I haven't said this in the first chapter, but I will now: The fact that this story is posted on fanfiction net should say all that needs to be said about copyright.

I will NOT abandon this story. EVER. I swear this upon my pride as a writer and as an intelligent person, which means more to me than most people will realize.

I love the characters, and I love the story I'm making up. Although the fact that it's a fanfiction has been rubbing me raw, I've decided to write it anyway because, damn it, I enjoy it! but more than anything, I have had a historic problem with abandoing stories I start. I need to overcome this problem if I want to become a writer, and doing it here, where I have people who read my story and critique it (I hope there are still people reading this) is one of the best places I could be doing this. If you view it as a comparison to publishing and reviewers of that medium, not only do I get feedback from good readers, I can learn to ignore the feedback from obnoxious ones.

Also, note: as far as I know, there is no such thing as accentuated titanium. I made it up. Also Animatium - that's mine too.


For the past two years (incidentally, ever since she had returned from the alternate reality) Amy had lived in an apartment building near the center of Anse City. She had rejoiced when she had found it; positioned in what was arguably the best part of town, with close access not only to shopping centers and the Bazaar (a tradition of Anse, where people all over were able to buy and sell with no limitations beside the legality of the goods themselves), but the department store where she worked as well, it was one hell of a find. It wasn't cheap, but since she was a 'teammate' of Sonic's, Amy tended to get pretty much anything she wanted for almost nothing.

She had never abused the ability, really – the government made enough of a fuss over Tails. He submitted budgets to Elem that pretty much emptied the R&D department of all their funds! The weird thing was, he usually got what he wanted – there were many people in the government who wanted to downsize the R&D department and let Tails have all the money he needed, especially since he was getting better at making robotic weapons.

When Amy had first moved in, she had been especially impressed with the view. Every morning, she woke up fast and early, and every morning, she was greeted by the cheery rays of the sun. It had made her life a little bit brighter, and when you live in the shadow of heroes, it's hard to find that kind of brightness.

Today was different, though. On this especially fine morning, Amy was wishing she was in the darkest corner of the deepest of basements, and that she had never found this accursedly bright apartment. To say the 'cheery' rays of the sun offended her would be akin to saying Eggman 'just wanted a piece of land to call his own'.

Amy had woken up hours before the sun rose; her nightmares had prevented her from getting any satisfactory amount of sleep. While she had lain in her bed, at once blinded and comforted by the night, she had let her mind wander, bouncing off painful areas like a lily on rapids.

She thought of the pleasures that had carried her through day by day; her deep friendship with Cream, and her cautious one with Rouge. Of shopping for clothes and food, of the daily exercise that kept her in shape and a mark above the normal citizen. Of her job at the clothing superstore Alimo, and her recent promotion to floor manager – she was proud of that, despite the restlessness such a mundane routine provoked in her.

In truth, though, there were more things Amy didn't think about than things shedid. Most of her life was, in some way, connected to Sonic, and thus something to hide from. So she passed her time riding the waters of her mind, holding tight to her craft while ignoring the pain that shrouded everything. Pretending all was well, she grasped at that fragile, temporary peace called ignorance.

But the sun changed that. Where before the possibilities of the day had been something to look forward to, now they were something Amy dreaded – and with the sun shining in through the window, she could no longer pretend otherwise.

However, there are times for healing, and times for action. Amy was one of those people who, while often mistaking the second for the first, never fell victim to the rot of over-thinking their problems. She had rested her mind in the dark; now that the dark was gone, it was time to move forward.

After a few heartfelt words that she would not have repeated in company, Amy got up and made her way to the kitchen. Her body was tired from her restless sleep and ached all over – no matter what kind of resolve she carried, her life would be easier with some stimulant inside her.

She went to the coffee maker – and realized there was nothing in it. Scooping up some coffee grinds, she poured them into the appropriate slot, and then turned the machine on. Just as it started to attempt to strain the grinds, she realized she had forgotten the water; so she stopped the machine and poured some water into a different slot before turning it on again. Turning around, Amy rubbed the cute robot Chao on the head before making her way back to the bed.

