"Don't you worry, Amy. I'll get us out of here, promise. Just need to think something up, first."

Sonic was kneeling on the ground, with Amy cradled in his arms. He was sporting all manner of cuts on his body, mostly on his arms and legs, with one on the side of his face. Blood was dripping down onto the street below.

"Need a plan…think." His current opponent was his most dangerous yet. Whatever Eggman had done to this one, it was pretty impressive, he had to admit.

This Metal Knuckles was something else.

"Sonic…you're hurt…"

"Ah, don't worry about me. I'm good to go."

"You can't keep pushing yourself…"

"Didn't think I had a say," he said with a smirk.

The crimson robot was currently staring them down, probably waiting for the next move. It was good and bad at the same time.

I keep saying I'm fine, but I don't think I have enough juice to keep running around…or take anymore hits from this guy.

Amy looked up at her hero miserably. He was lying through his teeth, she knew.

"This is my fault…" she whispered.

"You can't blame yourself, Amy. You got surprised, just like I did."

"But I'm…I can't even help you right now. I'm just dead weight."

"Don't say that, it's fine. I'm gonna protect you."

Protect me…like you always have. And you'll get yourself hurt in the process…like you always have.

She hadn't thought about it before, but seeing all of this made her realize where she stood. Almost every time there was something to done, or a battle to fight, she was rarely part of it, or getting rescued, or getting in the way…even though she wanted to be able to do something, she was a hindrance instead of a help.

There were those times that she could play a role, but…compared to all the other times…

"Okay, hold tight. I'm blowing by this guy!"

Sonic's voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"It's gonna take a lot out of me, but here goes nothing!" He pulled her closer and charged forward, straight at Metal Knuckles.

The robot activated its jet engine in response, tearing towards Sonic and Amy at an incredible speed.

Sonic pushed himself faster as his opponent neared.

Almost there. Come on…

Metal Knuckles put his arm forward, diamond-edged claws ready to strike at any moment.

Amy buried her face in Sonic's chest and clutched him tightly.

Sonic waited until he was a yard away from Metal Knuckles, and then used a crossover step to try to get by his right. The robot read the move and used a lateral thrust to counter, stabbing forward.

"Go!"

Sonic's sneakers flashed a pure white as he stepped hard with one leg. He disappeared in a trail of light as he rushed laterally to his left, then shot forward once more, leaving Metal Knuckles behind. The robot's claws were coated in crimson.

He stopped far outside of the city, falling to one knee again as he breathed heavily.

"You okay, Amy?"

"…I'm…I'm fine."

"That's good…" He set her down gently.

"You're hurt…"

"It'll heal, don't worry about it. You're safe, so that's all that matters," he said with his usual grin. "This is my job, right? Heroes have to do these things, and friends have to help each other out when they're in trouble."

"Protecting the weak and innocent, right?" she said bitterly.

"Well, mostly. Even strong people need help, though."

But I'm not strong at all…I always thought I could take care of myself. How stupid could I have been? I'm not strong at all.

Amy looked bleakly at her friend, taking note of the large gash that went right through his shoulder. There was blood streaming down from it still.

She tore off a piece of her dress and used it to wrap around the wound as best she could.

"Thanks, Amy."

"Yeah…"

He kept getting hurt protecting her. Just like on ARK…she shuddered at the memory of seeing him blown up in that tube, while she could only sit there and watch, powerless to do anything.

It hurt.

"Come on, I'll take you over to Tails' place. We should be able to rest up there."

"Sure…" she said inattentively.

"Hey, you feeling okay, Amy?" He looked her over with concern.

"I'm fine. Thanks for saving me, Sonic."

"Don't worry about it, you'd do the same for me any day!"

"…As if I could," she said under her breath.

"Hm?"

"…Nothing. It's nothing."

"If you need to talk, I'm all ears, Amy."

"Thanks…but it's probably not something you could understand."

"Well, I dunno about that. It'd help if I knew what the problem was. Even then, I could help you find someone who could help you out, you know?"

"Maybe. I just don't want to talk about it right now."

He shrugged. "If that's what you want, Amy. But I've never seen you like this, so I'm worried."

"I'll be fine."

"…If you say so," he said doubtfully.

It was a few months after that time.

"You mean you haven't seen her around, either? Maybe she went on vacation or something."

"But she wouldn't do that without letting the whole world know about it first. This isn't like her at all."

Sonic was currently at his friend's workshop outside of Station Square, near the Mystic Ruins. Miles Prower, known to everyone as Tails, had been working on an aircraft engine when Sonic dropped in. He had been out looking for Amy Rose for the past few weeks, but he hadn't had any luck with that.

"Maybe she's shacked up somewhere else?"

"Even if that were the case, this isn't like her," the twin-tailed fox said. "I haven't gotten a call or an e-mail or anything."

"She might be spooked by something, then."

"Spooked? By what?"

"Dunno," the blue hedgehog said, scratching his head. "But she looked like she was out of it the last time we spoke."

"Out of it? How do you mean?" Tails said, motioning for Sonic to pass him a wrench.

"Well, she was talking under her breath and looking distracted. And when she did speak up, she…well, she sounded pretty depressing, to be honest," he said, tossing the wrench over to his friend.

"Any phrases come to mind?"

"Stuff like, 'it's my fault' and 'I don't wanna talk about it'…really unlike her, y'know?"

"You're right, it doesn't sound much like her. Hm."

"I've gotta find her and snap her out of that funk. By the way, any movement on Eggman recently?"

"Not much, and anything that happens keeps getting intercepted."

"By Shadow, no doubt."

"Probably. Wonder what's going on, though?"

