Author's Note: This is likely the most depressing chapter in the entire fic! Just wanted to let you know!
Chapter 8: Serious Complications
Dr. Carbana started hyperventilating and felt slightly lightheaded.
"Hey, Doc!" Sonic was starting to feel hysterical, "I asked you a question. What's the very bad news? Why's it so hard just to answer that?"
The doctor took a deep breath, "because, words just aren't enough to express the very bad news. If I only tell you, you're probably not going to believe me. You need to see it in person to fully understand it."
"W-what do you mean," Sonic asked very concerned, "is this just like last time?"
The doctor seemed to be hesitating to answer Sonic's question, and it was starting to get on everyone's nerves. "Actually, in a way this could be much worse than last time. Once again, if you don't want to see or hear what's about to happen, then I suggest you wait out here in the hallway."
Sonic turned to Tails, but the fox already knew what he'd say. "Don't worry Sonic," Tails quickly said with a pouting face, "you don't have to tell me." He sat on a bench in the hallway, "just go in without me."
The doctor walked into Amy's room when Rogue stopped him for a moment, "doctor, don't you need your clipboard? It's still on the floor."
"No, I don't need it right now," the doctor answered, "I've studied Amy's injuries so much that everything that's listed in that clipboard isn't new to me. Now that you're all ready, please follow me."
Sonic, Knuckles, and Rogue nodded at each other and followed. As soon as they were inside, Tails noticed the clipboard that the doctor carelessly left on the floor. He looked around if anyone was watching and quickly snatched the clipboard and sat on the bench with it. He looked through the medical report, and after reading just the first page, he had a look of total shock and was deeply hurt from what he read. He was so saddened by what he read that he let the clipboard slip from his hands and it fell to the floor again. (This clipboard seems to be getting abused!) He hunched over and buried his face in his hands and started crying. Now he knows why Sonic didn't want him in the room right now.
When Sonic and the others were in the room, it was like deja vu. The large curtain was once again blocking their view of the other side of the room. They all started to get a bad feeling because of what the doctor said, and Knuckles decided to speak up.
"Uh, doctor. What's going on? What did you mean by words not being enough and us seeing it to understand it?"
Dr. Carbana pulled out the control to open the curtain, "believe me. You're about to see exactly what I mean."
He pushed the button and the curtain moved away. This time, Amy wasn't lying down on the bed, but was sitting in a wheelchair with an assistant standing next to her! Dr. Carbana motioned for the assistant to leave the room. As soon as he left, they all gathered around Amy. Sonic and gang were about to congratulate her when they noticed something unusual.
Warning: I'll be very direct. This could be quite depressing!
She had a very blank, emotionless look on her face. She almost looked drugged or stoned! Sonic was totally stunned, "uh, doc. Why is her face like this? Is she drugged or something?"
"Not really," the doctor answered, "she was on painkillers all day, but they have no side effects. What you're now seeing is caused by her brain damage, she tends to be in a comatose state. It should wear off though, but that's not the real problem."
"Oh no, now what," Rogue was almost afraid to ask, "what's that supposed to mean."
The doctor took a deep breath and thought for a moment, "I'll show you." He walked up really close to Amy, "hello, Amy? Can you hear me?" She nodded slowly. "Good, now can you please try to stand up?
Amy got into a position to stand up. However, she seemed to have trouble moving any further. She's acting as if her body weighed several tons and she couldn't even get out of the wheelchair! Sonic was very alarmed by this. "Doc! Why isn't she getting up? Is she still drugged or exhausted?"
"Actually," the doctor answered, "it wouldn't matter if she is or isn't. She's paralyzed from the waist down. The tests showed that her spinal cord did take some damage after all. I'm afraid that she'll be confined to a wheelchair for quite some time."
Sonic and the gang were completely speechless. Their mouths just gaped wide open in total shock.
"I'm afraid that's just the tip of the iceberg," Dr. Carbana continued, "it seems that the damage to her brain has had other disturbing affects. I'm about to ask her a simple question, then you'll know what I mean." He then turned to Amy and asked in a firm voice, "Amy, I know this is a dumb question but, can you please tell all of us you name?"
Amy took a deep breath, "m-m-m-mmmmmyyyyyy n-n-n-nnnnnnaaaaaaammmmme i-i-i-iiiiissssssss A-a-aaaammmmmmyyyyyyyy." ("My name is Amy" in case you didn't understand that)
They were totally confused by what just happened. But Rogue spoke first, "doctor! What happened? She seems to be struggling with every word she said! And I can hardly understand what she said either!"
"Exactly," the doctor said almost flatly, "you see, the nerves in her voice box aren't working properly. It's another result of her brain trauma. The part of her brain that controls speech has been damaged. Also, did you know that your tongue is responsible for almost every word you say? Well there's another complication that involves her tongue."
"Her tongue?" Knuckles had a weird puzzled look, "what's that have to do with anything?"
"Watch," the doctor replied. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a cherry-flavored lollipop. He unwrapped it, gave it to Amy, and then asked her another simple request.
"Amy, do you like lollipops?" Amy nodded slowly. "Great! Ok, go ahead. Lick it, it's very good."
Amy put the lollipop close to her mouth and opened it. What happened next was, well, nothing! Amy gave a confused look and opened her mouth again. This time she started making groaning and struggling sounds. She's having trouble sticking out her own tongue!
