Disclaimer: All of the Sonicverse characters and places inserted into this
story are owned by SEGA, and used without permission. All other characters
and places mentioned belong to me.
Sonic- 18 years
Amy- 16 years
Tails- 13 years
Knuckles- 20 years
Shadow- 19 years
Cream- 9 years
Rouge- 22 years
*************************************************************************
Chapter 5: New Horizons and Forgotten Past
It was five in the morning when Amy was jolted awake from hitting her head on the bus window. The bus had hit a pot hole on the interstate caused from a snow storm that had hit the area last month. She was on that bus for about a week now, and was enjoying herself quite well. She yawned and rubbed her eyes to eliminate the last sign of sleep from them. Amy didn't just want to get to a new place immediately, she needed to find herself again and thought the best way was to see the country.
The moment that Amy stretched her arms and let out another yawn, she was able to witness the sunrise over the horizon. It was a sight to see from where she was seated. All the time she had spent on that bus, this truly had to be the first time that she had witness a sunrise on the ride to her new home. She had definitely seen many sunrises in her day, but this one was indeed very different. It gave off a feeling that everything was going to be ok from now on. Not once on her exodus did she ever think of Sonic the hedgehog. Sure, she thought about her friends while on her trip but that blue hedgehog that she had once loved with all her heart and soul was dead to her.
Amy turned her head to the left and looked out the window. For a place that was located in north eastern part of the country it sure looked like a dessert, but it was common beach side property for an island like this. Then again this was her first time traveling to this part of the country. Most of her life was spent on Little Planet or in Station Square.
The bus traveled due east on part of the highway the locals called "The Stretch", but to the tourists it was called Napeague Highway. Wasn't that much of a highway once you seen it... only one lane on each side with the maximum speed of fifty-five. There was a fifteen minute interval between the two connecting towns of Amagansett and Montauk, her soon to be new home that Amy was sitting on the edge of her seat with anticipation. Amy could tell a lot from looking at photographs or pictures of certain places, people, or things. The photographs she had acquired from one of the bus' stopovers showed revealed a place that looked like it was one of those sleepy towns where everyone knew each other and was only busy in the summer. Still the place was far enough out of the way considering that it was at the end of the island, but it had that edge of the world distance for Amy.
Montauk is one of those old fishing villages that contain a lot of history. In fact part of the Revolution took place in that area. The second you enter the village, you'll a small family owned supermarket that is located by one of the many beaches in the area. There are many beach motels and restaurants in the area. Many of them named after the area, local Native American language, or things that have to do with the sea. There is an old fashion five and ten store, and next to it is a pancake house. There is a gazebo in the village common, where all the buses pick up their passengers. In the fall the roads that lead around the common is closed down for a fall festival, with clam chowder competitions, games, music, barbeques, and fun. Further up there is a farmer's market and far across is an old church that has been around since the first settlers came. If you continued even further, on your left you would see one of the first ranches to be established in the country. Today it's used for teaching horseback riding, open field concerts, and history lessons. At the very end of the road there was the lighthouse. It stood there serene on a cliff keeping ships safe with its angelic light.
The bus had made the final stop of the trip in front of the local elementary school. Amy got off the bus and collected a black nylon duffle- bag that she had put what she had left of her clothes. She didn't know where she was going to stay yet, but as long it nice and clean and affordable. Amy walked towards the inner part of the village, where she walked into a deli and picked a cream cheese onion bagel, and cup of Irish Crème coffee. As she was leaving, she picked up a copy of one of the free local newspapers. She took her things and walked across to the empty gazebo in the common to have her breakfast and read the paper.
Amy enjoyed reading this particular newspaper. Not because it was a free one, but it had nothing in it about murders, or useless information that other papers out. It dealt with local matters. It talked about what the schools were up to, politics, happenings, and it was filled with a lot of insight. She took another sip of her coffee and flipped to the want ads hoping to find at least a decent job that she was qualified for. She looked all over the section and almost found nothing suited for her. The ads paid well, but they were looking for assistants who had cars, landscapers, electricians, or plumbers. She almost gave up hope when she saw the last ad almost hidden in the news print. It called for someone to be the local lighthouse keeper, someone who can maintain museum portion since the light had automated by the local Coast Guard in 1987. The ad asked for those interested to report to the Montauk Chamber of Commerce for more information. If she could get the job then Amy would have a place to stay and a job. Lucky for her the Chamber of Commerce was across the common. It was so close but felt so far for her. Amy had butterflies in her stomach, just thinking about the entire thought of actually being here and starting a new life scared her. She took another sip of her coffee and a deep breathe and made her way across the street to the Chamber of Commerce.