"Whatever it is, we've gotta be ready. I think the stakes are up this time. I'm gonna make another stop, so I'll see you later, I guess."

"Where to, Sonic? I think I should come with you."

"That's cool. I was about to stop over at Cream's place, maybe she knows something."

"I'll call in first. Vanilla and Cream have been on a trip for the past while."

"Oh, I see. Maybe Amy went with?"

"It's a possibility…"

The two reached a small house just on the edge of Station Square, belonging to Vanilla and Cream the Rabbit. Tails gave a few solid knocks before the door opened.

"Mister Sonic! Tails! It's nice to see you!" Cream said, giving them a bow before giving them each a hug.

"Chao!"

"Cheese is happy to see you, too!" she said, referring to her Chao friend.

"Nice to see you, Sonic. You too, Tails," Vanilla said as she reached the door. "Come on in, won't you?"

"Sure, why not?" Sonic said as he and Tails stepped inside.

"Something to drink?"

"I'm fine," Tails said.

"Me too, I'm good," Sonic replied. "You guys were on a trip, I heard?"

"Yes, we went to France for about a month. It was wonderful."

"Magnifique!" Cream chimed in. "We got to see so many things, it was so cool!"

"Was it just you two? I mean, besides Cheese, of course."

"Yes, it was," Vanilla said. "Actually, there was something Cream and I were wondering…"

"…You mean about Amy."

"Is that why you're here?"

"Yeah. Tails and I thought that maybe she joined up with you guys on that trip, or something like that."

"But she'd be sure to tell you something like that, right? At the very least, she'd try to drag you along, Sonic, especially to Paris."

"City of Love, right?" Tails pointed out.

"Yes…it's a very romantic place, to be sure."

"Then that just makes this all so much weirder…I can't find her anywhere. Nobody can."

"Um, Mister Sonic…do you think that maybe that mean Eggman has her?" Cream asked.

"I thought about that…the thing is that Eggman would have come out and taunted me with that sort of info already. No, it's something else. Just what, I don't know."

There was a ringing sound just then, coming from Tails' communicator on his wrist.

"Who could this be…Rouge?"

"Wonder what she wants," Sonic remarked. "Maybe we could ask her about Amy, too."

"Hey there, sweetie. Got some news for you."

"Okay, I'm listening."

"Well, your girl Amy Rose has been getting around lately. Last time I saw her she was storming one of Eggman's bases with Shadow…after that, nothing. Disappeared, like a ghost."

"Amy was with Shadow? Let's go, then!" Sonic said.

"Rouge, you're absolutely sure about that?"

"I'm positive. Haven't had a chance to talk to Shadow lately, but he's been chasing Eggman around for a while now, so it's possible that he has some info on the subject."

"We can probably catch up to him if we find out where Eggman is," Tails concluded. "Thank you so much, Rouge. You've been a big help."

"Anytime, sugar. Catch you later."

Sonic was already making his way out as the call ended. "Okay, let's roll! If we can catch up to Shadow, maybe we could find out where Amy was last!"

"Right!" Tails replied.

"Wait, wait! I want to come, too!" Cream insisted.

"Cream, it might be-" Sonic stopped himself mid-sentence. Dangerous? Yeah, right. How many times had this little girl helped save the world already? She was plenty capable as she was. That, and she was really close to Amy, much like they were sisters.

Looking at it, it mirrored his own relationship with Tails…and he wouldn't like to be left out of a mission to look for his best pal if he had the chance.

"You've gotta make sure Mom's okay with it first," he said, looking back at Vanilla.

She smiled and nodded. "It's fine. I know that you'll be in good hands, Cream. Good luck on finding Amy."

"Thanks, Mom!" Cream ran up and hugged her mother. "You too, Mister Sonic! I promise to do my best! Cheese as well!"

"Chao!"

"I've got no doubts! Let's rock and roll!"

Sonic, Tails and Cream left the house, and after making sure Cream was secure in his arms, Sonic sped off back towards the workshop, with Tails not far behind.

Vanilla watched as a cloud of dust rose up from where they once stood.

"Good luck…"

The guardian of the Chaos Emeralds, Knuckles the Echidna, was currently watching something odd. Out of the sky had come what looked like shooting stars.

The thing was, they weren't shooting stars. They were ships.

Ships with many, many guns on them. Big ones.

"Aliens…? Wouldn't be the first time. But who would be interested in Earth all of a sudden?"

Suddenly, a smaller ship landed in front of the Emerald Shrine as he looked on. It was sleek and looked like something that would carry royalty in it…something like an intergalactic limousine, since it had the rough shape of one.

The driver…or pilot, Knuckles figured, stepped out first and opened the rear doors. They slid down like windowpanes as a hovering platform appeared in front of the opening.

"If I didn't know better…" The driver looked like a human being, just that he had an odd blue line going across his face, just under the eyes and across the bridge of the nose.

The person…or alien to step out next looked like a princess of some sort. She was wearing a white sleeveless dress with gloves, and had on heels that were made of crystal. Her blonde hair ran down past her shoulders and rested behind her. She had the same marking across her face as the driver, and her eyes were a deep orange…she looked identical to a human as well.

"Good morning."

She spoke in English, Knuckles noted. It wasn't telepathy, either. Pretty strange for an alien.

"Morning. What brings you to this island, ma'am?"

"I am Crown Princess Reina, of the planet Gloriole. I have come to you in a diplomatic function, as this is the first point on Earth we have observed."

"Well, Princess…I'm not much of a diplomat myself."

"I see. Nonetheless, I would like to make a request."

"Request?"

"Yes…" Her orange eyes gave off a soft glow. "For your planet's unconditional surrender."