The doctor interrupted her efforts, "never mind Amy. Just put it in your mouth and suck on it. Lollipops are also for sucking too you know."
Amy put the lollipop in her mouth and started sucking on it. After a few seconds, Amy pulled out the lollipop and started to freak out! "I-I-I c-c-caann't t-t-taaassste i-i-iiit!" (I can't taste it!)
They all started to freak out, and Sonic was affected the most. "Doc! What's happening? Why is she like this?" Sonic was crushed and started feeling very sick to his stomach.
"She can't move her tongue," the doctor replied, "her tongue is paralyzed, in fact her whole mouth is paralyzed. She can't taste anything either, which is why Amy can't lick or taste the lollipop. And since she can't move her tongue, this is why it's hard to understand her. Also, her voice box isn't working properly, which makes it even harder to understand what she says. And there are still more complications."
"Oh great, I can hardly wait," Sonic said sarcastically.
"For her next complication," Dr. Carbana continued "I'll need Knuckles participation."
"Huh!" Knuckles was surprised from what the doctor asked, "what do I have to do with any of this?"
"You have nothing to do with any of this," the doctor answered, "but I need your assistance. Now let's go to the other side of the room. I don't want the others to here this." He explained his demonstration and Knuckles was very confused by what he said, but decided to do it anyway. They both walked back to Amy who seemed to be feeling very depressed.
"Amy," the doctor said gently, "please don't feel so bad right now. You've been through so much, but your friends are here and you should trust them and also trust me. Do you trust us all?" Amy hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
"That's great. Thank you," the doctor continued, "now please cover your right eye with your right hand. No peeking through that eye, okay?"
She listened and covered her eye completely, leaving her left one wide open. Knuckles then walked up to Amy, and to everyone's surprise (except the doctor), he swung his fist at her! He was aiming for the left side of her face and quickly stopped his fist less than an inch from Amy's face!
"Knuckles!" Sonic screamed hysterically, "what are you doing!? Are you crazy!?"
Then Sonic and everyone noticed what just happened. Knuckles didn't really hit Amy, because his fist didn't quite touch her face. But when he threw that fake "punch," she didn't even blink! Knuckles was very surprised and he threw another fake "punch" to the left side of her face without touching it, and she still didn't blink!
"Okay, that's enough," the doctor interrupted, "Amy, you can put your hand down." When she put down her hand, Knuckles quickly withdrew his fist and put it behind him before she saw it.
"Um, doctor?" Rogue was feeling creeped out, "what's going on? This is freaking me out!"
"It's very simple," the doctor replied, "she's blind in her left eye."
All these things were more than they cold bear, but there was still more. Their nightmare has resurfaced right before their eyes.
"There's one more thing that you should see." Once again, he turned to Amy. "Amy, there's one more thing I want you to do, okay? Then it will be over." Dr. Carbana reached into another pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. "I'm going to blindfold you for just a moment, okay? Please don't be afraid, I'm a professional doctor and I know what I'm doing."
Amy agreed without problems and the doctor blindfolded her. The doctor walked to a medicine closet and pulled out a brand new syringe needle. The others stared with lots of concern, but they trusted him. He also out took some alcohol and cotton. He rubbed the alcohol on her left arm and pierced her arm with syringe. Amazingly, she didn't react in any way!
He then did something that would get himself in big trouble. He started moving the needle around while it's still in her arm! This is normally a very painful process, yet Amy still didn't react!
"Now what's this supposed to mean?" Sonic asked, somewhat puzzled and totally creeped out.
The doctor took a deep breath, "I hate to tell you this, but the whole left side of her body is numb. It isn't paralyzed though because as you can see, she can still move the left side of her body. She just doesn't have any feeling on that side. But there's one part on the left side that's paralyzed somewhat. Take a good look at the left side of her mouth."
They all looked closely and noticed that the left side of her lips is drooping slightly. She was also starting to drool out the left side of her lips! Because of all these complications, she looks like a retard!
The doctor continued, "it's mostly because of this."
He walked up to a drawer and pulled out what looked like a zip-lock bag. Inside was a long, thin shard of metal. Sonic immediately recognized it as being the same shard of metal that impaled Amy's head at the crash scene.
"This piece of metal was imbedded in Amy's skull and it pierced through her brain. This is what caused most of her brain trauma. I'm also sad to say that her intelligence seems to have dropped a few IQ points. Hopefully this isn't very serious or permanent.
I'm sorry that I showed you these things, but I figured that you'll understand better and believe what her complications are truly like. Now that you've all seen the demonstrations, I'll recap on her complications. She's paralyzed from the waist down, blind in her left eye, lost all feeling on the left side of her body, lost her sense of taste, her entire mouth is paralyzed and numb, she's drooling out the left side of her mouth, and she's slightly mentally impaired at the moment."
Sonic has finally had all the news he could take. He quickly ran out into the hallway. Tails was busy crying his eyes out when he saw Sonic barge into the hallway. Sonic completely broke down from all that's happened since the accident. He fell on his hands and knees and did something that even he didn't know he was capable of. He started crying, deeply. He then curled into a fetal position and started sobbing uncontrollably. Tails and everyone in the hallway was staring, but he didn't care.
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Wow! Sonic doesn't seem to be taking this very well. Do think this can have some effect on the others? You better believe it!