*dream POV*

"Come on, Sonic!"

Amy ran and jumped into the ocean, the sunset painting the water orange, pink, and yellow.

Sonic sat on the shore looking at the sinking sun as Amy ran up and knelt behind him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing his cheek, "Come and play with me!"

Sonic eyed the taunting waves. "Play with me! Let me drift you away! Let me drown you! Let me kill you!" "It teased, making him gulp.

"Oh, it's not so bad! Not as long as you stay in the tide." Amy smiled kindly and pulled Sonic to his feet. Then she ran to the beginning of the small waves that flowed over the shore and let the water wash over her bare, pink feet. "See?"

Sonic nervously sweats dropped and slowly tip – toed toward the wet sand. If Amy could do it, he surely could too.

As the water rushed onto the beach once more, Sonic dipped his shoeless toes in it and jumped at its coldness, hissing like a cat.

"Oh, Sonic." Amy tsk – tsked. She grabbed his hand and pulled him back into the water. He hissed and flinched, but didn't pull away.

"Didn't I tell you?" Amy giggled as she glanced at the grin spreading across his face, "There's nothing to be scared of, chicken."

Sonic looked slyly at Amy, "Chicken, am I? I don't see a bunch of feathers and a beak anywhere on me, do you?" he teased, making her crack up, "You know what? You shouldn't have said that!"

"And why not?"

"'Cause I'm gonna . . . TICKLE YOU!" and he chased her down the beach, screaming and laughing along with her, going slow so she at least had a chance. When he caught up with her, Sonic tickled her until she turned purple. She lost her balance from squealing too much and fell onto the warmness of the sand, taking Sonic down with her.

They laughed until they ran out of breath, and Sonic noticed he was on top of her, about an inch away from her lips, and so did Amy.

They leaned in slowly until . . .

*Sonic's POV*

My eyes popped open to meet the bright sunlight shining through my window. I stretched my arms wide and walked over to the bathroom, staring at my reflection.

I was still smiling.

Rushed footsteps came up the stairs and Tails was in the doorway. "Sonic, a – are you okay? I h – h – heard . . . "he panted.

"What'd you hear, bro?"

"Lots of l – laughing and . . . and . . . you know what? Never mind, we gotta get to school." He wheezed and walked back down stairs.

I shrugged and got into the shower, not having an idea what he was talking about.

. - + * + - .

"Does anyone know where Amy is?" Cream piped, not touching her lunch. Everyone looked worriedly at the two empty seats. Zu and Amy haven't shown up all morning.

I drummed my white gloved fingers on the table rapidly.

"Okay, I'm sure nothing happened to them." Tails bit his fingernails. Once he cut them to where they were bleeding, he took off his shoes and began to chop those off too.

"Guys, relax! It's not like Zu and Amy disappeared into – " Knuckles began.

"HEY SONIC!"

Zu strutted up to us, a large brown bag swinging on her shoulder.

Half of my body filled with relief, "Hey Zu. Where've you been?"

"Chasing a little bug that seems to have something to do with you!" she growled, and opened her bag and pulled out a black little creature.

It was Bokkun.

"Bokkun!" Everyone shouted.

"That's my name, don't wear it out! Now get me away from this crazy girl before she tortures me even more!" he cried, kicking and flailing in her grasp.

"What did you do to him, Zu?" Shadow asked.

"Oh, nothing you need to know about." She slyly avoided the question with a smirk.

I got up and took Bokkun by his collar. "Okay, Bokkun, what did Eggman do this time? Oh, wait, let me guess. He stuck a cat up a tree and wants me to get it out so he can capture me, right?"

"Well if you'd let me go, maybe I'd tell ya!"

I sighed and let the little guy go. He dusted himself off and pulled a miniature TV out of his little bag, then pushed the POWER button. Eggman came into the view and I rolled my eyes.

"Hello, Sonic. You might be wondering where your friends Amy and Sally are. – "

My eyes widened, my ears perked, and my fists clenched. In the back of my mind I had the thought that maybe Eggman had her. I never thought he had Sally too. I didn't even know she was missing!

"- Well, you better come and get them!" He turned the camera around and Amy and Sally took control of the picture.

"Let us out, Eggman, or I'll kick your sorry but into next week and you'll go missing until next Tuesday!" Amy screamed.

The camera turned back to Eggman. "If you don't come and rescue them, I'll throw them into the volcano!"

Everyone gasped and looked at me.

My teeth clamped together and I glared at the screen.

He was going to drop them into a volcano! Antagonism rose inside me, so high of a level that I punched the TV, shattered glass flying everywhere.

Tails, Knuckles, Cream, Rouge, and Zu slowly backed away, eyes full of fright.

"S – S – Sonic?" Tails stuttered, "Y – You've turned into D – Dark S – S – Sonic."

I stared at my arms, my sleeves rolled up to show my now midnight blue fur. I had no idea what color my eyes were, but whether they were white or black I didn't care.

"Tails," I said, trying to be as calm as I could, "get the X – Tornado . . . NOW. We need to find Amy."