"Cream, wait up!" said an orange fox as he ran to keep up with the cream colored rabbit.
"You have to catch me first Tails" she laughed, speeding up further away from her fox friend.
"Fine I will" and with an extra burst of speed, he pounced, laughing as they both fell to the ground.
Cream loved the time when she and Tails could hang out. They both had grown so much it was amazing.
Cream was already 14 and she looked more like her mother every day. She had gotten taller and her body had started to mature with age.
Tails also had gotten taller, now he was almost 5'6 and much more muscular. His voice had deepened also from the shrill voice of a 7 year old. Because of the cool September air he was wearing his favorite t-shirt, jeans and a Jacket.
"So where are you going Cream?" he asked as he helped his friend up on her feet.
"I'm going to Amy's house to water her plants. I'd promised that I would take care of her house while she was gone. Can you believe it's been three years already? I can't wait to see her again." She said cheerfully; even though she had grown older that didn't mean she had lost any of her optimism.
"Yeah I miss her too." Amy was like an older sister to him even if she was a little pushy sometimes. It wasn't her fault; she was just determined to get Sonic's attention. Speaking of Sonic, he almost forgot he was meeting the others later.
"Oh no! I have to hurry back to Sonic's place! See you later Cream!"
"Okay Tails, see you later!"
He waved goodbye as he turned and ran, propelling his Tails until her hovered over the ground and into the direction of his best friend's house.
~~~~~
"Where's Tails, it's not like him to keep us waiting."
As Sonic and Knuckles were waiting for Tails to arrive, Knuckles was relaxing on the couch reading the newspaper, while Sonic was impatiently tapping his foot. He HATED waiting! He waited for not even a minute he started complaining again.
"Where is he?"
"Relax Sonic we've only been here for about 5 minutes, he's probably with Cream or something." He said as an afterthought.
"To you it's 5 minutes but to me it's five years!"
"Then find some way to entertain yourself"
"Okay Fine! But you told me to!"
Knuckles gave him a curious look as Sonic plopped himself on the rug and puckered his lips, and made the most annoyingly obnoxious POP that he could muster.
Knuckles twitched slightly and Sonic grinned.
He made another POP! Knuckles twitched again and Sonic tried to stifle his snicker.
POP!
"GOD, WHERE IS HE!" Knuckles shouted.
"Sorry I'm late guys." Tails said as he walked through the door to Sonic's house.
"It took you long enough little buddy, Knuckles over here was being impatient tsk tsk tsk." Knuckles only replied with a whole lot of grumbling.
~~~~~~~
Down town at the mall Rouge was doing her shopping followed by a very unhappy Shadow.
"Isn't this fun?" she asked
"No it is not. Carrying your stuff around for you is not my idea of fun in any way, shape or form."
He voice rumbled angrily behind the dress she plopped over his head.
"Aw don't complain, many guys would kill to carry my stuff all day"
"Then why don't you find one of them?" He said before sighing.
He hated how somehow Rouge would get him to do the stupidest things. All he wanted was to be left alone, but no, it didn't matter how many times he said no she still got him to whatever it was she wanted. And it wasn't any comfort that he still didn't know how she did it.
While Shadow was pondering, Rouge was looking into another coat rack. The cold weather had convinced her to go shopping for a new wardrobe. She still couldn't decide if she should go with orange of red.
"Hey Shadow which one is cuter the red or the orange"
"Does it even look like I would answer that question?" he said glaring hatefully at the jump suits she was holding.
"I would say yes but…"
"What?"
She had cut off as she spotted something in the distance. He looked to where Rouge was staring, only to feel a jolt of anger-bordering hatred come over him as he realized it was Sonic and his friends.
"Faker" he growled.
"I wonder what they're doing here." said Rouge curiously.
The only time she usually saw the trio was on missions for GUN when there was Eggman or a chaos emerald involved.
"Hey, lets go follow them, they might have something that GUN would find interesting."
"Sorry I'm off duty. And quite frankly I rather stay as far away from that Faker as possible."
"You still call him that? I thought you were allies or something."
"We are, but that doesn't mean were all best friends or anything."
"Whatever. Come on before they get away!"
