then shoved it back her way. She nearly ripped it from his grasp, and let her big mousy eyes take it in. She let out a joyous little squeak.
"Oh, thank you, Mr. Sonic!" cried the mouse.
"No prob, Macey," said Sonic, his mind already more focused on the copy of RUN which he STILL hadn't finished reading yet.
The young mouse lingered for a second, trying to make small talk. Sonic figured that if he were curt enough with her, she'd just leave. He didn't have a chance to try his plan out though, because the awkward little mouse decided on her own not to stay. She squeaked a "goodbye!" before dashing off across the sand. This was a bit odd, seeing as most fan girls tried to latch themselves to him like lead weights. Sonic glanced over his shoulder, seeing the mouse run off toward the boardwalk. She stopped when she met a group of three other girls, and then she pointed excitedly back toward the beach.
Sonic gulped loudly. It was most definitely time to leave. He gripped the RUN magazine tightly as he lifted himself from the beach chair, and stretched. He jogged in place for a second, and then tilted his neck to the side, cracking it softly. Finally, cracking his knuckles loudly, Sonic smirked devilishly and said: "Time to jet."
Sonic had dashed away from that part of the beach like lightning, searching the coast for somewhere more private to relax. He stepped out into the shallow surf, feeling the cool ocean water sloshing over the ankle of his SOAPS, and cooling his feet. He was kicking up a blaze of water behind him as he zoomed down the expansive coastline. It would have looked like a bullet train to a spectator, but it was more like cruising in first gear to Sonic. After all, if he went FAST, it'd be harder to scope for a new spot to kick back. The only thing Sonic was interested in rushing into today was a good sunbath and a few more pages of RUN. Eventually, he found a stretch of sand that lead off the beach to a remote little peninsula, desolate and private, and completely bare save for one lonely tropical palm. Sonic dashed over to it and plopped down in the sand, leaning his back against the trunk of the tree, and trying to make himself comfortable.
It wasn't as cozy as the beach chair, but it'd do. Not like there was any shortage of time on a long, hot summer day. In fact, it was only two- o'clock, and Sonic could get in a nice afternoon nap before heading home. So what if he missed that dumb party? It didn't matter. Anything would be better than submitting to that creepy fan girl.
Sonic stretched out on the sand near the tree, and finally opened his special issue of RUN, determined to finally read it. He sighed as he turned the page slowly. His eyes darted around the table of contents, searching for the page number of Amy's article. He found it, page 20, and flipped through the magazine for it. He hadn't gotten even as far as he had on the last try before he fell asleep.
It was about twenty minutes later when Amy and Tails reached the she-hog's apartment. It was a nice little place on the fourth floor of an 18-story complex on the North side of town. It was an average little apartment, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room.
The living room was in the front, and it was the first room you entered when you walked through the door. The living room was basically a rectangular room, pressed up against a glass slider that lead out to a balcony. Out there, all sorts of different flowers, ferns, and other plants flourished in pots Amy had either just sitting on the ground, or dangling from the underside of the balcony above that served as a roof for hers.
The Kitchen and living room had no real dividing wall, but rather did another rectangular room exist just to the right of the threshold of the entryway, sanctioned as its own space by not but a subtle transition from carpet to linoleum. This kitchen protruded a little deeper into the apartment than the living room, but had much less width. Somewhere on the wall, near where it ceased to be that of the living room and began to be that of the kitchen, there was an open portal into a short hallway. In that hallway were four doors- two for the two bedrooms, one for the one bathroom, and a fourth for a laundry room.
In Amy's living room, there was a gray couch and a matching love seat both set facing a 32" television that sat on an old oak stand. A glass coffee table sat atop an old blue throw rug that complimented the white carpet nicely. Pictures- mostly of Sonic, Amy, Tails, and Knuckles -adorned the walls. The place wasn't what one would expect of Amy, who was usually pink, pink, maybe some light red, and then pink. No, it was a nice little home... then again, Amy wasn't entirely surprising. The love seat housed a 12", cuddly-looking Sonic doll.
The kitchen was rather normal for a kitchen, and didn't merit any special notice. It had a refrigerator slid up to one wall, a good amount of counterpace, and a dishwasher. Cabinets filled with kitchen things were below and above the green marble countertops, and the linoleum floor was the classic checkered white.
Tails stepped inside, and Amy followed him, closing the door behind her. "Home, sweet home," she mused, stepping into the living room and collapsing onto her couch. Tails walked in, observing the little apartment. He'd never actually been inside. He looked around, at the walls, and the pictures. He chuckled when his eyes landed on the stuffed replica of his best friend, smirking meanly at him from the loveseat.
"Nice toy, Ames."
"Shut up," mumbled Amy through a mouthful of couch. She had buried her face in a pillow.
"So, my camera?"
"It's right there," she said, her arm moving only a little to point at the coffee table next to her. The little black camera case was sitting peacefully on the glass table.
"Oh, there you are," Tails said, scooping up his beloved piece of equipment. He snapped the case open, and observed the inside. He decided he'd make sure it was clean and all the parts were in order, just in case, before he would take off.
Amy, meanwhile, was buried in the confines of her fluffy gray couch. It was only almost 2:30, and she was burnt out. She could probably get away with taking a nap before the party. It wore her out though, sometimes. She even felt like giving up sometimes. It was a rough choice of lifestyle that was for sure, chasing after Sonic all the time. He was so hardheaded sometimes that she just couldn't stand it. He knew that he'd show up at that damned thing. Why couldn't he just agree to walk in with her? For once, she would have liked to see that kind of courtesy from him.
She barely heard Tails plopping down on the loveseat to examine his camera. She didn't care, really. It was all she could do to remember to breathe with all this crap on her mind. Maybe she shouldn't even GO tonight. Maybe she would be better off staying there. After all, Sonic would just try to avoid her if she went. She wondered how Sonic could be so blind as to miss how deep it cut her when he was so heartless, and detached towards her. It was like he didn't even believe she cared.
Well, then again, who did? Everyone attached that little 'crush' she had on Sonic as being the only thing that made her herself. It's not like anyone stopped to look at who she was down inside. Of course, just like everyone else, Sonic had dismissed it all as simple as "oh, it is JUST Amy." She even would put money on Tails assuming the camera had been borrowed to chase Sonic around and take his picture. Well, as a matter of fact, JUST Amy had decided to do something OTHER than hedgehog hunting for a day or two, and take that little camera out to do some investigating.
That led Amy to thinking about the Angels. Well, she called them that. She didn't know WHAT they really were. She did know that she saw them a lot though. She saw them every time something amazing happened, and no one else ever did. They were just flashes of light on the horizon really, but Amy knew deep down inside that up close, they HAD to be more than that.
So she had written an article about them. A stupid, embarrassing, weird article for Tails magazine that she was dreading being seen by people. She had to get her feeling out there though. She had to tell someone, or she'd dies from it. Granted, she didn't come right out and say it, "I believe that a bunch of recurring, distant light flashes are angels helping me along." Oh, no, she'd been much more deep, and symbolic. Okay, so she had just made the real point a little confusing. Still, she had said what she needed to, and gotten it off of her chest. Still, she had found her curiosity about the Angels didn't stop there.
She had been to Tails workshop out in the Mystic Ruins not long ago, and she had been sitting on the porch. Tails and her had planned to go to a movie, and she was waiting for him to finish whatever he was doing so they could depart. Well, she had been gazing off at the coast down the cliff, where the jungle met the ocean and stretched west along the peninsula to Station Square. It was there by the water that she had seen a ghostly twinkle of light moving at mach speed through the brush. She could even see the trees shaking. She knew that light. It was exactly what she had seen, all of those times. When Sonic saved her from Metal all those years ago, she saw it. When Sonic had defeated Chaos in the ruins of Station Square, she saw it. Even in the reaches of Space when Sonic had battled alongside Shadow against the might of the Biolizard, she saw it. Then, staring down at the ocean side, she saw the same thing.
There was no options- she HAD to investigate much deeper. So, she had borrowed Tails Camera, and then she had walked all the way from the Emerald coast down to that spot by the Mystic Ruins and waited. She did this for four days. Then, on that fourth day, she saw something. It was only a flash of purple light, but she was sure she had caught it on camera. That had been two days ago now. She was scared to develop that film. It wasn't that she thought anything horrible would show up, Amy just didn't want to chance that NOTHING would show up. She didn't want it to end up that she was just delusional. She believed in these things, just as much as she believed she loved Sonic.
And then, she couldn't help thinking about him again. She felt like she would fall asleep soon. She didn't care. Tails could let himself out.
