When Sally finally let go of him, nearly everyone in the room was gone, with the exception of Tails and Amy.

Tails spoke first, "We are going to need to start planning this right away. Sally, I could really use your help."

Tails had learned his lesson the last time he tried to plan something on his own. He was nearly responsible for the death of his best friend. I told myself I wouldn't do this again, but it's even more important now. At least I will have Sally here to help me, Tails thought to himself.

"Of courses," Sally said somewhat unenthusiastically. She wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of the day with Sonic, but she knew this was more important than her personal feelings. She looked back one last time at Sonic and gave him a subtle wink before she turned to walk away.

Sally and Tails headed back towards the command center leaving Sonic alone with Amy. Oh no, not again, Sonic thought.

"Sonic." He heard from behind him. He gulped and turned around. She can't possibly think she still has a chance with me. Not after what she just saw.

"So how about we continue that conversation." Amy asked.

"What conversation Amy?"

"The one about you and me?"

Sonic stared blankly at her. Her persistence was undeniable; he had to giver her credit. He never had seen anyone so blindly devoted to someone else.

"Amy," Sonic began, "you and I are not going to work. I tried to tell you this before."

"Why not? You wont even give me a chance"

He had to admit she had a point there but that was because of Sally. He couldn't just turn his back on her because Amy wanted a chance with him.

"Look Amy, I know you like me a lot, but you know I am with Sally and even though you are my age now, it's hard to think of you that way. Your affection for me is clearly a remainder of the affection you had for me as a child."

"So you're saying there is no chance for me?"

"No that's not what I said…"

"So there is a chance?"

"That's not what I said either. Amy right now things just won't work out between us."

"So you're saying you don't like me?" Amy asked desperately.

"Not the way you like me." Sonic said softly, trying not to hurt the young hedgehog's feelings.

Amy stood there as if she was about to cry. Sonic started to feel bad, he didn't want to do this to her. She was such a sweet kid, but this had to stop. He wanted to comfort her, but he knew if he did that she would take it the wrong way. When she finally did speak again, it wasn't what Sonic was expecting to hear.

"Prove it!" Amy demanded.

"Prove what?" Sonic asked now confused.

"Prove that you don't like me the way I like you."

"How would I do that?"

"Kiss me," Amy said bluntly.

"That doesn't prove anything and besides I can't do that, you know I am with Sally."

"If I really don't mean anything to you then a kiss will mean nothing to you as well."

"Amy, that's ridiculous. I can't…"

"Yes you can. I won't leave you alone until I know you don't care. One kiss that's all I want, then I'll leave you alone."

Sonic didn't know what to do. No one is around and one kiss can't hurt anything. Right? But the thought Sally jumped back into his head. He couldn't just kiss Amy to make things go away. It means nothing though, so it shouldn't matter. I need to get this over with so she will leave me alone.

"Fine" Sonic said, "one kiss."

Amy's face lit up like Christmas tree. She ran up to him and when she got close puckered up her lips. Sonic took one more look around the room to make sure no one was looking and then kissed her.

Amy took a step back and then examined Sonic for any sign of compassion. She stared into his eyes for a while searching for something but Sonic kept his face devoid of all expressions. The truth was he did feel something, not much but he couldn't deny it to himself that it was there. Some small piece inside of him was telling him that it felt right. Luckily he quickly repressed that feeling with the thought of Sally.

"Huh, I guess you really do mean it." Amy said softly. Without saying anything else she turned and walked away.

Finally, Sonic thought, she gets it. He never wanted to hurt Amy, and this certainly wasn't how he had ever planned on explaining things to her but at least it was done. The only question he had left on his mind why he had felt something when he expected to feel nothing.

"Sonic." Nicole said from behind him causing Sonic quills to stand on end. Did she see me? He slowly turned around to see Nicole standing at eye level with him.

"Hey Nicole" he said nervously.

"Don't worry, I won't tell Sally," she said, "it was the right decision."

"Y-you saw that?"

"Yes. But I also know that you did it to prove to her that you don't like her. Sally would be proud, even if she was angry first. Its obvious that you had good intentions."

"I don't know what to do though. Should I tell her?"

"It would be better than her finding out from Amy."

Sonic sighed, he was really hoping to avoid this, but Nicole was right, he was going to have to tell Sally.

"Perhaps you should ask Ally," Nicole said, "She always seem to give some good advice for these types of problems."

Nicole knew that Sonic would be telling Sally indirectly, but at the same time she knew it would be better that way. Sally would find out from Sonic's letter, which would give her time to process it and at the same time she would know that he cares a lot about her. She amazed herself sometimes at just how human like she could be, capable of showing compassion as well as having underlying motives of her own.

"Yeah! That's a good idea. Thanks, Nicole!"

Sonic had just recently written to Ally, but another letter couldn't hurt, especially a question this important. Sonic would have considered starting it right away but Nicole spoke again.

"Sonic, you should head down to the bunker, they are waiting for you there."

"Alright, I'll catch you latter Nicole," Sonic said as she turned to make his way to the command center. Even though he was getting rather annoyed with this whole ordeal he still wanted to see how the planning was going.

