"So, as you know, I'm buying shoes to go with my cafe uniform. That means we'll be going-" The little, green hedgehog with the doofiest haircut imaginable spun around a couple of times with his finger pointing ahead of him. Resembling the pointer on that one game show on TV where the contestants take turns spinning a gigantic wheel, he came to rest eventually, his finger pointing inside the store they had been standing in front of. "To a girls' shoe store!"

The green hedgehog accompanying him on this expedition cut his eyes at the store as if it were making an attempt to offend him. "Are you sure it wouldn't be better to get men's shoes? Like, you know, so you're at least comfortable in one department?"

"I thought you liked seeing me in girls' clothes," Manic replied in a dispirited manner.

Scourge sighed. "Of course I do, but I just want you to be comfortable if you happen to have a long shift."

Obviously, he hadn't worn one of the cafe's uniforms, but from the look of them, they didn't seem all too comfortable. Sure sometimes sacrifices had to be made in order to dress up, but this wasn't something he wore to a party then didn't wear the rest of the year. This was his uniform for work. He wore it at least three out of five weekdays every week. The workers' schedules were constantly varying and irregular due to how many of them there were working there. They couldn't possibly all be there at any one time. It wasn't a huge department store or anything, and there were a lot of Sonic characters if you didn't know.

"Pfft," he said, turning towards the store. "No heels, then. Fine." That wasn't what he had meant, but there was no use telling him because then Manic suddenly sprinted into the shop.

The king of air and empty space rolled his eyes and peered over the railing out of pure boredom. He then lifted his glasses when he saw something that wasn't supposed to be there.

At a distance it just looked like some strange, pink shape was moving like a starved and agitated tiger as it upset benches and people on its way through the main level of the mall. Then, as it plowed through a crowd of shoppers using a familiar green mallet with intimidating steel spikes, Scourge was able to identify it. "Oh, why?" he exclaimed to no one in particular before darting into the store after Manic.

He was scanning the shelves for his equivalent size when the green king found his way over to him. Manic looked up at him with a puzzled look. "What's wrong?"

Scourge sighed. He knew that attempting to lie to him would only make him look stupid, so he just went ahead and told him.

"R-Rosy's entered the building. I've gotta go now," he said apologetically.

Manic just rolled his eyes and focused his attention back on the shelf. "Fine. Leave." He then sighed and closed his eyes. "Though I really wish you'd try to work something out with the girl instead of just running away like a scared kid."

Scourge didn't say anything else and left. He had decided to go with him today because Rosy had been particularly quiet as of late. He really hated having to deal around her and make excuses all the time, but then again how was he supposed to work something out peacefully with a maniac?

When he left the store, the green pineapple immediately saw dust flying and knew he had to move quickly. It looked like Rosy had made it to his level, but luckily there was an escalator nearby. It was on the opposite end from the stairs that were currently enveloped in dust and debris from the impacts the rose rat's hammer made with the floor.

Suddenly Scourge heard a familiar voice and turned around.

"Hey! Hey!" A blond cat was running towards him out of the cloud of dust. Before Scourge had any time to react, she had a firm hold of his wrist and was attempting to tug him towards the escalator. "Hey, we need to get out of here now! I'm sorry, but I couldn't stop her!"

"What about Manic?" he asked fearfully.

"He's here, too?" she said. "Where is he?"

Before the royal hedgerat could reply, he had the sudden urge to turn around and did. It was there that he was met with a bone-chilling sight.

"There you are, Scourgey! Are you ready for your special smashy-smashy?" Rosy had her hammer lifted above her head and was grinning down at him wildly, standing just inches from him.

Scourge was frozen in place. This was just like the other day when he had encountered her in the hallway during lunch. However, then he had been saved by Infinite.

"No, he's not," Honest exclaimed, answering for him. She came out of nowhere and tackled the psychotic porcupine to the ground.

Scourge bolted for the escalator.

Meanwhile, Rosy's eyes were spaced out as Honest opened hers and realized the rose-colored rodent was still very much ready to attack even with Honest laying on top of her. Honest seemed rather calm as she narrowed her eyes.

"You know, if I didn't feel so sorry for you right now, I might enjoy this little bit of time we have together," Honest told her, staring into those whacked-out emerald eyes as if she were staring into the eyes of some wild, majestic creature. Rosy suddenly pushed Honest off of her and scrambled to her feet. She was staring right through her as if Honest didn't really exist.

"Got- to get- to Scourgey!" Rosy pushed through her and after Scourge, her hammer getting knocked loose and landing with a clatter onto the tile floor.

Honest sat up and watched her go. Hm.

She glanced over at the green hammer resting on the ground a foot away from her and got an idea.

