PART TWO

Ch 7

Flight

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With Sonic having long departed from the edge of the forest for Borealis, Amy finished setting up their small camp. She had found a small clearing buried in the trees a few yards from the plain, which was a good spot since it wasn't too easy to notice. It hadn't been too hard, for she mostly needed to install their tent and organize their various supplies to ease their availability. She was a bit disappointed Sonic hadn't asked to find Tails: it would make much more sense to regroup instead of having two different sites so far apart from one another. She looked at the map again and tried to memorize the spot marked for Tails' site.

Soon bored and lonely, Amy tried to avoid the dark thoughts of the danger she would soon face by drafting an entry in her diary. Although her writing distorted her true state of mind by omitting the distress she had been feeling lately, her description of Sonic was nonetheless genuine and passionate. In any event, it helped her wait for his return by anticipating her delight at the thought of it.

Unfortunately, Sonic did not return that evening, leaving Amy to spend the night by herself in the hope of avoiding nightmares.

Nor was there a trace of Sonic the next day. Amy hoped he had only been temporarily delayed, but in truth the relentless wait for his return without the possibility to act began to drive her crazy. The hours just seemed to grow longer. She often allowed herself to go check out the 5-mile-wide plain from its edge to verify if, by chance, her beloved would show up, but she was deceived every time.

Worse, her state of isolation could only serve to intensify her anxiety concerning her supposed fate with her archenemy, Slug the Machine. She knew he could show up in Borealis anytime and she wasn't prepared for it. As she let her mind wander during the constant process of waiting, her thoughts continued to grow darker. She could not keep her imagination from visualizing the dreadful things Slug could do to her, be it with his weapons, his drugs, or simply his bare hands.

Her anguish was only amplified by Sonic's absence. His failure to return, in Amy's point of view, was basically a pendant to his adamant rejection of her a few days back, even if the two events were in reality probably unrelated.

When she woke up the next morning, she realized it had already been almost two full days since she and Sonic had arrived to Borealis. The persistence of Sonic's absence continued to worry her, not only for her own fate but for Sonic's as well – what if he ran into trouble with the Ambrosians? Or with the Islanders? Amy shuddered at the thought of their possible presence on the site.

Fed up with inaction, Amy decided to step up her observation of the field. This time, grabbing Sonic's binoculars, she proceeded to climb one of the tallest trees she could find in order to observe the vast clearing as carefully as she could.

Peering through the device, she tried to make out the structure of the building complex. It was just as it had been two days ago: seemingly peaceful but cold edifices in decomposition. There was no sign of activity nor a trace of a bystander. Disappointed, Amy surveyed the rest of the plain. Nothing grabbed her attention.

That is, until something far, very far in the distance, way beyond the plain disturbed her to a point where she almost fell off the tree. It was but a speck on the horizon, some good distance away from Borealis, but Amy recognized it instantly. It was the Floating Island. Its natural course had conveniently taking it to the environs of Borealis, easing the deployment of its host.

In a panic, Amy ran down the tree and back to her camp. The image of the Floating Island had severely frightened her, because it was the first time her anxiety concerning Slug the Machine had materialized into something concrete that she could see with her own eyes.

Immediately, Amy decided on the only course of action seemingly left to her. She had to flee the site and find Tails as soon as possible. She thought she should have done it much sooner and cursed herself for having foolishly followed Sonic's bogus instruction to steadfastly remain at the camp, but the sight of the Floating Island had stimulated her mind to a point where the decision clicked into place.

In this frantic state, Amy didn't take the time to grab their belongings; she simply marked the camp's location in her mind in order to retrieve them later. She only grabbed her knapsack and the map and soon set off running, along the edge of the forest, towards the southern end of the field.

It felt good to run. Amy was still scared, but at least she was focused. Having seen the Floating Island had produced fear but had also cleared her mind and determined a precise goal, and she was thus liberated from the uncertainty and lingering of the past two days.

Still running along the edge of the trees, Amy sped up a small hill in her path. In her hurry, she failed to appreciate what was behind it, for its altitude blocked her view. As she reached the top, she realized too late the presence of a pond located in a slight depression in the landscape, one of whose sides was determined by a very sharp slope from the top of the butte.

Amy couldn't avoid falling off its edge. As fell head first, in her nosedive she stumbled repeatedly upon the side of the hill, gathering much dirt in the process, but at least easing her contact with the water. Mere seconds later, she emerged from the surface, wondering what had happened, for she had not anticipated at all the presence of this lake.

Fully soaked, dazed from the shock, and out of breath, Amy nevertheless proceeded to swim towards the bank. Since the lake was but a pond, she set off for the other side thereof, in order to keep forward in her flight. However, she had more trouble than expected, and the presence of her loaded knapsack only served to amplify her exhaustion. As she reached the bank, she almost collapsed. She finally decided to sit down for a few moments to catch her breath.

She was soon alarmed as she noticed two unknown figures walking towards alongside the pond. She faced them but didn't stand up, knowing there was no point in running at this stage. They didn't look menacing: as soon as they saw Amy's prudence, they stopped walking, as if trying not to frighten her. Most prominent was a tall and slender black wolf carrying an old tool kit, with next to him a blue hedgehog who reminded Amy of Sonic, except this one was much shorter and bore very dark quills. He also noticeably missed a left eye.

The two creatures benevolently made a few tentative steps towards Amy, who was fixed on them with an acute awareness. She stayed seated, however, and was not frightened by the strangers.

"Hi," said the wolf. "Uh… We saw you falling down that hill into the pond. Are you okay?"

Amy said nothing, but was surprised to hear her interlocutor speak her language so easily with little to no accent. Still soaked, she shivered a bit under the wind.

"So, uh…" The wolf didn't know exactly what to say. "Are you new around here?"

Amy almost grinned at such a silly question, but remained on the defensive. She nodded.

The wolf looked at his friend, then turned back to Amy. "Okay, well, my name's Phil. And uh, this is my friend Joey," he said pointing to the blue hedgehog.

"Hi," said Joey softly.

"What's your name?" asked Phil.

"I'm Amy Rose," she finally answered.

The conversation felt a bit odd, but Phil nodded, seemingly trying to keep it natural. "Well. Nice to meet you, anyway. Do you need any help?"

Indeed, Amy was a real mess. Her clothes were very humid and full of dirt. She shook her head, however. At this point she was much more concerned with knowing who those two creatures were and hopefully getting rid of them.

"Are you two… uh… Ambrosians?"

Phil smiled awkwardly. "Hm, I guess you could say that."

"Yeah," added Joey laconically.

"We're working on our water supply. It feeds off this pond right here," explained Phil.

"Have you…" Amy didn't finish her question. She wanted to ask them if they had seen Sonic, but thought it might be a blunder that could lead to an even thornier exchange. After all, they were supposed to be hostile to Sonic. "Thanks for your concern. I'm fine, but I should probably go."

Phil nodded again. "If you must."

"It was nice to meet you two," Amy said. "Maybe I'll see you again."

"Goodbye, Amy Rose."

Grabbing her knapsack, Amy got on her feet and walked away, continuing her search for Tails' site. Once out of the sight of her two new acquaintances, she pulled out the map again and, realizing Tails logically opted for a proximity to a source of water, concluded she couldn't be too far off.