This is a long one. ;D


-Chapter 29: Up and Running-


Amy changed into the new outfit she bought on the mainland. Re'kar's nephew Xaun suggested a lovely 'celestial' themed store, similar to the Tonic Concentration brand she ordered from online. They only carried naturally sourced and fair trade fabric. A lot of their clothing glittered. She bought as much as she could before they left.

She knotted a shimmering blue-nebula wrap at her side over a draped, white, halter dress. Both fabrics stopped at her knee at opposite angles in a triangular shape, the blue side hung down further by a couple inches. The wrap covered her bump perfectly. "There shouldn't be any question if I'm the only one in here anymore. What do you think?" she asked Sonic who was pulling himself out of bed.

His feet hit the floor like magnets to steel as Amy stood in front of him. "Shiny..." He hugged her at belly height, "And soft," he said and felt the backside of her dress. He squeezed her bum, "Very soft," he said with satisfaction.

"Not what I meant." She brought his face up to kiss her own. "You still look high." They kissed.

"You're dress is super pretty and I still feel high," he said and went back to groping her bum with his sleepy cheek resting on her tummy. "Soooft-sparkles in the morning," he sing-songed like the radio news station jingle back home.

"We'll be docking in twenty minutes, roughly," she said and sadly had to pull away from Sonic's embrace.

"Bring back the softness," he said with closed eyes and outstretched arms groping the air.

"Not until you talk to Dr. Eggman first," she said.

His hands flopped at his sides on the bed. "Aaaw, any boner I might have had is gone now," he rolled his eyes, "Laaaame."

Amy giggled and took off out the door, "Work first, then you get all the softness later." She closed the door behind herself.

"Killjoy," he snickered and got up for the day.

His first run in was with Knuckles and Julie-Su leaning over the front of the boat. They watched the mountain on the island grow. Julie-Su looked through binoculars. Sticks was close by. "I've seen mountains before, but not with snow on top-well, not in person," Julie-Su said and looked all over the island.

Knuckles pointed out, "I live in the small brown hut with the straw roof, on the far right. Sonic gave it to me when he went to live with Amy a while ago."

She looked and said, "It looks like a fixer-upper."

"It's a piece-of-crapper," Sonic assured her as he walked up from behind them.

"Only a little," Knuckles laughed.

She was optimistic. "It needs a little TLC is all," Jules assured him back.

"It needs a little TNT," Sticks said with folded arms.

Knuckles followed up, "It also needs windows, doors, bedrooms, a proper kitchen, a bathroom, running water, heat; that's seven things...eight including the TNT...nine, if I want air conditioning."

They all paused in thought.

Sticks piped up, "You wanna stay in my burrow until Knuckles gets a crapper installed in his 'piece-of-crapper'?"

Knuckles nodded. "That might be a good idea. Unless you're fond of burying things," he said.

She laughed and agreed, "Alright. Burrow it is."

In no time, they docked with a thud. The group watched Sonic, cool as a cucumber, walk off the boat. He went down the dock onto the shore where he face planted into the sand. He gathered up as much sand as possible and hugged it, "Let's never fight again," he said and rested his head on the pile he created.

"I missed the sand too. Let me help, Sonic," Knuckles said and proceeded to bury his hedgehog friend. "Good, I'm not out of practice."

Sonic's head popped out from the top of the pile. "Thanks, buddy," he laughed. People began to disembark and Sonic's head greeted then, "Welcome-welcome. We've landed on the beautiful Seaside Island. Fun in the sun starts as soon as you're off the boat, as you can see." Knuckles put a tiny flag next to Sonic's head. "Don't forget to check out 'Meh Burger' first, so everything else seems that less disappointing by comparison," he said and got a few chuckles from the people passing by. Cynicism seemed to be a favourable selling point for the city-folk, as per Amy's research.

He emerged from the pile mid docking. "I'm gonna go see Eggman before my good mood is gone," he said and took off at full speed, leaving a pile of sand for the kids to climb on.

It was the first time he reached top speed since leaving the city. He made a few extra loops around town to check if everything was as peaceful as it seemed. "So far so good." Sonic grabbed a couple hand fruit off a tree on the way to Dr. Eggman's lair. He knocked and waited. Sonic breathed a sigh of relief as the former mad-doctor answered the door, still in his jammies, with Orbot and Cubot in toe. "I've never been happier to see you in your PJ's," Sonic said and took a bite of his hand fruit.

"Hello, Sonic; you're looking tired." Dr. Eggman was perceptive. "Come in, sit down. How was your trip?" He turned and walked with a cane.