Wait, robot Chao? I don't own any robots!

Amy turned around again, and looked closer. There was, indeed, a robot Chao on the table, sitting in standby mode. With simply constructed limbs and a face that didn't express a lot of emotion, Amy at first thought that it was a cheap model – but after she realized the chassis was made of accentuated titanium, and that the excellent technique with which it had been assembled was superior to some of the robots Eggman had put together, it was obvious that this was a high-quality robot. And not only was it well made, it had Animatium coursing through tubes deeply embedded in its casing – a lot of Animatium! This robot was worth more than her entire apartment building, and she lived in an expensive building!

She couldn't believe such a robot existed. Animatium, a metal so well suited to robot engineering that deposits of it were automatically considered government property upon their discovery, was incredibly expensive, and to use it in a Chao Robo, a model exclusively used for secretarial purposes, was ridiculous! She had heard about Tails making robots that used it, but those were usually military models that Elem had commissioned. And, of course, she had personal experience with Eggman's uses of the metal – the E-Series robots had effective robotic brains (considering their tendency to rebel, probably too effective) that were made of Animatium, and the Metal Sonic series robots used it as well, up to the most recent model which seemed to have been somehow purely made of the substance.

It was easy to see why it was so valuable – although she didn't understand the particulars, she knew that it allowed electric signals to move anywhere in the liquid on command, and at speeds much greater than allowed by any other metal. In addition, the range of temperature in which it stayed a liquid was extremely convenient, as there were very few environments or situations in which cooling or heating was needed. It was pretty much required for robots with more advanced forms of AI, and it raised the question – what kind of person needed a secretary with the computing power to run a city?

She put her hand on it, cautiously – who knew what kind of defensive measures would be installed in a robot this expensive, secretary or not? When nothing happened, she tensed up, got ready to run if necessary, and poked it.

It rolled over on its back.

When nothing else happened, Amy got out from under the table and examined it more closely. Now that it was no longer sitting upright, she could see there was a button on its stomach. For a moment, she debated tossing it out of the window – but Amy was feeling very curious. Besides, investigating this little phenomena was keeping her mind mind off... other topics.

So she pressed the button. She was relieved that instead of blowing up (the fact that you'd have to be insane to place a self-destruct device in a model this expensive hadn't eased her fears in the slightest – whoever had made this thing clearly did not listen to common logic) it began to start up. The Animatium became a stream of metallic blood flowing through silver veins, and various lights positioned all over the robot's body began to flash on and off in a seemingly haphazard and random pattern. Its limbs began to move, and it began to stand on legs that were little more than rounded pieces of metal. How it accomplished this Amy didn't understand, but it seemed to to have no trouble with the task.

Then it opened its eyes and, in the most disgustingly cute voice Amy had ever heard, said, "Good morning, Amy!"

Amy visibly flinched. The sound not only antagonized a brain that still felt sodden from her lack of sleep, but inflamed the part of her that said 'anything that cute is unnatural and not to be trusted!' She clasped her hands over her ears and glared at the irritating piece of junk. The only reason she didn't do it harm was because it was anexpensive piece of junk.

"Okay," Amy said, her teeth grinding together in annoyance, "First, you're either going to change your voice to make it more bearable, or you're not going to speak."

"I don't take orders from you." It maintained its horrible tone, with derision jarringly added to the mix.

Amy massaged her temples, half to help the pain and half to prevent herself from using her hands in a more violent manner. "You know who I am, right? You wouldn't be in my room and know my name if you didn't"

"Yes, I am very well informed about you. More so than you are, I would say."

Jeez, it's arrogant! This thing has to be one of Tails' inventions!

"Then you know that even Eggman is wary of my temper. And you know what?" Amy put a hand on the robot's head, and squeezed as hard as she could – the metal began to groan in protest. "I'm in a very bad mood right now."

"Yes, I can see that." While it was still held an arrogant tone, the robot had changed its voice – to one suited to the most grizzled of war veterans. While disturbing coming from such a small 'creature', it was better than the unholy cuteness, and Amy released the robot.

