Disclaimer: … O.o I don't own Sonic. Sega does. ;;;

Kita: Alright, the mouse is the source of the problem; not the computer! Anyways, back to my little story. Glad to see people are still reviewing ^_^! Maybe I shall write another StH fic, but unfortunately, in a late response to Queenmecha, I have seen SatAM(sp?), but I saw that years ago, and I barely remember anything about it. The only thing I have to rely on is my SA2 game. And I particularly love it to death. But now, here's my new chapter, hoping that I can extend it to a certain amount of chapters, to not make it boring, yet make it fun to read at the same time without the boring droning of some reeeeeeeeeally long detailed descriptions. (Although, I love describing things if possible.) Enjoy to those who read this!

Broken Hope

"Is there a problem, in which you might want to speak of? If you must know, I overheard you a while ago. I may want to know the entire story…" Shadow waited for a reaction, whether it be leaning towards the sad end, or the angry end, either way he might get a little harsh look from Amy, but letting his ruby-red eyes look at her, frozen as he held her hand, he became perplexed at this… unknown response?

Amy suddenly felt in a state of in the likeness of a drug withdrawal, mentally. She pulled her hand away from Shadow's soft grip, weariness and despair in the highlights of her emerald-green eyes. Pushing herself up in a quick jerk, her leg prevented her from running at full speed, but indeed she took off, leaving behind a surely-confused, yet determined Shadow. The red, and white-lined boots thudded the rain-soaked forest floor, hopelessly going nowhere, having no sense of direction at all. She wept as she ran, her heart being mere shards upon the inside of her soul, glistening like pieces of glass shrapnel. She couldn't believe Shadow followed her, and heard her that whole time. Invasion of privacy is more like what Shadow had done. What the hell was he doing? Attempting to stomp on her remaining intact pieces of her big heart to mere glittering dust? Jerking, as the sudden surprise of her right foot hitting a stone imbedded in the soil, she fell face-first, landing into a muddy puddle. The brown filth splattered everywhere, including on her hair, face, clothing, and shoes.

He stood up, and took off after her, although she didn't take off too far, before he heard the sudden sound of her weeping, then a later, far off sound with a splash-like effect. This alarmed Shadow a little bit, as he air-bladed past many tall grasses, pushing through to make his way towards the one spot where Amy was on her knees, in the mud, crying again.

"Amy… I…" Shadow stuttered with his words; summing up an apology was difficult, yet it wasn't exactly that hard this time, especially if he felt that he had definitely done something wrong to be an intruder upon her problem she never spoke about; Involving Sonic. His hand reached out, his lips mouthing off what he was trying to say but no voice came out of his mouth.

Some 'Ultimate LifeForm' he was; more like a hypocritical one, so to speak in this case.

"Forgive me, Amy. I had no right, nor did I have any intentions on hearing out your source of distress. I am… sorry, for being unintentionally rude," Shadow regained his voice box, after his hesitation finally let go of his self-control. Stepping into the murkish puddle of dirt and water, reaching out, and leaving his hand out for Amy to take; yet he didn't control what was about to happen, as the bottom was chuck-full of dead leaves, and as Shadow placed his weight upon the leaves with his right foot, and the wet soil gave way as her tried to get to her. The leaves made him slip up, by accident, and he merely made himself look like a fool as he fell into the mud himself, splattering mud everywhere, including Amy, and on his black fur, quills, and pretty much his white tuft of hair upon his chest.

"Augh!" Was all he could say, furiously struggling to get it off as quick as he could, brushing it hastily off with several sweeps of his hands, without getting Amy muddier.

Amy was speechless, yet she didn't move. Maybe his apology had no effect on her? Then, when the sudden giveaway that Shadow had fallen into the water, too, Amy broke the silent statue-like state she had momentarily been in and looked at him with a muddy face. The sides of her cheeks had been somewhat cleared of the muck because of her falling tears from her eyes. Shadow paused, merely freezing in place, as if he couldn't break away for a moment to rid himself of the remaining muck upon him.

There was that strange feeling again…

Looking at the muddy Shadow, she stifled a small noise. A noise that barely was audible for Shadow to hear easily, which that noise caught his attention. Soon, that noise was attempted to be stopped, but still it was persisted by Amy, as she couldn't help but let loose an explosion of giggles, which literally got Shadow to give Amy a weird look for a little bit.

"What could be that funny, for you to be giggling?" Questioned Shadow.

"You're all muddy."

"I could say the same thing, but I don't find it that humorous as you do."

Shadow really meant it when he didn't mean it, didn't he? Amy blinks a little bit at Shadow's lack of humor, yet he seems to be kind at heart, really; she could see it somehow. Her face looks away a bit, the mud covering some of the lighter shades of red developing upon her cheeks.

Hello?! She mentally slaps herself, again. Amy was blushing because of Shadow??

/ Amy, get a hold of yourself. Honestly, falling for Shadow?… I mean, he does look handsome and all…. Wuh… Gah! What am I babbling about!? Ohhh, why do I suffer from time to time? / Moaning incoherently mental-wise.