Scourge ran down the escalator. That probably wasn't the safest thing to do, but it definitely was safer than letting that deranged, pink lunatic get to him. He was safe nearly all the way down, but it was the last step that tripped him up, sending him sliding across the floor on his face. Lifting his head, the viridescent, four-eyed porcupine saw Rosy slowly riding the escalator down. Her appearance was horrifying. She was covered in dust from the entire mall she had destroyed in order to get to him, and she had obviously smashed through many sets of stairs as her clothes were in all sorts of disrepair. And yet her eyes still glowed such a hardy green that they made the kingly hedgehog's own emerald fur desaturated by comparison as she smiled wildly and with malicious intent. Scourge scrambled to his feet and held up his hands.

"Hey, don't you remember when we were friends? You know, back before you, uh, scrambled your brain with ring energy?"

Rosy leaped off of the escalator once she had reached the bottom and advanced toward him, completely lacking any fear or hesitation. That was when Scourge noticed that she didn't have her hammer. What did she aim to attack him with? He watched her eyes, her hands, her everything, but there was no sign of what her next actions were going to be. She really had no clue what was going on, did she? The only thing Scourge could detect in her steely, viridian gaze was a hunger for revenge.

He deserved it. He deserved anything she intended to inflict on him for what he did. He was scared, yeah, but at the same time-

Suddenly something large made an impact with Rosy's back and she came flying forwards. Scourge lunged and caught her before anything worse could result from her making such a hard impact with the floor.

Honest was standing there holding the pink psycho's hammer in her shaking hands. She tossed it away and it landed on the floor, rolling until it was stopped by Rosy's foot.

"Man, that thing is heavy."

Honest looked to the still Rosy in Scourge's arms.

"I hit her in the back," Honest informed him. "How is she knocked out?"

Scourge lifted Rosy's bangs and peered at her sleeping face beyond. "I guess she just wore herself out."

Honest rested her hand on her hip. "Or, you know, this is just another instance of her being bipolar," she pointed out. "Once she was angry at me, then she suddenly started crying, then Sonic walked into the room and she started acting all silly and happy." She was, of course, referencing chapter 16 where Honest made a mistake and brought Rosy and him within speaking distance one day, causing her to flee the scene and force Honest to give chase.

Scourge had been busy vouching for her and getting her tardy excused by the teacher at that time, so he hadn't been there to witness that. Of course though, if he had been there, no progress would've been made at all. The not-so-noble king observed the unconscious Rosy he was supporting with his arms.

In fact, this was as close as him and Rosy had ever gotten without her trying to bash his teeth in in... well, years if you wanted to be technical. Over a decade at least. I could look it up if you really want to know that bad. I can track it down at least to the month. That is if both Amy and Rosy made their wishes on the same day, which I assume is the case.

The viridian king of air and empty space stood up and Honest picked up her hammer again.

"Where should we take her?" the blond cat asked. Scourge shook his head.

"I don't know. Cream's mom's place?"

"Ms. Vanilla's? Are you sure they would appreciate having a psychotic, pink pineapple in their house?" Honest asked, unsure.

He shrugged. "I was thinking that maybe a good night of rest and a bite to eat might do something. I mean, what's the worst she can do?"

"Destroy everything," Honest said, her eyes dark voids. Suddenly, with a pop, they returned to normal. "Then again, though, if her manic rush is over, she might be okay for a while." Honest smiled and turned around, marching through the rubble. "Then let's go!" Scourge followed.

Rosy woke to find herself in a small bed next to an empty bed in a large room. To her left was a closed, dark wooden door and an open closet illuminated by the light filtering in from the large window on the opposite wall.

It felt as if she had been hit by an eighteen wheeler driving 80 miles an hour. It wasn't like that wasn't a possibility. There were a lot of crazy drivers on the roads that day in age.

However, Rosy had woken like this many times in the past, so she had a good idea of what had happened to her. Those times, though, it was usually some smelly corner of Central City she woke up in (or if she happened to be lucky, somewhere slightly less smelly like outside a shop in Station Square or on the merry-go-round in Twilight Park). It was very rare for her to wake up indoors- much less in a bed. Suddenly her quills stood on end when she heard a voice.

"How are you feeling?" It was Honest the Cat- the girl who claimed to want to help her. It was hard not to trust someone whose name was "Honest", though. She was sitting in a chair to her right, right next to the bed she was laying in. Had she been watching her the whole time she was out? That was kind of creepy.

Oh, yeah. She had asked her a question. Rosy was tempted to tell her the thing about the truck but decided against it. "Like I do after I wake up from tiring myself out due to some bout of manic activity."

Honest seemed to be knocked back by the words the rose-colored rodent spoke. "That's exactly what happened."

