Info on the legalities concerning the characters in this part of the story:
Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Rouge, Shadow, Dr. Eggman, and Amy Rose are © Sega.
Holes and Tricks
An Adventure with Knuckles the Echidna
Part 2
Saturday came upon Tails, Sonic, and me quickly, but we had been preparing for it. Tails had been modifying the Tornado to be able to "track the heat signature of a specific life form", or in other words, keep tabs on someone.
"All you have to do is enter the person's name and what being they are." My two-tailed friend was explaining how the system worked to Sonic and me. "You see, when the system has detected the selected person, it'll show you how far away the Tornado is from the person you're tracking, a map of the city or area they're in so you can find them quicker, and the heat signatures of other people within about fifteen yards of their current location."
"Got it, Tails…Well, are we ready now?" The blue-furred hedgehog looked sternly at our orange fox friend as well as me as he asked this question.
"Let's go get Amy back!" exclaimed Tails and me in unison. All three of us looked at one another for a moment, and then we all performed a high-five with one another.
When we got into the Tornado, the orange fox took up the 'pilot' seat and entered "SHADOW/HEDGEHOG" into the newly-installed keyboard for the tracking system. After a few seconds, a map of the area surrounding Radical Highway appeared on the screen, as well as three small, red dots at the beginning of the road and another seemingly motionless dot that appeared to be about ten yards back to scale.
Concerned, Sonic informed Tails about the four dots on the screen map of Radical Highway. The fox responded by saying, "Well, we'll find out soon enough; it's 3:57 and we're just coming up on the beginning stretch of Radical Highway."
The orange, two-tailed fox slowly hovered his self-built machine down to the ground. As the blue hedgehog and me jumped out of Tails' aircraft, I noticed a dark-furred hedgehog grinding down the leftmost rail along the road.
"I'm glad to see you care about your girlfriend, Sonic." Said Shadow coldly as he sped down the rail towards my hedgehog friend, who just stood planted on one spot, not even flinching when the black hedgehog less than a foot away from his face. Shadow then continued on, saying, "In the letter, I told you and the orange freak over there to come because I've invited a couple of friends to our party. I'm sure you know them. They're very glad you came."
Two shapes then began to emerge from the shadows on the highway. One figure was quite large, while the other was the exact opposite. To almost everyone's shock and horror, the large shape was that of the evil Dr. Eggman. The smaller figure turned out to be Rouge the Bat, who normally worked with the U.S. military on various missions. The strangest thing about the whole scene was that Rouge and Shadow seemed to have the same expressions on their faces.
"Well, if it isn't Knucklehead, the foolish echidna." Rouge said in an unusually harsh tone of voice. The bat continued on. "I'm so glad you came today. Now I can finish you off!" The white bat catapulted herself high in the air, and then began to drill-dive down towards me in an attempt of attacking.
As I rolled on the asphalt to avoid the bat's assault, I saw Shadow and Sonic bouncing off of each other with their homing attacks. I noticed right away that the black hedgehog's attacks were quite aggressive while my blue friend's attacks seemed to be made to block the physical assault from causing harm.
Out of nowhere, I suddenly saw the heel of Rouge's boot aiming for my face. On instinct, I rolled out of the way and covered my head. As I saw the bat's boot drive into the pavement, I heard a loud, crunching sound, and then Rouge slumped down to the ground.
When her foot lay sideways on the asphalt, I saw what was making the white bat and Shadow act so strangely. A mechanical device was hanging by a wire from the heel of Rouge's boot. In an attempt to bring the female bat back to normal, I picked up the object hanging from her heel and sliced the wire at the base of the white boot that belonged to Rouge with my razor-sharp knuckles.
As I threw the device over the edge of Radical Highway, a scenario played through my mind. Rouge was constricted onto a medical table with metal restraints as Dr. Eggman milled about around several monitors and machines in the room.
"Don't worry, bat girl, you won't feel a thing after the process is completed. Of course, by then, you won't remember a thing, either. You'll just do as I tell you." The enormous genius wore an evil grin on his face as he said this.
"I'll never do anything under your command, Eggman!" The bat spat out.
"Oh, don't worry, you'll do everything and anything I want you to, Rouge, just wait and see." The egg-shaped human's eyes gleamed evilly as he retorted the female bat's remark.
"You sick son of a bitch!" cried the bat as the Eggman waddled nearer to her.