Then before he could refuse Rouge grabbed his hand and dragged him along. It took a while for them to catch up with the famous hero.
"Hey guys, how's it going" She said.
The trio all turned in surprise to see Rouge and a pestered Shadow standing behind them.
"Oh, hiya Rouge. Shadow" Sonic said with a curt nod in Shadow's direction.
"Whatcha doing?" Rouge said in her innocent voice.
"We're seeing The City of Ember."
"Oh, I saw that movie. It was really good." She said thoughtfully.
"Well then we'll see you later."
They were just about to leave when an unwanted figure appeared.
"Ho ho ho ho ho" Laughed a voice from above them. It was Eggman!
"Well, well, well if this isn't a nice surprise I came looking for a certain annoyance, and instead I find several, Oh, ho ho ho ho ho."
"What do you want, Eggman?" said Sonic. It looked as if they weren't going to be able to catch that movie.
"Oh I'm just here to play with my newest toy! Eggzilla! Reveal yourself!"
The ground began to shake as something arose from the ground. It was a huge robot!
"Well you know what they say, the bigger they are the harder they fall!" said the ever confident Sonic as he got ready to attack.
"Hey Faker. You might want to get it away from here first." Shadow reminded him.
Around them people were screaming and running; pulling along their children and trying to push and shove their way through the crowds.
"Oh yeah I knew that. Hey Egghead, can't catch me" Sonic said making a funny face at Eggman.
"Why you dirty rat, I'll smash you to pieces!" said a very annoyed Eggman.
"Eggzilla, follow them!" He roared as he pointed to where the heroes were running trying to lead the robot out of the city.
Once he determined they were a safe distance away from the city Sonic skidded to a halt and taking a ready stance as the robot came closer. They were in the Valley, a huge gorge out side of the city surrounded by Shear Mountains and steep cliffs above.
"So blue boy, ready to fight?" said the maniacal evil guineas
"Whenever you are."
Then without a second's hesitation Sonic attacked with multiple spin dashes one after the other only to have each one blocked by the giant robot.
"What?" said a surprised Sonic
"That thing should be scrap metal by now!"
"Maybe if we all attacked at once we could over power his defenses, it can't block all five attacks at the same time can it?" Tails reasoned
"It's worth a shot, come on guys" Then Sonic got ready for a super spin dash and just as he hit the robot he said Now! And everyone attacked. But to their dismay the robot just when into a ball of protection and sent a shock of electricity getting everyone.
"Why can't we beat him? It's like he knows how to beat all of our attacks!" Tails said frustrated. "Oh ho ho ho, Oh but I do Tails." Catching everyone by surprise "from every single battle we have fought this year I have had my robots record everything that happened so I could find out all your attacks and not even that but how to beat them. Now my robot is unbeatable, and I have finally w…" CRASH!
Eggman looked up in surprise and gave a shout as he saw the destroyed and crushed arm of his robot, and from the lump of metal petruded an almost familiar metal hammer.
"You were saying Egghead?" said a familiar voice from behind.
The group all turned and Tails gave a shout of joy at the familiar face that stood almost ten feet away from them. A familiar pink hedgehog; Amy Rose!
"Hey guys long time no see" She smiled cheerfully.
"Oh no, my robot, How dare you! Fine! Egg army Attack!" Eggman shouted rabidly as he pressed a large red button.
Suddenly an entire army of robots appeared out of no where!
With a quick movement of her hand her hammer was by her side again, and she turned on the spot using the momentum of the spin at send one hammer after another, each volley knocking down more than 5 robots at a time.
"YOU"LL PAY FOR THAT!" screamed Eggman. Another button and several more robots made a lunge towards her.
"If you insist" shrugged Amy
"Piko, Barrage!"
Hammers, hundreds of them, formed in the air around her in a puff of smoke, and with each deathly blow more destruction to Eggman's army went with ti!
"What! No! I will not be beaten by some little kid! Unacceptable!' the evil genius cried.
"Little kid" said an insulted Amy,
"Well if I were a little kid, you're only making fun of yourself 'cause you got beaten by one so there!" She said putting her nose in the air just like she did as a child.