"Golden God, awaken oh highest of the angels, and assume your throne." Could a feminine voice truly command as much power as this? Her tone was awesome and strong, like the voice of god. Only, at the same time, it was gentle and warm. What kind of weird dream was Sonic having? "Do not fear. You were born the golden one, and so you must be."
Sonic couldn't see a thing. Wherever he was, it was dark, and the voice of some woman was resounding in his head. He couldn't quite move, or breathe even. He couldn't even tell if his eyes were opened or closed. He was floating ethereally, somewhere between sleep and awake. Her voice soothed him. Suddenly, there was a cool breeze on Sonic's face, and he felt droplets of water touching his blue fur. His eyes shot open.
There he sat, just where he had fallen asleep. The palm tree he sat under was shaking in the wind, and some sea foam was blowing in his face. HE realized the tide had come in, and he was now sitting in a shallow pool of water. The RUN magazine he had been holding was nowhere in sight. Sorry, Tails.
"How long was I out?" Sonic looked around. The sun was still up, but barely. It was probably six or seven. Things wouldn't really get underway at Twinkle Park for another hour or two. He really didn't want to go, but he knew that being who he was, it was important. The city would expect him to show. He just didn't want to be forced into playing nice with Amy's fan girl banter all night. Sonic began to notice a horrible ringing in his ears. He clapped a hand to the side of his head, groaning uncomfortably. He could feel sand and water stuck to his cobalt quills. "That dream was bizarre."
"Soooonic."
"What!?" Sonic jumped, startled. He looked left and right but there was nothing around but bare horizon. To his left was the beach back to Emerald Coast, and to his right was the beach to the Mystic Ruins. Not a soul in sight. Sonic shook his head, and felt the warm gush of water leaving his ear. That must have been it. He had just gotten some water caught in the pipes. He had only been imagining things.
Sonics body began to tremble unnaturally. He glanced downward at himself, a bit frightened, but then it stopped. He sighed, rubbing his head softly, "I wonder if I don't need more rest." Then, his leg jumped of its own free will. It just kicked, like a reflex, for no reason. Sonic was sure something was wrong.
Then: "Sonic. Get up, run."
It was a soft, feminine voice, although... it commanded something awfully powerful, echoing much like that ringing he had woken up with, in the back of his mind. He wasn't sure why, but he wanted to listen. Without much more thought, Sonic hopped to his feet, and dashed off in the direction of the Mystic ruins.
The coast stretched that way for miles, and he knew it well. He was thinking of it as he thundered through the shallow water, his eyes open widely. He suddenly felt more alert than ever, and his body surged with a need to move. He increased his pace as fast as his legs would let him, and that was saying something. The water he was stepping through began t evaporate with the heat of friction, until he was actually moving so fast that the very tap of his foot on the waters surface was enough to propel him, and he didn't even seem to break it's delicate top. He looked as if he were running on the water rather than through it, as he skimmed its transparent ceiling so quick and so gracefully.
Even the water thudded back like ground now. He felt as if he would be ripped apart by the sheer force of his legs, or at least flung from the planet from the momentum. Still, he kept running faster. He didn't know why, or where too, only that he was running. And he left the ocean, and rejoined the beach, thundering across the sand. It was then that he saw her. There was a purple hedgehog in the water ahead, and she didn't seem to notice him. She was standing in his line of movement, her back to his front. He didn't want to hit her, but there was no way he could have stopped. Still, he tried, but in vain. His thundering speed propelled him ever forward, and he and the girl collided and rolled down into the shallow surf. They landed in a heap together.
He took a moment to get his bearing, and then he realized he was in shallow water once more. Sonic lifted his now drenched head from that cobalt ocean, his quills dripping with saltwater. The girl had landed nearby on he backside. He could get a better view of her now. She was a hedgehog, and a young one from the look of her- no more than 19. Her quills were wavy and purple, and she was wearing an odd sort of dress thing- it was white and flowed as a robe did, but it was hardly a robe. Like a dress, it flowed long down around her legs, but it did not cover them properly. Instead, it was slit all the way up the front, right to a white, skin-tight thong. The dress part came in tight around her waist, but then loosened again as it flowed eloquently upward to cover her breasts. It was a V-neck that cut all the way down to the belt. The flowing white fabric left little to the imagination, although it did cover her from complete exposure. It seemed like the water rolled off of her quills and her clothes without so much as a damp patch. She shook her head, groggily, and then she let her lavender eyelids flutter open to reveal vales of sapphire glowing brightly at Sonic. She took a moment to look at him, and then she became horrified. With speed only the blue hedgehog himself could match, she had leapt up and ran off. Sonic watched, bewildered, as a dust cloud marked her trail away.
He only spent a few seconds watching her run off before he realized how fast she was moving. Without a moments more hesitation, Sonic was on his feet again.
With a fervor he had rarely felt in himself, Sonic chased the cloud of falling dust that the lavender she-hog had left when she thundered away. He could see her soon- he was gaining. So she was unbelievably fast, he still seemed to be unbelievably faster. Still, they were already at least a mile from where they had been, and Sonic knew that soon they would reach the tip of the peninsula. He wondered how another person could move this fast.
He increased his pace until he was finally neck-and-neck with the girl. He looked over at her, running so swiftly along beside him. "Hey!"
She looked over at him, and something between fear and surprise crossed her face. She tried to outrun him again, but he only caught up. Running out of options, the girl suddenly turned, heading into the jungle. Sonic easily followed.
The pair jumped into the brush, their ultra-fast feet changing promptly from the grainy carpet of sand to the mossy, spongy forest floor. She was trying hard to lose him now, dodging in and out between trees, vines, and bushes. Sonic was too fast though, and even though this girl-hog moved like lightning, Sonic was greased to boot.
Still, she kept trying. She lead him across the forest floor for miles, going in circles sometimes, until Sonic decided it was time to end the little race. They were coming on a patch were the jungle wasn't so thick, and Sonic leapt at the girl-hog as they came to it. They both skidded to the soft, mossy floor, sliding across it till they finally collided with a tree. Sonic had the young girl pinned.
"Ha!" he proclaimed, proud of his triumph, "I've got you now! Now, tell me who you are!"
The she-hog only smiled, and then winked. Then, as if she hadn't been there at all, she was gone. Sonic was left kneeling over solid ground. The cobalt blur blinked once, and then again. Then he squinted his eyes tight, and snapped them open. He looked all around, but there was nothing, no girl, no dust trail, nothing at all. Frantically, he crawled on his hands and knees around the little clearing they had landed in, digging at the moss and dirt for some sign of her. Nothing was there. Sonic collapsed on his back in the middle of the clearing. "What in the hell just happened?" he asked the jungle, lying motionless on the ground, his nose pointed skyward and his eyes shut tight. He lay still for a few minutes. "Where did she go?"
"I didn't go anyplace."
"What?" Sonic shot up, his eyes opening wide, and he scanned every inch of the jungle in sight for her, but there wasn't another hedgehog in sight, "Where are you?"
"Right here!" he heard the girl giggle softly. Her voice was nothing like the one in his head before, and he began to worry that he was developing some sort of mental disorder. This voice was small, impish, and laden with mischief.
"Where?" Sonic called, feeling a bit foolish yelling at empty jungle.
"Anywhere," said she, enigmatically. Sonic rolled his eyes. This wasn't getting any easier.
"You're the same girl, who ran with me, aren't you?" sonic asked, hoping for an inkling of light to shed on this deepening mystery. Worries about the party that night had become something far from Sonic's mind now.
"I ran away from you," corrected the faceless voice.
"Okay, so it WAS you," Sonic confirmed, "So why can't I see you?"
"Because, I don't want you too!" chimed the girlish voice. Sonic scoffed.
"Well, that doesn't make much sense! If I didn't want you to see me, I couldn't just disappear," he said, folding his arms over his blue chest.
"Maybe you just don't know how," suggested the girl.
"In any case, that's not important," said Sonic, "What I want to know is how you ran like that! I've never seen anyone- except for me -run that way."
"Wouldn't YOU like to know!" she giggled.
"Yes, I would actually!" sonic said, matter-of-factly. He was beginning to be bothered by this.
"Well, I won't tell," said the girl, and Sonic could almost see her sticking her tongue out at him haughtily.
"This is dumb, you probably don't even know! You're probably not even real," decided Sonic, standing and getting ready to leave.
"Oh, I know."
"Well," Sonic started, deciding to linger just a second longer. He was almost positive this wasn't just a voice in his little blue head. "Then, why not tell me?"
"It's a secret."
