Chapter 1~Just a Millisecond
I sighed and relaxed against the well-known metal bars behind me. How, I had to wonder, and when did this become a normal pattern? The thought was shrugged off as I skimmed over the cards held in my gloved hand.
"Hey Egghead, where does the queen of diamonds go?"
"What?" Doctor Eggman turned confusedly from his surveillance monitor and eyed me inquisitively.
"You know, solitaire? Where do you put the queen of diamonds?"
"What are you-" the doctor groaned, "Decoe, Bocoe, take that deck of cards!"
"Aw, but now I'll get bored!" I whined, handing over the deck reluctantly.
"Good! Sonic should be here any minute to jump in and save you, but until then you can just deal with the dullness of being held captive!"
"Hah, how does that seem normal?" I asked, mostly to myself as Eggman turned back to the wall of screens. What he didn't notice, though, was the blue streak the zipped across it during my momentary distraction.
It was actually a normal daily activity for me to be captured my Eggman, which should have seemed weird, but I guess I was used to it by now. Besides, I always got the chance to be with Sonic when he came to rescue me. It was always the same thing; I'd be the bait to lure Sonic in so Eggman could test out his newest, faster reacting laser or bomb or whatever! Sonic always knew it was a trap, but he had yet to fall into one that he couldn't get back out of. The problem was the there was no laser or trap door or cage or anything that was fast or powerful enough to catch him.
I heard the screeching of metal and saw a red hot spot appear on the door just before Sonic broke through it with his signature spin. Eggman scowled momentarily but recovered quickly with is horribly annoying cackle.
"Sonic the hedgehog, what a pleasant surprise! As always, you've fallen right into my trap, OO-ho-ho!" Eggman laughed and I had to roll my eyes and sit up impatiently, crossing my arms. Of course he'd have to monologue for a good few minutes before I could just get out of here with Sonic.
"Nice to see you too," Sonic joked, shooting me a smile to which I tried my hardest not to smile back at.
Not that it really mattered at this point, but we were supposed to be on a date right about now. Sonic was more likely to end up saving me-again-then making a date anyway, so I almost involuntarily forgot and smiled back. Just almost.
"So what's new?" Sonic asked to no one in particular, apparently ready to get Eggman's newest speech about how this laser was sure to "blow him away" just like the last few hundred.
"Well I'm so glad you asked! I've created this new laser to-blah blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah..." I rolled my eyes and began to tune out all of the doctor's rambling gibberish and focus on the only good thing that came out of getting captured; Sonic.
I used to feel guilty every time Sonic had to put himself in danger just to come to my rescue, but now it just seemed routine, like chasing him down and demanding a date or, when I was particularly desperate feeling, marriage. It was no longer anything special; just routine. I felt no guilt because I knew for a fact Eggman would never find anything powerful enough to defeat Sonic. Nothing was that powerful other than a chaos emerald, which were being safely guarded by Sonic and Tails.
I sighed, letting my sights fall on Sonic, standing as brave tall and strong as ever, but with the slight look of boredom mixed with the aura of nostalgia on his face. It was normal for him too. Nothing to worry about.
That's what I thought up until my eyes homed in on a new subject. It was almost all the way concealed in the large machine that would generate power for the laser Eggman created. The laser was set up pointed directly at Sonic, no more than a few feet away from him and just one foot more away from me. He knew but didn't care, thinking he'd be more than fast enough to move after Eggman had pressed the button clenches in his hand. What he didn't know was that there was a dim blueish glow sneaking through the fiber glass of the machine. What he didn't see was the chaos emerald loaded in the laser, ready to be shot at him full force.
My heart stopped and I swear I would have passed out right then and there, but my subconscious kept me upright until I regained the usage of words and actions. Now it was time for me to step in or watch Sonic be shot dead right in front of me. Trying to save me.
"SONIC!" I shouted, cutting Eggman off mid-ramble.
Okay, so in retrospect, yelling out that I knew what was going on probably wasn't the best idea, but I was completely and irrationally panicking, and with any luck it could take Eggman a moment of doing the same before he pressed the button. One millisecond; that was all it took. I pulled out my hammer and easily bent apart the bars in the little cage. Not that I couldn't have done that sooner, but that was a plan b, since it would be much more efficient to just wait for Sonic.
