Sonic had always saved the world and its citizens from danger. So naturally, when he was asked to go into the forest to find the Old Castle, a holy place that
only the royal were allowed, unless otherwise having proved yourself worthy, he shrugged his shoulders, and off he went. He wasn't at all worried about the
three trials an elderly man in the town of Soleanna had talked to him about. But he had no idea that out of the three trials, the last one would be like this. The
first trial, the Trial Of Knowledge, was a piece of cake. He simply had to remember which portals to go through to lead him to the goal. Then came the second
trial, the Trial of Courage. This one was a bit tougher, but it was nothing the blue hedgehog couldn't handle. He simply had to carefully execute each homing
attack he performed on the robots around him, seeing as he was not given any rings, not even one. Then finally came the third and final trial, The Trial Of Love.
When he first heard the name of it, he raised an eyebrow. What could this trial possibly bring? But he soon found out just what, and it left him feeling helpless
and troubled for the first time in his life, despite his beaming confidence and heroics.
Sonic stood in a grassy field, in the middle of two blue portals. At first he scratched his quills in confusion. Hadn't he already done a trial of memory? But as he
heard two voices sound from the portals, his stomach dropped.
"Oh Sonic… you know exactly how I feel about you. I only hope that you feel the same." Amy's voice came from the right portal.
"I've been thinking about you a lot lately, Sonic… I wonder if you've been thinking of me too." Elise's voice sounded from the left portal.
Amy? Elise? What was going on? As he looked from left to right, and repeated the process in confusion, he remembered the priest's words. "You most lose
something in order to gain something. There will be moments like this. For when that moment comes, you must make your decision here and now." It was then that
he realized what this trial's challenge was that he had to overcome. He had to choose one girl to keep, and one to lose. He felt his heart in his chest sink,
along with his glowing confidence in his abilities. How was he going to do this? He couldn't just choose to toss one girl to the side, in order to have the other.
Sonic cared about his friends' feelings far too much to be so careless. But what choice did he have? He had to get into the Old Castle, and he wasn't royalty.
So without passing all three trials to prove his worth, he would not be admitted, and he would putting the lives of Soleanna's people in danger. He couldn't do
that. They were all depending on him. His gloved hands resting at his sides aimlessly balled up into shaking fists, as he closed his eyes and stood there in
frustration. This was definitely the hardest thing he had faced in all his days of heroics. It was far tougher than any plan or invention Eggman had created in
the hopes of taking over the world. When this trial was over, one of the girls would no longer be someone he could call a friend. They would take part in his life
no longer.
He began to weigh the options. Elise, the redheaded, all white wearing princess of Soleanna, though he had met her only recently was beautiful and kind.
They met because of Eggman, who attacked during the festival, and Sonic saved her, only to be later kidnapped by a few of Eggman's pesky robots. It had
pretty much been an ongoing chase for him to get the princess out of Eggman's clutches. They hardly conversed due to Eggman always after them to try and
capture Elise again, with the exception of once. After a chase, Elise noticed that Sonic's arm was wounded, and blamed herself. She was such a caring girl. Not
only did she notice his arm had been scratched up a bit during the chase rescue, she also looked out for the well-being of her people. He told her not to worry
about his scratches, and to just keep smiling. She couldn't cry for it would release Iblis. To ensure she would not being to sob, he complimented her smile,
saying it was one of the nicest ones he had ever seen. He meant it. But he didn't necessarily mean it in such a way that could be taken as romantic. After all,
he had only met her a few days ago, and didn't really know her all that well. Besides, she was royalty, and was brought up living a life much difference from his
own.
And then there was Amy Rose, pink hair, red dress, and the owner of a big piko piko hammer, who he had known since childhood. He had saved her plenty of
times, but he had actually been around her to hang out and really get to know her too. She was friends with his bestest two-tailed fox pal, Tails so all three of
them had spent time together before, sometimes Cream and Kunckles were around as well. But even in the group, Amy had showed her individuality to Sonic.
She was selfless and kind-hearted, seeing as she protected a wounded and estranged bird from a robot Eggman sent out to retrieve the bird. That wasn't all
though. She had even protected him from danger. Silver, a hedgehog from the future, was about to waste him out on the streets of Soleanna. But there was
Amy, running to his rescue. Even when Silver ordered her to move, she refused, keeping her arms stretched out, and her feet standing their ground. Silver was
dangerous, he definitely was a force to be reckoned with. But still, she stood her ground to protect him. She didn't have to. But she did. She risked her life to
save his. Aside from that, she also was very honest with how she felt. Amy was always tackle hugging him, and asking him to go on dates with her. And yet he
never really showed any sort of clear emotions back.