"Oh," there was a dead silence as Sonic though of what to do now. How could he respond to that? He wanted to know what was going on, but deciphering it would give him a headache at this rate, "So, how do I get to know the secret?"
"Uhm," she paused on that, thinking quickly. She let out a little 'aha!' before saying: "You have to do something for me if you want me to tell you."
"Uh," Sonic thought for a second. Maybe it was worth hearing, at least, "What?"
"Go pick up Amy. Take her to that party."
Sonic's eyes went wide. What the hell was going on? Something really strange was happening, if it wasn't all just a paranoid delusion. He stammered for something to say. It confused him to no ends how taking that tag-along to a party would get him any vital info.
"You're joking!" he finally yelled, "How is that doing something for you?"
"Sorry. That's what I want. Take it or leave it," giggled the female voice, one last time, "So, if you DO take it, meet me here tomorrow. Bye."
"Wait!" Sonic called. There was no answer. He stood there for long minutes in silence. What the hell was going on? Were there some kind of weird drugs in that lemonade? He was sure this couldn't be real. His eyes darted nervously around the clearing. He stepped back to where he had entered the little spot.
He should just run back, he thought. He should run back and go home and rest. Forget the party. It was stupid. Then again, he thought as his eyes landed on the two sets of tracks that lead up to the spot, maybe it would be worth checking out. With an audible gulp, and a bit of disbelief, Sonic dashed off toward not his home, but Amy's apartment.
Amy woke around 7:55, when a knocking came at her apartment door. Groggily, she lifted herself as much as she could from the couch, sitting up and wiping the sleep from her eyes. Glancing over at the door, she yawned as she said, "Doors open!"
The knob twisted slowly, and a gloved hand pushed the door inward. Amy nearly had a heart attack as Sonic stepped into her apartment. "Hey, Ames. Ready to go?"
"Uh," she stammered, a dumb grin crossing her bewildered face, "Y- yeah... uhm, let me just go get my good dress on."
-End-
Next Time on Faster: Love Is Not a Diagram
F A S T E R By Gino C. Ortiz
Edited by Streak the Hedgehog
Part One: Why I Hate Fan girls
There wasn't a moment when I blinked.
I ran so fast, and I couldn't have stopped. My feet were sore... MY feet! These feet which have thudded so powerfully against the hardships of every element, the same feet attached to the same legs that have carried me through all of it, from beginning to end. I was running again. One more time. Running, like I always did.
Things were not the same as always though.
I needed to run that time; I needed it more than I had needed it before, ever. And, it occurred to me that maybe it was more than just the luck of the draw that dealt me this incredible power. Maybe it was fate.
Why was I running? You probably want to know that, huh? Well, I didn't know it then, but there was a reason. I had suddenly been given the urge to get up and jet over the dusty ground. I leapt up from the spot below that peaceful palm tree where I had been relaxing in great contrast to the blur of motion I was so often. I had been lying there on the beach, blue skies and white sand, and the sprawling blue ocean before me.
I remember so clearly that my leg started to tingle, and then I was up and charging, leaving a trail of dust and cobalt in the furious wake of my blue quills. I would run wherever my feet would carry me.
Like I said, there wasn't a moment when I blinked, so I knew it was coming when I ran SMACK! Into that girl. Also, like I said, I ran so fast... I couldn't have stopped.
S O N I C the H E D G E H O G In:
FASTER
It was a breezy summer day. The sun slid lazily across the blue sky above, casting golden rays upon the shimmering ocean. The white gossamer sands of the Emerald Coast scorched in the heat of July, making each reclining chair with its red and white umbrella an oasis amongst the sea of burning sand.
Waves of cobalt water lapped at the fine rocks. Sea foam poured upwards to fizzle away in the heat. It floated up to join the wistful white clouds hanging softly in the blue sky between Heaven and Earth. The air was hot and dry, despite the spray of saltwater and the moisture floating up from the warming foam. Still some moisture found its way to the outside of a cool glass of sweetened lemonade set upon a white plastic table alongside one of the plastic recliners that dotted the beach.
From within the drink, the long white and green shaft of a plastic straw protruded. It leaned idly against the rim of the glass, right up to the place where the thin plastic crimped to make the drinking utensil pliable enough to bend without breaking. Crossing the straws plastic path, a little parasol made of wood and paper, and sketched with a soft, flowery design of pink and green finished the drink. The paper umbrella christened it as one of those simple, summer pleasures.
A hand encased in a white glove made of leather closed around. The ice spun with the yellow lemonade, crashing about like little glaciers on a miniature sea, as the drink was lifted from its resting-place on the plastic table. Soft, peachy lips closed tightly around the little green and white tube of plastic, and drew the sweet lemonade up from its container. The level of the liquid within dropped an inch with every audible gulp until all that was left in the glass was the melting, rounded remains of ice cubes. Sonic the Hedgehog set the finished drink back on the table.
There he was, enjoying summer, as it should be. Everything was way past cool, from the rolling blue of the ocean way out there, to the rolling blue of Sonic's quills. Early July and the end of June were when summer got into full swing, and those were Sonic's months. Nothing to do in Station square in the summer but to laze about the beach, chill in the cool, clear ocean, and stroll up and down the boardwalk looking for trouble. It was Sonic's kind of life.
"Ah, this is the life..." Sonic felt peaceful as the cold liquid disappeared into his stomach, it's chill echoing in his chest and letting his skin take a break from sweating. The sweet and sour lemon flavor served to cool him down. Black sunglasses covered his large, emerald green eyes. One of his hands rested behind his spiky blue head. He lay back on the little beach chair with one leg bent and the other one straight, his right arm leaving the empty glass of lemonade, and finding the magazine he had been reading.
It was a small, 35-page zine that only existed within the boundaries of the coastal city of Station Square. It was titled RUN. It was Sonic's favorite magazine, because it was the only one he could think of that he was always in. However, beyond the hedgehog's narcissism, the magazine also happened to be produced by his best friend, a young fox named Miles Prower (who everyone called Tails). RUN's monthly issues covered anything that spiked interest. Whatever, whenever. Cream the Rabbit, a close friend of Tails, was the only regular journalist for RUN. Most months, they would compile the zine from guest articles, things people sent in, and photography of local events taken by Tails. It was really hip, and quite popular in the area.
Today, Sonic was studying an article Cream had compiled about a bank robbery Sonic had stopped about two weeks ago. He smirked as his eyes scanned the page, the girl rabbit's recalling of his "heroic exploit" proving to be more amusing than he could have imagined. Sonic's gloved thumb picked at the corner of the page, and it turned slowly. The crisp, fresh-printed page settled, showing a full-color picture of Sonic standing over the unconscious forms of two bank robbers, one hand on his hip and the other raising a thumb triumphantly skyward. He was winking.
Of course, even Sonic could get enough of himself, and he flipped the page once more. His eyes scanned the next article, and the title caught his eye- "Angels" by Amy Rose Hedgehog. Sonic chuckled. Amy Rose was a girl who had loved him for years, or so she said. He dismissed her obsession as a simple, fan-girl style crush like so many people had for him. Still, she was his friend, and he endured the nagging obsession in his own way. It intrigued Sonic though, that of all the people in the world, carefree, breezy little Amy would write an article on anything. Well, he could see if it were on shopping... or on him... Sonic decided it wouldn't hurt to take a closer look, and read the first line of the article.
Angels
By Amy Rose Hedgehog
I'm a 16 year-old girl who lives on the North End of Station Square. I'm not a journalist. I'm not even a very good writer. However, I do have something to say, and Tails has been kind enough to offer me a spot in his magazine to say it. Thanks Tails.
I'd like to start by saying, first of all, that this isn't something I often do. I'm not usually the serious type. This may even surprise those of you who know me. I know I'm usually very carefree, but this is the exception. It's just too important. I can't say it lightly. I...
"Sonic!" Sonic jumped as a familiar voice filled his blue ears. His eyes darted from the magazine upward to where Tails stood, arms cross, looking down at his friend. "Hey, is that the new issue? You know it doesn't hit shelves till tomorrow, so what are you doing?"
"Oh, hey, you know..." Sonic chuckled nervously. He had taken the issue off of one of the print racks just moments after the ink had dried, and before Tails had packaged them for shipping. The magazines printed two days before issuing, so Sonic had had his own private copy 42 hours earlier than any consumer. "I took it from the print racks."
"You did?!" Tails yelled, his eyes widening. "Sonic! You know you aren't supposed to do that. I only have the materials to make so many, and if one of my orders is off I'm toast! I had to start the entire machine up again to print ONE copy!"
