Sonic the Hedgehog stood at the edge of the cliff, looking down at the ocean below. He wanted to take a minute to relax, to reflect on his past adventures, to assess the current situation, before he took off again. This, however, was not possible at the moment, mostly because his friend and not-so-secret admirer, Amy Rose, was standing directly behind him, chattering away at him in an irritated tone.

"Why can't you ever spare a few minutes for me?" she asked, her high-pitched voice drilling into Sonic's ears. "You never even glance sideways at me! Don't you see we should be together?"

"Amy…" came a voice behind her. It was Tails the Fox, who was standing a short distance away with Knuckles the Echidna, Cream the Rabbit, Cheese the Chao and young Chris Thorndyke, all of them watching the two hedgehogs by the cliff.

"Amy, I don't think you should bother Sonic right now", said the two-tailed fox. "He probably wants some time to himself."

But Amy would hear none of it. It didn't matter to her that they were all after the Chaos Emeralds, or that Sonic had just fought off another one of Dr. Eggman's strange robots; all she could think about was the fact that the object of her affection didn't seem to want anything to do with her, and that single thought was enough to break her heart.

"Sonic!" the pink hedgehog yelled. "Why don't you say anything? Don't you care about me at all?"

But the blue hedgehog made no sign that he had heard her. He continued to stare down at the vast ocean with his back to his friends, without uttering a single word. This made Amy even angrier.

"What is the matter with you?" she shouted. "Say something! You're getting on my nerves! You're just so- "

But she never finished that last sentence, because just then something unbelievable happened. Sonic, who had previously been ignoring his admirer's complaining, suddenly whirled around, grabbed Amy by the shoulders… and kissed her on the cheek.

The kiss only lasted a second, but it was enough to shut Amy up. When it was over, Sonic looked into his admirer's green eyes for five seconds, five seconds in which nobody spoke, five seconds in which Amy stood completely stunned… then, in the blink of an eye, Sonic was gone, leaving his friends and a small trail of dust lingering in the air behind him as he sped off in the direction of the bright red gleam he had spotted on the beach ten seconds ago.

For a minute, everyone stared at Amy, who was still standing frozen by the edge of the cliff. Nobody said anything as they watched her carefully, until finally, as the pink hedgehog's eyes began to grow wider, Knuckles broke the silence.

"Cover your ears", was all he said, though he didn't shift his own arms from their positions crossed in front of his chest.

"What?" Chris asked, confused. The others, however, didn't even need to be told once; they were already pressing their hands to their heads, flattening their ears as hard as they could. It was a smart move, and it was made just in time.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

Amy's scream pierced the surrounding air like a siren, cueing a small flock of birds to rise up from a nearby tree and fly away in alarm. Chris got the worst of it, having placed his hands over his ears a split second too late.

"Maybe we should follow Sonic", the boy suggested, his ears still ringing even after the scream subsided. The others agreed, and they all made off for the beach, Amy bringing up the rear.

She knew she had disturbed her friends with her sudden outburst, and that she and Sonic still had a long way to go, but Amy didn't care; Sonic had just given her something she had been waiting for a long time, something even greater than a kiss: hope. And as she skipped down the path to the beach behind her friends, a smile on her face and joy in her heart, the magic moment played itself over and over again in her mind.

"We'll make it, Sonic", she thought to herself, laughing. "I know we will. Just you wait."