*************************************************************************
Station Square was still the same busy metropolis that it was long before Amy Rose had lived and left the place. Life still went on as normal with or without Amy's existence. The mail carriers were still delivering the mail; children still went on going to school, even if it wasn't their favorite thing to do in the world, and even the ocean waves still churned.
It was noon by the time anyone had seen or heard from Sonic. From the looks of things, it had seemed that nothing was wrong or out of the ordinary with him, he was still his carefree self. Sonic was playing the part of someone who had no feels whatsoever that he had done something wrong. He acted as if the events that took place never occurred. That he owned the entire world in the palm of his hand.
Tails had kept himself busy with his mechanical inventions as well as repairing a few things for the Station Square populace. Not only did he get a kick out of tinkering here and tinkering there, he loved the fact that the money he got from the repair work he did for the people of Station Square not only paid the bills and funded his love of mechanical inventions, but he got to keep his mind occupied. He missed his "sister/mother", but he didn't want to admit it to Sonic or show that he did. Sonic probably would think that he was some sort of traitor, and would want nothing to do with him anymore. Tails knew better than to think that. Sonic had never turned his back on him once, so why would he ever think about such a silly thing. Even if Amy was no longer present in Station Square, he wanted to show Sonic that he was neutral even though he and the rest of their friends were on Amy's side.
A part of Tails was deeply hurt and mad with Amy. She didn't even bother to say goodbye or at least have the galls to tell him or the others, excluding Sonic, where she was going. Sonic, in a deadpan expression, had told everyone two days later that he had found her apartment barren and that she kept her promise and had left the city. Tails and the others didn't want to believe him or the fact that she had left them and the city. Sonic's expression burned into Tails' mind for the past few weeks. No remorse or expression on his face. He seemed that he could less about her or what she did or became of her life.
It just wasn't like her to leave after one of Sonic's normal put downs, but then again that day was a turning point for Amy and for us. What I don't get is why did Sonic wait two days to tell them that she was gone? I would have suspected that the very first thing he would do would be running through the streets of Station Square chanting that she was gone and he was finally free of her troublesome nature. But he just didn't do that. Was he hiding the fact that he actually missed her? That he was regretting what he said to her? I doubted that idea many times, over and over again in my head since I had come to what seem like terms about Amy's sudden departure.
Tails was laying on his back on padded dolly that he used when working underneath vehicles, such as the Tornado for example, when he dropped his wrench and cussed out loud, when he noticed that he had tightened the wrong bolts together on one of the add-on slots on the Tornado. He was trying his hardest to add another fuel case to plane, but he just couldn't think clearly. Even if he tried his hardest to keep his mind off of Sonic and Amy, he just couldn't. They were still very much his only family, and he loved them very much.
He lost his train of thought again when he heard a knock at his workshop door. Tails decided that it would be a good idea to give his mechanical tinkering a long deserved and needed rest for awhile. He rolled the dolly he was laying on from under the Tornado and took a dirty orange rag from the back pocket of his denim blue coveralls. His paws were covered in the black oil and grease from the transforming airplane. The muck gave off how much he loved to work on his creations or any type of mechanical object. Tails considered every dirty rag, callous, and blister as a mark of honor of his love of tinkering. The knocking on the door became rougher. It was as if someone or something was trying to break the door down. Tails got up and quickly walked over to his work to slather his paws in a goopy cleaning agent that removed motor oil and paint like it was the cheapest of the cheap products. He then walked to the door as the knocking continued, but as he opened the door no one was their. He stuck his head over the door's thresh and saw no one. The only thing he saw outside was palm trees and a few flicky birds. He kept starring outside when he felt something like a hand on his shoulder and then heard whispering from behind. "Seven days." His heart skipped a beat as he let out a yelp and then turned around with a horrified look on his face that soon melted into annoyance.
