Chapter #7: Race Against the Tide

10:30 AM

Emerald Coast Train Station

Time Left: 5 minutes

"Knuckles, what's wrong with Sonic?"

"I really don't know, Tails."

For some reason, Sonic had fainted right before his friends' eyes. They had tried to shake him awake, but had been unsuccessful. In one last attempt, Knuckles told Cream to fetch some water from a fountain. She returned with the water in a plastic cup, and he threw the liquid in Sonic's face. The hedgehog stirred and sat up, groaning.

"Wha…what happened?" he mumbled.

"You fainted," replied Knuckles, his brows creased with concern. "What's the matter? Are you sick or something?" He pressed one hand against Sonic's forehead…and pulled it away a second later. "Sheesh, you're burning up!"

Sonic shoved away Knuckles' hand. "Never mind me; we've got other things to worry about…like Amy!"

"Do you even know where she is?" Knux said with his arms folded.

"…No, but I'll find her!"

"You had better." Metal Sonic came out from his hiding place. "She only has five more minutes. Of course, it could be less; the tide might come in faster today."

"The tide?" exclaimed Tails.

Emerald Coast…that's where she is, thought Sonic with relief.

Metal kicked himself inwardly for revealing Amy's hiding place to his foe, but neither his face nor his voice showed any emotion. "There's still time to find the antidote, hedgehog; go after it if you want to live another day."

Ignoring his friends' puzzled stares, Sonic stood up and met his robot twin's gaze. "Lesson Number One in Hero School, pal: put other people's lives before your own. I'm going after Amy." With that he rushed out of the train station for the beach, with his buddies struggling to follow him.


Sonic thoroughly scanned the beaches as he raced across the sandy shores in search of Amy. He didn't leave any cove unchecked or private property unsearched. But there was no sign of her. Too bad Metal hadn't said exactly where she was!

And then he remembered his Chaos Emerald. He stopped to take the gem out of his shoe and held it up. Its glow was very bright; he had to be close. He climbed onto a mountain of rock and thought hard.

Amy's trap had something to do with the tide, so that meant it had to be close to or below the tideline…

As he stared at the Emerald glow brighter and become warmer, Sonic failed to notice where he was stepping and…

CRACK!

"Hey!"

His foot fell into a hole in the rock. He stared at his stuck foot and wiggled it around; there was plenty of space. The rock was hollow?

The movement of his foot caused small rocks to fall inside the hollow space. The hedgehog heard some of them splash into water, but a few found another target on their way down.

"Ow! What the…Sonic?"

He quickly removed his foot and called into the small cave, "Amy? Is that you?" He broke off more rocks to widen the hole. Finally the light revealed a small cave with some water on the bottom, and in the center was Amy, locked in an iron cage and soaked to the bone.

"Sonic!" she cried again.

"Hang on, Amy! I'll get you out!"

"Please hurry! The tide's coming in fast!"

Quickly Sonic leaped off the rock and darted for the entrance. He found most of the side facing the ocean closed by a giant boulder, but there was a small hole close to the ground. Eggman must have blocked the way in to make it harder on me, he thought with a frown. Already half of the hole was underwater; he had to get in fast. He got on his hands and knees and managed to crawl through the opening without getting his spikes wet.

Upon seeing her rescuer, Amy rattled the cage bars and urged him, "Hurry! Get me out!"

Sonic came over and examined the cage, testing the strength of the bars. He quickly discovered that the only way out was through the door; it was closed with a tough lock located on the top of the cage. The top was a bit high, and the bars were too slippery to climb. "Amy, gimme a boost up!" he said.

The girl obeyed and held out her hands. Sonic placed one foot on them and hoisted himself up onto the top. He pulled on the lock, but it did not break. "Shoot!" he muttered. "How the heck am I gonna do this?"

Suddenly a wave pounded against the rock cave, and more seawater poured inside. Amy whimpered in fear as the water level rose from her knees to her waist, and she backed away into the corner of the cage farthest from the hole. Sonic noticed the water rising as well, and he fully realized his situation. Beads of sweat appeared on his brow, his old fear of water returning to haunt him.

