~0~ YANG-VERSE ~0~
Sonic looked out the window, watching a pair of ravens play in the trees outside. It'd been two years- give or take, he was man enough to admit he couldn't remember the date- since Amy had disappeared, and today was the first time in all that time they had a chance of finding her again.
Tails had just finished his newest invention, a device to look into someone else's dreams. [He needed to remember to congratulate the little guy, even though it was a little creepy.] An odd idea, one thought up by Cream, but if anybody could have brought it to life it was Tails- and he'd done it, too. He'd explained it all- something scientific- about how the synapses in an average brain connected the same way no matter the environment. They changed speed and strength according to the person's genetics, so if he locked in on the right frequency they'd be able to view that person's dreams no matter what. Or something along those lines. The only thing Sonic had really understood was that he'd tried to find Amy with the machine, just an experiment he hadn't expected to work, and managed to lock in on her frequency. Her location was fuzzy, but apparently she was in a dimension parallel to theirs and doing just fine.
Only she wasn't fine- being transported was hard enough on her system, but she'd recently been exposed to a huge amount of chaotic magic and it totally fried her hard drive. She was in a medieval dimension, if Tails' scanners were correct, and they didn't have good enough medical technology to know she was even hurt. If they didn't bring her back soon . . . she would die.
He volunteered to be the first subject on their side of the device. He only had to get hooked up, fall asleep, and explain things to Amy and they would be on their way to bringing her back and fixing all the mistakes that had snowballed into her . . . disappearance.
The machine looked sort of like one of the brain-sucker things from a beauty salon. Sonic felt more than a little stupid putting it on and trying to settle into the cold, hard chair it was attached to. Oh, man, even with all the others outside of the room it was hard to fall asleep. Deep breaths. Deep, slow breaths. Just . . . just be calm.
In.
Beep.
Out.
Beep.
In.
Beep.
Out.
The machine was noisy . . . and now it was off. Great. Nice one, getting your hopes up like that, Sonic. He looked around. He was surrounded by a weird light- probably the machine- but the rest of his small, small world was now black. Man, Sonic. All that effort and all you do is short circuit the electrical system. Just darkness now.
And Amy.
Oh, Chaos, she was almost exactly the same. Gorgeous green eyes, soft pink fur, fashionable red clothing. But the scars he could see littering her body were new. The roughly cut quills were new.
The look of despair was new.
"Amy!"
~0~ AMY-VERSE ~0~
Sonic had the best night of sleep he'd had in two years [not counting any times he was drugged or knocked out or- shut up he was supposed to be emotional right now]. He spent it all talking with Amy, explaining about his world and hers, even- dare he say it- flirting a little with her. He had to admit, seeing her again, one of his best friends since forever, was almost too much. He had a feeling his eyes were getting pink from unshod tears- she kept staring at them, so they probably were.
"Okay . . . I think I understand the whole Other Worlds thing. And that you're a Real Sonic, but not the Real Sonic I was talking to earlier . . . but what makes the two so different? I mean, isn't your world just like mine?"
"Our world, Amy. You belong with me, remember. But- well, Tails said you lived in a medieval era. This true?"
"Uh . . . we have knights and a monarchy, so compared to Robotropilis I guess we might be considered medieval. But what do you mean, 'Tails said'? I don't want to sound mean, but Tails is a little lacking in the brains department."
"That's the first difference, then. My Tails is a bonafide genius. He could solve any math problem, read any book- heck, he even invented and built the machine I'm using to talk to you right now!" Sonic felt his ears perking up and his tail twitching from side to side. This much happiness could not be contained. Amy was here!
"Tails? A genius? Now I've heard everything." Oh, but she had a beautiful laugh. And a beautiful smile. And beautiful everything.
"Not quite. I don't know what your world looks like, but mine is downright gorgeous. The sunsets are breath-taking, the mountains are like some sort of awesome art piece, I've been in forests where the trees have rainbow-colored bark. Everywhere you go, there's a Chao garden right around the corner. My favorite is the one right by your house, the one our friend Cream is in charge of. All the Chao there are trained to play games, and believe me when I say that those little guys can play a mean Hot Potato."
Oh, she laughed again, score! Do it again, Amy, laugh for your buddy.