Sonic handed the other fruit he picked to Orbot. "What the hell happened to you?" He was surprised to see the doctor wore a knee brace. The lines could be seen through he pink onesie.

"I blew out a kneecap trying to lift something," he said and flipped the kettle to boil. "The old grey mare, she ain't what she used to be. What's on your mind?"

"I'm here to check the status of the hotel."

"It's all set up. I even got hot tubs in the garden now. The bedrooms are pretty standard, as they were last time; but if I make enough I can have them redone in mahogany. It's very expensive."

He blinked slowly, "So I've heard," he said with a laugh.

Dr. Eggman examined Sonic's face, "...you look stoned." After a half second of pause, Sonic was sniffed by the crazy man, "...you smell stoned."

"Listen, Eggman, I gotta be honest, I was expecting the wors-" he was cut off.

"Get it out of the way the night before, I got ya," he said and poured them two cups of hot water, "Instant latte okay?" He held up a jar of coffee mix with milk added already.

"Sure." They walked through the facility and he showed off a few new features like massage chairs, and nail salon run by Bunny girl and Goat lady. A small convenience store kiosk was near the entrance. "Who's gonna run this?"

Orbot and Cubot quickly zipped behind the counter and posed. "We tried to get a permit for selling tobacco, but it took far too long to process in time," Orbot said

"But smoking's bad for you, so we're not gonna rush it," Cubot said and held up a chocolate bar and a can of pop, "We only sell healthy stuff right now."

"They're items from Mike's shop in town marked up for profit," Eggman said, "It saves the people a trip back to the shore."

They continued down to the garden. Eggman struggled with the stairs and Sonic gave him a hand. "How long are you in that brace for?" Sonic and Eggman handed their empty mugs to Orbot who took them away.

He took a seat at a nearby bench to bend and stretch his leg better. "This only happened a few days ago. I've got another week or two."

"And you want to have a battle? I hope you don't need to pilot whatever it is you made."

"No, it's automated," he said then pointed his cane to the side. "I think you're familiar with this section for sunbathing and enjoying the new hot tubs. I got a liquor license and I have Drinkbot mixing."

They were waved to by a robot with five arms, one of which was extendable and protruding out of it's back. The top arm wiped the counter of the tiki bar lined with six high stools as the other four arms stacked glasses, then broke them down again in rapid succession.

"I even programmed in bar tricks." They went over to the robot in question. "I'll pick a tricky one. Drinkbot, make a Zombie cocktail."

Drinkbot flawlessly tossed, spun, filled, shook and poured with accuracy and speed. When all was mixed, that fifth arm placed a glass down and it's palm opened to dispense ice. His index finger poured the mixed drink over the ice then pushed it toward Sonic.

"That's impressive," he took a small sip. "Nice."

"That one's on the house. Patron's are only permitted two of those drinks a night. Don't need anyone too rowdy wrecking my lair. The only one who should be loaded is Drinkbot." Eggman pointed to the gauge on the side showing all the levels of liquor the robot had remaining. "There's even a drink limit for other beverages while staying here. If people want to get wasted they can sleep on the beach."

"That's fair," Sonic said. He watched the doctor head up the stairs with a lot of effort. "Is it just your knee you hurt? Your arms are moving kind of slow too."

Dr. Eggman hesitated and sighed. "I might as well show you," he said and led Sonic to a deeper part of his lab only accessible by a single elevator. On the ride down, he said, "I have spinal stenosis. It's getting worse as the years go by. I've had so many slipped disks or herniated disks, I can't even count anymore."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Sonic assumed this was why the doctor had calmed down over the years.

"No need to be sorry for me," he said and the elevator doors opened to reveal something terrifying looking.

"Is that a spine?" Sonic said and laid his beverage down on the ledge leading down to a dark void. It looked like a mechanical spine with endless cords protruding from the sides. Robot arms welded bits and sparks flew in short bursts. A semi opaque red liquid was being pumped through the device.

"Yes," he said and made a sweeping motion with his arm, "I've nearly completed the automation of the surgery too."

"You're going to put in a new spine...by yourself?"

"I'll have a surgeon standing by to monitor me, but essentially, yes, I'm installing a spine augmentation. It has nanomachines to work on actually fusing it to my bone structure. I've got a replacement knee I'll be testing out first. That surgery I'm doing myself." Dr. Eggman pointed to another less terrifying looking device. It was a machine designed to be grafted over the knee joint to replace a kneecap. "If it goes well, I'll make a second knee joint and after I'm all healed from that, I install this beauty." He touched the case the spine was behind.