"Yay! What do I win?" Rosy exclaimed, sitting up suddenly. However, after she had done this, her head started to pound and she was forced to fall back down. "Maybe I was hit by a truck."

Honest tilted her head at this. "You just said what you were- never mind." Honest laughed and stood up, looking around. "It's bright in here. Should I close the curtains? The light might be what's making your head hurt."

Rosy just nodded and Honest dashed to the windows that were letting in all the light. The sun was in the process of setting still.

That's when Rosy started to remember bits of what had happened. She remembered being released from school and following Scourge. Following... oh. That was it.

When the door opened to her left, Rosy froze. Here he comes! It's him! It's-

A rabbit. Two rabbits. One was tall and wearing a long purple dress. Once she had walked into the room, another smaller rabbit followed her wearing a short, orange dress. Strangely, it looked sort of like Honest's. The taller rabbit looked solemn as she entered, but her gaze softened once it fell on Rosy.

"She's awake," she said.

"Yeah, I am," Rosy said. Why was she telling her? She knew she was awake. She was herself.

The smaller rabbit looked scared as she stayed close to the door. It was then that Rosy noticed the tiny, blue, and hovering creature in the hallway behind her. "What is that thing?"

The rabbit at the door slowly backed up and closed the door until only a crack remained. An eye hovered there. The taller rabbit was still looking at Rosy.

Honest turned around and walked back over to her bed again.

"Do you think we can get her something to eat?" the blond cat asked, seeming oddly cheerful. The taller rabbit nodded.

"I'll be right back." She slipped out of the room and Rosy heard her speak again. "Cream? Why don't you go talk to our guest? She's not feeling well."

An almost silent "okay" and the little rabbit was in the room again, smiling somewhat nervously. "What's your name?"

Before the pink rodent could speak, Honest answered for her. "Her name's Rosy! She's from another dimension!"

The rabbit was suddenly very interested. "My name's Cream, uh... what's your home dimension like? Is it riddled with robot pirates? Is it engulfed in living flames?"

Rosy looked confused. "What? No. It's..." She blinked. "A castle."

"The whole dimension's a castle?" Cream asked, seemingly blown away by this nonsense answer.

"No," Honest corrected, shaking her head. "Rosy lived in an old, abandoned castle, but the whole dimension's a lot like ours. Except... the opposite."

Cream perked up at this. "Oh, I've heard about the anti-zone. Sonic says it's ruled by his green evil twin."

Rosy nodded. "Yeah. That's the place!"

"What's it like to live there?" Cream asked.

When Rosy just scratched her head, Honest sighed. "Sonic's 'evil twin' locked her in that castle. She kind of went-" Honest was still unsure just how much Rosy remembered. "Well, she became ill."

No more questions were asked. Honest was glad none were because she was unsure how much more of that she could handle. She was still so unsure about Rosy's situation even after 27 chapters. Honest was just now getting a handle on exactly what all Scourge went through. Then again though, he was (more or less) sane. He could talk to her about it. He could tell her things. Rosy couldn't. Maybe it wasn't because of her lack of sanity. Maybe it was just that she was immature... or because she had been locked in a castle for who knows how long... but one thing was sure to her. What had happened before she went insane was just one big blur, and it might always be a blur. There aren't any comic issues to read, no episodes to watch, no games to play, no nothing. No evidence that anything happened at all. All Honest could really do was look at Amy's life and draw conclusions based on that. Everything that happened to Amy happened to Rosy because they were equivalents. She could assume that because if there were differences, someone would have at least mentioned them in the comics. And she had read all of those.

At some point, Vanilla had returned with a tray and a shallow bowl of mystery soup. It really was a mystery. It smelled like vegetable beef, but there didn't seem to be anything floating in it. It was just brown. Very brown.

"If you can sleep through the night, you should do it," Honest told her. She had been walking around the room, contemplating things for what seemed like an hour. If Rosy slept all the way to the next morning, she could go to school and Honest could stop worrying. Once school was over, she'd go... wherever it was she went. As mean as this probably sounds, Honest didn't want to worry about what to do with Rosy residency-wise. She had already assumed that Rosy was homeless or something close to it. Like Key.

"I think I can," Rosy said, setting the tray with the now empty bowl on the nightstand.

"And go to school in the morning?"

"Of course."

Honest stopped walking and turned around. "I'm going back to Snow's house. Shadow's probably going to be furious about me going on an adventure without telling him first, but he'll get over it."

Honest moved to the door and Rosy yawned. The sun had set and the room was dark. "Can you ask Ms. Vanilla to get me a candle or something?" the pink pineapple asked.

"Sure." The door closed shut.

Wow, I haven't visited Cream and her mother in a long time. Anyway, please leave a review if you enjoyed reading this chapter, and be sure to read the next chapter when it's published. See you then.