Kinda strange chapter incoming. Warning.

Okay, so it's not that strange. But still someone is going to think it's strange. Anyway, comments!

ultimateCCC: I didn't really think much of it, but I'm glad you enjoyed it. (Yes, yes it was.)

Maxi-T: Manic's charm… It's rather strange, but effective isn't it? (No one can resist that boy's animal magnetism. I'd like to see them try… actually, Rouge is going to try, like, a lot. So that's one wish granted.)

Gwencarson126: (NO. YOU'RE AWESOME. YOU'RE ALL AWESOME!) *rolls eyes* Halo pretty much just summed it all up.

Blue: Greetings from Mobius! (; Just kidding. I'm so glad you've enjoyed the story so far and hope you continue. And unless you want spoilers, I'll keep that a secret. (Yeah, new commenter! Tell all your friends to comment, me and Era love hearing from you guys! Shout out to anyone reading/ following this story that hasn't commented on it as of yet- PLEASE DO! Make our day (even if it's critical or negative. Always room to improve)!)

Autumn: I'm glad you like the Manic chapters. They give me a good laugh. (Glad to hear it!)

Zosonils: What scene? I don't know what scene you're talking about… (; I mean, it's not like something really bad happened and then it NEVER HAPPENS IN THE TIMELINE. So I have no idea what you're talking about. I do have to say, having a co-writer is very fun and useful. (Aw, you're nice.)

Alright, so now we get to establish some interesting relations between characters. What the Chaos am I talking about? Well let's just see, shall we?

Sonic's POV:

"Knuckles has a girlfriend, Knuckles has a girlfriend!"

"SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!"

I smirked and ran around to the other side of the room, just out of reach of the furious echidna. Tails was standing in the doorway, laughing at the scene with tears running down his cheeks.

The old Knucklehead had just gotten off the phone (which he had somehow figured out how to use- the personal cell phone that Tails had given him almost three years ago had been completely unused until a few weeks ago. Now he hardly ever puts it down) with his beloved Sofia and I couldn't help but have another one of my teasing sessions that I enjoy so much.

"She's NOT my girlfriend." Knuckles growled in a threatening tone.

"No," I agreed and slung my arm around Tails and playfully tossed him slightly, "She's just a girl that you've seen for the past month every Thursday, rain or shine."

"Three weeks isn't a month, genius."

Tails giggled, "It's close enough."

The two of us whirled around and ran downstairs as Knuckles dove for us. I laughed and ran out the back door, Tails right behind me with a grumbling Knuckles following rather reluctantly.

Over the past four years, my relationship with Knuckles hadn't really changed much. I mean, when Tails and I crashed on Angel Island, he still tried to kill me (and pretended he didn't know me. Didn't really mind that last one much. After all Robotnik somehow convinced him that I was the bad guy). We still argued like cats and dogs and rarely agreed on something that didn't involve saving the world. And every once in a while, he'd try and kill me again because Robotnik tricked the old Knucklehead… again.

Another growl from Knuckles alerted me he was still mad. I rushed into the workshop to hide. Tails followed me and immediately frowned.

"Sonic, if you-"

"I know, I know bro. Calm down. Knuckles knows better, right Knucklehead?" I nodded at said echidna when he walked in.

He simply growled, but nodded affirmation. The last thing both of us wanted was an angry Tails.

If you think I'm kidding, then you're dead wrong. Because this kid can be scary (I've seen it first-hand too many times). And nothing is more scary then your little brother when he's angry about you blowing up his workshop along with a red echidna because someone wanted the TV remote (don't ask).

So, a little reluctantly, the both of us sat down on a workbench and watched Tails start tinkering on another one of his projects that neither of us understood in the slightest.

After a few minutes, I finally gave another comment, "So… what are you and Sofia doing tonight?" I asked innocently.

Knuckles eyes snapped suspiciously over, but he fell for the bait. "Just an amusement park downtown… why do you ask?'

"Oh, I was just curious," I smirked in Tails direction. He gave a wink and a slight nod. "When do we get to meet this girlfriend of yours?"

"One, she's not my girlfriend. And two, why in the name of Chaos would you want to meet Sofia?"

I leaned back slightly, "I don't know, maybe the fact that I'm world famous might be an incentive. Dude, how do you know she's not just using your popularity to get popular herself?" Okay, I know. Low blow. I'm an egocentric jerk. So sue me. But girls used to try and pull that sort of thing on me all the time, which was one reason I didn't really like the whole dating thing. Knuckles had even less experience and you never knew.

Well, Knuckles didn't seem to like that accusation, "Sonic! You really need to think before you say things like that!"

"Hey, it's always a possibility!"

"That doesn't mean she's like that! Besides she's never even heard of Team Sonic."

Now this caught me by surprise. "Wait, what? Where did she grow up, under a rock?"

Knuckles gave me a warning look that clearly said, 'One more comment like that and I will throttle you.' "No, she grew up pretty far south, sort of out in the middle of nowhere. Little 'out of town' news never reached the house."

