"Aah! Sonic, I'm falling!"
Sonic eagerly held out his hand to the pink hedgehog, who was dangling on the edge of a jagged rock. "Grab my hand, hurry!" he called out, reaching out as far as he could. Amy stretched her peach-colored arm as well and finally was able to grasp Sonic's gloved hand.
Groaning, the blue hedgehog finally yanked her up onto the cliff's edge. The two gasped for breath. Amy held her heaving chest and stood up shakily. "Th-thank you," she told Sonic. Sonic stood up next to her and gave her a small smile.
"No problem," he replied. Amy blushed affectionately.
He's soooo modest!
The two hedgehogs were traveling through Angel Island, trying to locate the always-hidden location of the Master Emerald's shrine. They had come across a cliff, and Amy had gotten caught on a jagged cluster of boulders before Sonic saved her.
Sonic stood up next to Amy and peered around. "Do you see any sign of a shrine?" he asked. Amy squinted and looked around, but saw nothing.
"Sorry," she replied. Sonic stamped his foot impatiently.
"Geez!" he cried. "If we don't hurry up and find this place, we won't know who killed Knuckles!"
Amy scuffed her boot on the ground. "Sonic, look…when we found the body, it was already at least a day old…" Sonic blinked surprisingly.
"Yeah?" he asked. "What's the point?"
"The point is that whoever did it probably already got away with it."
Sonic's angry gaze met Amy's eyes, and he was about to start yelling, but instead he slumped to the ground and put his face in his knees. "This is it…" he sighed. "The time I wasn't fast enough…it cost Knuckles his life."
Amy crouched down and put her hand on Sonic's trembling spines. "It's not your fault," she sighed in his ear. None of us were fast enough to save Knuckles…not just you." Sonic wiped a tear out of his eye and faced the pink hedgehog.
"B-but…I…I'm supposed to be the hero…"
The blue hedgehog stood up and faced the horizon. "You're right," he replied. "But…even if we don't find the guy right away…we WILL find him."
"And make him pay for hurting our friend," Amy agreed, grabbing Sonic's hand. The hedgehog was too determined to notice.
"Come on. Let's get back to the hospital and get Tails so we can find our guy."
Anxious to get going, Sonic suddenly picked up Amy and sped off towards home. "Don't take it personally," he told her. "I just have to get going, and I need to get there quickly."
"Of course…" Amy trailed off, somewhat disappointed.
When the two hedgehogs were able to get back to the Station Square Memorial Hospital, a nurse greeted them. "Was the two-tailed fox that came here a friend of yours?" she asked, skeptical about talking to mutant animals. Sonic nodded.
"Yeah. Did he leave?"
The nurse bowed her head. "Well, actually…"
Amy perked up. "Did something happen to Tails?"
The nurse looked the two straight in the eye.
"Tails is dead."