The doctor seemingly ignored Rouge's many vulgar comments as he began to attach the gray device in his hand to the bat's boot, while the white bat struggled for her freedom, even though she knew it was to no avail.
The human then finished connecting the miniscule machine to Rouge's white boot and walked over to one of the monitors and pressed a button on the screen. All of the sudden, the bat let out a blood-curdling scream as electricity coursed through her body.
I shook my head in agony, trying to stop the screaming voice echoing in my head. When I opened my eyes, I saw Amy trying to fight Eggman and stop him from taking her away. I saw the pink hedgehog take a swing at the fat genius with her Piko Piko Hammer, and then successfully hit the evil human's self-built aircraft, causing a rather large dent to appear in the body. Furious, Eggman attempted to capture Amy and unfortunately succeeded. Since Amy was so much smaller than he, the pink hedgehog began to lose the fight.
Intent on saving my friend, I snuck over to where the fat human's craft was parked. The evil genius had already forced Amy into the vehicle, thus I ran over to her seat in the aircraft and grabbed a hold of her hand. But to my disadvantage, Eggman had begun to launch the machine into the air, which caused my body to slam rather hard into the side of the now-airborne craft.
"Knuckles! Help me!!" sobbed my pink-furred friend as the vehicle slowly soared higher and higher into the air.
My presence was now known by the human. Eggman looked back and shouted at me, "Get off of my craft, knucklehead!" He then pressed a button that released a device that pushed me away from the machine hovering in midair, and then slammed my body back against the already-damaged siding of Eggman's aircraft. The force of the blow caused me to lose my grip on Amy's hand, and as I plummeted towards the ground, one of the pink hedgehog's gold bracelets came down with me in my hand.
Luckily before I hit the asphalt, I spotted a small support beam that I managed to maneuver myself into landing on the beam. By then, Rouge had woken up and flew up to the small platform I had landed on and asked me questions about what was going on and if I was all right.
Before I could begin to answer the bat's inquiries, we were startled into looking below us when a loud, agonizing cry escaped Shadow as Sonic destroyed the metal device around the black hedgehog's wrist that was shaped like a bracelet all hedgehogs wore.
I began to see another scene play through my mind. This time, it was Shadow secured onto the medical table, struggling against the bonds that held the black hedgehog in place. His right bracelet was removed, which occurred when my blue hedgehog friend tried to save Shadow from falling into the atmosphere.
After a few exchanged comments, Eggman closed the brainwashing device around the dark-furred animal's wrist, and another long, agonizing cry escaped Shadow and echoed through my mind.
When the scene ended, Rouge and I flew down towards where Sonic and his look-alike were stationed. As the black hedgehog groaned and slowly began to rise up from the ground, he asked, "What happened? I don't remember a thing that's been going on…"
Everyone looked over at Tails, who was fiddling with the tracking system to see if he could track the fat human genius. When the orange fox looked up at us, he had a puzzled expression on his face, and then shrugged his shoulders in a confused manner. I took this opportunity to explain my theory.
"Did anyone else see those, uh, scenes with Shadow and Rouge and Eggman?" I looked around at everyone for a moment until Sonic and Tails replied, saying, "Yeah, I was wondering what was going on when those things occurred."
Continuing with my explanation, I said, "In those images, Eggman was attaching a metal device to them. My guess is that they were a type of brainwashing machine to carry out that fat old man's evil doings through someone you wouldn't expect it from… Now, the next thing we have to figure out is why Eggman wanted Shadow to kidnap Amy."
There was a short silence between Rouge and Shadow while Tails ran back to the Tornado to do something, and then the bat and dark-colored hedgehog turned to Sonic and me as the white female bat said, "We're sorry if we caused any trouble for you guys."
The blue hedgehog looked at me and I looked at him. After a pause, I turned back to Rouge and Shadow and replied, saying, "It's no big deal. You didn't know what you were doing, so you can't blame yourself for your actions."
All of the sudden, our orange friend leaped out of the Tornado, which was several yards away, and spun his two tails into flying mode. When he reached our location, the fox looked at my hedgehog friend and me as he panted, "I think I know why Eggman put those brainwashing devices on Rouge and Shadow!" Tails pulled out the somewhat smashed device that was attached to the black hedgehog's wrist. He then pointed out a series of barely visible numbers etched into the casing of the small machine and continued on with his theory.