He was in a cave with water rising, and he couldn't swim…

He gripped the cage bars tighter as the bluish-green salt water rose up to Amy's chest. He felt nauseous just looking at the rising liquid, but he couldn't take his eyes off it. What had he been thinking when he crawled into this cave? Then, out of the corner of one eye, he spotted Amy cowering in her corner, whimpering and shivering. Seeing her made him remember his mission, and his eyes shone with determination.

Never mind his hydrophobia! He had to get Amy out of the cave, no matter what! But how?

During Sonic's entrance into the cave, the sun had been blocked by some thick, white clouds. It finally came out from behind the clouds, and a beam of yellow light streamed through the hole Sonic had made in the ceiling of the cave. He looked up at the hole and watched more loose rocks tumble into the seawater; this gave him an idea. He jumped off the cage, landed in the water, and began groping for a stone he could use to smash the lock on the cage. He came upon the perfect rock—small enough that he could handle it well, yet heavy and sharp enough that it could smash a lock. He climbed back onto the top and set to breaking the lock to pieces with his weapon.

By now the water level had carried Amy nearer to the top of the cage, and she was kicking her legs to just keep her head out of the water. She strained her head to watch the blue hedgehog work; to her worry, he wasn't making much progress. "Sonic…" she whimpered, "The water…I can't…keep my head up…"

He turned to stare at her, and he saw that she was ready to give up. His expression of concentration turned into real concern. He grasped her wrist with his free hand. "Hold on a bit longer, Amy," he said to her softly, his eyes pleading her to keep fighting. "Before the water goes over your head, take a deep breath."

His words and tone had a comforting effect on her, and she nodded, her eyes locked on his. Slowly he let go of her and resumed pounding on the lock. The water continued to rise, and soon Amy's head bumped the top of the cage; she could rise no further. They both heard the sound of another wave, and as the water rushed in and rose above their heads, the two hedgehogs took one last gulp of air and shut their eyes.

A second later, Sonic opened his eyes, and upon seeing that Amy was all right for the time, attacked the stubborn lock as hard as he could. Finally, the piece holding the door shut broke, and he quickly tore the lock off. With what strength remained in his arms, he slid the door open. As Amy scrambled out and grabbed his leg, he looked up and realized that the only way out was the way he had come in; the hole he had made in the ceiling was way too small. They would have to swim out through the opening at the bottom of the cave.

Amy climbed up Sonic's leg and wrapped her arms around his neck. He adjusted her position so she was on his back, and then dove down toward the opening. Just as he began to swim through it, another wave slammed against the rocks; the current sent the two backwards a few feet. Knowing that the waves had a pattern he could use to his advantage, Sonic waited until the next wave came. As the wave reached its peak and the water began to recede, he pushed forward—kicking his legs and moving his arms as he had seen others do. The receding water pulled him and Amy through the hole and out into the open water.

Sonic continued "swimming" upwards to reach the surface, but then another wave suddenly shoved them into the outer wall of the cave, knocking some breath out of him. The hedgehog felt Amy's grip loosen, and he turned his head to look at her. At that moment she let out her breath and fell away from him, her eyes closed in unconsciousness. He put one arm around her waist and carried her up with him to the surface.

Sonic broke through the surface of the ocean, gasping for air, and he paddled for shore with his free hand. He kneeled on the sand, taking a moment to gulp the fresh air. "We made it, Amy," he said to the girl in between gasps. "Amy?" He turned his head to look at her, and his blood froze in fear.

Amy lay where he had placed her, not moving…not breathing.

Panic gripped the hedgehog, and he rushed to her side. "Amy! C'mon, girl, wake up!" He slapped her, shook her, and even slammed her back to get rid of any water she had swallowed, but still she drew no breath. Remembering what paramedics and lifeguards did to people with the same problem, he performed CPR. But even that didn't work. He tried to recall any other ways to revive a person that had nearly drowned, and one popped into his mind. He groaned in embarrassment.

The one thing he hadn't tried was mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

I won't be able to live this down if she wakes up in the middle of it, he thought with anguish. And she most certainly will. He looked to the sky and complained, "Why me?"