"Second, you're going to tell me who or what you are, and explain why you're here." Amy found a chair and sat down, crossing her arms on her chest.

"I am a Chao Robo, and I'm here because Tails ordered me to be here."

Amy clenched her fists, doing her best to hold in her anger. "Why are you being so damn difficult? What did I do to deserve this? Can this day get any worse?"

The robot promptly responded. "Because I choose to, because you're a selfish bitch, and with a little help, certainly."

There was probably something deep and meaningful about a robot choosing to be an asshole. Amy was too busy tossing the damn thing out the window to care.

Unfortunately, it flew right back in using some sort of anti-gravity. With a shout that was more of a muffled scream of rage, Amy grabbed her signature hammer and ran at the the robot, who promptly went back out the window. Amy was momentarily frustrated by her inability to reach the source of her anger, but then thought of something

"Tails told you to be here, in my room, right? Being outside that window doesn't fulfill that order, does it!" She smiled at her logical victory. Score one for the biologicals!

"It's good enough. My self-preservation coding demands a certain amount of precedence."

Amy growled, then slammed the window shut and locked it. Almost immediately, there was a banging on the glass as the robot used its short arms to knock with surprising force. Amy ignored this as best she could.

A muffled voice came through the window. "I can break this if I need to. Let's not make this more difficult than it has to be."

Veins started popping out of Amy's forehead. "Diffi-! What kind of twisted logic allows you to make that statement!?"

"I wasn't trying to make things difficult. I was trying to cheer you up."

"Cheer me up? By what, driving me insane?"

"Sort of."

Amy gripped the windowsill tightly and considered taking the thing by surprise by tossing her hammer out the window, but she knew that Tails would not have left this thing here without a good reason. Besides, there was a good chance it would dodge the attack, and she didn't want to lose her hammer. Sighing, she opened the window, and the robot zoomed in.

Amy sat down, once again, and placed her hands on the table. Forcing herself to be calm, she said, "You're here for a purpose. Fulfill that purpose, please."

"Why would I do that, when it's so much more fun to annoy you?"

Amy did nothing, and simply sat still. It was a herculean feat, but she had a feeling that this robot would be forced to fulfill its instructions if she didn't give it a reason to do otherwise.

Indeed, the robot seemed to be disappointed, even annoyed at her lack of response. Somehow twisting its simple face into a scowl, it settled back down onto the table.

"Fine then, be that way. Well, the reason I'm here is to give you an offer. Tails wants to help you, and I'm here to give you the details."

Amy was confused. "Help me? Help me with what?"

"See! Making you furious did help! You've completely forgotten about your problems!"

"Oh, yeah." Amy had forgotten about the night before, completely, but now it came back, and her depression as well. She bowed her head and sighed. "How can Tails help me with something like that?"

The robot stood a little straighter as it seemed to get serious. "Tails proposes this: You have three acceptable choices right now. One is that you forget about Sonic and live your life as a normal citizen. That means you cease all activities besides the day-to-day ones you already do, and cease contact with Sonic – or Rouge, or Knuckles,or Tails himself. Tails does not think living like a normal citizen suits you well. He would also miss you."

Amy smiled. I would miss you, too.

"The second and third choices are things that he can help you with, and offers to do so. You can either take up Sonic's challenge, and become someone that he can respect, or you can strike out on your own and find a purpose in life different from anything you have done before. Either way, Tails offers to help you fulfill what goal you decide to pursue, and he promises not to judge you no matter what you choose. The only thing he will not accept is you becoming self-destructive. He just wants to make sure your life moves forward, and that you can be happy."

Amy sat back and thought about what the robot had said. While she didn't think she had to worry about being self-destructive – there were too many people who were doing her harm already for Amy to want to hurt herself – all of Tails' other choices were either unappetizing or intimidating. While Amy herself thought that she was unsuited for life as a normal citizen (she had long ago realized any work she did was temporary, no matter what kind of promotions and benefits she got) it was at least something she knew. Trying to become something that Sonic could identify with – she didn't know if that was possible for her, or even if she truly wanted to become such a thing. As for finding a different goal, well... she wasn't sure if there was anything else she was interested in, or even good at. Her life had been sort of aimless before she had met Sonic, and entirely focused on her love after that point.