"What if this paralyses you?" he asked in a concerned tone.

Eggman looked distant, "That's where I'm heading now, except slowly and painfully. If something does go wrong and my body rejects the implants," he said and pointed to the far corner of the room where a motorized wheelchair sat. A life support machine was attached to the back of the seat. "I hope it doesn't come to that."

They headed back up to the surface. "I know we've had our differences in the past, but considering the state of everything, I think it's best we officially call a truce."

Eggman thought about it. "Normally I'm apt to lull you into a false sense of security...but I think you're right. Official truce," he said and warmly smiled with an extended hand. They shook on it.

Orbot and Cubot blotted tears that didn't exist, "So heartwarming."

"Are you going down to the luau tonight?" Sonic asked.

Eggman shook his head.

"Then I guess you won't see Amy any time soon. Do you still have your spying robots?"

"Of course," he said and brought them to the big monitor. He flipped on the cameras and pulled up the one to view the dock. He saw Amy speaking to some guests. "She bought herself a nice new outfit? Very snappy."

"Quite lovely," Cubot said.

Sonic smirked. "Look closer."

Cubot was the first to notice, "You guys must have found some really fancy places to eat. Amy put on some weight."

Orbot smacked him in the back of the head, "Don't be rude. Amy looks glowing and healthy, doesn't she?"

Eggman's eyes widened and his glasses nearly fell off his face. "How far along is she?"

Orbot perked up, "She's pregnant?!" Both robots hugged Sonic. "Congratulations on your parental endeavour!"

"Yeah, what he said," Cubot followed up.

"Thanks guys. She's three and a half months in; we're halfway there."

"That's wonderful news, Sonic. Congrats, you horny blue pineapple," Eggman laughed.

"Heh, yeah. We had an ultrasound done and it's twins, boys."

"Knowing you, I bet they'll be a handful."

Sonic proudly nodded, "I've even thought about getting us all ninja outfits to be sneakier in the dark."

"Only you," he said and put a hand on Sonic's shoulder. "Don't take them for granted. I know you won't, but I need to say it out loud anyway."

"I won't," he said.

Eggman saw Sonic out. His communicator beeped and he looked at who was calling. "I'll deal with you later, Duchad," he said and sent it to voicemail.

Afterwards Sonic took off back to the shore to see the ferryman, Zeke, closing up the ship for the day. The back of the boat still had folks removing cargo. "We're good to go," he said and took another sip of his drink. Most of the ice had melted.

"Things are going perfectly," Amy said as she directed a group of three humans to where Meh Burger was. "Where did you get that?"

"Eggman's robot mixed it." Sonic held up the drink and explained where it came from, along with all the other sites Eggman had up and running for patrons. "And then he showed me the spine he's making for and installing on himself."

"A spine? About time he got one," Sticks said and received a high five from a nearby Tails.

"Seriously though, he's getting up there in age. He's even walking with a cane. It's spooky to see," he said. Something on the boat caught his attention. A few of the workers were yelling to one another. "Hang on, what's going on?"

"Grab him!" one yelled.

"He went under there! Quick!" another yelled back.

Sonic spun and fearlessly leapt onto the boat. He looked around to find two workers trying to pin down a deeply tanned colour echidna. "Xaun?" he asked.

"I'm sorry," he said and picked the workers up above his head. "I stowed away on the boat. By the time I knew Sticks was leaving, you'd sold out of tickets."

Sonic got the workers on their feet and they let Xaun and Sonic walk down to the shore. He fell to his knees in front of Sticks. "I said goodbye, but I didn't mean it. You're too wonderful to let go. I had to follow. I know you don't believe in soultouch, but I can feel it so strongly for you."

Sticks blushed, "Listen...I don't mind you like me and all, plus we had fun, but I told you, I'm single for life. Besides, I already have a house guest," she said and pulled Julie-Su close.

"But-" he stammered.

"You can stay with me for now," Knuckles said and put an arm around a stuttering Xaun. He walked him in the direction of his hut, "How good are you at burying things?" They left.

The rest of the group looked at Sticks. "Cold," Sonic said.

Sticks grabbed one of Julie-Su's suitcases. "What? When you got it, you got it," she said and walked off with her guest to get her settled. "Now, I gotta tell you about the Froglodytes. Nothing big, it's just so you don't get kidnapped and taken to their underground lair for sacrifice."

"Huh?" Julie-Su had second thoughts on whether or not she would be safe. "Suddenly, burying things doesn't sound so bad." She followed Sticks anyway.


Super long. XD