Sega owns Sonic and ARC. Drake and Ruth are my fan-characters.
Finally, you get to find out what happened to Amy! This chapter also introduces my second fan-character, Ruth. You may think having another echidna is unoriginal, but I believe Ruth is original in her personality and her abilities. I love echidnas, and all of my fan-characters are echidnas, but they are all unique in their own special way. It may seem like there are a lot of grammatical errors, but that's just the way Ruth talks.
I know Omochao is in Sonic Heroes, but I just couldn't leave the scene with him out…it was too funny, and yes, I know everyone doesn't hate him, but…a lot of people do (including me).
Chapter 10: Amy's Adventure
Amy slowly lifted her head and blinked her eyes. The fuzzy world around her was coming into focus. She appeared to be in a dark cave-like structure. "Where am I?" she asked, groggily. "Sonic? Are you there?"
"Where are ya?" a female voice said, very close to her. "For Petey's sake, I should think ya'd know if ya tried to hop the Passage."
Amy's vision came completely into focus now. She was lying on the floor of a darkened stone closet, with the blue swirling portal behind her, now much smaller.
Someone kneeled next to her, concerned. She had a white ruffled blouse, an orange-and-pink skirt, green boots, blue eyes, and long green dreadlocks.
"You're an echidna," Amy commented.
"Course I am," she answered. "What's a 'lil hedgehog like you doin' round these parts?"
"I honestly don't know," Amy answered, sitting up.
The green, female echidna stared at the portal for a long time. "Say…didya come through that there portal?"
"I…I think I did," Amy said, timidly. "It tried to suck me in and then I blackened out."
The echidna stared at her with amazement. "Well sorry, honey but I can't getcha home right now. The portal needs time ta recharge, ya see."
Amy looked down. "Well, can you at least tell me where I am?"
The echidna looked worried now. "Um…I can't ya that. It's kinda against the rules. You'll just hafta stay here at my house 'til the portal recharges."
Amy followed her out of the closet and gaped at the house. It was very clean, but large wooden sticks sat in one corner, the bed was built into the wall, and the table was just a platform hovering above the ground.
"Hey…" Amy suddenly asked. "Are you a friend of Drake's?"
The echidna girl lit up. "Oh, ya saw Drake? He's a nice guy. We've been friends since we were 'lil kids."
She sat down on a hovering stool and invited Amy to sit with her. Amy found it awkward to sit on something that was hovering, but she did her best to stay on.
"So, whatcha name, 'lil hedgehog?" the echidna asked.
"I'm Amy Rose," Amy answered. "Who are you? Or is telling me that against the rules too?"
The echidna smiled. "No. If it were, ya woodn' know Drake's name. Although 'e does have a reputation for breakin' the rules." She smiled at Amy. "My name's Ruth Clover. Just relax, 'kay? I'm not gonna do nothing to ya."
Amy wondered if she was in another zone, since she came through a portal to get here. If she were, how come there weren't any robots? Amy thought a little longer. Maybe she was in another world, or the future, or the past, or…something.
"What are all those big sticks in the back for?" Amy asked.
"Well ya might think this's strange, but my faverit hobby is pole-vaultin'. I always carry a pole wit me." Ruth pulled a long brown pole seemingly out of the air.
"Oh!" Amy cried. "Kind of like this!" She pulled her Piko Piko hammer out of thin air.
"A hamma?" Ruth said, confused. "Whatcha do with that hamma?"
Amy cleared a small space and began showing Ruth just what she could do with her "hamma." She pounded a few crates, did her super hammer jump, and her hammer whirl.
"Wow," Ruth commented. "Impressive." She got up and ran out into the clearing. Then she showed Amy what she could do with her pole. She did a super-high, pole-vaulting jump, and showed off some karate moves using the pole. Finally, she stuck the pointed end of the pole in the ground and used it to propel her forward in a burst of speed. Fortunately, she managed to stop before crashing into the nearby wall.
"That was cool!" Amy said, clapping. "I wish I could run as fast as you. Everyone else can run faster than me, and it's so frustrating!"
"Really?" Ruth said. She lit up. "I know! While yar waiting for the portal to recharge, I could teachya howta run faster!"
"Really?!" Amy cried. "That would be great!"
"Okey-dokey," Ruth said. "We'll start first thing tomorrow."
Bouncing and screeching noises filled the halls of Ruth's house as the two new friends practiced together.