"He has a chaos emerald powering the laser," I exclaimed, still trying to stop my heart from beating so fast it might explode.
Sonic's eyes widened in shock as he tried to process my announcement and mine darted over to Eggman, who looked just as dumbstruck. Unfortunately, he recovered sooner than Sonic as he shook it off and his finger crept towards the button in his large hand. It would only take a millisecond.
I threw the hammer out in front of me, not necessarily aiming but hoping that I'd get lucky and it would push the laser to aim in a different direction. Without stopping the burst of adrenaline and fear, I lunged towards Sonic with the intention to push us both out of the way. A flash of light escaped from the laser, pointed right between us now, but it traveled all the way across the room in less time than it took for me to complete my jump. In the same amount of time it took me to travel two inches in his direction, the beam made contact with me.
It only took a millisecond.
I felt the vibration of energy shoot through my body and I was only vaguely away of the hard impact I made against the wall and eventually the floor. It only took a millisecond.
My eyes were open but I saw spikes of light began to blur my vision until all I could see was nothing. I blinked and tried to see, but even blinking sent huge waves of pain coursing through me. I felt my body shaking and seizing as I tried to contain all the feeling. It was like so much energy had been put in me all at once and there was no way to release it. Like an electrical shock that just kept getting worse rather than subsiding.
The sounds of the room were replaced by the static jolting sounds of the electricity overcoming my body. I felt myself go numb on the outside even if I felt too much inside. Too much energy, shocking me from my core. It only took a millisecond, a painfully slow millisecond, but I knew it was only that, and I felt myself slowly returning to reality.
The room blurred back into existence through the blinding light around me and the electricity began to spread out so that I was more aware of it in sections, particularly two blips of immense energy overcoming my shoulders. I began to hear the sounds around me again as everything became crisper and more precise.
"Amy...Amy?" it was a blurred version of Sonic's voice, gradually pulling me back to reality.
"You're...er-in..." I tried to make my mouth form words as I gradually perceived what was going on.
Sonic sat over me with his hands holding me up in a sitting position, his eyes widening as I spoke. "What?" he asked so quietly that if my hearing hadn't come fully back yet I wouldn't have noticed.
I blinked one more time and regained full consciousness, though still uncontrollable pulsating with the contained energy. "You're...hurting me," I said, as if still unsure myself.
Sonic automatically let go of my shoulders and backed away just a half inch. What concerned me, though, was that the hot spots of energy burning in my shoulders left with his hands. And all it took was a millisecond.
"Are you alright?" he asked, his voice full of concern and his eyes full of hurt.
I didn't answer as another wave of pain swept over me and I had to focus very hard to maintain consciousness."What..." I began but couldn't find the strength to finish. Actually, it was more like I had too much strength to finish and I knew that if I opened my mouth again I'd only be able to scream, so I bit down hard on my lip to keep it tucked inside of me.
"The chaos emerald is gone," Eggman stated from across the room, sounding more shocked than accomplished.
"What's going on? What did you do to her?" Sonic growled defensively, turning swiftly to the doctor.
After quickly doing a scan of his machine, Eggman turned to us with a scarred expression. Sonic jumped up and I could tell he was barely refraining from going at him.
"My laser was powered by a chaos emerald," Eggman began explaining, "but it's no longer in the machine! It must have exploded or something and released the energy in its beam!"
"What will that, or rather has that done?" Sonic asked through gritted teeth.
With a nervous expression, Eggman slowly came three steps closer and held out a little device and pointed it directly at me. His eyes widened as it gave a little beep. "It couldn't have..."
"WHAT?" Sonic demanded.
"From what I can gather, the energy from the emerald was indeed released through the laser and now it's...it's been transferred to...her," he said, pointing one of his fingers dead at me, eyes wide in shock and horror.
"It can't...NO! Amy, we need to get you to see Tails now. Are you okay?" I nodded, hoping to be at least slightly convincing and winced noticeably as he slid his arms under me and lifted me up.
With his touch came another jolt of electricity and I found it hard to remain still and not jerk with the waves of energy. He noticed my flinch and sped out of the tower all together before looking me dead in the eye.