Shadow and Knuckles were standing in front of him with wide grins on their faces. The two of them thought it would be entertaining to give Tails a near death experience. The only thing was they didn't know that the only scary movie that freaked Tails out was Ringu. Tails had seen the remake of the movie, but it was nothing in compairence to the original. The original played more on a psychological scale then the remake, and those nails and eyes gave him the crepts. Tails shuddered the thought out of his mind.
"We got tired of waiting so we decided to play a prank on you, oh and check up on you." said Knuckles as his grin faded. Shadow's grin still remained as Tails was flabbergasted as to how they got in. The first that came to mind was Chaos Control. That had to be it, it was the only conclusion that he came up with. Shadow sensed that Tails was trying too hard on figuring out how they got into his workshop, so before the kitsune had a melt down Shadow simply pointed to the hanger door that was wide open. "You should be more careful next time" quirked Shadow as he ruffed up the fur on the young kitsune's head. Tails just nodded his head as he showed his guests to his work bench. "I would have baked some cookies and made tea for you guys, but as you I simply didn't have the time", the three of them laughed at Tails remark. Then there was silence as they remembered Amy.
Whenever someone came by to her apartment for a visit, there would always be homemade cookies that were freshly made that day sitting in the cookie jar, or a cake on the kitchen counter that she had just finished icing and decorated, sometimes even a pie cooling on the windowsill. Shadow remembered one hot summer day that he had stopped by to hide from the scorching heat and humidity. H e was overheated, his tongue dry like a cartoon dessert, and he felt faint and dizzy. It had to be a pain on day like this and his fur color walking hand in hand. Amy had kindly given him a very small cup of freshly made strawberry banana ice cream inside a very decorative paper cup. He licked his lips as he remembered the taste. It was so hot that day and Amy was concerned that if she had given him a bigger portion of the ice cream, that he would flip it up. She just couldn't bear being responsible making someone sick, and on these types of days you had to be careful on how much one packed away. She then poured him a glass of tall lemonade with ice she had crushed in the blender so that it would stay cold longer and would make Shadow feel cooler and bring his temperature down. It was indeed not a good day to have black fur or even dark fur, but she made him and anyone else appear and feel like royalty.
Shadow returned back to a reality where Amy, who he saw as his little sister, no longer existed. Knuckles looked at Shadow and gave him a light playful punch in the arm. He had a close warrior's bond with Shadow. Knuckles was probably the only person who could relate to Shadow. Both of them were alone in beginning and had no memory of their past or what they were meant for in life, until they meet Sonic, Amy, and Tails. They both gained what they were looking for...a family. A weird family when seen from a distance, but as one would get close enough they weren't any different.
Tails laughed as he saw them play fight. It was nice to see something happy for once. It had been a long time since he or anyone of them felt happy. This was the first he had laughed since Amy had left and it felt like he almost forgotten how to or what it felt like to laugh. He almost forgot how to stop, before he ran out of air and began gasping for it. Shadow got him a paper bag that was on the table, but what he did know was that it was filled with a very old tuna sandwich. Tails blew into the bag and then inhaled, taking in the fumes of a very nasty smelling tuna sandwich that was his lunch...about fives months ago. His turned green as he threw up inside the bag.
**********************************************************
Amy walked around the park grounds. It was not what she had expected it to be. She never thought of the place having paved parking lots, public bath rooms with pay phone standing out in front, or to even see a snack bar for the tourists. Amy was expecting for a lighthouse that she had seen used as many backdrops in many romance and dramatic movies that she had seen in her day. She never expected something like this. But it was different then the life she led in Station Square and she was going to stick with it to the bitter end. What was she thinking!? She didn't even know if she got the job yet!
A part of he regretted lying on part of her application and again during the interview inside the old light house. She felt like a complete idiot. She wanted a new start, but not like this. She went as far as lying about her name! It's not the first time that she lied about who she really was. She put up a false front just to get Sonic, but she regretted doing that too and wanted to so much as to purge those hurt filled memories far out of her mind.
"Paloma! Paloma are you there!? Paloma" Two women were calling out a person's name far off in the distance. The women knew that some existed, but the name that was attached to them was not theirs. Amy had almost forgotten what she had chosen her new name to be. She was very lost in thought that she almost blew it. "Coming! I'm Coming" Amy walked back towards the entrance of the old lighthouse to where two old ladies from the historical society stood waiting for her and their answer.