"And then there's Twinkle Park. Man, but that place was an adventure all it's own. You used to-" He stopped, amazed. The darkness around them was fading away, the light he had come from becoming the sun and rising up, casting orangey pink light over an odd landscape. It looked sort of like Twinkle Park- missing pieces, and the rides were kind of lopsided, but definitely the festive plaza he knew so well. Amy's subconscious must've remembered, even if she hadn't, and had created this place from the memory.
Woah.
"Is this it?" She whispered lightly. His tail drooped a little. He'd never heard her talk like this. She was always so confident, so sure. Now she sounded small, weak, forgotten.
"Yep." He dropped down on a nearby bench, avoiding her eyes and looking at the off-color wood that he sat on.
"Oh, wow, this is-" She ran down the path, looking at the lively rides and games. "This is amazing!"
Sonic nodded, his gaze frozen on the small scratches in the wood.
Amy + Sonic 4ever.
He'd sat on this bench with her, once, on the only date she'd ever convinced him to go on.
Had she written this?
Or was this a part of her imagination? [Ugh this was supposed to be a test of Amy's continued existance, not his sanity. As soon as he woke up he was gonna check Twinkle Park for this and- and- and whatever else he could think of. He hated being left in the dark like this.]
He leaped up and followed her, down the winding stone pathway, all the way to the fortune tellers' tent. She went in.
He hesitated. In there, he was sure, she would ask the question he had been dreading.
"Sonic? Are you coming?"
He followed.
Amy was settling herself onto one of the cushioned chairs in the shrouded tent, the crystal ball in front of her giving off a glow that made her eyes light up. She looked up when he walked in.
"Sonic?"
"Yeah, Amy?" Here it comes.
"If I'm supposed to be in your world . . . how did I end up in mine?"
~0~ YANG-VERSE ~0~
They'd been coming down to Mobius in the Cyclone, the joy of coming home filling them all with a warm, fuzzy feeling. They were done, they were safe.
Shadow was the first one to notice something was wrong. Figures. He'd never really been one for happy endings.
"Faker, you need to look at this."
Sonic had been a little exasperated at Shadow for bringing him down from his high, but came over anyway.
"Dude, it's probably just some- holy cow." Outside, just beyond arms reach, in fact, was another metal monstrosity. Eggman. "Shadow, go warn the others. I'll get outside."
The taller hedgehog nodded, and the two sped off in opposite directions. Sonic, now standing on the outer deck of the Cyclone, felt the ship groan and shift under his feet as Tails sped up the landing process. The guns on the side clicked into place; in his minds eye he could see Rouge and Amy in the Battle Stations, goggles on, aiming their cross hairs at vital points in Eggbutt's ship.
"SONIC, I KNOW YOU'RE ON THERE."
'No duh, you butthead'. Sonic didn't answer. A mission in space really teaches a guy that trying to shout over two monster jet engines, fan-blades, wind and Eggman's tirades was a futile practice.
"ROBOTS; I WANT YOU TO CAPTURE THE PESKY BLUE HEDGEHOG AND ALL HIS ANNOYING LITTLE FRIENDS."
Drones poured out of the other ship by the dozen and Sonic pushed his weight onto his toes. The guns couldn't get all those guys, no matter how good his gun women were. He'd have to kick some robot behind.
The battle was short and fierce, as they always were. The Cyclone had landed, and Knuckles had taken off with all the others into Tail's Workshop, in order to get out of Eggman's line of fire. Shadow stayed to fight, the stubborn fuzzball that he was, and wouldn't go no matter how Sonic tried to shoo him. They were winning; Eggman had once again not made enough drones. They were WINNING.
They had been SO CLOSE.
And that's when Eggman made his move: "ALL ROBOTS! LEAVE THE HEDGEHOG ALONE! JUST GET THOSE CHAOS EMERALDS!"
What? Hadn't that hot-headed echidna taken them all with him? He and Shadow zipped inside to the power bay, only to find Amy in there already, pounding the drones away with her hammer.
"I- won't- let- you- stupid- robutts- get- these- emeralds!" She pounded away a metallic monster which every word. Her quills were flying around, the energy from the emeralds blowing them every which way. She looked like an Amazon goddess, her eyes lighting up in the heat of battle, blasting away badniks with every swing of her ginormous hammer.