"What is it, Amy?" he asked, stopping momentarily outside.
"Nothing," I lied, not wanting to say that his touch felt like a burning burst of electricity, and not the "sparks flying" kind you hear about in books or TV; I'd felt that before with him and that didn't hurt.
"I'm going to get you to Tails and he'll do an analysis, is that okay?"
"Yes," I said through my half-closed mouth, still trying to fight the urge to scream.
At his super sonic speed racing so quickly across the countryside to get to Tails, it only took a millisecond.
Everything hurt; like the same sort of bursts of electricity with everything but just in different levels of intensity. Sonic's grasp and every single leaf or bug that collided with my face as he ran, so small that I never would've noticed them at all before but now so visibly painful. When we got there, Sonic burst through the doors and immediately called for Tails, who came frantically up the stairs from his workshop in the basement.
"This can't be good," Tails mumbled as he saw Sonic holding me and the pained expression I was sure to be wearing.
"Will you wait here a second Ames?" Sonic asked and I nodded as he set me down on the sofa. It was the first time anything had ever felt better than his arms to me, but the relief was lost in the cloud of worry in my head.
I curled into a tight ball as Sonic went over what had happened with Tails, who listened intently with a worried expression and his eyes stealing glances in my direction every few seconds. I held my knees against my chest and tightened my body in attempt to stop the throbbing jolts still seizing through me. I sat like this in a feeble sort of attempt at containing the energy ravaging my form, even though I knew it could neither be contained nor released.
"Will you let me do a scan?" I looked up to see Tails standing over me now, trying to look comforting but I could tell he was nervous as well. "Amy? Can I do a really quick scan so I can figure out what's going on?" he repeated.
I nodded and Sonic stepped over, about to pick me up again when I held up my hand to stop him. "Please let me walk," I said and, though slightly taken aback, Sonic agreed and I stood up and followed Tails.
I was shaking noticeably, but I knew it would only cause another spark of pain to let Sonic carry me. Walking was possible enough until we reached the room with all of Tails's examination equipment. Even through the thick soles of my shoes, I felt a huge rush of electricity shoot up from the metal floor the second I touched it.
"Ah!" I yelled out loud and jumped back, almost falling onto the floor, but Sonic caught me. With the jolt of pain from his touch, I jumped back forward so I was standing just between him and the offending metal ground.
"What is it?" Tails and Sonic both asked as Sonic took a step back when I jumped away from him.
"I'm sorry, just the-the..." I didn't know how to say it. Well, actually I did, but I didn't feel like just blurting out that "Sonic and the floor shocked me" for fear they might just deduce me as insane.
"Don't be sorry about it! What happened though?" Sonic asked, taking a half step cautiously towards me when I held up my hand to stop him again.
"The...it's just...it hurts." I said.
"What hurts?" Sonic asked and I shook my head, not wanting to say anything.
"You have to tell us, Amy, so I can do an analysis," Tails said and I sighed in defeat.
"Everything. The metal floor and when you touched me," a turned to Sonic and then experimentally reached out towards Tails, gingerly touching his arm and quickly retracting as I felt the shock against him too. "Did you feel that?"
"Feel what?" the fox asked, now concerned.
"It's like when you're staticy and you touch someone and you both get shocked, only it's about a thousand times worse," I explained, hoping I didn't sound completely mental. "When I touched the floor there it was about a thousand times worse that that."
Sonic eyed Tails, who looked slightly dismayed. "Can Sonic carry you just across the metal floor?" the fox asked, avoiding Sonic's incredulous gaze.
"Tails..." Sonic began.
"Yes, that's okay," I said, bracing myself for the jolt as Sonic hesitantly scooped me up and sped past Tails in the doorway and over to the examination table.
"Don't put her on the metal," Tails instructed, pointing to a plastic and cloth rolling chair near the corner.
Sonic promptly set me down there and followed Tails, continuing to ask what was going on as the fox began starting up all the machines and equipment in the room.
"Tails, what's going on?" he asked quietly, I guess just trying not to worry me.
"I need to do some tests before I say anything for certain but..." Tails trailed off under his breath.
"But what?" I joined in and they both looked over to me. "What do you think is going on?"