The walk down to the bunker was dull and boring, just like it always was and it certainly wasn't helping him take his mind off the fact that he had just kissed Amy. He had to continually remind himself of why he did and that it meant nothing to him. As he pushed open the large steel door, both Sally and Tails looked up from their work to see who it was.

"I was wondering when you would show up. Where have you been?" Sally asked.

"Just talking," Sonic responded nervously.

Luckily Sally was too busy to notice the stress in voice. He proceeded to walk over to their planning table and sit down next to her.

"What have we got so far?" Sonic asked.

"Not much," Tails answered, "We don't know where this implant machine is."

"Do we know how to destroy it?"

Sally answered this time, "Yes, a simple EMP device will do the trick. Rotor is already working on it."

"Then what's the problem?"

"The problem is that we need to convince one of the overlanders to wear the device and the one most likely to receive the implant first." Tails answered

"So Simmons?" Sonic said.

"Precisely. However, convincing him won't be easy given that he has the most history with us."

"So, you guys want to convince Simmons to wear the device so that when Robotnick tries to implant the thing in him it will break the machine before he can use it on any one else? That doesn't seem so hard?"

"How does that not seem hard Sonic?" Sally asked

"Well why don't we just explain everything to Simmons."

"Sonic, we can't just expect him to believe us?"

"Sure we can, we have the disk remember. Not to mention the key that could get us back into his building undetected."

"What key?" Sally asked

Tails had forgotten to mention the key before, so he removed it from his pouch and put it on the table.

"This one. I almost forgot that we had it. According to Snively it will get us into any building we want. So far it has checked out, so I am pretty sure we can rely on it.

"Well this changes everything," Sally said, "but we still can't expect him to believe us. Maybe we can put the EMP on him while he is asleep."

"That might work, but we are still going to have to figure out how to get them to leave before Robotnik fixes the thing. That also assumes that he would even let them leave without planting a mind control device in at least one of them," Tails said.

Then a new voice chimed in, "I think Sonic is right, the best way to do this is to explain things to Simmons. If we show him all the information, he will have to believe us and if he believes us, getting everyone else to cooperate will be much easier."

Sonic looked over to see the King in the corner of the room. It was rare to ever see him down here; the stairs were difficult for him in his older age.

"Sir, I didn't expect to see you down here," Sonic said.

After seeing the Kings reaction at the meeting, this was the last place he expected to see him. Something must have changed his mind.

"I wanted to see what you were planning first hand." he replied, " As I was saying before, Sonic's idea has been the most sound so far. Additionally, I would like you to bring Simmons back here for just a bit so that I may talk with him."

"Dad, that makes things even harder. How are we supposed to convince him that the person who is helping is in fact trying to enslave the rest of his race and get him to come back and talk to his former enemy all in one trip"

"Sally my dear, if you can convince him that he needs our help, I know he will come and speak with me. As much as we are enemies we are also friends."

"And just how are we supposed to sneak him out of the city?"

"I never said I had all of the answers," the King replied.

Sonic had a feeling he knew how to get Simmons away from the city, in fact it almost seemed too easy.

"I know how we can get him out!" Sonic exclaimed.

"I sure hope you don't plan on putting him in your back pack," Tails said sarcastically.

"No, I don't," Sonic said as he chuckled at the memory of Tails in his backpack, "If Robotnik knows that he can help make the overlanders come back then he will give anything to Simmons. So if Simmons asks for a hovercraft to explore the surrounding area of the city we can meet him where no one will see us."

"But Sonic, Simmons doesn't have to want to come back if he puts that thing in his head." Tails said.

"Trust me Robotnik will let him have it just to keep him happy."

"He is right," Sally said, "Robotnik will give them whatever they want up until he puts that thing in their head. As long as we can get to him before that then this may actually work.

The King spoke again, "I must say there is a lot of 'ifs' in this plan. However, I believe that this may be our best shot at stopping this before it begins. Tails, can you have a plan written up in the next few hours? I would like to share it with the council."

"Yes, sir."

"Good, then you will have my approval as long as I get to speak with Simmons. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir. But why do you want to speak with him?"

"Because Nicole presented some other information that was on the disk to me as well."

Tails had not yet had a chance to go through the entire disk, he could only imagine what other dark secrets were on it.

"What is that, sir?

"It may be the key piece of information that you need to convince him. It was called Project Purity. The overlanders had begun to research a way to remove the poison that had taken over the planet, but it was a failure. I believe this is the real reason they left the planet. However, as it turns out, Robotnik had files on this project. It would appear that he not only stole the work, but sabotaged the results."

"So you're saying that Robotnik was the one who is responsible for making them leave" Sonic asked.

"Yes, he tricked them. He wanted them to leave the planet so he could conquer the world with the working version of Project Purity. If we present this information to him, it is likely that he and his fleet will return. If I am to allow that he must agree to my terms. I will not tolerate a repeat of our past encounters when they return to this planet."

"I'll have something ready for you in the next three hours Sir," Tails said.

"Thank you, Tails. Now I must go, I have other matters to attend to." the King said as he got up out of his chair and walked towards the door.

Both Sally and Sonic got up, they knew the stairs were not going to be easy for him. They approached him on either side, each of them taking an arm and together the three of them walked up the stairs.