Sonic- 18 years
Amy- 16 years
Tails- 13 years
Knuckles- 20 years
Shadow- 19 years
Cream- 9 years
Rouge- 22 years
*************************************************************************
Chapter 5: New Horizons and Forgotten Past
It was five in the morning when Amy was jolted awake from hitting her head on the bus window. The bus had hit a pot hole on the interstate caused from a snow storm that had hit the area last month. She was on that bus for about a week now, and was enjoying herself quite well. She yawned and rubbed her eyes to eliminate the last sign of sleep from them. Amy didn't just want to get to a new place immediately, she needed to find herself again and thought the best way was to see the country.
The moment that Amy stretched her arms and let out another yawn, she was able to witness the sunrise over the horizon. It was a sight to see from where she was seated. All the time she had spent on that bus, this truly had to be the first time that she had witness a sunrise on the ride to her new home. She had definitely seen many sunrises in her day, but this one was indeed very different. It gave off a feeling that everything was going to be ok from now on. Not once on her exodus did she ever think of Sonic the hedgehog. Sure, she thought about her friends while on her trip but that blue hedgehog that she had once loved with all her heart and soul was dead to her.
Amy turned her head to the left and looked out the window. For a place that was located in north eastern part of the country it sure looked like a dessert, but it was common beach side property for an island like this. Then again this was her first time traveling to this part of the country. Most of her life was spent on Little Planet or in Station Square.
The bus traveled due east on part of the highway the locals called "The Stretch", but to the tourists it was called Napeague Highway. Wasn't that much of a highway once you seen it... only one lane on each side with the maximum speed of fifty-five. There was a fifteen minute interval between the two connecting towns of Amagansett and Montauk, her soon to be new home that Amy was sitting on the edge of her seat with anticipation. Amy could tell a lot from looking at photographs or pictures of certain places, people, or things. The photographs she had acquired from one of the bus' stopovers showed revealed a place that looked like it was one of those sleepy towns where everyone knew each other and was only busy in the summer. Still the place was far enough out of the way considering that it was at the end of the island, but it had that edge of the world distance for Amy.
Montauk is one of those old fishing villages that contain a lot of history. In fact part of the Revolution took place in that area. The second you enter the village, you'll a small family owned supermarket that is located by one of the many beaches in the area. There are many beach motels and restaurants in the area. Many of them named after the area, local Native American language, or things that have to do with the sea. There is an old fashion five and ten store, and next to it is a pancake house. There is a gazebo in the village common, where all the buses pick up their passengers. In the fall the roads that lead around the common is closed down for a fall festival, with clam chowder competitions, games, music, barbeques, and fun. Further up there is a farmer's market and far across is an old church that has been around since the first settlers came. If you continued even further, on your left you would see one of the first ranches to be established in the country. Today it's used for teaching horseback riding, open field concerts, and history lessons. At the very end of the road there was the lighthouse. It stood there serene on a cliff keeping ships safe with its angelic light.
The bus had made the final stop of the trip in front of the local elementary school. Amy got off the bus and collected a black nylon duffle- bag that she had put what she had left of her clothes. She didn't know where she was going to stay yet, but as long it nice and clean and affordable. Amy walked towards the inner part of the village, where she walked into a deli and picked a cream cheese onion bagel, and cup of Irish Crème coffee. As she was leaving, she picked up a copy of one of the free local newspapers. She took her things and walked across to the empty gazebo in the common to have her breakfast and read the paper.
Amy enjoyed reading this particular newspaper. Not because it was a free one, but it had nothing in it about murders, or useless information that other papers out. It dealt with local matters. It talked about what the schools were up to, politics, happenings, and it was filled with a lot of insight. She took another sip of her coffee and flipped to the want ads hoping to find at least a decent job that she was qualified for. She looked all over the section and almost found nothing suited for her. The ads paid well, but they were looking for assistants who had cars, landscapers, electricians, or plumbers. She almost gave up hope when she saw the last ad almost hidden in the news print. It called for someone to be the local lighthouse keeper, someone who can maintain museum portion since the light had automated by the local Coast Guard in 1987. The ad asked for those interested to report to the Montauk Chamber of Commerce for more information. If she could get the job then Amy would have a place to stay and a job. Lucky for her the Chamber of Commerce was across the common. It was so close but felt so far for her. Amy had butterflies in her stomach, just thinking about the entire thought of actually being here and starting a new life scared her. She took another sip of her coffee and a deep breathe and made her way across the street to the Chamber of Commerce.