Knuckles would've been proud and quite possibly promoted her to honorary guardian.
Sonic was just swept off his feet.
"Finally!" With assistance from the two boys below her, she'd destroyed all the drones that were left. She hadn't noticed them yet, apparently. "If Eggman had gotten these babies it would've been game over for us!" She began to pull them out and place them in her satchel, the old leather bag she kept her magic supplies in. "Red, Gold, Blue, Green- oh, no!" She wrapped both hands around the stone and pulled, hard. "It won't come out!"
A loud keening came from above, and giant metal claws ripped into the ceiling. Amy ignored them as she considered the emerald.
"Oh, right. Shadow used this one."
"Shadow, what did you do to that thing?" Sonic asked through gritted teeth. His fellow considered.
"Well, first I jammed it in there-"
"He must've shoved this thing in here-"
"Then I kicked at it, to make sure it stuck-"
"Or whacked at it with a hammer-"
"After that, I put some of that super glue on it."
"And then he must've glued it in there or something, 'cuz MAN that thing is in snug!"
"Well, gee, Shadow, you never thought what it'd be like to the person trying to get it out?" Sonic readied himself to jump up next to Amy and help. The black-furred life form did the same.
"Like you would've prepared for this occasion. Honestly, Faker, you think I meant for-"
The robot's fist smashed through and dove for the emeralds- and the unsuspecting girl who was just now seeing the threat.
"Oh NO-" She pulled out her hammer, readying herself to defend the power sources behind her. She would break her arm, dislocate it at the very least, if she didn't do this right. That robot wasn't about to stop. She braced herself. The two boys leaped up behind her, running to make it in time. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, waiting for the impact. Wildly shaking, about to fall apart and already flaming, the robot made ungodly noise as it hurtled down.
. . .
. . .
. . .
Have you ever been at ground zero for a bombing, or a massive explosion? The sound is indescribable. Everything suddenly growing quiet, then nothing, then an impossibly loud and impossibly soft thunder. People screaming. Buildings collapsing. Children crying. Then utter silence.
It's the sound of Game Over.
. . .
. . .
. . .
That's what happened. In the painfully long moments before she disappeared, along with the chaos emeralds, Sonic could see her turn towards him. She said something- he couldn't hear it- and slowly closed her eyes, breathing out one last, soft breath.
And then silence.
~0~ AMY-VERSE ~0~
Amy held her breath. This Sonic- her real Sonic, if he was to be believed- had just told her a story so unbelievable it had to be true. It was obvious he hadn't told this tale before. Pauses, stutters, repeats and poor word choices littered his story. But the whole time she listened to his words she watched his eyes and those eyes swam with massive depths of untold emotion. He meant every word of his story, and she could see the memory unfold in his eyes.
She believed him.
There was still a very high chance he wasn't real. That she had finally snapped and her brain had come up with this kind Sonic to help cushion the loss of sanity. But regardless of his questionable existence, he wasn't lying.
"And . . . well, after that we all just kinda felt lost. I sat there all night and most of the next day. I thought that, if you came back, that was where you would land. You didn't."
The two of them sat for a minute in companionable silence.
"If I had just moved faster- If I hadn't been so slow-" He broke off, eyes narrowing, and bit his lip. He didn't look at her when he continued. "When I finally figured out you weren't gonna come back, I went and kicked Eggman's butt. He didn't show his face for a while." He got up and stretched, walking back out of the tent and into the sunlight. She followed, her legs a little sore from sitting so long.
"But- but if all that really happened, then how do I remember growing up here?"
"Chaos 'Control' is just an alliterative phrase. What happened to you was a self-preservation gamble that just happened to send you here. Probably back in time a little, too, and since time runs differently here, you managed to grow up, back into your usual stunning self." He winked at her. Whatever pain he had felt telling the story was outmatched by the relief he felt getting it off of his chest.
"Okay, that makes sense. But- but what about-" She had so many questions, so little answers, but he stopped her with a finger to her lips.
"Don't worry about it tonight, Ames." She felt herself blush at the sound of her nickname.
"Just trust me."
~0~0~0~
Wow. I actually updated a story. Isn't this impressive?
Again, this story isn't mine; the characters belong to SEGA/Archie, and the idea belongs to v-16-v.
Review! Do it for the vine!