"Hey, chill little bro!" Sonic urged, shoving the magazine at Tails. "Here you go: you can keep it. I already read the part about me."
Tails sighed, ripping the magazine from Sonic's grasp. "You know, if you had wanted a copy, you could have asked. I would have made one for you. Just don't go messing with my print racks again."
"Right on, little bro. No sweat. So, what's happenin'?"
"Happenin' with me, or happenin' in the way of the world?" asked Tails, flopping down in the shaded sand under Sonic's umbrella.
"First one, then the other." Sonic replied, sitting up and removing his shades. He set the dark glasses on the table, and gave Tails his full attention.
"Well, since it'll be easier this way, I'll give you the local forecast first. Tonight there's that little happening over at Twinkle Park; you know that all-night thing with the fireworks show for the fourth? Pretty much everybody who's anybody will be there, and Cream and I are covering it for next months RUN. That's why I'm here, cause I need to find Amy and get my camera back," explained Tails.
"Amy has your camera?" asked sonic, lifting the empty lemonade glass and tipping it till one of the malformed ice cubes decided to slide down into his mouth.
"Yep- she said she needed it to take some photos. She's probably been followin' you around, and peeking through your bedroom window at night." Tails teased.
"Hey, shut up. So, is she meeting you here or are you flying blind little bro?" asked Sonic, crunching the piece of ice.
"Well, you know how Amy is in Summer- just like she is in winter. She's usually not more than a mile from you, so I figured if I..."
"Give it a rest!" Sonic shouted. "So, where is she then, Mr. Smart- fox."
"I don't know; I got sidetracked when I saw you reading her article from a magazine that HASN'T BEEN RELEASED YET!" Yelled Tails, waving the magazine around in his hand.
"Sorry..." Sonic chuckled again, smiling weakly.
"It's okay, I'll get you back by putting some of the pics of you in the shower Amy probably took while she had the camera into next months issue." Tails chuckled.
"Hey, now THAT's a low blow!"
"I can see it now: How to Wash a Hedgehog! A photographic lesson by Amy Rose!" laughed Tails.
"Hey! That's not funny! How would you like it if I poked fun at you and Cream, huh?" Sonic couldn't help laughing.
"What about me and Cream?" Tails stopped laughing, and he raised an eyebrow at Sonic.
Sonic smirked at Tails for a second, and then burst into laughter.
"Hey, no fair! What about Cream and I, huh! Stop it Sonic."
"Oh, nothing," Sonic chuckled, "Nothing at all."
"Hey!" Tails fumed, clenching the magazine in his fist.
"Relax, little bro!" said Sonic, and it came out sounding like "reee- laaax". "You know I'm only playing with you."
"Yeah, well," said Tails, but he couldn't think of anything else to say, so he just tried to straighten the crumpled copy of RUN as best he could.
"Well, if you're looking for Amy, she isn't around here. I guess I could help you find her, if you really want me too," said Sonic, rising from the beach chair. The hedgehog stretched widely, and yawned.
"I don't think that's going to be a problem." Tails said, chuckling.
"Why not? You said you needed to find her, and..." Sonic's sentence would never be finished properly, because it was interrupted by a blur of pink quills. The empty lemonade glass toppled to the sand, sending what was left of the cool ice to melt amongst the little grains of rock.
Amy had managed to knock the plastic table out of her way. She had stepped over it, or stumbled rather, right onto Sonic. Of course, none of that mattered much now, cause her objective had been accomplished- Amy Rose's arms had encompassed her idol and crush, and they had done so to the point where "crush" was becoming too accurate a word.
"Sonic!" called the energetic girl-hog, her gloved hands reaching far enough around the slender blue hedgehog to grab her elbows. She softly nestled her face against his, sighing sweetly. Sonic might have noticed how nice she smelled if he could have breathed in through his nose. Her cheek felt hot against his and her fur was soft, but he didn't notice that either cause the shock of being suddenly tackled by a teenage girl hadn't worn off yet. "I'm so glad I found you- been looking all over you see. I was just gonna come by and ask you, since I know you'll be going cause you always do, if you'd go with me to the Fourth of July party down at Twinkle park tonight! You can't say no, because you know if you do I'll just find you there anyway, and make you dance with me just like last year."
Sonic wanted desperately to run away, but the adolescent death-grip he faced made that impossible. Instead, he tried in vain to wheeze a reply.
"Well, aren't you going to say anything?" Amy asked sweetly, her face still nuzzled against Sonic's. "C'mon, don't be shy."
"A-A... Amy..." Sonic managed to choke out.
"Yes, Sonic?" said the girl-hog, expectantly. Tails stifled a giggle.
"Amy... I..." if he could have turned blue...
"Yes, Sonic??" the suspense was killing her. Tails too, as a matter of fact, as he could barely hold his snicker now.
"You're..." he had begun to black out by now, as Amy's grip only seemed to get tighter.
"Yes???" she would explode if he didn't answer! Tails was having more difficulty breathing than Sonic was now, just from holding in the laughter.
"You're choking me..." breathed sonic, the last desperate little particles of air he had all poured into the sentence. He sounded altogether asthmatic.
"What?!" Amy pushed the blue hedgehog away from her, and he landed in a heap. Sonic began gasping for whatever air he could get. Amy folded her arms across her chest, and rolled her eyes dully: another let down.
Tails, who had stood there watching all of this, finally couldn't stand it another second, and erupted into laughter. Laughter so hard, he fell to the ground, gasping for air alongside his blue buddy (although much more joyfully).
"You know, that's really pretty pathetic, Sonic," said Amy, offering a hand to Sonic. He refused her help and somersaulted to his feet.
"What are you talking about?" Sonic tried to scowl, but it didn't really work. After all, it's hard to look angry when you're struggling for oxygen. The hedgehogs tongue was draped out, like a dog, and he panted to return the precious air to his lungs.
"Crushed by a hug from ill' old' me?" chimed Amy, striking a girlish pose, "Why, aren't you stronger than that, Sonic?"
"Hey, c'mon, I was just trying to get you off of me," said Sonic, shaking his head. His breath was finally returning to him, and he examined his ribs with his palm, making sure they were all in tact. That girl must have been taking steroids. Sure, she liked to do the tackle and squeeze routine, but she'd never crushed him like that. Maybe he had been taking it TOO easy over the summertime.
"Yeah, yeah," Amy laughed, "SO, now that you CAN breathe... wanna take me to the party tonight?"
"Why would I want to take you?" spat Sonic, indignantly. He still marveled at the fact that after all these years, Amy STILL hounded him for pathetic little dates. It was as if the little girl was deaf.
"Because you're such a sweet, nice guy?" proclaimed Amy, stepping close to Sonic, "Because you are caring, and compassionate, and have feelings for me."
"Reality check, Ames." Sonic mused, scoffing audibly. He gave her a look that crushed her innocent act like a wrecking ball hitting a straw hut. Deciding to quit while she was ahead, the little rose dropped the act.
"Okay, fine... because you know I'll force you to spend the whole darned thing with me anyhow," said Amy, and she pressed a pointing finger into Sonic's soft, blue chest as she did. Her eyes met his, and she gave him a confident smirk.
"Ha!" Sonic said, placing his hands on his hips. Then, turning his nose up at her, he gruffly said: "Well, it so happens I'm not going."
"Oh?" asked Amy, tilting her head sideways. She flashed a faux look of disinterest, and she went on, "Well that's too bad."
"What, you're not upset?" Her ploy had worked: Sonic was offset by her sudden indifference. The cobalt hedgehog stared down at her expectantly from where his olive nose was still pointed skyward.
"I'd be more upset if I thought you were telling the truth," she affirmed her unconcern with a wry smirk.
"HA!" Sonic repeated, disdainfully. He tried not to care. He didn't care. Why WOULD he care? "Yeah, sure."
"Oh, come on, I'm not twelve anymore Sonic. I can tell when you're full of it," Huffed the she-hog. She let her hand absently brush the tips of the quills on his chest ever so slightly, and then let her arm fall to her side. "So, why not just say yes?" She finally pleaded, her emerald eyes and ruby face softening in hope.
"You know what the word 'no' means, right?" Sonic's stubbornness endured. The harshness- or perhaps the brusqueness -of his tone cut her like a knife. Amy wasn't about to show it though.
"Whatever," she retreated to her veil of disinterest, shielding herself with the allusion that she didn't really care, or didn't believe him. "Just pick me up at my place around eight if you get over yourself. See you at Twinkle Park," said she, making a point to sound sincere without being giddy.