When the robot realized Amy wasn't going to respond, it continued. "Tails understands that you probably won't be able to answer immediately, or even in the near future. He wants you to know this – while you may not have confidence in your fighting ability, especially after what Sonic said to you, you are quite skilled at hurting others. So, if you choose the second or third choices he has outlined, you will probably be relying on that skill to accomplish your goals. To that end, he wants you to take him up on his offer to help you, if only for a brief period to see what it's like."

Amy frowned. I'm not sure if 'being good at hurting others' is a compliment or an insult. "What kind of help is he offering?"

"He want to help you become stronger, help you utilize your skill at fighting more efficiently. He says that, even if you don't realize it, a part of you wants to utilize that skill – if only because it is something you're good at. Regardless of your desire, though, he thinks that since you have this strength, you should use it. He isnot agreeing with what Sonic said – rather than tell you how to use your strength, he just wants you to fulfill the potential you have."

Amy sighed, and once again found her hands on her forehead. All this thinking was making her head hurt. "If I accept, what does that mean?"

"He wants you to come to his research lab, if only to see your choices."

Amy nodded sluggishly, hoping the coffee would be brewed soon. "Then yes, I'll go see what he has to offer."

The robot, however, wasn't that patient. "Alright then, you need to go to the roof. There's a helicopter waiting for you up there."

Amy glowered at the robot. "I know where Tails' lab is. I can get there on my own! After I have my coffee."

"But that'll take forever!" it replied, rolling an eye that hadn't been designed to roll.

Amy shivered. This robot was... unnatural, in so many ways. "It's only a two hour drive!"

"Exactly! The helicopter will get you there in fifteen minutes - don't be a fool, just go up to the roof and use it!"

Amy grumbled, but the robot was right. Tails was offering her help in the first place – being picky about how he offered it was just stupid. Tails would definitely have coffee at the lab, or at least some strange alternative that would get the job done. So, she walked up to the roof and, just as the robot said, there was a helicopter there waiting for her – a futuristic one with strange attachments added on here and there. It was pretty obvious that it was one of Tails' inventions, which would explain the short travel time the robot had bragged about. She didn't complain, though; at the very least, it looked like she would actually get some use out of the helicopter pad on this luxurious apartment building!

Unfortunately, the robotic imp decided to accompany her. It flew into the helicopter before she could stop it, and proceeded to relieve the pilot (who was also a robot) of his duties. When it hooked itself into the control grid, Amy knew something was wrong. She asked the previous pilot, who was now seated across from her, how long the trip usually took.

"Approximately forty-five minutes," it replied in monotone.

Amy opened her mouth to ask about the discrepancy between the pilot's estimate and the imp's claims, but the helicopter was coming off the ground. It flew up and forward, until it was no longer above the apartment building.

Then it dropped like a stone.

Amy screamed. She cursed the curiosity that had caused her to activate what surely must be one of Eggman's traps in disguise. She cursed the robot pilot for stupidly handing over the controls to that evil contraption. She cursed Tails for not properly taking care of her. She cursed him again, just in case the imp actually was one of his inventions. She used every swear word she knew, and was finally starting to get into the good ones when her downward momentum was halted.

The pressure doing funny things to her insides, it took Amy a moment to realize that they were no longer falling down, they were flying forward! As she was pressed into her seat by the sudden acceleration, Amy ceased cursing and began thanking whatever gods had given Tails the idea to put jet engines on a helicopter. She would never tease the fox about his wild ideas again.

Clearly, the imp had decided to have some more fun with her. Unfortunately, Amy could do nothing about it – she was stuck where she was as the the 'helicopter' streaked down the streets, dodging between buildings and grazing cars on the road. Screams trailed behind them as people leaped out of moving vehicles, causing mass chaos and stopping traffic entirely.

