Chapter four: Romance and Acquaintances

Amy joined up with Sonic a little further ahead.

"So, how's your day been so far?" Amy asked.

Sonic grinned. "Not any different than yours." He slowed down his pace, letting Amy catch up.

"Hmm. So, are we looking for firewood?" Amy questioned.

"We are." Sonic said.

They came into a clearing. "This looks like a good place to look."

Sonic and Amy picked up a few sticks and some large branches. They collected quite a large amount of wood.

Sonic sat down on a log. He motioned for Amy to come sit next to him.

"Amy," he started.

"Yes?"

"Uh, I guess we haven't talked to each other as much as we should have. I mean, this is a vacation, and friends are supposed to have fun and spend time together, and we haven't been doing much of that, I guess." Sonic sighed.

"That's nice of you to think of me, too, Sonic." Amy responded.

"Yeah, well, here's the main point I'm trying to get to. See, I know you like me and all, but I can't marry you." Seeing the disappointed look on Amy's face, Sonic went on. "I can't marry you because, well, I'm a traveler. I can't settle down from my life of running because I have a wife who doesn't have a passion for running. Now, maybe if you were as fast as me, and if you didn't scare me or annoy me so much, I might love you back too. But I can't marry you. You can see what I'm getting at, can't you?"

Amy answered with pure happiness in her heart. "Yes. I do understand."

"Then, you aren't mad?"

"Of course not. I could tell this was coming. I know you are a runner, a traveler. I respect that. I always dreamed you'd marry. But dreams don't always come true. Yes I always told myself, 'Sonic is going to marry you some day, Amy,' but that isn't the truth." She scooted closer to Sonic. "I respect that you can't marry me. So, I've come up with a plan. What if we could marry, but you didn't have to stop your running. I could be able to keep in touch with you, and you wouldn't have to stop doing what you love. It's like a military airplane keeping in touch with its base. Think about it."

Sonic grinned. "I'll think about it."

Amy smiled. Sonic demonstrated a never before seen action that night. He put his arm around Amy's shoulders and pulled her close. Amy rested her head on Sonic's shoulder. They both looked up at the moon in a freshly darkened sky. The stars twinkled in the atmosphere above. Then Sonic did something really weird. He grabbed Amy's shoulders and brought her lips to his. He kissed her.

Sonic and Amy got up, both of whom were blushing. They picked up the collected firewood and brought it back to the camp.

Back at the camp, Rouge and Shadow had managed to get some fish on their hike through the forest on the island. Tails took the firewood and made a fire. He cooked the fish over the fire with a flat rock.

Everyone was thankful as they ate the fish, knowing they might not starve on the island.

That night, the "houses" were divided up. Sonic and Tails shared one house, Amy had her own, Knuckles also had his own house, and Shadow and Rouge had a house all to their selves.

The next day, Rouge was up early. She stretched and walked outside. Shadow, who was woken up when she left the house, also got up. He found Rouge sitting on a log around the campfire. Shadow walked up and sat next to her.

"How are you, a beautiful woman, doing on this beautiful morning?" Shadow interrogated.

"Oh, stop that!" Rouge said. Her cheeks turned red.

"No, really, I mean it!" Shadow assured. He seized Rouge in his arms and kissed her.

"Come on," Rouge said. "We should look for some food to make for breakfast."

The couple walked into the forest. Rouge and Shadow were awestruck at the beauty of the forest since they had only seen it at night. The trees were a lush green. The stream in which they had retrieved the fish last night sparkled in the sunlight. Off in the distance, Shadow and Rouge saw something they hadn't seen yet- fruit trees. There were coconuts, bananas and apples.

"Wow, look at all this fruit!" Shadow exclaimed.

"We should just get some as well as the fish!" Rouge said.

"Stand back." Shadow commanded.

Rouge did as she was told.

Shadow raised his arms. Suddenly, there was a zapping sound. Instantly, six dead fish rose out of the stream. Shadow placed them on a leaf and helped get some fruit.

By the time they got back, everyone had already gotten up.

"There you are!" Sonic said. "We were wondering where you went."

"Just getting food." Rouge said. She and Shadow held out all of the fruit and fish they had gathered.

"Ooh! That looks good!" Knuckles said, licking his lips.

"I'll cook the fish. You guys can eat the fruit while you wait." Tails said, starting to cook the fish over the fire.

Tails brought the fish over to the large rock they were now using as a table. Amy grabbed a fish and started eating with the bamboo utensils that Tails made. They drank the coconut milk. Shadow enjoyed the fruit most of all, like everyone else. It seemed that tropically grown fruit tasted a lot better.

When everyone was done, they put their flat rocks (used for plates) and utensils in a bucket and Tails started washing them.

Knuckles went off to dig around on the beach to look for diamonds. Sonic just lay in the sand and relaxed. Amy hung around at the camp, with nothing to do. Shadow and Rouge went off into the forest to explore.

There were all sorts of animals in the forest, especially birds. All kinds of tropical birds were living in the trees. There were parrots, toucans, and macaws.

Shadow stopped to rest. His leg had been doing well since he broke it. Sometimes his leg didn't hurt, like yesterday. But as he was climbing the slopes in the forest, he put extra pressure on his leg.

"You okay?" Rouge asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's keep going." Shadow replied.

They walked all through the forest. Finally, coming to the middle, the couple stopped. Directly above them was the sun. It shone brightly in the sky.

Shadow walked further out into this clearing. He looked up at a tree, and finally, deciding he should, climbed up it.

At the top of the tree, he sat down, enjoying the view. He could see the campsite from here, and watched as Knuckles struggled to pull a sand crab off his tail.

Shadow laughed.

"What's so funny, Shadow?" Rouge inquired.

"Nothing." Shadow answered.

Rouge flew up to the treetop and joined him.

"Wow, it's such a beautiful view!" Rouge exclaimed.

After a few moments of viewing the landscape of the island, Shadow decided to climb down. He carefully climbed down, being careful of his broken leg. Suddenly, a branch he stepped on snapped, and Shadow fell.

"Whoa!" Shadow cried.

He landed with a loud crash at the bottom of the tree, the tallest tree in the forest.

"Shadow?" Rouge said. She looked down and saw Shadow lying on the ground, scratched up and covered in leaves. "Hang on, I'm coming!"

Rouge flew back down and landed beside her boyfriend. She lifted him off the ground and dragged him back to the camp, calling "Help! I need some help, anyone?"