"Whatever yourself!" Sonic berated vainly at the retreating hedgehog, both taken aback by her listlessness and just plain out of words, "You're hopeless, you know that!"
"Well, she certainly is breezy," commented Tails.
"Who does she think she is?! Stepping in here and expecting me to drop everything and take her to that dumb party," Sonic yelled. He was angry now. Amy's "breeze" had blown him right out of a happy mood.
"She's right you know," Tails said, simply.
"What?" Sonic's eyebrows pointed down, as he whipped his attention Tails' direction. Tails' might have winced at the severity in Sonic's gaze had he not still been watching Amy now dashing along the boardwalk in the distance.
"You know, you'll end up going, with or without her," explained the fox, his eyes shifting back to Sonic. The hedgehog's expression softened a bit.
"Yeah, well... she still shouldn't show up acting all... however she acted, and then just waltz off," Sonic's voice trailed as he realized he was babbling. He didn't even know why he was mad. She must have done SOMETHING though.
"You really didn't think that one out much, huh?" chuckled Tails.
"Hey, shut up! Don't you have a camera to catch?" retorted Sonic, his mood worsening. As much as Sonic loved his little buddy, he was eager to get back to relaxing ALONE.
"Oh, that's right!" Tails realized, dropping the magazine and slapping a palm to his forehead. He turned and dashed off in the direction Amy left, yelling, "Ammmmyyy!"
"Finally," Sonic said, bending over and picking up the crumpled copy of RUN from the sand, "I can get back to relaxing."
Meanwhile, on Indigo Avenue elsewhere in Station Square, Cream the Rabbit was busy preparing for the night's events. The action would revolve around Twinkle Park that evening, as they celebrated the Fourth of July. It was a unique celebration Cream had learned. The party was held on the night of the 3rd and ran until the morning of the fourth. At midnight, fireworks.
Cream had bee living in Station Square less than a year now. She had moved there the previous September, and now it was July. Since that September, herself and a very special fox she had met, named Miles, had created a magazine named RUN. She was proud of it, her first excursion in her one true passion: journalism. Cream was only sixteen, and her fox boy counterpart was two years her junior, but together they had managed to make the most successful zine in Station Square history. Though, most of the hype was about their regular and exclusive coverage and interviews with Sonic the Hedgehog, it was still impressive that the two kids could make something so cool.
"What do you think, cheese? How do I look?" Cream asked her little pet chao, doing a twirl in her soft, blue dress. It looked good, if a bit simple with her velvety, orange fur. She had her ears pulled back into a ponytail of sorts.
"Moooof!" cheered the little blue chao, nodding approvingly. Cream giggled. Cheese had been her only real companion through most of her life, having come from a family of seven children and parents who were always busy. The girl-rabbit snatched the little chao into her arms and planted a small kiss on its 'nose' (or where its nose would have been, had chao had noses). "Moof!"
"So, you like it? I'm glad." Cream said, setting Cheese down on her vanity. Cream lived in the print shop she and Tails used to make RUN. Tails lived there too sometimes, when he wasn't living in the Mystic Ruins, working on airplanes. Cream had never really understood Tails' passion for mechanics, but that was all right, seeing as it helped get the magazine printed. After all, it had been Tails' smarts that had made their custom presses, and maintained them.
Cream turned around and walked across her room to her dresser. The room had never meant to be a bedroom; it was the upstairs office of an insurance agency once. Tails had put a wall in, making two rooms out of the one. Now, he and Cream each had their own separate spaces on the second floor. Below, the front counter and printing presses lay. They would make RUN, take orders for businesses that wished to stock the monthly issue of the zine, and sell comics, candy, and Sonic-related merchandise. It was a great little setup, and best of all it was profitable. She picked up her purse and a pad of paper from her dresser, and turned to leave.
Cream stepped out the door to her room. Both Tails and her rooms had awkward doors, mostly because they each had to share the same end of the same hallway. Originally, there had only been one door at the top of the stairs, and now two had been crammed into the same space. It left little room between both doors and the walls.
Cream stepped downstairs and into the front room. There was a sign at the base of the stairs reading "Employees Only" in large red letter. The shop was closed early this afternoon, and a note reading "Out to the party, see you there!" was pasted to the front of the door. The lights in the front were dimmed, and light could barely filter through the little openings in the blinds of the large front window. Decals were stuck there, announcing to the world that this spot was "RUN Central" with the magazine's motto, a goofy quote by Sonic that went "Quicker than Quick, and Way Past Cool!" written underneath.
Cream walked right past the shielded window, and behind the counter. A door back there led to the print shop. She stepped through. The machines were all off, so the print shop was eerily quiet, save for the resounding click of her heels on the linoleum floor. Cream walked past the machines, all the way to the back of the big room. There was a door there that led to their bathroom. She opened it, and stepped inside. Since Tails was hardly living there anymore, she had proclaimed that it was her bathroom more than his, and as a result the whole room was adorned with Cream's hygienic supplements. She searched the forest of bottles on the bathroom counter, and picked one- a crystalline, green vial. Then, she applied a dash of the vial's contents to her neck.
There, now she'd be ready. The rabbit strode out of the bathroom, purse over her shoulder. She stopped as she was leaving; pausing to look at herself in an old mirror hung on the wall of the back room. She looked a lot older than 16 in that dress. She looked like a real, professional reporter, she thought. Tonight she would cover RUN's biggest story yet, and she'd do it in style. Maybe some reporter would see her and offer her an intern job? Who knew? Anything could happen.
Cream stepped out the door to the shop, closing it and locking it behind her. She stared up and down Indigo Ave. She had to admit: if she did make it big, she'd miss the place.
Without another thought, she hailed a Taxi to Twinkle Park.
It wasn't far away at all that Tails was catching up with Amy Rose Hedgehog that very moment.
"Ames! Hey, wait! Dammit, you've been chasing Sonic so much you're getting to be as fast as he is!" Tails was dodging in and out of some trees. The tall ones were the most difficult, and he had to struggle to pay attention to both his flying, and the girl below. Amy was running surprisingly fast. The chase was becoming ridiculous, but if Tails didn't get that camera back before it was time to head to Twinkle Park, there would be hell to pay.
Tails could barely keep up as Amy darted along the ground below. She was snaking along a path down a hill when he lost track of her. Panicking, Tails eyes darted over the ground below, searching for some sign of the pink Hedgehog. Finally, he saw her, still running along on ground. Tails sighed with relief, just before he collided with an oncoming tree branch. "OWTCH!"
"Huh?" a voice caught Amy's ears, and she stopped in her tracks. She had been running through beachside park, a little green area just off of Emerald Coast. It belonged to the community, and was a regular hang out for kids, bicyclists, and anyone looking for a good place to recreate outside without sand. She had been grinding rails, a trick she'd picked up from Sonic. It was surprisingly fun, and she'd been determined to get better at it than he was just to make him mad.
Amy stopped her dash, skidding to a halt on the heels of her SOAP boots. She turned around, looking for whoever was calling for her. She saw no one. Amy gazed, blankly, at the empty park road for a few moments. Just as she was turning to leave, she heard it one more time. Her pink ear twitched, and she held her breath to make sure she'd not miss a sound.
"Ames! Hey!" Amy's head rotated madly, looking for whoever was calling her. As the yelling continued, it sounded like Tails.
"Tails?" called Amy, "Where are you?"
"Up here!" Amy looked up to see that the fox boy had gotten him tangled in a tree. A tall tree.
"What are you doing up there?" called Amy, mystified by Tails' predicament.
"Looking for you!" Tails yelled back, struggling with a knot in one of his orange tails. When he had hit the tree, they had wrapped around a branch something fierce. A good tug, and he'd be free, but that was easier said than done while trying to keep from falling at the same time.
"And just why would I be in a tree?" Amy mused, chuckling.
"I crashed, nitwit! Get me down, will ya?" screamed the fox, wincing slightly as he pulled too hard on his delicate fur. He'd need a pair of free hands to get anything done, and if he freed his tails with both hands, how would he hold onto the tree?
"Not if you're gonna be so mean. Maybe I'll leave you up there." Declared Amy, beginning to turn away. She knew she wouldn't leave him, but she may as well give him a hard time if he was going to be so severe about it.
"Amy! C'mon, I didn't mean it! Let me down!" Tails called back, sounded suddenly more humble. Amy chuckled to herself something about men before turning back to look up at Tails once more.
"You didn't say the magic word," chimed Amy, sweetly.