When they arrived at Tails' lab on the other side of the city, (in fifteen minutes, just as promised) the helicopter landed down on another helipad. The small, concrete, bunker-like building, which Amy knew was much bigger underground, had few apparent entrances. There was the wide front door, which was protected by a thick steel shutter, as well as the side entrance which Amy usually used when she visited Tails. There was also a trap door on the roof, which was obviously for the convenience of those arriving by helicopter. Of course, there were probably a dozen other entrances which were either hidden for security purposes, or only opened when something big, like a jet plane or a large robot, needed to get out of the lower depths.

Since this lab was in the city, Tails never did anything too dangerous here. He had another lab in the middle of nowhere that Amy had never been to, but this one was government funded – it was much bigger and much more well equipped.

Amy leaped out of the helicopter before it even completely settled and began searching for the imp, but it had somehow already disappeared. Her revenge thwarted once again, she sullenly opened the trapdoor and went down the steps, searching for any sign of Tails whereabouts.

While walking down a concrete corridor lit by florescent lights, carpeted in a utilitarian gray fuzz that was hardly better than bare concrete in terms of comfort, and critically lacking in open windows, Amy heard Tails' voice come out of hidden speakers. "Hey, Amy, thanks for coming! I'm deeper in – meet me on floor B5. I've given you clearance."

Amy blinked in surprise, but headed for the elevator. Although she was familiar with the main floor thanks to her frequent visits, she had never been underground where the labs were. The government was pretty strict about who had access to Tails' work, and while Amy was a friend, she had never been in the 'need to know' group.

The main floor was mainly Tails' living quarters, as well as a few meeting rooms and presentation chambers. The elevator was right in the center, and would have been easy to get to if Amy hadn't been wandering around in search of the fox; the place was practically a maze if you strayed from the main corridors. As she walked back the way she had come, she reflected on Tails' sense of style, or lack of it. Everything was either concrete or carpet, further bleached of color by the incessant florescent lights. The only bits of interest came from the cheap paintings that spotted the walls once in a while, which did more to accent the bareness than anything else. Personally, Amy felt it was a shame that Tails managed to requisition all that money and yet never used it to liven the place up; she'd have to do something about that. He could be unhealthily focused on his work at times, and it was her duty as surrogate older sister to remind him to live a little every once in a while.

She finally found the elevator and pressed the call button. She could hear a pneumatic hiss as it rose from some deep depth at incredible speed, and when the doors opened she was greeted with the first bit of Tails' lab she had never seen before. The elevator was pretty much just a thick grilling attached to a steel frame, with a large metal column running through the center. It seemed to move up and down on the column, and hand holds were plastered everywhere so that the people inside wouldn't go flying around when it accelerated. There were a few plastic seats on one side, and even a compact table to strap things to.

Amy pressed the button for floor B5, and grabbed a handhold as the elevator jerked down. In less than a second, she had descended almost thirty feet – she could tell by the way the walls flashed by. The strange thing was, it was as gentle as a normal elevator – there was hardly a need to hold on to anything. Another mystery to attribute to Tails' genius; as the doors opened, she wondered how much more would amaze her before she left?

The decor would definitely not be part of that: the corridor Amy stepped out into was even more stark than the main floor, lacking even the carpet or crappy paintings. She walked down its length, which was uninterrupted by doors, until she came to a branching corridor – as she passed, she caught sight of Tails' figure as he came out of a doorway. Waving and calling out, she got his attention, and he turned around with a smile on his face.

"Amy! It's good to see you, especially since you seem to be doing much better I had hoped!"

"I'm not the kind to give up! I'm not sure what I'm going to do from now on, but I'm going to do something!" Stamping her foot on the ground, Amy shook her fist in Tails face. "More importantly, what the hell were you thinking when you created that little monster! Do you have any idea what it did on the way here? If you don't, you'll soon find out when you get calls from city officials!"

Tails furrowed his eyebrows. "I'm terribly sorry about that. That robot is one of my experimental models – rather than program it a personality, I've let it develop one through observation and analysis. The result... hasn't been optimal."