*************************************************************************
Station Square was still the same busy metropolis that it was long before Amy Rose had lived and left the place. Life still went on as normal with or without Amy's existence. The mail carriers were still delivering the mail; children still went on going to school, even if it wasn't their favorite thing to do in the world, and even the ocean waves still churned.
It was noon by the time anyone had seen or heard from Sonic. From the looks of things, it had seemed that nothing was wrong or out of the ordinary with him, he was still his carefree self. Sonic was playing the part of someone who had no feels whatsoever that he had done something wrong. He acted as if the events that took place never occurred. That he owned the entire world in the palm of his hand.
Tails had kept himself busy with his mechanical inventions as well as repairing a few things for the Station Square populace. Not only did he get a kick out of tinkering here and tinkering there, he loved the fact that the money he got from the repair work he did for the people of Station Square not only paid the bills and funded his love of mechanical inventions, but he got to keep his mind occupied. He missed his "sister/mother", but he didn't want to admit it to Sonic or show that he did. Sonic probably would think that he was some sort of traitor, and would want nothing to do with him anymore. Tails knew better than to think that. Sonic had never turned his back on him once, so why would he ever think about such a silly thing. Even if Amy was no longer present in Station Square, he wanted to show Sonic that he was neutral even though he and the rest of their friends were on Amy's side.
A part of Tails was deeply hurt and mad with Amy. She didn't even bother to say goodbye or at least have the galls to tell him or the others, excluding Sonic, where she was going. Sonic, in a deadpan expression, had told everyone two days later that he had found her apartment barren and that she kept her promise and had left the city. Tails and the others didn't want to believe him or the fact that she had left them and the city. Sonic's expression burned into Tails' mind for the past few weeks. No remorse or expression on his face. He seemed that he could less about her or what she did or became of her life.
It just wasn't like her to leave after one of Sonic's normal put downs, but then again that day was a turning point for Amy and for us. What I don't get is why did Sonic wait two days to tell them that she was gone? I would have suspected that the very first thing he would do would be running through the streets of Station Square chanting that she was gone and he was finally free of her troublesome nature. But he just didn't do that. Was he hiding the fact that he actually missed her? That he was regretting what he said to her? I doubted that idea many times, over and over again in my head since I had come to what seem like terms about Amy's sudden departure.
Tails was laying on his back on padded dolly that he used when working underneath vehicles, such as the Tornado for example, when he dropped his wrench and cussed out loud, when he noticed that he had tightened the wrong bolts together on one of the add-on slots on the Tornado. He was trying his hardest to add another fuel case to plane, but he just couldn't think clearly. Even if he tried his hardest to keep his mind off of Sonic and Amy, he just couldn't. They were still very much his only family, and he loved them very much.
He lost his train of thought again when he heard a knock at his workshop door. Tails decided that it would be a good idea to give his mechanical tinkering a long deserved and needed rest for awhile. He rolled the dolly he was laying on from under the Tornado and took a dirty orange rag from the back pocket of his denim blue coveralls. His paws were covered in the black oil and grease from the transforming airplane. The muck gave off how much he loved to work on his creations or any type of mechanical object. Tails considered every dirty rag, callous, and blister as a mark of honor of his love of tinkering. The knocking on the door became rougher. It was as if someone or something was trying to break the door down. Tails got up and quickly walked over to his work to slather his paws in a goopy cleaning agent that removed motor oil and paint like it was the cheapest of the cheap products. He then walked to the door as the knocking continued, but as he opened the door no one was their. He stuck his head over the door's thresh and saw no one. The only thing he saw outside was palm trees and a few flicky birds. He kept starring outside when he felt something like a hand on his shoulder and then heard whispering from behind. "Seven days." His heart skipped a beat as he let out a yelp and then turned around with a horrified look on his face that soon melted into annoyance.
