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"Speech"

'Thoughts/Thinking'

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Author's Note/Flashback cue

Flashbacks

Text - A text message, letter, diary etc.

Season 1, Chapter 1 - Change of Pace.

4 years ago

Station Square

Wednesday 12th September

Amy sat looking at her friends in disbelief. She could not process the words that had entered her ears.

"I refuse." she started, "I can't accept this. It's too much."

"Amy." Tails pleaded.

Amy turned her head to her right as tears blurred her vision. She felt angry and betrayed.

"We're sorry but this is for the best."

And it was then her tears fell, the saline drops dampening her red dress. She demanded answers.

"Why...?" she whispered, praying that this wasn't happening.

"Amy, please just let me talk-" Sonic pleaded.

"No!" she stated coldly, her friends slightly gasping at her interruption.

"Is this because of the fight between Eggman and me? I thought we had already sorted that out! So why?!" she yelled desperately.

"Amy, Please!" pleaded Tails, "We're just trying to help you and tell you to take a break for 2 months at least-"

"Why should I need to take a damn break? Have I not been stuck in this damn workshop doing nothing but organising stuff?!" Amy yelled.

"I wonder whose fault that was," Sally mumbled.

Amy glared over at the chipmunk.

"I get it." she interrupted quietly, "Did you think I'd never noticed? The way you guys reluctantly allowed me to help out whenever Eggman would attack the city. You could have just talked to me and told me to fix up and I would have trained harder."

Nobody wanted to make eye contact with her. It was true, Amy was not of much help on the missions because everyone assumed she would either get caught, distract Sonic or not be of any help of all. And thanks to her recent fight with Eggman, it was her fault that she ended up as an organiser on the team.

Amy was ashamed of her younger self. She really wanted to change, not for her friends, but for herself.

Then it clicked in Amy's head.

"You're not just telling me to take a break, you're telling me you'd be better off without me. Because you're replacing me with someone else aren't you?" Amy glared hard at Sally who sat across from her with uninterested eyes. Amy also looked at everyone else who still didn't want to make eye contact with her...then she realised.

"You guys knew this was going to happen all along, didn't you?" she whispered.

"AMY!" a loud voice echoed throughout the room, startling the mobians who were sat in the room.

Sonic glared at her, his once calm forest green eyes now painted so clearly with rage, threatening to lash out at Amy. Amy flinched from the reaction, remembering that she'd brought out this side of Sonic before.

"Stop shouting at MY friends over something so goddamn petty! What the HELL do you expect us to think when you're always carelessly getting caught and acting childish around me? Grow up for once and see things from our point of view! I'm sick of sugar coating everything for you, but enough is enough. You should be old enough to understand now." he yelled, blinded with rage.

Amy had an endless fall of tears rolling down her cheek as she choked out her next words.

"YOU'RE NOT MY DAMN PARENT, SONIC! None of you, sitting here, are my parents." Amy growled at Sonic with her fists clenched.

There was a silence before Tails spoke up.

"I'm sorry Amy, but he's right. If you claim to be grown up, you wouldn't be acting like a child."

Amy's bangs shadowed her face as she barged past Sonic with her hammer in her hand.

"Alright. Do you want to see me act like a BLOODY child? I'll show you!"

Amy took a small golden statue replica of herself, marked as 'Official Team Member' off Tails' shelf.

"Amy, no!" Cream yelled as she got up from her seat.

SMASH!

There was another long silence as the sound had stunned everyone sitting in the room.

"I'll take that little so-called 'break'. I am SICK of being seen as my past self and I am SICK of mobians who assume that I have nothing better to do with life. Mobians who claimed to be my so-called 'friends." Amy growled.

Amy was in full-on rage mode. She knew what she was doing was wrong and it hurt her friends as much as her. But all the feelings and expressions that she had bottled up inside until now was pouring out in front of everyone. She couldn't stop it. She needed to be set free.

"Get out..." a low growl emitted from Tails' mouth.

Amy blinked and came back to her senses and looked at the shattered pieces and fragments on the floor.

"W-wait–"

"HE SAID GET OUT!" Sonic screamed, not even bothering to look at her. "And you know what...?"

"Don't ever come back, you Pink Annoyance."

Amy, once again looked at them in disbelief. Looking around Tails' workshop, she expected to see a supporting pair of eyes. But not one sympathetic face showed. Nobody even bothered to look up at her, knowing what Sonic had said was partly true.