"…You see, here, this code is a sign that the item is a testing prototype. Many companies use it when they're trying out a new machine, so Eggman must have stolen the code to use on his brainwashing machines here… The reason why he chose Rouge and Shadow to use the test devices on is because he's worked with you before and knows how you react to different dealings. Now, the reason Eggman wanted to kidnap Amy should be clear. If those two machines were just test copies, he's got to have at least one more of those things. And, Sonic, Knuckles, Eggman, and I know how destructive Amy's Piko Piko Hammer can be. If that fat genius has control over Amy, he's also got control of the Hammer! We've got to get Amy back not only because she's our friend, but because in Eggman's hands, the Piko Piko could destroy entire cities the size of Station Square in a matter of just a few hours!"
Rouge, Shadow, Sonic, Tails, and I looked at each other for a moment in silence, and then I piped up and exclaimed, "Let's go save Amy. Together! ...You guys can join the cause, too, if you want." I turned to the white bat and black hedgehog as I stated the latter.
"I want to help you get her back. After all, if it wasn't for Amy, I wouldn't have helped you guys out with the Biolizard, and none of us would be standing here right now." Sonic's arch nemesis/friend looked sort of saddened as he stated this.
Seemingly the exact opposite of Shadow's feelings, Rouge sort of cheerfully exclaimed, "Amy Rose is the new jewel on the Treasure Scope!"
The blue-furred hedgehog whistled softly as he said, "Man, I never expected to hear anyone say that."
Tails then frowned at Sonic and rolled his eyes.
After a bit of unanticipated silence, I broke it by saying, "We've got a full house for the search party!" Everyone then headed toward the apartment after a short discussion on what we were going to about helping Amy.
************************************************************************
As soon as we all got back to my shared residence, everyone began to brainstorm ideas on how to get Amy out of Eggman's clutches.
"Hey, Tails, is there some way to get a version of the tracking capabilities on the Tornado into a smaller device? We could use that to get a HUGE advantage over that fat egg!" Sonic surprisingly was the first one to come up with a reasonable and safe method after several failed attempts.
"Good thinking, Sonic! You know, once you get that brain moving, it acts just like your feet!" I jokingly said as I nudged the blue hedgehog, who obviously didn't like my comment that well.
Not wanting to have a fight break out, Tails interrupted the 'friendly conversation' between Sonic and me by saying, "There is a way to get the program onto a laptop. We just have to download it off the Tornado." The orange fox and the blue hedgehog continued in this conversation until Rouge and Shadow suddenly stood up.
"We're sorry, but we'll have to leave soon if we want to get back to the military base." Said the white bat as she and the black hedgehog started for the door.
I then got up out of my chair and stated, "You guys don't have to leave. After all, we do have an… empty room…" I looked away, saddened at the thought of my pink friend's room being unoccupied longer than it needed to be.
"Don't worry, Knux, we'll get Amy back out of that fat egg's hands in no time. You'll see." Tails smiled up at me encouragingly as he said this to me. I softly sighed as I sat down and confessed, "You're right, Tails; we are going to save Amy, and we'll do it quicker than you can say 'Ro-butt-nik'!" I grinned as I said the latter.
There was a short silence between everyone in the apartment as Sonic sat in his chair, seemingly in deep thought. I would have made a comment, but I didn't feel like starting another fight. All of the sudden, the blue hedgehog exclaimed, "Hey, Rouge, you said 'WE will have to leave soon to get to the military base.' But, aren't you the only one here with a job in the military?"
The female bat chuckled slightly as she responded to Sonic's inquiry. "Well, that was true on the day that Shadow…uh…fell from the ARK. But a couple days later when I was being assigned a new mission, in walks Shadow and the pres told me that he'd be my new partner on my missions!"
The black hedgehog stood in the same spot, seemingly unaware of the words that were spoken by Rouge. He also looked as if he were in deep thought, and then Shadow turned to face the bat and asked her, "What if we told the president we found out about a new mission? We could get some equipment like Tails was talking about."
"Shadow, that wouldn't be such a bad idea, except the pres might try to take it into his own hands and assign someone else on it." The white bat didn't seem too sure if the black hedgehog's plan would work the way he wanted it to.
"I can persuade him into giving us the mission; don't worry about it, Rouge." Shadow then turned to Sonic, Tails, and me, and then continued. "You three should come along with us when we do decide to tell the president about your situation, more for backup than explanation, unless something happens so we don't need to tell the pres."
"Sounds like a plan." Stated the blue hedgehog. He continued, but with a different subject.
