Sonic woke up. He looked around and didn't recognize anything.
White. When Sonic looked around, that's all he saw. There didn't see any doors or windows, let alone where the walls were, if any even existed.
Where am I, he thought.
"This is your mind."
Sonic turned toward the source of the voice. There was a young echidna girl standing there, where nobody was standing before. She was wearing a dress similar to that worn during the Goddess Festival, except that the ends of the dress seem to extend into the white background. Perhaps the walls were somehow part of the dress, or the other way around.
"I'm. . . where?" Sonic asked. "Who are you?"
"My name is Tikal. I am the Harvest Goddess."
Sonic was dumbstuck for a second. It seemed unbelievable that he was in the presence of a legend, but it seemed too real to be a dream or hallucination.
"I brought you into your mind while your body heals in the real world." Tikal continued. "This lets your physical being heal faster. I also wanted to thank you for all that you have done for the town."
Tikal lifted an arm and a shimmering image appeared behind her. Sonic could see various people in the town, working. "The town is getting back to normal, thanks to you. The only thing that's needed is . . .you."
"Me?" sonic asked.
With a wave of her hand, Tikal changed the image to show Tails. He was working on restoring part of the Freedom Farm. Tails stopped and looked at the clouds in the sky, with a distant look on his face. The image changed to Knuckles watching over the chickens, with a grim look on his face. Then, Cream and Vanilla were in the supermarket buying supplies from Rouge, but they didn't seem to be very focused.
"They miss you. The doctor thinks that your chance of survival is minimal.""I…what?!" Sonic asked, surprised and partly scared.
Tikal smiled. "Don't worry. You will survive. You see, everyone in the town hopes that you will recover. Hope can heal you better than any power that I have. In fact, the most powerful source comes from here." She changed the image once more.
The new image showed Amy, sitting near the lake, crying.
"Amy…" Sonic said softly. He reached out to her, but the image dissolved the second he touched it.
Tikal started to fade into the white surroundings.
Sonic opened his eyes and saw a ceiling. He was back in the real world, but where?
"Easy there, sugah," he heard someone say. He turned his head to see Bunnie. He then realized he was in the hospital.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Don't worry yourself none, you'll find out soon enough," Bunnie said. "I'll go tell tha doc that you're conscious."
Soon, Antoine was at the hedgehog's side. Bunnie excused herself to pick up some supplies from the store.
"How long have I been out?" Sonic asked.
Antoine looked up from his clipboard. "About a week."
Sonic's eyes got big. "A week!? I gotta go see if my friends are alright!" He started to get up.
"No! Not yet! I must perform ze final checkup. You must cooperate, Mr. Hog-hedge."
"That's 'hedgehog,' Dr. Antoine. Hedge-Hog."
"I am tereebly sorry, Mr. Hedgehog, but I can assure you that your friends are all being in perfect health. Now, let us begin, yes?"
Sonic gave up and let Antoine run his tests. After an hour, Antoine found nothing wrong, save for some fatigue.
"Thanks, doc." Sonic said, getting off the examining table and dusting himself off. He picked up his rucksack from a nearby counter and put it on.
Antoine stood by the door. "Just remember to contact me at ze slightest problem."
"Will do," said Sonic. He headed for the door. Antoine opened it for him.
"SURPRISE!!"
The entire town was outside the hospital. Bunnie had actually gone out to let everyone know to start setting up for the surprise while Antoine stalled Sonic.
"What's…what's going on?" Sonic asked.
"We're celebrating your victory over Eggman," Uncle Chuck said.
"We would have celebrated a week ago, but we just couldn't. Not without our man-of-the-hour," Amy said.
"To our Sonic Hero!" Cream yelled.
"To our Sonic Hero!" everyone else repeated.
Sonic nervously put his hand behind his head. "Thanks guys…" he started, "but I don't deserve all the credit. Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Cream, Sally, Espio, you guys were a big part of this too. Even Nicole was important. I never would have been able to do this without any of you."
"He's right," Tails said. He had his left arm in a sling from last week's events, but was otherwise Ok. "We all did it together!" He raised his good arm in the air in triumph.
"Tails told us what happened with your battle with Eggman," Amy said. "From what we were told, it was a miracle you guys even made it out without being burned to a crisp. And then when you just collapsed on the ground after you and Tails landed...I thought…I…" she couldn't finish her sentence without crying.
"That whole adventure what pretty scary," Sonic admitted. "But do you know what the scariest part was for me?"
Amy wiped a tear away. "No, what?"
"When we got caught in that trap with the moving wall. I thought I'd lose all three of you. But, I was especially afraid of losing you," he said, a tear forming in his eyes.
"How did we get out of there?" Cream asked. "I've been trying to figure that one out for the last week."
"I don't know," Tails said. "The last thing I remember doing in that trap was making a wish."
"Hey, same here!" Sonic said.
The two friends looked at each other. "Safety of my friends, regardless of what happens to me," they both said at the same time.
Sonic thought about it, then thought about Amy and Creams necklaces. The legend that Scratch and Grounder were telling him. Is it possible…
Sonic shook the thought out of his head. "It doesn't matter," he said. "What matters is that we're still here. And I've got something I want to do."
"What do you mean?" Knuckles asked.
Sonic dug quickly through his rucksack and found what he was looking for. "Amy," he said. He dropped to one knee before her, presenting the engagement ring he got in Station Square.
"Will you marry me?"
Amy's eyes got big. Everyone in town got real quiet. Time seemed to stop for a moment.
Amy finally overcame her surprise. "Yes," she whispered. "Yes, of course I will!" She threw her arms around Sonic, hugging him tightly.
"Hey careful, Amy! I just got out of the hospital!" Sonic said jokingly. The townsfolk started to applaud and whistle, cheering on the now-engaged couple.
Sonic used the supplies he got in Station Square to get his soil in good condition. In a week, he was growing his large vegetables and bringing in lots of money. The first thing he did was hire Espio to build a large, modern stable and chicken coop so that he could get his animals out of the cave.
Since the poultry farm property bordered Sonic's property, Sonic and Knuckles agreed to have an extremely large house built where the poultry farm was. Knuckles would live there along with Sonic, Tails, and Amy. He shared the chicken coop with Sonic, which was three times as big as his old one and Sonic's old one combined. Tails arm got better, so he helped Sonic and served as the town's repairman.
Uncle Chuck became the next mayor. He directed affairs in a much fairer manner than Eggman ever did.
Snively and Nack were locked away in a federal prison. Neither one had any hope of getting out.
Amy and Sonic were married three months after the Eggman incident. Not too long after, Tails proposed to Cream, and they married half a year later. Rouge asked Knuckles about marriage, but he was being hardheaded about it. But maybe one day he'll pop the question.
Meanwhile, deep under where Angel Island used to be, a single computer monitor came to life. It had a small crack in it, and the picture was anything but clear. What could be seen was an image of a biological brainwave pattern stored on the computer regaining consciousness. Notepad opened up automatically, and the following text was appearing as if being typed in.
"I will have my revenge! Ha, ha, ha!"
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Well, I hoped you liked it. I think I pretty much got too far off the Harvest Moon part, but that's one reason I posted it in the Sonic area. And sorry, but I have no plans to make a sequel. If anyone else feels like it, go ahead. I'm going to try writing a Rockman EXE fic. You might not see if for a little bit, since I want to write it all out first, and hopefully I'll get it posted faster than this one. Till then, later!