Amy zipped around the field twice. "How's that?" she asked.
"Pretty good!" Ruth called. "Keep workin' on it!"
Amy found that if she ran for a while, she built up speed as she got used to running, but running from a standstill was still hard for her. She tried it a couple of times and met with no success.
She just looked around and admired her surroundings. She wished there was a place like this back home. In the middle of Ruth's house was a giant, indoor field, just like a front lawn, except inside the house. The only downside, Ruth said, was that she still had to water and cut it like a normal outdoor lawn.
Amy tapped Ruth on the shoulder, interrupting another pole-propel. "Um, I was wondering if you could time me. Just ta see if I've gotten faster."
"Sure thing," Ruth said. She held up a small, flat stopwatch. "Go stand by the door…okay…ya ready?"
Amy squatted in running position and nodded to her.
Ruth pressed the button and called, "Go!"
Amy shot off and tried to run as fast as she could. For a moment, she felt like she was flying. After a while, she was starting to get very tired.
Thankfully, Ruth pressed another button. "Okay, youkin' stop now!"
Amy panted and walked over to her. "How'd I do?"
Ruth pulled out a record-keeping notebook and scribbled down the new time. "Hey, yeah! Ya are a lot faster!"
Amy looked at the notations. "Well we have been training the entire day."
Ruth held her pointer finger up. "Nuh-uh, we stopped ta hava lunch break."
Amy nearly fell over.
Ruth smiled at her. "C'mon, let's go back ta my room. The portal might be charged up now."
Amy followed her out of the field and down a few small hallways. She peeked around some corners and saw what looked to be a comfy living room with a fireplace. Well, if this was the future, then fireplaces were still in style. Amy looked around the room as Ruth went into the closet to check the portal. She felt like she should be packing up her things, but she had no things to pack up. This was the first time she'd unintentionally taken a trip.
Ruth emerged from the stone closet. "Yup, all charged up now." Amy headed for the closet, but Ruth reached out and stopped her. "Waita minute. I got somethin' ta give ya."
A present? Amy thought. Why would she be giving me a present? It's not my birthday, and I don't even know her that well. She remained in suspense for another couple of minutes until Ruth finally dug out what she was looking for. It was a pair of boots.
"Here," she said, handing them to Amy. "Why doncha try these on? I was savin' 'em for somethin', but now I don't know what."
Amy slipped the new boots on and was shocked to discover that they fit her perfectly. A yellow light started up around her and Omochao fell onto her head.
"Ouch!" she cried. "Hey!"
"You've found the Swift Boots," the robotic chao said in his annoying voice. "Press and hold B button to charge up and release for a Giant Step…"
Crash! Amy smashed Omochao to bits with her hammer. "I already know how to use these things! There's an instruction manual for a reason!"
Ruth gave her a weird look. "What in blazes…?"
"Don't ask," Amy replied. Finally, Amy stepped into the swirling blue portal and waved to Ruth.
"Bye, Amy girl!" Ruth called to her, just before she disappeared. "See ya on the flip side!"
The light was swirling around Amy, making her very dizzy. Just when she thought she was going to be sick, the swirling stopped. Slowly, the pink hedgehog got a hold on the solid ground beneath her feet and looked up at what had materialized around her.
"Hey, this isn't Getaway Island!"
She was surrounded by metallic walls with morphing colors, robot parts, and pounding machines. A dimming sign above her head read: Welcome to Lost Egg Zone.
"Lost Egg Zone?" Amy said to herself. "These zones just keep getting weirder and weirder."
The zone was composed of broken-down machines Eggman invented and some of his plans that never made it to the primetime. Amy had a difficult time trying to navigate through this sea of wires and electronic junk. Unfortunately, there were some live robots among the parts, but Amy took these out with her hammer. Her new Swift Boots really came in handy when she had to clear a loop-de-loop near the end.
"Wow," she said to herself. "I really can be just as good as the guys if I work at it. I bet I could beat Tails in a race now!"
Suddenly, she frowned. That was right, they never did find Tails after that tsunami hit. Thinking about Sonic and Tails, Amy managed to speed through the rest of the zone even faster than before. She landed on a platform in the middle of the greasy pond.
"Cool! It's another one of them medallion thingys," she said.
Sure enough, a glittering, silver Chaos Medallion sat on the center of the platform. As soon as she grabbed it, the white light of zone transportation enveloped her body.