Tails finally entered the conversation, "So, she's never heard of Robotnik? At least someone had a happy childhood. What's she doing up here? Change of scenery?"

"Eh… not really sure. I know she's looking for someone."

"An old ex?" I couldn't help it.

Knuckles made a growling sound that was cut off by Tails crossing his arms and clearing his throat loudly. Awkward silence.

Tails turned back to his contraption, "Why don't you ask?"

"Well, we talk about stuff, but the past is sort of off limits. It's kind of like an unspoken agreement. Every once in a while I might mention my Dad or she may mention her parents or brothers, but… it's just easier. Then I don't have to explain the whole, 'I guard a deity in a giant emerald' thing. That's kind of a conversation-killer." He shrugged.

"But still, she's never even heard of the famous Sonic the Hedgehog?"

"Um… I'm going to assume no."

I plopped back, "Well, that's just lame."

"I'm warning you, Sonic. One more word and-"

Tails interrupted by changing the subject. "So, Sonic. How's Amy?"

Wait, what?

"Way to change the subject, bro." I said, a little nervous.

The sly, annoying fox gave a smile and pointed a wrench at me, "We were talking about Knuckles' love life, so why not talk about yours?"

"Now wait just a second, Amy and I are NOT dating. We're friends. Just friends. We're good friends, yes, but we're still just friends." I was rambling. Chaos.

Tails smirked, "Oh really? Friends that go over to the other's house and help in the garden or in the kitchen every day of the week without fail?"

I held up a hand, "First of all, she makes dinner for all of us and I'm just trying to thank her, and second: have you ever pulled weeds by yourself? It's boring as Chaos. And it makes your hands hurt."

"Sonic, that makes no sense."

"The weed thing?"

"No the 'boring as Chaos. Those contradict each other. It's an oxymoron."

"A what?"

"Oxymoron."

"Okay, I get it, I'm an idiot. There's no need to rub it in my face."

"Not a moron. Oxymoron. It's a phrase that contradicts itself."

"Isn't that a paradox?"

Tails then launched into a lengthy speech about Oxymorons, but I tuned him out. After living with him for four years, you learn when to pay attention to his nerdy smart-guy lectures and when to let it go in one ear and out the other.

Can't say I wasn't grateful that the subject was successfully changed. I hated it when Tails brought up my changing relationship with Amy. It wasn't that I didn't like our little 'get-togethers,' but I was still unsure of what to think about actually dating someone. Okay, so I'd dated a few girls before, but honestly, they were way too uptight for me to actually, y'know, like them. Any 'relationship' I had before literally lasted about two dates, and then the girl's got sick of me running off to save the world or something like that. Ugh…

Another thing was that, other than the kiss on the cheek from almost a month ago, Amy showed no indication of wanting to actually date me. It could have just been one of those 'moment' situations that's always talked about in those sappy romantic comedies. And I really didn't want to ruin any friendship with the girl that had saved my life on more than one occasion.

Ugh... Why does life have to be so complicated?

"Sonic, are you even listening to me?"

I looked up and gave a sheepish smirk, "Uh, no."

Tails pointed at the door, "Then please, get out. I'm too afraid that one of you is going to say something the other really doesn't like and start smashing things."

"Okay, Mister Mina Mongoose fan club."

"Wha- THAT'S A SECRET!"

Tails shoved us out of his workshop and slammed the door. Knuckles shrugged and we walked down to the house, plopping down on the couch. Knuckles turned on the TV and found some documentary on the Ancients. Thrill a minute.

I groaned slightly, "Does your precious Sofia enjoy this stuff too?"

"Actually, yes. She's also a Montana Badger fan."

"Well, aren't you a cute couple."

"I swear hedgehog, I'll start making comments about you and Amy if you keep this up."

I grinned, "Sorry man, but if it helps, I'm actually kind of happy for you."

The red boy just stared at me for a second. "What?"

"Well," I shifted my position and turned the volume down, "the only other girl who has ever shown interest in you is Rouge and let's be honest, you'd kill each other before the first date. Besides, you've actually been a little happier since this chick came into your life. Not as quick a temper, too."

Knuckles chuckled, "You think I'm bad? Wait til you meet Sofi. Her temper makes mine look like a whine."

I let out a low whistle. "That bad?"

"Let me put it this way: We went to pick up her motorcycle from the dealership and-"

"Hold it, you what?"

"The second time we got together, it was a little later in the evening and Sofia sort of forgot I was coming. She apologized like crazy and invited me to come and pick-up her bike."

"This girl… drives a motorcycle."

"Yeah. She's really good too. Showed me some tricks. Anyway, we got to the dealership and the guy who fixed her bike charged her three times the agreed payment. She flipped out and started yelling at the guy. At one point I had to hold her down and drag her away. She was seriously about to attack the dude."

"And this didn't get you angry at all?"

"Oh, I was mad at the guy, but I felt that Sofi had it covered. Eventually, the mechanic agreed to cut his price in half and I paid the extra cost."