"You guys really should just stay here for at least tonight. I mean, if something happened after you left and we needed to contact you, what would we be able to do? It would work out for the better, but someone will have to stay in Amy's room…" Sonic trailed off, and everyone looked away from one another, remembering the cheerful pink hedgehog for all it was worth.
Just then, Rouge piped up and said, "I can stay in Amy's room." Everyone looked at the white bat, surprised at her gesture to stay in the now-unoccupied room of the female hedgehog. After all, Rouge was the most unladylike lady I had ever seen, and being cooped up in the girlish room ever imaginable just did not sound like her.
The bat looked around at all of us and said, "What's so weird about that? It's not like Shadow would ever survive more than thirty minutes before going insane."
The dark-furred hedgehog scowled at Rouge as Sonic laughed and responded to the bat's statement. "We're all kinda tense about going into Amy's room, actually."
Tails smirked as he added, "The only way we'd get her up in the morning was to throw yesterday's socks at her face then run like heck back to our rooms to avoid a beating with that Hammer."
I couldn't help but laugh as I said, "Surprisingly, Sonic's the only one to be hit with the Piko Piko Hammer over the waking routine."
The blue hedgehog wore a large frown on his face as he chucked a shoe at me as he exclaimed, "Well, maybe that wouldn't have happened if a couple of unnamed roommates didn't jam the door shut!"
As I laughed, Sonic's ears flattened in a defensive manner. Expecting a better-aimed shoe, I raised my arms to protect my head. Instead, the blue hedgehog whispered, "Everyone, quiet! Someone's outside!"
Sure enough, muffled footsteps began to grow louder, and then stopped. Everyone's ears were flattened against their heads as the jingling of keys was heard right outside the front door to the apartment.
"Who would come here this late at night…oh my God, could it be Amy?" ran through my mind.
When the door opened, a pink hedgehog in a red and white dress with matching boots staggered into the apartment, holding a slightly battered red and yellow hammer. As soon as she had closed the door (everyone originally in the apartment stood there with mouths wide open in shock), the female hedgehog took a few weak steps into the apartment, and then collapsed in a heap, face up on the floor.
"AMY!!" cried out Sonic as he rushed over next to Amy Rose's unconscious body.
Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Rouge, Shadow, Dr. Eggman, and Amy Rose are © Sega.
Holes and Tricks
An Adventure with Knuckles the Echidna
Part 2
Saturday came upon Tails, Sonic, and me quickly, but we had been preparing for it. Tails had been modifying the Tornado to be able to "track the heat signature of a specific life form", or in other words, keep tabs on someone.
"All you have to do is enter the person's name and what being they are." My two-tailed friend was explaining how the system worked to Sonic and me. "You see, when the system has detected the selected person, it'll show you how far away the Tornado is from the person you're tracking, a map of the city or area they're in so you can find them quicker, and the heat signatures of other people within about fifteen yards of their current location."
"Got it, Tails…Well, are we ready now?" The blue-furred hedgehog looked sternly at our orange fox friend as well as me as he asked this question.
"Let's go get Amy back!" exclaimed Tails and me in unison. All three of us looked at one another for a moment, and then we all performed a high-five with one another.
When we got into the Tornado, the orange fox took up the 'pilot' seat and entered "SHADOW/HEDGEHOG" into the newly-installed keyboard for the tracking system. After a few seconds, a map of the area surrounding Radical Highway appeared on the screen, as well as three small, red dots at the beginning of the road and another seemingly motionless dot that appeared to be about ten yards back to scale.
Concerned, Sonic informed Tails about the four dots on the screen map of Radical Highway. The fox responded by saying, "Well, we'll find out soon enough; it's 3:57 and we're just coming up on the beginning stretch of Radical Highway."
The orange, two-tailed fox slowly hovered his self-built machine down to the ground. As the blue hedgehog and me jumped out of Tails' aircraft, I noticed a dark-furred hedgehog grinding down the leftmost rail along the road.
"I'm glad to see you care about your girlfriend, Sonic." Said Shadow coldly as he sped down the rail towards my hedgehog friend, who just stood planted on one spot, not even flinching when the black hedgehog less than a foot away from his face. Shadow then continued on, saying, "In the letter, I told you and the orange freak over there to come because I've invited a couple of friends to our party. I'm sure you know them. They're very glad you came."