Shadow and Knuckles were standing in front of him with wide grins on their faces. The two of them thought it would be entertaining to give Tails a near death experience. The only thing was they didn't know that the only scary movie that freaked Tails out was Ringu. Tails had seen the remake of the movie, but it was nothing in compairence to the original. The original played more on a psychological scale then the remake, and those nails and eyes gave him the crepts. Tails shuddered the thought out of his mind.
"We got tired of waiting so we decided to play a prank on you, oh and check up on you." said Knuckles as his grin faded. Shadow's grin still remained as Tails was flabbergasted as to how they got in. The first that came to mind was Chaos Control. That had to be it, it was the only conclusion that he came up with. Shadow sensed that Tails was trying too hard on figuring out how they got into his workshop, so before the kitsune had a melt down Shadow simply pointed to the hanger door that was wide open. "You should be more careful next time" quirked Shadow as he ruffed up the fur on the young kitsune's head. Tails just nodded his head as he showed his guests to his work bench. "I would have baked some cookies and made tea for you guys, but as you I simply didn't have the time", the three of them laughed at Tails remark. Then there was silence as they remembered Amy.
Whenever someone came by to her apartment for a visit, there would always be homemade cookies that were freshly made that day sitting in the cookie jar, or a cake on the kitchen counter that she had just finished icing and decorated, sometimes even a pie cooling on the windowsill. Shadow remembered one hot summer day that he had stopped by to hide from the scorching heat and humidity. H e was overheated, his tongue dry like a cartoon dessert, and he felt faint and dizzy. It had to be a pain on day like this and his fur color walking hand in hand. Amy had kindly given him a very small cup of freshly made strawberry banana ice cream inside a very decorative paper cup. He licked his lips as he remembered the taste. It was so hot that day and Amy was concerned that if she had given him a bigger portion of the ice cream, that he would flip it up. She just couldn't bear being responsible making someone sick, and on these types of days you had to be careful on how much one packed away. She then poured him a glass of tall lemonade with ice she had crushed in the blender so that it would stay cold longer and would make Shadow feel cooler and bring his temperature down. It was indeed not a good day to have black fur or even dark fur, but she made him and anyone else appear and feel like royalty.
Shadow returned back to a reality where Amy, who he saw as his little sister, no longer existed. Knuckles looked at Shadow and gave him a light playful punch in the arm. He had a close warrior's bond with Shadow. Knuckles was probably the only person who could relate to Shadow. Both of them were alone in beginning and had no memory of their past or what they were meant for in life, until they meet Sonic, Amy, and Tails. They both gained what they were looking for...a family. A weird family when seen from a distance, but as one would get close enough they weren't any different.
Tails laughed as he saw them play fight. It was nice to see something happy for once. It had been a long time since he or anyone of them felt happy. This was the first he had laughed since Amy had left and it felt like he almost forgotten how to or what it felt like to laugh. He almost forgot how to stop, before he ran out of air and began gasping for it. Shadow got him a paper bag that was on the table, but what he did know was that it was filled with a very old tuna sandwich. Tails blew into the bag and then inhaled, taking in the fumes of a very nasty smelling tuna sandwich that was his lunch...about fives months ago. His turned green as he threw up inside the bag.
**********************************************************
Amy walked around the park grounds. It was not what she had expected it to be. She never thought of the place having paved parking lots, public bath rooms with pay phone standing out in front, or to even see a snack bar for the tourists. Amy was expecting for a lighthouse that she had seen used as many backdrops in many romance and dramatic movies that she had seen in her day. She never expected something like this. But it was different then the life she led in Station Square and she was going to stick with it to the bitter end. What was she thinking!? She didn't even know if she got the job yet!
A part of he regretted lying on part of her application and again during the interview inside the old light house. She felt like a complete idiot. She wanted a new start, but not like this. She went as far as lying about her name! It's not the first time that she lied about who she really was. She put up a false front just to get Sonic, but she regretted doing that too and wanted to so much as to purge those hurt filled memories far out of her mind.
"Paloma! Paloma are you there!? Paloma" Two women were calling out a person's name far off in the distance. The women knew that some existed, but the name that was attached to them was not theirs. Amy had almost forgotten what she had chosen her new name to be. She was very lost in thought that she almost blew it. "Coming! I'm Coming" Amy walked back towards the entrance of the old lighthouse to where two old ladies from the historical society stood waiting for her and their answer.