"No kidding! It booted the pilot into the back seat and proceeded to fly the thing on full throttle through the streets! There's mass panic – I bet the people back there are convinced Eggman is attacking!"

Tails laughed nervously. "Ah, yes, it probably got the idea for that from watching me play- I mean, go through some of my simulations." His laughter trailed off, and a depressed look came onto his face. "I'll probably have to scrap the project. I had such high hopes, too – I thought I was on the verge of creating a new sentient race!"

Amy opened her mouth to berate his foolishness and arrogance and say something about the pitfalls in trying to play god, but then closed it again as she saw the truly miserable look that was on Tails' face. " You know, I don't think the fact that it's learning is the problem – I think it's what it's learning, and from who."

"I thought about that too – I'm not wild about being responsible for the ethical code of the first real independent AI either! The problem is, there's no one else with clearance into my labs, and those officials are super paranoid when it comes to this stuff. They won't let anyone else in, and they do their damnedest to minimize my work's contact with the outside world. I'm the only one who can give it input, and I'm afraid I'm not very good at it."

"Really? That's strange," Amy said with a smirk on her face, "I know someone who has clearance into your labs right at this very moment!"

Tails looked up, a shocked expression on his face. "What!? Have those bastards been going behind my back again!? And how do you know about it, when I don't?"

Amy flicked the fox on his forehead. "I'm talking about me, silly! Didn't you just say you had given me clearance to get down here?"

Tails stared at Amy, and then asked, slowly, "Are you offering to help me with my problems?"

"Of course I am! What, did you think I was just leading you along or something? I don't do that sort of stuff!" Amy gave the little scientist a light whack on the head, to remind him who his older sister was.

Tails flinched instinctively, but continued to talk. "But Amy, I can't ask you to do that! You have far too many problems of your own right now!"

"Don't be stupid! If I can't teach a little punk like that the difference between right and wrong, then I don't have any hope at all!" She pumped her arm and gave Tails her most confident smile. "Leave it to me! He'll be doing volunteer work within the week!"

She'd let her methods of persuasion remain unsaid.

Tails smiled back, but his lips were tight and there was a strange look in his eyes that she couldn't identify. After a pensive moment, he opened his mouth again.

"Amy... how can you be so strong? Sonic said possibly the worst things he could ever say to you, and you're still charging forward. Is this fearlessness all an act, or are you really strong enough to move on anyway?"

Amy looked Tails in the eye with a quirky smile. "I have no idea. All I know is that I hate doing nothing, so I'm going forward as fast as I can. My whole life has been like that – I pursue Sonic because I love him, but I also find it comforting to have such an unshakable goal. If Sonic ever disappeared for good... I'm not sure what I would do after that.

"But there is one thing that I can tell you for sure. Choice number one is unacceptable, and I'll tell you why – because you still need me, as your older sister, and I can't be with you if I'm just an ordinary citizen. Where I go from here, I'm not sure, but I'll definitely be taking you up on your offer!

"So, do we have a deal? You help me figure out what I want to do now, and I'll help you tame the imp. I think that's an equal trade, don't you?"

Amy held out her hand, and Tails hesitated only a moment before taking it in his own. They looked at each other, and grinned.

"I'm definitely getting the better deal here!" Tails began to laugh, and the tension he had been holding in drained away. "I was going to have the robot help you in your training, but your relationship might become a bit too volatile now that you'll be in charge of his education!"

Amy's grin widened, and a dangerous look came into her eyes. "Oh, I think that's a great idea. I've already thought up a few great lessons in... discipline." She began to walk down the corridor Tails had come from, chuckling to her self and throwing back questions about the what, where, and why of her training to Tails.

Tails stood for a moment, unable to stop smiling. Quietly, he murmured, "Hedgehogs... I still can't fathom how you work, even after all these years. Maybe watching you, Amy, will allow me to understand a little bit more." His wistful introspection was interrupted as she called for him to hurry up, and he rushed forward to give her a tour of the lab.