"What ever! I will make you pay for this! You mark my words! I will be…!" but before he could finish what he was saying Amy hit him with another hammer, sending him flying through the sky at super speed.
"He annoys me" Amy said as her hammer came back to her side.
Tails was the first of the group to recover.
"Amy your back" he ran up to his friend and gave her a tight hug. Amy giggled.
"Hello Tails. I missed you. Hee hee .You got taller! That's just like life isn't it; you leave for a couple of years and everyone changes on you." She said, returning the hug then shaking her head in mock sorrow. "How did you know we were here?"
"I had just gotten home when I saw Cream and she said that she just saw you guys fighting Eggman's robot on the news. Are you guys alright?" she asked the group.
"Yeah we're fine Amy. But wow, you look different." said Sonic. She giggled
"Thanks for noticing. But seriously though I was worried for second there that last attack looked like it hurt" she said concerned. She didn't know what she would do if one of her friends got hurt.
"Nah don't worry about it, we're fine thanks to you." said Knuckles giving her an uncharacteristic thumb up.
"Yeah you were awesome Amy; you have got to show me how you did that" Amy smiled cheerfully.
It was so good to be home again. The only one who wasn't crowding around her was Shadow. Getting excited wasn't in his character, but at the same time he found himself unable to stop staring at the young lady. It was as if some magnetic force was trying to pull his gaze towards the female hedgehog. But he wasn't the only one unable to take his eyes off Amy.
Sonic couldn't help but notice how so many things had changed about her. She was taller and her voice had a base to it so she no longer sounded like some little kid. Also he couldn't help but notice, underneath the jacket she was wearing, her figure had become a lot more womanly.
Even her young face had matured; but even with all of these changes she was still Amy; the cute little girl with a sparkling personality. And everyone was glad she was finally home.
Later on after a bit of walking and chatting, Sonic invited Amy to join him and the others to the movies. Cream had caught up with them after a little while, so the whole gang was here.
During the movie Sonic made it a point to sit next to the pretty female hedgehog. He didn't even pay much attention to the movie; he was too busy staring at her.
Then later while everyone was talking about how absolutely awesome the movie was, he really wasn't in the conversation. After a while Tails noticed how dark it was and asked for the time.
"Its 8:37." Knuckles replied.
"Well, I had better start heading home. Thanks for a great time guys! And it was nice seeing you again Amy!" Cream said, then right before she was going to turn around. Tails offered to walk home with her. "Really? Thanks Tails!" she said smiling her warm smile. They both waved goodbye and headed towards creams house chatting on the way.
Amy smiled. She was glad Cream had found someone to keep her company. Knuckles and Rouge seemed to be getting along well also; they were the main ones talking.
Sonic and Shadow were just walking along thinking silently to themselves. She was so glad she got to hang out with her friends she was already feeling use to being back home.
"So Amy what exactly where you doing in Mercia anyway?" asked Rouge, she really wanted to hear about Amy's trip.
"I was mostly visiting my family and I saw a couple of old friends! It was cool until Rob'o' decided I needed to start training more. Not fun." She said face sinking jokingly.
"What do you mean no fun" asked Rouge. She had assumed that Amy was taking an easy vacation. "Well, I had to wake up every morning at 6 in the morning to do physical training for like two hours, then after breakfast more physical training, then actually combat training, then attack training all the way until 11:00 at night. It might not have been that bad though; I had Saturdays off to do whatever. And I got to see my family again."
"Ha-ha, you had to wake up at 6 in the morning. I feel real sorry for you." Rouge said jokingly.
"At first it was bad, but I guess I'm used to it now. I can't stay asleep for the life of me!" She said playfully downcast.
"Well then, since you cant go to sleep until 11, how about you join us on Friday, we're going to do Karaoke. Think you might want to join us?" Sonic said suddenly pulled out of his thoughts.
"Sure, sounds like fun"
"Great!" The group walked in a comfortable silence before Amy said;
"Well, I'd better start heading home, thanks for inviting me to hang out with you guys"
They said their goodbyes, and Amy left waving until she got halfway through the crosswalk, and jogging home.
It was good to be back.