Two shapes then began to emerge from the shadows on the highway. One figure was quite large, while the other was the exact opposite. To almost everyone's shock and horror, the large shape was that of the evil Dr. Eggman. The smaller figure turned out to be Rouge the Bat, who normally worked with the U.S. military on various missions. The strangest thing about the whole scene was that Rouge and Shadow seemed to have the same expressions on their faces.
"Well, if it isn't Knucklehead, the foolish echidna." Rouge said in an unusually harsh tone of voice. The bat continued on. "I'm so glad you came today. Now I can finish you off!" The white bat catapulted herself high in the air, and then began to drill-dive down towards me in an attempt of attacking.
As I rolled on the asphalt to avoid the bat's assault, I saw Shadow and Sonic bouncing off of each other with their homing attacks. I noticed right away that the black hedgehog's attacks were quite aggressive while my blue friend's attacks seemed to be made to block the physical assault from causing harm.
Out of nowhere, I suddenly saw the heel of Rouge's boot aiming for my face. On instinct, I rolled out of the way and covered my head. As I saw the bat's boot drive into the pavement, I heard a loud, crunching sound, and then Rouge slumped down to the ground.
When her foot lay sideways on the asphalt, I saw what was making the white bat and Shadow act so strangely. A mechanical device was hanging by a wire from the heel of Rouge's boot. In an attempt to bring the female bat back to normal, I picked up the object hanging from her heel and sliced the wire at the base of the white boot that belonged to Rouge with my razor-sharp knuckles.
As I threw the device over the edge of Radical Highway, a scenario played through my mind. Rouge was constricted onto a medical table with metal restraints as Dr. Eggman milled about around several monitors and machines in the room.
"Don't worry, bat girl, you won't feel a thing after the process is completed. Of course, by then, you won't remember a thing, either. You'll just do as I tell you." The enormous genius wore an evil grin on his face as he said this.
"I'll never do anything under your command, Eggman!" The bat spat out.
"Oh, don't worry, you'll do everything and anything I want you to, Rouge, just wait and see." The egg-shaped human's eyes gleamed evilly as he retorted the female bat's remark.
"You sick son of a bitch!" cried the bat as the Eggman waddled nearer to her.
The doctor seemingly ignored Rouge's many vulgar comments as he began to attach the gray device in his hand to the bat's boot, while the white bat struggled for her freedom, even though she knew it was to no avail.
The human then finished connecting the miniscule machine to Rouge's white boot and walked over to one of the monitors and pressed a button on the screen. All of the sudden, the bat let out a blood-curdling scream as electricity coursed through her body.
I shook my head in agony, trying to stop the screaming voice echoing in my head. When I opened my eyes, I saw Amy trying to fight Eggman and stop him from taking her away. I saw the pink hedgehog take a swing at the fat genius with her Piko Piko Hammer, and then successfully hit the evil human's self-built aircraft, causing a rather large dent to appear in the body. Furious, Eggman attempted to capture Amy and unfortunately succeeded. Since Amy was so much smaller than he, the pink hedgehog began to lose the fight.
Intent on saving my friend, I snuck over to where the fat human's craft was parked. The evil genius had already forced Amy into the vehicle, thus I ran over to her seat in the aircraft and grabbed a hold of her hand. But to my disadvantage, Eggman had begun to launch the machine into the air, which caused my body to slam rather hard into the side of the now-airborne craft.
"Knuckles! Help me!!" sobbed my pink-furred friend as the vehicle slowly soared higher and higher into the air.
My presence was now known by the human. Eggman looked back and shouted at me, "Get off of my craft, knucklehead!" He then pressed a button that released a device that pushed me away from the machine hovering in midair, and then slammed my body back against the already-damaged siding of Eggman's aircraft. The force of the blow caused me to lose my grip on Amy's hand, and as I plummeted towards the ground, one of the pink hedgehog's gold bracelets came down with me in my hand.
Luckily before I hit the asphalt, I spotted a small support beam that I managed to maneuver myself into landing on the beam. By then, Rouge had woken up and flew up to the small platform I had landed on and asked me questions about what was going on and if I was all right.
Before I could begin to answer the bat's inquiries, we were startled into looking below us when a loud, agonizing cry escaped Shadow as Sonic destroyed the metal device around the black hedgehog's wrist that was shaped like a bracelet all hedgehogs wore.
I began to see another scene play through my mind. This time, it was Shadow secured onto the medical table, struggling against the bonds that held the black hedgehog in place. His right bracelet was removed, which occurred when my blue hedgehog friend tried to save Shadow from falling into the atmosphere.