So… who was he going to choose to keep? And who was he going to choose to lose? He felt his head beginning to tense up from all this head spinning the
question was bringing him. Every once in a while, he could hear the girls' voices, calling out his name. Their voices were both sweet and kind, but alas, they
were too different people, both in appearance and personality. And though he wished he could have them both in his life, he knew it couldn't be that way. So
whose voice did he absolutely need to have by his side? That was what he needed to figure out in order to choose a portal. He had to be careful with his
decision. There would be no turning back to do the trial over. He only got one shot at this. He tried to remember how he felt when each of the girls had been
taken away from him, and he worried for their safety. When Elise had been taken by the robots the night of the festival, he had been worried of course. And
when Amy had been knocked out by one of the robots and fell into the ocean at the beach when the whole gang decided to go, he was certainly worried. But
as he reminisced over both memories, he noticed his gloved hand slightly cover his parted lips as he remembered Amy's unconscious figure sinking to the
bottom of the water. He couldn't swim, but at the time he didn't care. He saved people, it's what he did. But for some reason, that particular act of heroics felt
different to him. Even now, he felt his heart dropping at the thought of something happening to her.
Was it possible Amy Rose was that special girl in his life that he couldn't live without? He remembered the few days in which he had upset the pink hedgehog,
and it seemed their friendship was over. He had promised her a date at Twinkle Park. But Eggman decided to wreak havoc, and thus, Sonic was off to deal
with it, leaving Amy standing in front of the park for hours, until she finally broken-heartedly ran home in tears. Those few days without hearing her coo his
name so sweetly, or having her wrap her slender arms around him, or inhaling her strawberry scented shampoo as she nuzzled her face into the crook of his
shoulder were absolutely dull. He missed her terribly. And thus, he showed up at her house when he finally couldn't take it anymore, with a bouquet of roses
which he knew she absolutely loved, and an apology she deserved and then some. She forgave him luckily. During those few days where she wouldn't even
say a word to him, let alone hug him like he had grown so used to all the time, he had gone to Tails. Sonic, the noble hero, had cried in the presence of his
best friend. He knew he had messed up, messed up bad in fact with Amy. But Tails told him he could fix it. But that's not all the smart fox said to him, and Sonic
though he didn't really take it all in at the time, was taking it all in now.
"You know, Sonic… I've never seen you cry, and I've known you since we were little. I've seen you in lots of bad situations, some of them even put you close to death.
But you never shed a tear. I think I know why though… in fact, I don't think I do. I know. You're in love with Amy, Sonic, whether you realize it or not."
He thought Tails' words to be a bit out there at the time they came from his lips. But now… the complete opposite. It made perfect sense. Sonic was in love
with Amy. He always had been. She was always at his side, even sometimes during his battles with Eggman or his robots. Though she was small and kind-
hearted, she put up a fight, and stood her ground. That was exactly the kind of girl Sonic needed at his side. And through all the times they had been through
together, the best and the worst, he had gained strong feelings for her which he refused to see or accept. Sonic was done being blind though. This trial had
indeed been the toughest out of the three, but with it being the last one, he couldn't really say he was surprised. The further you got in a journey, the rougher
the path grew. But as he walked over to the right portal, where he heard Amy's sweet voice humming a song, he felt a tugging at his lips which grew into his
confident and wide closed mouth smile. He had conquered this trial, just as he did the other two. He took one look back at the other portal, which faintly
chimed Elise's voice whispering his name to herself, "Oh Sonic…" He felt his smile deflate a little, into a small, sad smile. He was indeed sad to be losing a friend,
though she was new to his life. He would definitely miss her. But he would never forget her.
"Goodbye Elise… " He mouthed inaudibly.
He turned back to the right portal, where's Amy's humming sounded nearby, and walked through it. He was now standing on a tree trunk, where Amy and the
priest stood, Amy on the left end, and the priest on the right end of the tree trunk. "Sonic, you came!" Amy cooed, floating hearts surrounding her figure as she
swayed from left to right, her hands clasped together in front of her. "Is Amy really the one?" The priest asked him. Sonic looked over at Amy, who was happy
and lovesick as can be, and then looked back at the priest. He smiled heartily. "Yes. She certainly is." And with his choice made, he walked over to Amy, who
glomped him immediately, her strawberry shampoo filling his nostrils as her head nuzzled into his shoulder.