"Well, from what I heard that Eggman said..." Tails sighed, "I think that the chaos emerald exploded in the laser and it, rather than the actual beam, was shot at you. I think you have the chaos emerald's energy trapped inside you."
I bit my tongue, trying not to freak out. It was just a theory, after all. I mean, I knew how powerful a chaos emerald, just one alone, was and...that would explain the vibrating waves of electricity I felt pounding through me but...no! It was just a theory and I refused to believe it, no matter how evident it may have seemed, until it was a cold hard proven FACT!
…
It hurt more as a fact than it did as a theory. I had the chaos energy inside of me, but I wouldn't be able to get it out. Whenever I touched something that had energy of any kind, whether it was the vibrating atoms in a metal or the photosynthetic energy of a plant or even the constant energy flowing through someone's body, I felt it. Electrical items would shock more whereas everything else was like a jolt of energy that was too hard to describe as anything but a burning sort of shock.
It was amazing, really, to touch the metal table and feel the friction of every atom moving and working, even if it hurt like hell. Tails explained it in great detail after comparing my energy readings with that of both an inactive and active chaos emerald. Mine was somewhere in between, as the energy was kept in motion flowing through me but not being necessarily called upon.
And it was awful.
I couldn't touch anything without feeling the full impact of it! I couldn't do anything or move in any way without activating the energy infinitesimally more with every movement I made, causing an even bigger explosion of pain when I touched something else.
If you want the scientific specifics, each chaos emerald, when inactive, contained 60,000 amperes of energy. When fully active, but not with the help of any other emeralds causing a chaos reaction, a single emerald could generate up to 3 billion amps of energy! With the average percentage of active energy within me when I was making little to no movement at about 1.8 billion amps, that made for approximately 17,370,000,000,000,000 (seventeen quintillion three hundred seventy quadrillion) electrons worth of energy inside of me. And that was all just potential energy, meaning that I wasn't and COULDN'T use any of it!
I was shaking the whole time I sat there and Tails explained what was going on, but no longer from fear rather than the uncontainable energy trying to burst out of me. I couldn't move and yet I couldn't sit still.
"Is there anyway to..." I broke off, afraid to ask the rest when I saw Tails's face fall.
"I don't know," he admitted. "From what I can tell, the chaos energy has dispersed throughout your whole body by now and it would be very hard to gather it all back to one spot, and even harder to remove it if there was a way. I can assure you, though, that I'll do everything I can to figure out a way to do it."
I sighed, still trying to grasp the whole reality of all this. My eyes drifted to Sonic who seemed to be deep in thought on the far side of the room. He seemed worrisome, even slightly angry, but I didn't blame him at all.
For me it was scary and overwhelming, I could tell for Tails it was frustrating, not knowing how to deal with it or how exactly it was even possible, but Sonic...I know he would feel responsible, whether or not it had been his fault, and angry at Eggman for causing this catastrophe in the first place. And, knowing Sonic, he'd be mad at me for interfering with something that he could have handled it I'd taken the rational approach and discretely warned him rather than causing Eggman to panic and fire right away.
I didn't regret preventing Sonic from taking the blow, but... If only I'd stopped to think before I jumped out there. It would've only take a millisecond...
Hello everybody! I'm back with a new story! I finally got a laptop and along with it, the freedom to write what and as I please! So yeah, that's pretty damn epic! And just so you all know (if any of your read my last story "If You Seek Amy" and saw my note for the "next story" at the end) I will still try to carry out that idea. It's changed a lot in my head since I first though of it, so now it's all a matter of revising it to fit the new and improved plot (which, with me sadly, may take a while). So this is kind of a filler for until I get that up and going! :D
I don't exactly remember where I got the idea for this one (honestly I think it may have been while reading my Chemistry lesson on electrical charges) but here it is! I'll warn you now that it probably won't be all too long, but I've already written the next couple of chapters and I'd love to get those out as soon as I get a good idea of whose reading this anyway! (And I can only do that if your review!)
Well yeah, it's gonna be some major suspense (honestly probably my most suspenseful story EVER), so I'd love to update very quickly! If you'd love for m to update quickly as well, you better review! :3
Thanks guys and it's great to be back!