" Maybe you would like to wash off, since this is quite inappropriate at the time to be sitting here, all filthy-lookin' and all," Amy says, as she got up, yet Shadow insisted by helping her up slowly as soon as he got up first.

Nodding a little, he turns around, but not before stopping and looking to Amy.

"Don't think I'm blind; Your cheeks were pinkish-red in shading," Smirking with some satisfaction that he was beginning to figure out something, moreover, he was piecing everything together; The way Amy was acting around him now, Sonic's little incident with her making her upset in the end.

Wiping away the mud that was on her face, she stopped, and slightly gasped silently. Maybe he did see her blush, even with the mud on her face? Amy couldn't help but be embarrassed by that little statement, and so, she blushed, again.

"Shadow…"

"…Yes?"

"I… forgive you. And I accept you apology. But please don't do that again."

"Deal."

"Well, by the way, I was wondering if---" That sentence was cut short through something that sounded like a rumbling, after a super-huge explosion from out of the blue. It shook everything in sight; including Amy and Shadow. Shaow took on the offensive, and looked to Amy. He wanted to make sure she stayed safe, from wherever the heck that explosion came from in the first place.

"Stay here. I'll return in a moment," Shadow momentarily blades off into the forest, disappearing in the darkness of the further distance.

Amy blinked twice, before she noticed the rocks, and the trees around herself after she had swept away some of the mud from herself and her apparel. Looking closely at the rock as she did notice it, it looked like a strange black-colored rock, and some tan-colored ones too, although the tan ones were way lighter than the black ones.

Why?……

"Wait one moment…" Amy's fears were heightening. She's seen these two kinds of rocks from before, when she was studying in her Science class. There was a clearing nearby, and there was a huge plume of smoke erupting from what seemed to be the island's mountain. In fact, that was no ordinary mountain she was seeing; and this made her fears all too real.

"Oh no! A volcano!?!?" Those two stones in her hands were the pumice, and igneous stones scattered about the island's ground floor. What was Shadow thinking of living here?! NEAR AN ACTIVE VOLCANO?!!?!

"Shadow! We have to run! Shadow??" Unfortunately, she was unheard, as Shadow had now caught on with what was happening. Smoke was constantly emerging from the crater-like top of the mountain. It hadn't done anything like this before until now. A reddish-orange substance was leaking out from the ground, as well as the sides, and the very top of the volcano, spewing lava hundreds of feet into the air from the extreme pressure of being dormant for two hundred and sixty-three years in total.

This was bad, very bad…

Shadow had to go back and find Amy before she got herself into danger. Lava at the foot of the mountain was beginning to burn the forest, all the small animals fleeing towards the ocean as fast as they could. Ash was raining down now, covering Amy somewhat. She was taking off, breathing hard as she cried out for her pet, which was stuck in a tree, frozen scared stiff.

"Marti, come down! I'll save you!" Amy relentlessly shouted, trying to coax the bird down. It wasn't working, and everything was turning thick black as smoke was reaching the area. The bird reluctantly flew down in the nick of time before Amy spotted incoming lava 'bombs'. They almost hit Amy, one searing her arm as it spat out lava because of the surrounding atmosphere being too cold for it to stay hot. She cried out in pain, running as fast as she could. It was then she reached a rocky area, gasping at the low-lying canyons, and the boulders in the middle of them. Amy continuously ran, hopping across each boulder, until she found out she couldn't hop anymore.

Lava poured into the canyon, forcing Amy to stay on that one boulder that was higher than the others she had jumped on before. The canyon walls were too far to jump to, and the lava was continuing to rise so quickly, Amy was beginning to swelter, shaking heavily, too. Just then, Amy turned around, facing the direction where the flow was coming from, and she screamed. There was a huge wave of lava racing at her, and she fell to her knees upon the hot boulder. This was it; she would die a nasty death, wouldn't she?

"AMY ROSE!! HANG ON!" The voice came out of nowhere, and it was certainly Shadow's. He had been near the edge of the cliffs, following the trail of her crying, and wailing. His shoes ignited, causing him to speedily rocket straight at Amy, and she caught his hand, as he pulled out the white/silver chaos emerald. Amy desperately, and out of fear, and sorrow, clung to him, but not tightly. Shadow could tell she was scared.

"Don't worry. I will not allow any harm to come to you!"

And he screamed the two magic words, using the Chaos Emerald's power…

"CHAOS… CONTROL!!"

A white, bright flash ensued, as the lava wave covers the boulder. It was just in the nick of time, as they vanished before the wave collided with the boulder, smoldering it with it's heat, and molten lava…

United States: San Francisco, CA.

Time of Day: Late Afternoon

Blizzard screeched to a halt. Something disturbed her rhythm of balance, and caused her to trip, as well. She went for a tumble down a long hill, like a bowling ball going down an alleyway. Sonic acked, and attempted to help her, but she was rolling a bit faster than he was running to try and stop her.

/ Aahhh! What was thaaaat?! / Blizzard could only think, because the use of the Chaos Control nearly made her lose control, and continuously tumble, with Sonic chasing after her.

"Whoa! Hold on, Blizzard! I'll getcha!" Shouted Sonic.

Believe it or not, Blizzard could be disrupted by the use of Chaos Control…