"Please!" said Tails, very eagerly. He didn't care if Amy asked him to recite the alphabet backwards, as long as she got him out of that tree. His arms were starting to get tired, and his tails were throbbing from the uncomfortable knot. If he were to fall, he'd never be able to wind them in time to fly.
"Hmm... Okay, I'll get you down." The feisty pink hedgehog reached into a pocket in her red dress, producing a small, yellow box. In the center was a red button, which her thumb quickly found. She pressed the button, and the little yellow box hummed and flashed, and in a second Amy was clutching the yellow handle of a hammer. She braced herself to swing, a glint of impishness in her green eyes.
"Not like that!" called Tails, struggling wildly in a vain attempt to escape the coming chaos. It was too late, however, and Amy swung her hammer hard. The rushing yellow hammerhead connected audibly with the trunk of the tree, and a loud cracking noise followed. Then, there was silence. "What happened?"
"Just wait a second!" Said Amy, standing with her hammer still pressed against the tree. She grabbed the handle with both hands, and choked up a little bit like it was a baseball bat. She nodded to herself, reassuringly, like a major league player getting ready to swing. Then, she gritted her teeth and got ready for one more swing. Reeling back, Amy swung again, just an inch higher than before. As the hammer connected the tree fell sideways, sending Tails toppling downward- it seemed the force had been just enough to loosen the knot in his orange after parts. Amy leapt on the trunk of the falling tree, running toward it's top. Just as the trunk was about to hit the earth, Amy smashed her hammer down, cracking the trunk a second time: Not only did this send Amy flying up in the air, but the strike acted like a catapult, and the sudden change of direction sent Tails flying too. Amy and Tails' courses intercepted, and she grasped the fox's hand, pulling him with her as they sped back for land. They hit a soft tuft of grass, and rolled, landing in a heap at the base of another tree.
"Owtch..." said tails. He wasn't entirely sure what had just happened. He opened his eyes slowly, and realized his face surrounded by warm quills. "Sonic?"
"That didn't work quite how I would have liked..." said Amy, reflectively. She massaged a tender part of her pink head where she had impacted the dirt particularly harshly. She looked down to see Tails had landed on top of her, and his head was nestled right between her... "GET OFF OF ME!"
Tails' eyes shot wide open as he realized where he was, but he didn't have time to move because Amy had already kicked him off of her. Tails landed, possibly even more awkwardly, a few feet away. His gut stung where the polished heel of her boot had impacted. Despite his pain, he could still feel his cheeks growing hot and red. He tried to hide his embarrassment as best he could, "Hey, that was your own fault! If you had gotten me down like a NORMAL person!"
"Hey, is THAT how you thank a lady? I got you down, didn't I?" Amy said wryly, brushing dust from her dress, "Besides, you have to admit I'm getting pretty tough."
"Well, yeah, I noticed. You did smash right through that tree. You taking steroids?" Tails chuckled.
"Hey, you better watch your mouth unless you'd like to get the same treatment as that tree! It so happens, Mr. Prower, that I have been training," she stated, proudly, and perhaps a bit haughtily. Tails thought she sounded a little like Sonic for a moment there.
"For what? A Mr. Universe competition?" Amy had had enough, and she let Tails know with a swing of her hammer. The tap on the head left a red bump. "Ow."
"No! Must you be such a smart ass?" Amy huffed, obviously less-than "I'm training to be stronger and faster, so I can keep up with Sonic."
"I should have figured," said Tails, getting to his feet. He glanced at Amy, still holding her hammer in one fist. She did look fierce, but in that cutesy kind of way. "Anything for Sonic, right? I hope you know what you're doing, Ames."
"I do," said Amy, simply. She did something to the hammers handle, and it collapsed back into a box, which she pocketed. She smiled weakly as she brushed loose quills out of her eyes. "I've been chasing Sonic for years. It's clear to me that there isn't any alternatives to this that'd make me happy."
"As much as I admire your courage, you're forgetting one thing," said Tails, matter-of-factly.
"What's that?" asked Amy, raising one eyebrow quizzically at the fox.
"You still have my camera," declared Tails. Amy looked confounded for a moment, but she quickly snapped alert after taking a moment to absorb Tails response.
"Oh, yeah," said Amy, thoughtfully, "I left it at home. We'll have to go get it from my apartment."
"Okay! Here, grab my hands, we'll fly!" said Tails, excited at the prospect of finally retrieving his camera. Amy didn't look so excited.
"And get stuck in a tree? I don't think so. We'll walk."
Back on the beach...
Sonic had laid there for not more than ten minutes after Amy and Tails were gone before someone else came along to bother him. This time, it was just a fan girl, looking for an autograph.
"Sonic? Sonic the Hedgehog?" she was a mouse, squeaky and small, with her tail wrapped around her waist like a belt. She was wearing a white mini- skirt and a bikini top that covered her small chest nicely. Her fur was short, and yellow, and her eyes were big, glossy things, colored sapphire.
"Yeah," he droned back, completely monotone. He absently flipped the page of his magazine.
She let out a gasp, as if she really couldn't believe it was him. Nothing unusual, Sonic got this kind of stuff all the time. He removed his shades, and pried his attention from the RUN magazine once more.
"Well, what is it?" he asked, staring her down expectantly. He knew that that kind of thing (coming from him) intimidated fan-types, especially the really giddy teenage ones, but he could care less in his current mood.
"Oh!" She cried, startled by the sudden break in silence. She fumbled with something in her hands, and nearly dropped it. Then, she shoved it at Sonic. He looked at what she was offering him- a pen and a Polaroid of him running. "Would you sign this please, Mr. Sonic? If you're not too busy, that is."
"Yeah, sure," said Sonic, trying not to sound angry. He knew that she hadn't done anything wrong, but Sonic wasn't in the mood to deal with any 'fans' at the moment. He was still boiling over his little encounter with Amy earlier.
Something about Amy lately had Sonic peeved. He wasn't sure what, but he knew something was different about Amy lately. It was as if she had become a completely different person... and at the same time, she wasn't all that different.
She still followed him, bothered him, and asked him out on dates to dumb romantic places. However, something in Amy's movement, or maybe her voice, or even her attitude had changed somehow.
Anyway, she was a real pain to Sonic. He wished she'd just knock it off, and let him be. After all, who needed someone like that hanging all over him, anyway? All that would do would be slowing him down.
Sonic accepted the pen and the photo, and scribbled his signature on it. He tried not to groan as the little girl who he was signing it for giggled nervously. "Whom should I make this out to?"
"Macey!" chirped the little mouse, her large brown eyes welling up with tears of joy. Sonic thought he might puke.
He scribbled "Macey, keep on runnin! -Sonic-" on the picture, and then shoved it back her way. She nearly ripped it from his grasp, and let her big mousy eyes take it in. She let out a joyous little squeak.
"Oh, thank you, Mr. Sonic!" cried the mouse.
"No prob, Macey," said Sonic, his mind already more focused on the copy of RUN which he STILL hadn't finished reading yet.
The young mouse lingered for a second, trying to make small talk. Sonic figured that if he were curt enough with her, she'd just leave. He didn't have a chance to try his plan out though, because the awkward little mouse decided on her own not to stay. She squeaked a "goodbye!" before dashing off across the sand. This was a bit odd, seeing as most fan girls tried to latch themselves to him like lead weights. Sonic glanced over his shoulder, seeing the mouse run off toward the boardwalk. She stopped when she met a group of three other girls, and then she pointed excitedly back toward the beach.
Sonic gulped loudly. It was most definitely time to leave. He gripped the RUN magazine tightly as he lifted himself from the beach chair, and stretched. He jogged in place for a second, and then tilted his neck to the side, cracking it softly. Finally, cracking his knuckles loudly, Sonic smirked devilishly and said: "Time to jet."
Sonic had dashed away from that part of the beach like lightning, searching the coast for somewhere more private to relax. He stepped out into the shallow surf, feeling the cool ocean water sloshing over the ankle of his SOAPS, and cooling his feet. He was kicking up a blaze of water behind him as he zoomed down the expansive coastline. It would have looked like a bullet train to a spectator, but it was more like cruising in first gear to Sonic. After all, if he went FAST, it'd be harder to scope for a new spot to kick back. The only thing Sonic was interested in rushing into today was a good sunbath and a few more pages of RUN. Eventually, he found a stretch of sand that lead off the beach to a remote little peninsula, desolate and private, and completely bare save for one lonely tropical palm. Sonic dashed over to it and plopped down in the sand, leaning his back against the trunk of the tree, and trying to make himself comfortable.