After a few exchanged comments, Eggman closed the brainwashing device around the dark-furred animal's wrist, and another long, agonizing cry escaped Shadow and echoed through my mind.
When the scene ended, Rouge and I flew down towards where Sonic and his look-alike were stationed. As the black hedgehog groaned and slowly began to rise up from the ground, he asked, "What happened? I don't remember a thing that's been going on…"
Everyone looked over at Tails, who was fiddling with the tracking system to see if he could track the fat human genius. When the orange fox looked up at us, he had a puzzled expression on his face, and then shrugged his shoulders in a confused manner. I took this opportunity to explain my theory.
"Did anyone else see those, uh, scenes with Shadow and Rouge and Eggman?" I looked around at everyone for a moment until Sonic and Tails replied, saying, "Yeah, I was wondering what was going on when those things occurred."
Continuing with my explanation, I said, "In those images, Eggman was attaching a metal device to them. My guess is that they were a type of brainwashing machine to carry out that fat old man's evil doings through someone you wouldn't expect it from… Now, the next thing we have to figure out is why Eggman wanted Shadow to kidnap Amy."
There was a short silence between Rouge and Shadow while Tails ran back to the Tornado to do something, and then the bat and dark-colored hedgehog turned to Sonic and me as the white female bat said, "We're sorry if we caused any trouble for you guys."
The blue hedgehog looked at me and I looked at him. After a pause, I turned back to Rouge and Shadow and replied, saying, "It's no big deal. You didn't know what you were doing, so you can't blame yourself for your actions."
All of the sudden, our orange friend leaped out of the Tornado, which was several yards away, and spun his two tails into flying mode. When he reached our location, the fox looked at my hedgehog friend and me as he panted, "I think I know why Eggman put those brainwashing devices on Rouge and Shadow!" Tails pulled out the somewhat smashed device that was attached to the black hedgehog's wrist. He then pointed out a series of barely visible numbers etched into the casing of the small machine and continued on with his theory.
"…You see, here, this code is a sign that the item is a testing prototype. Many companies use it when they're trying out a new machine, so Eggman must have stolen the code to use on his brainwashing machines here… The reason why he chose Rouge and Shadow to use the test devices on is because he's worked with you before and knows how you react to different dealings. Now, the reason Eggman wanted to kidnap Amy should be clear. If those two machines were just test copies, he's got to have at least one more of those things. And, Sonic, Knuckles, Eggman, and I know how destructive Amy's Piko Piko Hammer can be. If that fat genius has control over Amy, he's also got control of the Hammer! We've got to get Amy back not only because she's our friend, but because in Eggman's hands, the Piko Piko could destroy entire cities the size of Station Square in a matter of just a few hours!"
Rouge, Shadow, Sonic, Tails, and I looked at each other for a moment in silence, and then I piped up and exclaimed, "Let's go save Amy. Together! ...You guys can join the cause, too, if you want." I turned to the white bat and black hedgehog as I stated the latter.
"I want to help you get her back. After all, if it wasn't for Amy, I wouldn't have helped you guys out with the Biolizard, and none of us would be standing here right now." Sonic's arch nemesis/friend looked sort of saddened as he stated this.
Seemingly the exact opposite of Shadow's feelings, Rouge sort of cheerfully exclaimed, "Amy Rose is the new jewel on the Treasure Scope!"
The blue-furred hedgehog whistled softly as he said, "Man, I never expected to hear anyone say that."
Tails then frowned at Sonic and rolled his eyes.
After a bit of unanticipated silence, I broke it by saying, "We've got a full house for the search party!" Everyone then headed toward the apartment after a short discussion on what we were going to about helping Amy.
************************************************************************
As soon as we all got back to my shared residence, everyone began to brainstorm ideas on how to get Amy out of Eggman's clutches.
"Hey, Tails, is there some way to get a version of the tracking capabilities on the Tornado into a smaller device? We could use that to get a HUGE advantage over that fat egg!" Sonic surprisingly was the first one to come up with a reasonable and safe method after several failed attempts.
"Good thinking, Sonic! You know, once you get that brain moving, it acts just like your feet!" I jokingly said as I nudged the blue hedgehog, who obviously didn't like my comment that well.