I stared at him. "You paid for her bike?"

"What else am I supposed to do with my pay check? The only time I actually spend money is at birthdays for gifts. The rest sort of just sits around doing nothing." Knuckles didn't seem to see anything strange about the experience, so I dropped it.

"Has she ever seen your temper at it's fullest?"

He rubbed the back of his neck, "Maybe…"

"What happened?"

"Let's just say while we were having a picnic lunch in the park and some idiots interrupted."

"This would be last week's 'get-together'?" I asked as innocently as possible.

Knuckles glared at me, "Yes… I yelled at you, Tails and Cream to leave us alone. Who's idea was it to spy on me, anyway?"

"Actually, it was Tails'. Cream got dragged along and had no idea what we were doing, and I was willing to go along with it."

"Well, along with me yelling at you two idiots and Cream-"

"Why is Cream separate?'

"Some drunk guy came over and started bothering us about ten minutes later. We tried to get him to go away nicely, really. Finally I lost my patience and may have punched him into the next county."

"And what did Miss Sofia think of this?"

"She didn't really say anything for a bit, then commented that I was really strong. Then we went back to our meal like nothing happened."

I smiled, "So let me see if I got this down: pink hedgehog who rides a motorcycle, has a temper of her own that frightens you, is a vegetarian, and doesn't mind when you totally overreact in some situations." I paused and pondered the qualities and smirked, "Sounds like a keeper to me."

"Do you want to talk about Amy?"

"Talk about what now?" a new voice entered the conversation. I paled slightly as the said hedgehog walked in, arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.

I managed to stumble out a few words, "Um… Amy! I- Uh… We-"

"Hello, Knuckles. How's Sofia?" Amy ignored my outburst and turned her attention to the echidna.

Unlike everyone else, Amy found Sofia a delight in her opinion. "I'd love to meet her as soon as I can. Anyone who can tame Knuckles has my eternal respect," she had told me during one of our weed pulling sessions.

"She's doing good."

"When's your next date?"

Knuckles glanced at the clock on the wall and sprung to his feet, "Chaos!" He ran out the door without answering the question.

Amy smiled at the sight and placed a bag of groceries on the table, then sat down next to me, "It's so funny to see Knuckles like this. Never thought I'd see the day."

By this point, I had recovered from my embarrassment (mostly) and managed to string words into full sentences, "Yeah, it's definitely something."

"Are you not happy for him?" Amy caught the hesitation in my words and raised an eyebrow.

I shrugged, "It's not that. It's just… I don't really know how to say it."

She smiled, "Just try. I can be a good listener too, right?"

"Where do I start?"

"The beginning. Someone once told me it was the best place to start." Our eyes locked for a second too long.

Hurriedly, I looked down at my hands. "I guess I'm just nervous that Knuckles will sort of forget about us."

"You… Seriously?" Amy smiled and took my hand, "The hedgehog finally admits he cares about the so called, 'Knucklehead'?"

"I don't really know. I guess I've just noticed that through all of my stupid adventures, he's been nearby, even if it's just to pick up the slack when I mess up. He's sort of like… I guess an older brother in some ways." I glanced at her, "Don't you dare repeat that to him."

"I won't. I promise." She squeezed my hand gently. "Anything else?"

"Eh…" I hesitated. "Nothing really important."

"Alright then." Amy stood up and left into the kitchen, calling behind her, "How does chicken sound for tonight?"

"Sounds good." I smiled and leaned back on the couch, listening to the pots and pans clanking around and Amy's humming. Chaos, she had a great voice. Kinda soft, but strong at the same time. Nice. Real nice...

UGH… why does this have to be so difficult?

"What was that?" Amy poked her head into the room.

I realized I must have mumbled that last part out loud and cursed myself, "Nothing, Ames. Just thinking out loud."

And I think that's a good for this chapter. Honestly, I had no idea what was going to happen during this part so I'm glad with what has come out of it.

Admit it, sometimes you picture Knuckles as Sonic and Tail's older brother, not that any of them would acknowledge it, the stubborn idiots. Honestly, I love the relationship between these three. And to top it all off, a Sonamy moment!

And I just realized how much stinkin' romance we have had these past how many chapters. Really sorry about that, but I'm not false advertising because this story is far from over. Once again, all of these chapters are just building up character relationships and plot points. Sort of like the background info.

So everyone who keeps saying, "I can't wait til Sonia and Manic find Sonic," hate to break it to you but we are nowhere close to that moment… like seriously. I think it's technically about 50+ chapters until they 'officially' meet each other. But Sonia and Manic find each other a LOT sooner than that, so don't freak out and be like, 'It's a fricken' soap opera!' And that was just a huge spoiler (actually it wasn't… well it sort of was, but it wasn't), but I thought I should let you know.

On the bright side, guess what the next SONIC chapter (so not the next chapter or the chapter after that one, but the one after that one) is going to be about? SHADOW. Oh yes, this is going to be fun.

Please review!