EMERALD FOREST

Disclaimer:

I don't own any characters in this story

[CHAPTER 8: FLASHBACK]

Amy closed her eyes as she lay down on her bed. 'Man, I'm so tired! What a day.'

~~They stood there watching the burning building. 'Man,' said Knuckles. 'This is bad.'

Amy sat on the ground, crying her eyes out. 'He's dead! He's gone...'

'Hang on!' said Tails. 'I can see something!'

'Really?' Amy looked up, hoping he'd seen Sonic. 'Where?'

'It was really fast,' said Tails. 'I don't know what it was. It might've been Sonic.'

'Sorry, but if Sonic and Shadow survived, don't you think they would've come to tell us it's okay?'

Amy broke down in tears again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'Come on, let's go back home.' Knuckles and Tails helped Amy up off the ground. Everyone had gathered around the burning building, watching the firemen as they arrived, trying to put the fire out.

Amy wiped her nose and eyes. She had cried so much that she couldn't see clearly. Knuckles and Tails, however, could see the people watching Amy, wondering who she knew that was in the building.

They arrived back at Amy's house five minutes later. 'I'm going back to Emerald Forest,' said Knuckles. 'Tails, can you look after Amy?'

'No, I'm okay,' said Amy, her nose blocked from the crying. 'I'll be alright.'

'Can I go to Emerald Forest with you, Knux?' Tails asked.

'Okay,' said Knuckles. 'If you need any help just ring me, or come and see us!'

Amy went to the front door, pulled out her keys and unlocked it. She stepped into her house, looked around for a few seconds then headed to her bedroom.

She opened her closet, pulled out a jacket to keep her warm, and was about to flop onto the bed and cry herself to sleep when she realised who was on her bed. She jumped in shock, and fainted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When she came to she thought she was dreaming. 'Sonic - Sonikku? Is that you?'

'Yeah,' said Sonic. 'Don't worry, I'm here. No need to cry any more.'

'Sonic!' Amy sat up and hugged him, sniffing her tears back. 'You're alive!'

'Yeah,' said Sonic, rubbing Amy's back to comfort her. 'Me and Shadow got out before the building was set on fire.'

Amy smiled. 'How come you didn't come and tell us? We were right outside the building!'

'We didn't notice,' said Sonic. 'For some reason the apartment building had some sort of gravity switch or something. We couldn't run fast enough. Me and Shad only just got out.'

*That must've been what Tails saw,* Amy thought, hugging Sonic tighter.~~

Amy closed her eyes, and fell asleep dreaming of Sonic...

=============================================================

'Damn!' said Shadow. 'How the hell do you do it?'

'Rouge has Gran Turismo as well,' said Sonic. 'I guess I'm just naturally talented.'

'I'll bet you're cheating somehow,' Shadow joked.

'You can't prove it,' Sonic joked back. Suddenly the doorbell rang. 'That'll be Amy.'

'I'll go get it.' Shadow put down his controller and opened the door. 'Hey Amy!'

'Is Sonic here?' Amy asked.

'Where else would he be?'

Amy walked in. 'Hey Sonic, watcha doin?'

'Playing Gran Turismo with Shad,' said Sonic, as Shadow sat down and resumed gameplay.

'You have a PlayStation?'

'Yeah, you got a problem with that?' said Shadow.

'Nope,' said Amy. 'I personally think Nintendo is better.'

'I personally think you need to change your opinion, and fast,' said Sonic.

'You do know Nintendo has the worst stats of all the next-gen consoles,' said Shadow. 'Xbox has the graphics, PlayStation2 has...uh...good points...'

'Sony is better than Nintendo,' Sonic agreed.

'But Sony stole a lot of stuff off Nintendo,' said Amy. 'Nintendo could sue them and make them go bankrupt.'

'...Piss off, Amy!' said Sonic.

=============================================================

'Honey, what's wrong?' said Knuckles. He could tell Rouge was a little edgy. She sat up on the bed, and he did the same.

'Yesterday, it - it frightened me,' said Rouge.

'The apartment building thing?'

'Yeah.'

Knuckles hugged her and kissed her cheek. 'It's alright now. Sonic and Shad are safe.'

'But how did they get out?' she asked.

'I remember Shadow told me yesterday...'

~~'Okay,' said Knuckles. 'If you need help just ring me, or come and see us!'

Knuckles and Tails turned and left Amy as she entered her house. 'I don't think Sonic is dead,' said Tails. Knuckles looked at him at curiously. 'He can't be. He just can't...'

They walked in silence back to Emerald Forest. 'Wanna come back to my cabin?'

'Sure, may as well,' said Tails. They walked till they found Knuckles' cabin. 'Don't you lock the door or anything?'

'Nope,' Knuckles replied as he opened the door.

'Holy crap.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'What are you doing here?' Knuckles asked.

Shadow sat back down on the bed. 'It's a long story.'

'I've got time.'

'Okay then. Me and Sonic were in the apartment building...'

Sonic looked up from the guard's wallet. 'Run.'

Shadow jumped out the room and began running, with Sonic not far behind. However, less than a second after they started running time itself seemed to slow down. 'What's happening?' Shadow asked.

'Speed slowing device,' Sonic replied. 'Some of Robotnik's minions and associates used them to try and slow me down. It affects SOAP shoes in a bad way.'

'Rendering them useless?'

'Worse. It slows them down to the point where we can hardly move. Which is what's happening right now.'

Shadow sniffed as he tried to exit the building. 'I can smell something burning!'

'Crap!' shouted Sonic. 'We have to get outta here!'

Shadow looked around. 'We're not gonna make! There's gotta be a way out!'

Sonic noticed a little black object on the wall that looked like a smoke alarm. 'That's one of them!' he exclaimed. 'I'm gonna try and take it out. Where's that emerald?'

Shadow reached into his pocket, and tossed it to Sonic. He then began preoccupied with what he was doing.

Sonic aimed at the device. He knew that if he missed, they would be stuck. He took aim, threw, and...

'Haha! It only affects the shoes!' said Shadow, just as the device was destroyed. Sonic sped out of the place, with Shadow following, shouting 'Hey! Wait up!'

Shadow looked up at the burning building, not noticing Knuckles, Amy and Tails standing behind him.

'...And that's why I don't have any shoes on,' Shadow concluded.~~

=============================================================

'Wow, you're getting really good,' said Amy.

'Yeah,' said Tails. 'Shadow's helped me out with some tricks, and gave me this cool book that has even more tricks in it.'

'What are you going to do now?'

'I'm going to attempt a trick on the big half pipe.'

'But isn't that still a bit dangerous? After all, you're still a beginner.'

'This small one is too...small for me.' Tails rode down a slope and to the bigger half pipe.

*Tails isn't as bad as I thought,* Amy thought as she watched him get ready to do the trick, getting used to the bigger half pipe.

Tails went up and down the half pipe one last time, then sped up. He was launched into the air, grabbed the board and spun around, then tried to land. The back wheels hit the edge of the half pipe and Tails went skidding down the half pipe. 'Tails! Oh my god! Tails, are you alright?'

She ran down to Tails, who was lying still on the ground. 'Tails! Tails, wake up! Tails!'