It wasn't as cozy as the beach chair, but it'd do. Not like there was any shortage of time on a long, hot summer day. In fact, it was only two- o'clock, and Sonic could get in a nice afternoon nap before heading home. So what if he missed that dumb party? It didn't matter. Anything would be better than submitting to that creepy fan girl.
Sonic stretched out on the sand near the tree, and finally opened his special issue of RUN, determined to finally read it. He sighed as he turned the page slowly. His eyes darted around the table of contents, searching for the page number of Amy's article. He found it, page 20, and flipped through the magazine for it. He hadn't gotten even as far as he had on the last try before he fell asleep.
It was about twenty minutes later when Amy and Tails reached the she-hog's apartment. It was a nice little place on the fourth floor of an 18-story complex on the North side of town. It was an average little apartment, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room.
The living room was in the front, and it was the first room you entered when you walked through the door. The living room was basically a rectangular room, pressed up against a glass slider that lead out to a balcony. Out there, all sorts of different flowers, ferns, and other plants flourished in pots Amy had either just sitting on the ground, or dangling from the underside of the balcony above that served as a roof for hers.
The Kitchen and living room had no real dividing wall, but rather did another rectangular room exist just to the right of the threshold of the entryway, sanctioned as its own space by not but a subtle transition from carpet to linoleum. This kitchen protruded a little deeper into the apartment than the living room, but had much less width. Somewhere on the wall, near where it ceased to be that of the living room and began to be that of the kitchen, there was an open portal into a short hallway. In that hallway were four doors- two for the two bedrooms, one for the one bathroom, and a fourth for a laundry room.
In Amy's living room, there was a gray couch and a matching love seat both set facing a 32" television that sat on an old oak stand. A glass coffee table sat atop an old blue throw rug that complimented the white carpet nicely. Pictures- mostly of Sonic, Amy, Tails, and Knuckles -adorned the walls. The place wasn't what one would expect of Amy, who was usually pink, pink, maybe some light red, and then pink. No, it was a nice little home... then again, Amy wasn't entirely surprising. The love seat housed a 12", cuddly-looking Sonic doll.
The kitchen was rather normal for a kitchen, and didn't merit any special notice. It had a refrigerator slid up to one wall, a good amount of counterpace, and a dishwasher. Cabinets filled with kitchen things were below and above the green marble countertops, and the linoleum floor was the classic checkered white.
Tails stepped inside, and Amy followed him, closing the door behind her. "Home, sweet home," she mused, stepping into the living room and collapsing onto her couch. Tails walked in, observing the little apartment. He'd never actually been inside. He looked around, at the walls, and the pictures. He chuckled when his eyes landed on the stuffed replica of his best friend, smirking meanly at him from the loveseat.
"Nice toy, Ames."
"Shut up," mumbled Amy through a mouthful of couch. She had buried her face in a pillow.
"So, my camera?"
"It's right there," she said, her arm moving only a little to point at the coffee table next to her. The little black camera case was sitting peacefully on the glass table.
"Oh, there you are," Tails said, scooping up his beloved piece of equipment. He snapped the case open, and observed the inside. He decided he'd make sure it was clean and all the parts were in order, just in case, before he would take off.
Amy, meanwhile, was buried in the confines of her fluffy gray couch. It was only almost 2:30, and she was burnt out. She could probably get away with taking a nap before the party. It wore her out though, sometimes. She even felt like giving up sometimes. It was a rough choice of lifestyle that was for sure, chasing after Sonic all the time. He was so hardheaded sometimes that she just couldn't stand it. He knew that he'd show up at that damned thing. Why couldn't he just agree to walk in with her? For once, she would have liked to see that kind of courtesy from him.
She barely heard Tails plopping down on the loveseat to examine his camera. She didn't care, really. It was all she could do to remember to breathe with all this crap on her mind. Maybe she shouldn't even GO tonight. Maybe she would be better off staying there. After all, Sonic would just try to avoid her if she went. She wondered how Sonic could be so blind as to miss how deep it cut her when he was so heartless, and detached towards her. It was like he didn't even believe she cared.
Well, then again, who did? Everyone attached that little 'crush' she had on Sonic as being the only thing that made her herself. It's not like anyone stopped to look at who she was down inside. Of course, just like everyone else, Sonic had dismissed it all as simple as "oh, it is JUST Amy." She even would put money on Tails assuming the camera had been borrowed to chase Sonic around and take his picture. Well, as a matter of fact, JUST Amy had decided to do something OTHER than hedgehog hunting for a day or two, and take that little camera out to do some investigating.
That led Amy to thinking about the Angels. Well, she called them that. She didn't know WHAT they really were. She did know that she saw them a lot though. She saw them every time something amazing happened, and no one else ever did. They were just flashes of light on the horizon really, but Amy knew deep down inside that up close, they HAD to be more than that.
So she had written an article about them. A stupid, embarrassing, weird article for Tails magazine that she was dreading being seen by people. She had to get her feeling out there though. She had to tell someone, or she'd dies from it. Granted, she didn't come right out and say it, "I believe that a bunch of recurring, distant light flashes are angels helping me along." Oh, no, she'd been much more deep, and symbolic. Okay, so she had just made the real point a little confusing. Still, she had said what she needed to, and gotten it off of her chest. Still, she had found her curiosity about the Angels didn't stop there.
She had been to Tails workshop out in the Mystic Ruins not long ago, and she had been sitting on the porch. Tails and her had planned to go to a movie, and she was waiting for him to finish whatever he was doing so they could depart. Well, she had been gazing off at the coast down the cliff, where the jungle met the ocean and stretched west along the peninsula to Station Square. It was there by the water that she had seen a ghostly twinkle of light moving at mach speed through the brush. She could even see the trees shaking. She knew that light. It was exactly what she had seen, all of those times. When Sonic saved her from Metal all those years ago, she saw it. When Sonic had defeated Chaos in the ruins of Station Square, she saw it. Even in the reaches of Space when Sonic had battled alongside Shadow against the might of the Biolizard, she saw it. Then, staring down at the ocean side, she saw the same thing.
There was no options- she HAD to investigate much deeper. So, she had borrowed Tails Camera, and then she had walked all the way from the Emerald coast down to that spot by the Mystic Ruins and waited. She did this for four days. Then, on that fourth day, she saw something. It was only a flash of purple light, but she was sure she had caught it on camera. That had been two days ago now. She was scared to develop that film. It wasn't that she thought anything horrible would show up, Amy just didn't want to chance that NOTHING would show up. She didn't want it to end up that she was just delusional. She believed in these things, just as much as she believed she loved Sonic.
And then, she couldn't help thinking about him again. She felt like she would fall asleep soon. She didn't care. Tails could let himself out.
"Golden God, awaken oh highest of the angels, and assume your throne." Could a feminine voice truly command as much power as this? Her tone was awesome and strong, like the voice of god. Only, at the same time, it was gentle and warm. What kind of weird dream was Sonic having? "Do not fear. You were born the golden one, and so you must be."
Sonic couldn't see a thing. Wherever he was, it was dark, and the voice of some woman was resounding in his head. He couldn't quite move, or breathe even. He couldn't even tell if his eyes were opened or closed. He was floating ethereally, somewhere between sleep and awake. Her voice soothed him. Suddenly, there was a cool breeze on Sonic's face, and he felt droplets of water touching his blue fur. His eyes shot open.
There he sat, just where he had fallen asleep. The palm tree he sat under was shaking in the wind, and some sea foam was blowing in his face. HE realized the tide had come in, and he was now sitting in a shallow pool of water. The RUN magazine he had been holding was nowhere in sight. Sorry, Tails.
"How long was I out?" Sonic looked around. The sun was still up, but barely. It was probably six or seven. Things wouldn't really get underway at Twinkle Park for another hour or two. He really didn't want to go, but he knew that being who he was, it was important. The city would expect him to show. He just didn't want to be forced into playing nice with Amy's fan girl banter all night. Sonic began to notice a horrible ringing in his ears. He clapped a hand to the side of his head, groaning uncomfortably. He could feel sand and water stuck to his cobalt quills. "That dream was bizarre."
"Soooonic."
"What!?" Sonic jumped, startled. He looked left and right but there was nothing around but bare horizon. To his left was the beach back to Emerald Coast, and to his right was the beach to the Mystic Ruins. Not a soul in sight. Sonic shook his head, and felt the warm gush of water leaving his ear. That must have been it. He had just gotten some water caught in the pipes. He had only been imagining things.
Sonics body began to tremble unnaturally. He glanced downward at himself, a bit frightened, but then it stopped. He sighed, rubbing his head softly, "I wonder if I don't need more rest." Then, his leg jumped of its own free will. It just kicked, like a reflex, for no reason. Sonic was sure something was wrong.