Not wanting to have a fight break out, Tails interrupted the 'friendly conversation' between Sonic and me by saying, "There is a way to get the program onto a laptop. We just have to download it off the Tornado." The orange fox and the blue hedgehog continued in this conversation until Rouge and Shadow suddenly stood up.
"We're sorry, but we'll have to leave soon if we want to get back to the military base." Said the white bat as she and the black hedgehog started for the door.
I then got up out of my chair and stated, "You guys don't have to leave. After all, we do have an… empty room…" I looked away, saddened at the thought of my pink friend's room being unoccupied longer than it needed to be.
"Don't worry, Knux, we'll get Amy back out of that fat egg's hands in no time. You'll see." Tails smiled up at me encouragingly as he said this to me. I softly sighed as I sat down and confessed, "You're right, Tails; we are going to save Amy, and we'll do it quicker than you can say 'Ro-butt-nik'!" I grinned as I said the latter.
There was a short silence between everyone in the apartment as Sonic sat in his chair, seemingly in deep thought. I would have made a comment, but I didn't feel like starting another fight. All of the sudden, the blue hedgehog exclaimed, "Hey, Rouge, you said 'WE will have to leave soon to get to the military base.' But, aren't you the only one here with a job in the military?"
The female bat chuckled slightly as she responded to Sonic's inquiry. "Well, that was true on the day that Shadow…uh…fell from the ARK. But a couple days later when I was being assigned a new mission, in walks Shadow and the pres told me that he'd be my new partner on my missions!"
The black hedgehog stood in the same spot, seemingly unaware of the words that were spoken by Rouge. He also looked as if he were in deep thought, and then Shadow turned to face the bat and asked her, "What if we told the president we found out about a new mission? We could get some equipment like Tails was talking about."
"Shadow, that wouldn't be such a bad idea, except the pres might try to take it into his own hands and assign someone else on it." The white bat didn't seem too sure if the black hedgehog's plan would work the way he wanted it to.
"I can persuade him into giving us the mission; don't worry about it, Rouge." Shadow then turned to Sonic, Tails, and me, and then continued. "You three should come along with us when we do decide to tell the president about your situation, more for backup than explanation, unless something happens so we don't need to tell the pres."
"Sounds like a plan." Stated the blue hedgehog. He continued, but with a different subject.
"You guys really should just stay here for at least tonight. I mean, if something happened after you left and we needed to contact you, what would we be able to do? It would work out for the better, but someone will have to stay in Amy's room…" Sonic trailed off, and everyone looked away from one another, remembering the cheerful pink hedgehog for all it was worth.
Just then, Rouge piped up and said, "I can stay in Amy's room." Everyone looked at the white bat, surprised at her gesture to stay in the now-unoccupied room of the female hedgehog. After all, Rouge was the most unladylike lady I had ever seen, and being cooped up in the girlish room ever imaginable just did not sound like her.
The bat looked around at all of us and said, "What's so weird about that? It's not like Shadow would ever survive more than thirty minutes before going insane."
The dark-furred hedgehog scowled at Rouge as Sonic laughed and responded to the bat's statement. "We're all kinda tense about going into Amy's room, actually."
Tails smirked as he added, "The only way we'd get her up in the morning was to throw yesterday's socks at her face then run like heck back to our rooms to avoid a beating with that Hammer."
I couldn't help but laugh as I said, "Surprisingly, Sonic's the only one to be hit with the Piko Piko Hammer over the waking routine."
The blue hedgehog wore a large frown on his face as he chucked a shoe at me as he exclaimed, "Well, maybe that wouldn't have happened if a couple of unnamed roommates didn't jam the door shut!"
As I laughed, Sonic's ears flattened in a defensive manner. Expecting a better-aimed shoe, I raised my arms to protect my head. Instead, the blue hedgehog whispered, "Everyone, quiet! Someone's outside!"
Sure enough, muffled footsteps began to grow louder, and then stopped. Everyone's ears were flattened against their heads as the jingling of keys was heard right outside the front door to the apartment.
"Who would come here this late at night…oh my God, could it be Amy?" ran through my mind.
When the door opened, a pink hedgehog in a red and white dress with matching boots staggered into the apartment, holding a slightly battered red and yellow hammer. As soon as she had closed the door (everyone originally in the apartment stood there with mouths wide open in shock), the female hedgehog took a few weak steps into the apartment, and then collapsed in a heap, face up on the floor.
"AMY!!" cried out Sonic as he rushed over next to Amy Rose's unconscious body.