But that was the only thing he could do; he didn't know any other technique. With a defeated sigh, he took Amy's head in his hands, took a deep breath, and began. He tried the method twice without any response, so he bent down to do it a third time…

…and then everything happened in a flash.

Amy's arms, which had laid limp at her side, now suddenly looped around his neck and pulled his head down. Sonic found himself forced into the one thing he hated more than water—a kiss.

Amy had been playing dead!

"Amy! Augh!" screamed the very embarrassed hero as he pulled away from the girl.

Amy sat up and laughed as Sonic rubbed his mouth against his arm. "I couldn't resist it!" she giggled. "I can't believe you actually did that!"

Sonic's face flushed bright red. "I really thought you had drowned for a second, Amy!" he said, trying to hold back his temper. When she continued to laugh, he stomped off down the beach.

The pink hedgehog fell over and rolled in the sand, clutching her sides. Her giggle fit lasted for another thirty seconds or so, and then she stood up. "Okay, Sonic, I'm done. Sonic?" She looked all around for any sign of her savior, but he didn't appear or reply to her calls. She began to wonder if he had left her like he often did when she heard a moan and a thud. "Sonic?" she called out again, rushing towards the source of the noise at the same time.

This time she got a response, but it didn't make her feel any better. "Amy!" Sonic's voice cried out; it sounded like he was in pain. "Amy! Where are you?"

Amy darted past a mound of rocks on the beach, but wheeled around when his voice called her from behind. Sonic lay there, breathing heavily with one hand clutched to his chest, his face twisted in pain.

"Sonic!" Amy was at his side in an instant. "Sonic, what's wrong with you? What's happening?"

"Amy…I'm not…feeling so good…" he replied. "Help me up. I need…to get to the Mystic Ruins."

The earnest look in his eyes showed that he wasn't in the mood to be argued with, so Amy submitted to his wishes. Once he was on his feet, he told her, "Find Tails, Knuckles, and Cream. They were following me when I last looked. Tell them to wait at the workshop for me. If I don't come after five minutes, then look for me at the Echidnean ruins." With those words of instruction given, he sped off.

Only moments after Sonic had left, Tails, Knuckles, and Cream came down that beach and discovered Amy. She told them their blue friend's commands, which left them puzzled. When Tails asked Amy why he had said that, she shrugged.

"Amy, did he act strangely at all? Like he was sick?" Knuckles asked her with suspicion in his eyes.

The girl nodded. "Yeah, he did…he looked like he was in pain, and he had trouble breathing for a bit. Why?"

"He's been acting like that all day," Tails replied. "Knuckles thinks he has a fever or something."

Knux shook his head. "Not anymore. I think I know the answer. Tails, didn't you say that Eggman put us in traps so Sonic would have to rescue us?"

"Yeah…so…"

"So you would think Eggman would've raised the stakes a bit, right?"

"True…something seemed fishy with the whole story…"

"And Metal Sonic was talking about him making a choice, and that he is in just as much danger as we were…"

"What are you getting at already?" Amy blurted out angrily.

"…I think Sonic's been poisoned."

Amy gasped, Cream and Cheese covered their mouths with their hands, and Tails bit his lip with extreme worry—the whole idea made sense.

"Pretty good guess, Knucklehead!" called out that familiar, high-pitched robot voice. The black robot called Bokkun flew out of a nearby palm tree, grinning mischievously.

"Not that little imp!" fumed Knuckles.

"Dr. Eggman told Sonic that he couldn't save you guys and himself, so he had to either find the antidote and let you kick the bucket, or go save you and…" He made a slashing motion across his throat, causing Tails and Knuckles to curl their hands into fists.

"Mr. Sonic will find the antidote!" Cream declared confidently.

But the little robot just smirked and said, "We'll see about that…" It was obvious that he was hiding something, but he wasn't going to tell. With those parting words he hovered away to find his master.

"Now what do we do?" said Amy.

Tails punched a fist into his open hand. "We'll find Sonic and help him get the antidote, of course!"

"We'd better," Knuckles said. "I don't think he has much time left…"