Then: "Sonic. Get up, run."
It was a soft, feminine voice, although... it commanded something awfully powerful, echoing much like that ringing he had woken up with, in the back of his mind. He wasn't sure why, but he wanted to listen. Without much more thought, Sonic hopped to his feet, and dashed off in the direction of the Mystic ruins.
The coast stretched that way for miles, and he knew it well. He was thinking of it as he thundered through the shallow water, his eyes open widely. He suddenly felt more alert than ever, and his body surged with a need to move. He increased his pace as fast as his legs would let him, and that was saying something. The water he was stepping through began t evaporate with the heat of friction, until he was actually moving so fast that the very tap of his foot on the waters surface was enough to propel him, and he didn't even seem to break it's delicate top. He looked as if he were running on the water rather than through it, as he skimmed its transparent ceiling so quick and so gracefully.
Even the water thudded back like ground now. He felt as if he would be ripped apart by the sheer force of his legs, or at least flung from the planet from the momentum. Still, he kept running faster. He didn't know why, or where too, only that he was running. And he left the ocean, and rejoined the beach, thundering across the sand. It was then that he saw her. There was a purple hedgehog in the water ahead, and she didn't seem to notice him. She was standing in his line of movement, her back to his front. He didn't want to hit her, but there was no way he could have stopped. Still, he tried, but in vain. His thundering speed propelled him ever forward, and he and the girl collided and rolled down into the shallow surf. They landed in a heap together.
He took a moment to get his bearing, and then he realized he was in shallow water once more. Sonic lifted his now drenched head from that cobalt ocean, his quills dripping with saltwater. The girl had landed nearby on he backside. He could get a better view of her now. She was a hedgehog, and a young one from the look of her- no more than 19. Her quills were wavy and purple, and she was wearing an odd sort of dress thing- it was white and flowed as a robe did, but it was hardly a robe. Like a dress, it flowed long down around her legs, but it did not cover them properly. Instead, it was slit all the way up the front, right to a white, skin-tight thong. The dress part came in tight around her waist, but then loosened again as it flowed eloquently upward to cover her breasts. It was a V-neck that cut all the way down to the belt. The flowing white fabric left little to the imagination, although it did cover her from complete exposure. It seemed like the water rolled off of her quills and her clothes without so much as a damp patch. She shook her head, groggily, and then she let her lavender eyelids flutter open to reveal vales of sapphire glowing brightly at Sonic. She took a moment to look at him, and then she became horrified. With speed only the blue hedgehog himself could match, she had leapt up and ran off. Sonic watched, bewildered, as a dust cloud marked her trail away.
He only spent a few seconds watching her run off before he realized how fast she was moving. Without a moments more hesitation, Sonic was on his feet again.
With a fervor he had rarely felt in himself, Sonic chased the cloud of falling dust that the lavender she-hog had left when she thundered away. He could see her soon- he was gaining. So she was unbelievably fast, he still seemed to be unbelievably faster. Still, they were already at least a mile from where they had been, and Sonic knew that soon they would reach the tip of the peninsula. He wondered how another person could move this fast.
He increased his pace until he was finally neck-and-neck with the girl. He looked over at her, running so swiftly along beside him. "Hey!"
She looked over at him, and something between fear and surprise crossed her face. She tried to outrun him again, but he only caught up. Running out of options, the girl suddenly turned, heading into the jungle. Sonic easily followed.
The pair jumped into the brush, their ultra-fast feet changing promptly from the grainy carpet of sand to the mossy, spongy forest floor. She was trying hard to lose him now, dodging in and out between trees, vines, and bushes. Sonic was too fast though, and even though this girl-hog moved like lightning, Sonic was greased to boot.
Still, she kept trying. She lead him across the forest floor for miles, going in circles sometimes, until Sonic decided it was time to end the little race. They were coming on a patch were the jungle wasn't so thick, and Sonic leapt at the girl-hog as they came to it. They both skidded to the soft, mossy floor, sliding across it till they finally collided with a tree. Sonic had the young girl pinned.
"Ha!" he proclaimed, proud of his triumph, "I've got you now! Now, tell me who you are!"
The she-hog only smiled, and then winked. Then, as if she hadn't been there at all, she was gone. Sonic was left kneeling over solid ground. The cobalt blur blinked once, and then again. Then he squinted his eyes tight, and snapped them open. He looked all around, but there was nothing, no girl, no dust trail, nothing at all. Frantically, he crawled on his hands and knees around the little clearing they had landed in, digging at the moss and dirt for some sign of her. Nothing was there. Sonic collapsed on his back in the middle of the clearing. "What in the hell just happened?" he asked the jungle, lying motionless on the ground, his nose pointed skyward and his eyes shut tight. He lay still for a few minutes. "Where did she go?"
"I didn't go anyplace."
"What?" Sonic shot up, his eyes opening wide, and he scanned every inch of the jungle in sight for her, but there wasn't another hedgehog in sight, "Where are you?"
"Right here!" he heard the girl giggle softly. Her voice was nothing like the one in his head before, and he began to worry that he was developing some sort of mental disorder. This voice was small, impish, and laden with mischief.
"Where?" Sonic called, feeling a bit foolish yelling at empty jungle.
"Anywhere," said she, enigmatically. Sonic rolled his eyes. This wasn't getting any easier.
"You're the same girl, who ran with me, aren't you?" sonic asked, hoping for an inkling of light to shed on this deepening mystery. Worries about the party that night had become something far from Sonic's mind now.
"I ran away from you," corrected the faceless voice.
"Okay, so it WAS you," Sonic confirmed, "So why can't I see you?"
"Because, I don't want you too!" chimed the girlish voice. Sonic scoffed.
"Well, that doesn't make much sense! If I didn't want you to see me, I couldn't just disappear," he said, folding his arms over his blue chest.
"Maybe you just don't know how," suggested the girl.
"In any case, that's not important," said Sonic, "What I want to know is how you ran like that! I've never seen anyone- except for me -run that way."
"Wouldn't YOU like to know!" she giggled.
"Yes, I would actually!" sonic said, matter-of-factly. He was beginning to be bothered by this.
"Well, I won't tell," said the girl, and Sonic could almost see her sticking her tongue out at him haughtily.
"This is dumb, you probably don't even know! You're probably not even real," decided Sonic, standing and getting ready to leave.
"Oh, I know."
"Well," Sonic started, deciding to linger just a second longer. He was almost positive this wasn't just a voice in his little blue head. "Then, why not tell me?"
"It's a secret."
"Oh," there was a dead silence as Sonic though of what to do now. How could he respond to that? He wanted to know what was going on, but deciphering it would give him a headache at this rate, "So, how do I get to know the secret?"
"Uhm," she paused on that, thinking quickly. She let out a little 'aha!' before saying: "You have to do something for me if you want me to tell you."
"Uh," Sonic thought for a second. Maybe it was worth hearing, at least, "What?"
"Go pick up Amy. Take her to that party."
Sonic's eyes went wide. What the hell was going on? Something really strange was happening, if it wasn't all just a paranoid delusion. He stammered for something to say. It confused him to no ends how taking that tag-along to a party would get him any vital info.
"You're joking!" he finally yelled, "How is that doing something for you?"
"Sorry. That's what I want. Take it or leave it," giggled the female voice, one last time, "So, if you DO take it, meet me here tomorrow. Bye."
"Wait!" Sonic called. There was no answer. He stood there for long minutes in silence. What the hell was going on? Were there some kind of weird drugs in that lemonade? He was sure this couldn't be real. His eyes darted nervously around the clearing. He stepped back to where he had entered the little spot.
He should just run back, he thought. He should run back and go home and rest. Forget the party. It was stupid. Then again, he thought as his eyes landed on the two sets of tracks that lead up to the spot, maybe it would be worth checking out. With an audible gulp, and a bit of disbelief, Sonic dashed off toward not his home, but Amy's apartment.
Amy woke around 7:55, when a knocking came at her apartment door. Groggily, she lifted herself as much as she could from the couch, sitting up and wiping the sleep from her eyes. Glancing over at the door, she yawned as she said, "Doors open!"
The knob twisted slowly, and a gloved hand pushed the door inward. Amy nearly had a heart attack as Sonic stepped into her apartment. "Hey, Ames. Ready to go?"
"Uh," she stammered, a dumb grin crossing her bewildered face, "Y- yeah... uhm, let me just go get my good dress on."
-End-
Next Time on Faster: Love Is Not a Diagram