Sonic, Sally, Knuckles, Cream, Silver, Blaze, Charmy, Espio, Vector and Tails.

She took in their silence, as a betrayal of silence and left their home.

Slowly, Amy started to make her way home, the only place that she had left. That warm, cosy and accepting home. Living alone, she had decided, was comfy but very quiet. But then she realised that she may have had to enjoy that solitude more often.

As she walked down the road to catch a bus to the nearest train station, it started to rain. She frowned a little, not remembering the forecast saying anything about the rain. It was like the weather wanted to copy her demeanour and had read her mind as soon as she stepped outside. She hastily ran to the bus stop, getting a little wet in the process. As soon as she got there, the stop had been crowded with people who had just finished work and also did not bring an umbrella. Unfortunately, the bus pulled in a little too quickly and drove into a puddle, splashing water all over her boots and dress. The other passengers snickered slightly, relieved that it didn't happen to them instead. She growled lowly and got on the bus.

The bus ride ended very quickly and soon enough Amy was at the train station, at the ticket booth buying herself a ticket to Central City, where she resided in her comfy city house. As soon as she pulled up to the booth, she quickly paid her 2 rings for the ticket and shoved it into her bag, fighting back the tears from the day so far, and concentrated about getting home. She set herself up in her seat and enjoyed the 10-minute ride home.

Westopolis, Central City, GUN HQ.

As she walked outside of the station, she started to walk home in the rain slowly. Was it her fault? Had she portrayed that she had not grown up at all with those childish outbursts? No. Until the very end, she had insisted that she was the victim, that her friends were the ones at fault. But deep down, she knew that she was no better. She knew that the view that they had of her was nothing but her fault. She was always so impulsive, obnoxious...she could list many things that she had done.

She needed to calm down. But she couldn't. All she could do was mope around until she finally passed G.U.N headquarters and sobbed her guts out, staring at a certain poster.

Thinking of a change of pace? Enrol here into our Trainee Agent programme and support justice for both your lives and others! Limited places left.

Dismissing the poster, Amy continued walking down the street until she reached her home.

As Amy opened the door to her empty yet echoing home, she crashed on her couch and laid there with her arm over her eyes. She felt one tear run down her cheek before she started to sob and sob. She looked painfully at the photo's of her and her friends, the one where she actually got to hold Sonic's hand as they celebrated a victory against Eggman. It made her cry even more as a memory entered into her head.

Almost a week later...

"Vanilla, I just can't!" Amy wailed.

Vanilla just sighed at the teen's ministrations. She had been worried about the poor hedgehog who hadn't left her home or eaten all week. Even Cream was scared of talking to her, knowing that she couldn't understand what Amy was going through. After all, she was just a child.

"Amy, dear. Please. Let's calm down for a second."

She looked over at the poor teen who sat sniffling across her in a red hoodie and grey shorts. Deciding enough was enough, she welcomed Amy into a hug. Amy flinched from the contact and instead of calming down, she felt like she needed to cry more.

"Let's talk later. I want you to go outside for some fresh air and get these things on the shopping list that I wrote down yesterday."

Amy looked up at Vanilla ready to decline, but when she saw the sickly sweet smile on Vanilla's face, she knew better than to argue with her mother-like figure.

"Okay... I'll be back soon," Amy replied.

Amy went upstairs, splashed her face with some water and slipped on a pair of white sneakers. She then grabbed her card and left the house.

Dang, it...why was is so darn bright outside?

Amy squinted in the afternoon sunlight as she walked down the street to the nearest store, lost entirely in her thoughts. She felt really bad about the whole situation and had wanted to go and apologise to her friends for her behaviour. It wasn't entirely her fault though. Every time she wanted to go back, she did not see one missed call from anyone but Vanilla. She knew the situation was continuing to spiral out of control. But instead, she had wallowed in self-pity and decided not to say a word because she had felt betrayed in many ways, especially considering that organiser incident. Maybe this was her breaking point to decide if she was supposed to be independent and find somewhere else to belong.

That would take a while for her though.

Her train of thought was disturbed as she accidentally bumped into someone passing by.

"Hey! Watch where you walk, little girl." a voice growled.

Amy's ears flattened as she looked up. There was a cat woman standing in front of her with blue hair, black fur and orange eyes, clad in office uniform. She looked intimidating, almost as if she was colder than ice itself. Amy gulped and apologised to the woman before getting up and swiftly walking away. She could feel the cat's eyes following her as she continued down the road before she stopped and turned around. The woman no longer paid attention to her and had entered the building. As Amy's eyes followed along with the thick, hard glass of the building, her eyes laid upon one poster.

