AN: You know why Amy hasn't gotten Sonic yet? It's because she's going about it all wrong. This little 'What if?' is set during Sonic Adventure 2 when Sonic is being held on Prison Island and Amy comes to bust him out (so right before the Metal Harbor stage), and shows what may have happened if Amy had decided at that moment to be a bit more ambitious and devious than normal.
I took lines from the game. And yes, I know I chopped up the order of the scene's events, you don't have to tell me. I figure, for my purposes, I'm already messing up enough. Who cares if I excise some of the fluff?
The cell they held him in was dim and dank, with an arctic chill that cut through his thin blue fur with little effort. It was, as Sonic had come to realize after hours of fruitlessly pummeling the enclosure's walls and bars, a very strong cell. Maybe even too strong to escape from. The crazed scribblings covering every square inch of the cell's walls seemed to confirm that thought, their harsh reality bearing down on him from three sides. Sonic didn't bother to read the scrawls after he realized what they were, high-level calculations and technical diagrams, but he still glanced at them as he paced the cell in an attempt to keep warm and sane.
The previous occupant of his cell languished there long enough to write all that, to cover ever available vertical space in their tiny, haphazard notes. They had been trapped, and now, so was he. Without outside help, Sonic knew he would never escape. Even if he broke out of his cell, there was still the entire military base to fight his way out of, then nothing but the inhospitable jungle and ocean he glimpsed from the window of the G.U.N. helicopter on the flight to Prison Island.
Beginning to pace again, trying to raise his body temperature to overcome the freezing cell, Sonic kept throwing glances at the door beyond his cell's bars that lead to the rest of the base. If there was one thing their adventures together had taught him, it was that Tails would come to help and fast. Sonic almost expected to see the little fox standing in the doorway with some amazing gadgetry, ready to bust him out, within the hour.
Even if he didn't arrive that quickly, Sonic hoped his little buddy would show up soon. He hated being cooped up anywhere, and he was sure that if he was forced to stay locked away in the tiny cell much longer he would start to lose it, just like whoever covered the walls in all those equations.
- X -
How long had he been in there? Without a source of natural light Sonic couldn't be sure, but it was definitely more than an hour. Six, twelve, even twenty-four seemed like reasonable estimates. Tails was sure taking his sweet time.
He was just about to launch into another round of pacing when a strange skittering sound floated down into his cell. It was coming from somewhere above him and... Before he had the time to figure it out, the one making the mystery noise decided to make their move. The metal grill that, until seconds ago, covered a ventilation duct in the ceiling hit the floor with a reverberating metallic clang; followed closely by a young hedgehog. Sonic froze as the pink vision in a red dress landed just beyond the bars of his cell and did a small pirouette. His only thought was 'Oh no, why her? Why did it have to be her?'
"Have no fear, Amy Rose is here!"
Sonic was terrified. Yes, he counted Amy among his friends, and yes, she was the chance for escape he had been waiting for; but her crush had always been teetering on the edge of obsession, just inches from spiraling way out of control, leading her to be almost diabolical in her pursuits. If he had trouble escaping from her schemes normally, what would she do now that he was locked up and depending on her? Amy's advantage was outrageously unfair. Still, he had to say something and present a brave front, anything less would be like blood in the water, drawing Amy even closer in.
"How'd you get here?" Good job Sonic, cover the shock and fear with feigned surprise. That's the way to do it!
"Well, if you have to know, I caught a ride with Tails." Amy practically giggled as she walked up to the bars of the cell, looking supremely satisfied with herself. She had something up her sleeve, Sonic just knew it. "Are you sure you don't need my help? It looks like you could use it." The G.U.N.-issue keycard glinted dully in the glow of the fluorescent lights. Sonic had no idea how or where she got it, but he could tell it was the real deal. What would she do now?
"All right, Amy! Now hurry and let me out so I can go find that black hedgehog. Uh, Amy...?" The pink hedgehog was standing still, arms crossed, and giving him an appraising look. It was so different from her normal bubbly self, Sonic didn't know what to make of it.
"Sonic, I'll let you out, I'll even tell you where that black hedgehog is, on one condition." She paused for effect, making Sonic's quills stand on end. This side of Amy, he decided, was really creepy. "If I let you out, you have to marry me."
It wasn't a question, or even a request, it was a statement. It had finally happened, the one thing Sonic was always afraid of. Amy wasn't content to just chase after him anymore, now she was serious. There was only one way he could respond. He needed to be equally serious.
"No way! Now quit fooling around and open the cell."
"You have to marry me, Sonic! If you don't propose to me right now, then I'm leaving and I'm taking the key with me." She turned her back on him and started walking for the door.
Sonic was silent. Of course he didn't want to marry Amy, he loved being a free agent with no real ties to speak of, and marriage would ruin that. Not to mention it would be marriage to a girl who was, at the moment, proving herself to be absolutely crazy. He had to think.
In the quiet, Sonic could clearly hear the sound of rockets and laser fire echoing throughout the base. If it was audible through the solid concrete and steel around him, then it must have been incredibly loud out where the fighting was raging. It sounded like Tails was giving the G.U.N. forces more than their share of trouble.
Sonic was sure his little buddy would come to the rescue, but what if it turned out Tails couldn't free him without Amy's keycard? Last time he asked, the rockets Tails had on the Tornado couldn't blast through anything much stronger than wooden crates. Unless Tails did some fast upgrades before he came to Prison Island, he wouldn't be able to blast the bars off the cell. They might actually need Amy's keycard, and if she left with it he'd be trapped!
By the time he came to his decision, Amy was already at the door, swiping the keycard through so she could leave. Sonic knew if he spent even another ten minutes in that cell he'd go insane. He had to move fast!
"Hey, wait!" Amy paused, looking back over her shoulder at the desperate hero.
"Yeah, Sonic?"
Sonic didn't know what made Amy so whacked out, but he hoped she would snap out of it and not make him go through with what he was about to say once they got back to Station Square.
"Amy, will you marry me?" He was unprepared for the shrill, ecstatic squeal that followed his question. The sheer force of the sound knocked him a few steps further back into the cell.
"Oh, of course I will, Sonic!" Amy gave a little jump of joy before sliding the keycard through the cell's electronic lock. She was too busy celebrating the realization of all her aspirations to notice the very calculating look on Sonic's face as the cell bars rose out of the way. "We'll be so happy together!"
"Yeah, about that... Sorry changed my mind, later Amy!" He went from standing perfectly still to an all-out super-sonic run in under three seconds, fleeing the room before he even finished speaking. After all, there was no need to stick around and suffer Amy's wrath. At the moment Sonic only wanted two things: To find Shadow, and to get as far away from Amy as possible, preferably for several years.
- X -
Amy couldn't really understand what Sonic said, his voice was too distorted by his high speed, but she did manage to make out "sorry" and "changed" before he ran out. It was enough to accurately guess that her hero had gotten cold feet. Knowing how fast he could be, she guessed Sonic was already running around outside the base. She'd have to try her hardest if she wanted to catch up.
"Hey, wait for me Sonic! She cried as she sprinted out the door after him. "He's such a brat sometimes!"
It really wasn't fair. She should have known better than to let him out of her sight. She thought she had him this time.
AN: Honestly, in that cutscene she could've decided to be evil and blackmailed our hero into a deal instead of just letting Sonic go free. Determined and crazy as Amy can be, I was surprised she didn't try it. Especially after her "Are you sure you don't need my help?" line.