As a genus Mobians, and to a lesser extent the critters that shared an evolutionary tree with them, were like nothing else on Earth. Strong, fast and intelligent for their size, and empowered by the ambient energy of the Chaos Emeralds, the Earth's abundant ring energy provided them with an absolute defence against almost anything their environment could throw at them. So overwhelming was this natural advantage that mobians rapidly ascended to the dominant spot on the planet, and managed to claw their way back to relevance time and again despite enduring multiple civilisation ending events that would have spelled the end for lesser species.
But at no point in history had the mobians or critters ever come close to extincting their native competition, and the reason for this was mainly tied into the rings that provided them with such an advantage in the first place.
In short, mobians weren't designed to get hurt. Tough as they were, and evolving to make use of ring energy as they did, most mobians spent their entire lives without ever experiencing a single serious injury, and so mobian physiology traded unnecessary things like "resilience" for "speed and power" for untold generations until even the most trivial wound was life threatening, with system shock spelling the demise of a mobian that didn't quickly receive the huge amount of rings necessary to restore the damage.
And it was in this way that humans maintained an uneasy balance with their newfound competitors. While genetic abnormals had incredible speed or strength, and heroes experiencing frequent trauma like Sonic could "train" their bodies to better cope with injury over long periods of time, all it took was for one hit to land on a ringless mobian and they were left disabled or dying. Eggman's strategies of employing spikes and other boobytraps to de-ring and kill attacking mobians were simply perfecting techniques that had been employed by humanity since their stone age.
Amy watched this balance crumble in a single night.
Dead mobians, victims of the war, became the perfect hunters. Trauma didn't matter, injuries didn't matter, only when their bodies were too damaged to move did they stop their charge to attack the living. Amy, sending out warnings and relaying reports and instructions across the neighbouring zones tracked the inexorable advance as reports of the risen dead expanded from the lab like a drop of water in a pond. Casualty reports, screams, surprise as hasty barricades - frequently spiked - were overrun by zombies climbing the corpses of the ones that came before.
And they just kept coming. Human and mobian zombies alike, dragging themselves from the earth, more than once appearing behind fortifications to charge at the unsuspecting defenders preoccupied with the main force. Thousands were killed. Robotic defence forces, despite being mostly ignored by the dead, were eventually overwhelmed. Untold numbers of civilians were abandoned with vague instructions to stay indoors as barricades fell and the desperate defenders were pushed back.
And Amy couldn't reach anyone. No Sonic, no Knuckles, no Shadow. Not even Rouge, when she'd finally been desperate enough to try. The world's greatest heroes were missing. One of them had been missing for almost twenty-four hours at this point, and the world was going to the outhouse zone in their absence. She kept the communicator on almost more because she hoped to hear about one of her friends showing up and saving the day in the nick of time than for any real desire to hear the dreadful accounts of what was turning into a multi-zone rout.
Amy sighed, listening to the rumble of autocannons from outside the lab, and the rumble of Big's snores competing with it. As usual for when the going got tough, here she was, where it was safe. Hiding behind Tails even in his absence, the girl that couldn't keep up. It helped to think that her warning had already saved lives, but listening to reports of people struggling and dying zones away while she could do nothing to help just reminded her of her own helplessness. She barely made it out of the lab before almost literally getting her face eaten off. Even if she made it to Station Square could she do anything an army of GUNbots and armed soldiers couldn't?
Ugh. The cards laid out on the desk in front of her suggested an emphatic "no". Amy reshuffled, shaking her head. She made a habit of trusting the cards. They'd told her she'd meet her destined love back on Little Planet, and that had led her to Sonic, and adventure, and, admittedly, a few minor unforeseen problems. Like how she'd ended up here on Earth, struggling to make ends meet. Or getting kidnapped every few months.
Or how Sonic had spent almost five years running away from her.
She sighed, laying out cards again. She wasn't really in the mood, but laying in Tails' bed and sleeping after her recent ordeal was… She shivered, rubbing a hand over her chin. Even with the rings she could still half feel the teeth scraping across her face. Fortunately these didn't seem to be the contagious movie type zombies. Though she'd heard several reports over the last few hours of dead soldiers getting up to assault their former positions, swinging guns like clubs.
Another reading. Amy rested her cheek on her hand as she gazed at it. Magician might be about Tails. He was always coming up with stuff. Upside down Wheel of Fortune… Yeah, probably Tails. She laid out the rest of the seven. Ten of cups inverse, Ten of Swords, Ten of Wands inverse, Ten of Pentacles, The Devil, The Tower… Amy peeked at the next card in the deck. The Star inverse. She sighed. All tens and then three Major Arcana all in order. Obviously she hadn't shuffled-
A beep on the comms took her attention away from the cards, an excited sergeant in Station Square was shouting that the zombies, which had been rampaging through the main shopping promenade a few minutes ago, were now in full retreat. Amy glanced up. 4:30 a.m. on the dot. Coincidence?
The cannons were silent as more reports came through. As though commanded by some unseen force, the night's relentless attack had ended across the zones simultaneously. If the zombies were retreating, they might be retreating somewhere. If she could find one, follow it… Amy left her chair, stretching out with a yawn. She grabbed her coat from Tails' bedroom - she was learning! - and headed for the door, stepping out into the night and pausing at the doorway to let her eyes get used to the pre-dawn light.
Not because she was afraid of the turrets that swivelled to face her the moment she appeared in their line of fire. Their rounded, colourful aesthetic didn't quite distract her from the gun barrels that still glowed orange from constant use. Not because she could see remains scattered across the ground like a grisly fan spreading from the door.
This was the same fox that used the same four pin deadbolt on every lab?
Amy shook her head. Eggman had raided Tails' lab exactly once over the years. Never again. Even during the war, there was never any report of him even attempting to capture any of them or the inventions within. Even though she frequently saw chaos emeralds inside...
Amy sighed mist into the freezing air, letting the door shut behind her as she stiffly paced forward, straining her ears for anything still moving through the snow, paying no attention to the cannons tracking her every move.
… Absolute stillness. She couldn't even make out any tracks to follow, the snow was equally broken in every direction, all moving towards the lab, and the only place she felt she should go was out beyond the shore, where the Lost Hex floated high above, out of her reach, Sonic still out there fighting.
A star, bright despite the coming morning, twinkled in the sky above, distracting her from the Hex as it fell, a streak of light tumbling towards the horizon. Shooting star? Well at least that was lucky. Time to make a-
She smiled a dreamy smile.
It was time indeed.
She'd been happy to let it be. To settle in the shadows of the mind, watching Miles, just enjoying his presence.
But time, as she knew better than anyone, waited for no one, and if he wasn't here to fix it, she was going to have to help him.
She spun on her heel, hurrying inside the lab before emerging once more moments later, bulky contraption weighing down the hammerspace Amy was so proficient with.
Helping fix his messes was her responsibility after all.
Doodle raced out across the snow, humming a cheery little tune as she went.