Thinking of a change of pace? Enrol here into our Trainee Agent programme and support justice for both your lives and others! Limited places left.

Amy stood staring at the poster for a while before her phone started to buzz in the pocket, shocking her out of her daydream. Ignoring her phone, for the time being, she looked up at the building and saw the letters: G.U.N before gasping and putting her hand over her mouth.

What am I thinking? I can't go there, Sonic hates–

There she went again, thinking and choosing based on what Sonic wanted. Feeling a tug of pain at her heart, she finally pulled out her phone and read the incoming messages from Vanilla.

Oh right. I'm supposed to be going to the store.

...

Amy burst through her front door with two heavy bags of shopping and rest them on the counter before exhaustedly collapsing into the couch. Vanilla set down her teacup and rose an eyebrow at her.

"Oh no, missy. You're going to help me to cook."

"Why are we cooking?" Amy asked.

Suddenly, a loud sound echoed throughout the house. Vanilla sighed and walked over to wash the ingredients and prepare them for cooking.

"Because you need to eat. I know a certain food that will cheer you up." Vanilla playfully scolded.

Amy's eyes lit up and she smiled like a child.

"Lasagne? It's lasagne isn't it!" Amy chirped as she flung herself from the couch and ran into her open kitchen.

"Indeed. Now put on your apron, it's going to be messy." Vanilla replied.

As Amy and Vanilla prepared dinner for the night, Amy had realised that she felt a bit more relaxed and at ease in her presence. She knew after all that Vanilla was always so supportive and sympathetic throughout any situation and she admired that. Vanilla was not afraid to scold or tell anyone when they were wrong, but she knew how to handle situations in the right way. Unlike her.

Amy sighed and tried to feel a bit happier considering the fact that Vanilla had travelled all the way from Station Square just to visit her and wanted to cheer her up. A jolt of pain shook Amy out of her daydreaming.

"You almost cut yourself with a knife, pay attention." Vanilla scolded.

Amy nervously giggled before trying to finish up chopping the rest of the vegetables in front of her.

In about 2 hours, the cooking was finished and was served at the table. Amy sighed in delight and ate as she had never eaten food before. She had not eaten properly for most of the week and was starving. It also didn't help that it was her favourite meal.

"As per usual, your cooking is the best Vanilla," Amy spoke.

Vanilla rose a brow.

"That's flattering and all but...you mostly made the meal you know."

Amy went quiet and blushed in embarrassment at her mistake. She then started giggling.

"Oh right...silly me haha!"

Vanilla smiled and got up to pat Amy on the head.

"Now that's the Amy Rose we love to see," Vanilla uttered.

Amy smiled happily. She felt a bit better after her meal and had calmed down a little. Thank Chaos that Vanilla had come to see her.

"Now... would you like us to talk?" Vanilla proposed.

Amy went silent and decided to let Vanilla speak to her.

"Trust me, friends have big disagreements sometimes and it's a part of life. It may seem that this one may have been huge this time and that it needs to be fixed but there are always two sides to a story and I'm definitely not going to pick sides. It wouldn't be fair for me to comment on something that I didn't witness or that I heard from someone else."

Amy nodded and continued.

"My main points are...not everything needs a response, dear. Sometimes you should focus on yourself and not do everything for Sonic. It's time to wake up and stop playing the victim. Remember you are growing up and you cannot take the liberty of resorting to childish actions, especially as an adult. What I would recommend is a change of pace. If you find that you are not able to grow the way you are and you feel like you are not being supported so that you may grow as a person, I would suggest finding something else that you like to do. Have you found anything that piques your interest?" Vanilla probed.

Amy scrunched her brows together and tried to think of things that she loved to do. She loved adventures, she loved working together with her friends and she most definitely loved to work in a team to fight for Justice. Those were one of the things she looked up to Sonic–

There I go again... centring my life around him. I need to get away from him and fast.

Amy then closed her eyes and tried to think harder. She needed a place where she would go and explore, be able to work with people on a team and fight to defend the nation. She needed a change of pace.

A change of pace...change of pace...where can I find a place like that?

Then she remembered those words she had read.

'Thinking of a change of pace? Enrol here into our Trainee Agent programme and support justice for both your lives and others! Limited places left.'

There.