Tails' workshop was silent for the most part, save for the prrat of a ratchet every few seconds as the fox labored away at his newest gadget. His peace was soon interrupted by a familiar whoosh and the bang! of a door that was opened way too quickly. Anyone less experienced in these entrances would have dropped everything at the commotion, but Tails' only reaction was to ask for the door to be closed.
Sonic the Hedgehog gently closed the door he came in. "Hey, Tails?" This caught the fox's attention. Sonic wasn't one to use people's names so often, usually opting with nicknames. The mechanic made his way out from under his new machine and lifted his goggles. His eyes found the blue blur leaning on the wall in the corner of the room, arms crossed and foot tapping inconsistently as he looked to the floor.
"What's up?" Tails asks as he grabs an oil stained rag to wipe some of the grease off him. "You seem…" He hesitated. Nervous wasn't an emotion he'd ever pin on his best friend, but he struggled to find an alternative. He finally opted for "Apprehensive.". Sonic's eyes darted up and back to the floor before speaking up.
"It's Ames." He started. "I… asked her on a date." Tails' eyes grew wide.
"Did you hit your head in the shower?" Tails asked.
"I don't shower, I take bubble baths."
"Just making sure you weren't a clone or something." A finger and thumb met with the fox's chin. "So why the sudden change? You've been running from this girl ever since you two have met." Having anticipated this question, Sonic pulled out a newspaper from Spiral Hill Times. The front page displayed Tangle, Jewel, Belle, and Amy digging a pit around a campground to defend it from a wildfire.
"Did you know this happened on her road trip with the girls?" Sonic asked. Tais took a closer look.
"No, but I'm not surprised. About Amy and the crew's response, I mean. She is the leader of The Restoration after all." He looked up to Sonic and could practically see the gears turning in his head. The fox waved his hand in front of the hedgehog's face, causing him to blink and focus in on his friend.
"I guess I hadn't realized how much she's grown while I was on the Death Egg." Sonic admitted. "I wanted to let her know how grateful I am for all she did while I was away and even when I got back." Tails took in the information and waited a moment to speak.
"Amy has definitely matured over the past year or so. But her feelings have never changed towards you."
"So, could you help me get this right?" Sonic asked. Tails' eyes widened.
"M-me?" He asked. "I'm hardly a romantic. Wouldn't you be better off with advice from someone like Rouge?"
"No way." Sonic refuted. "She would try to make things way too romantic. Plus,I think she's busy with the next one-shot anyway." Tails gazed around his workshop and smiled.
"Okay, I think I have just the thing."
The rolling emerald hills were interrupted by a small dot of pink from a bird's eye view. Amy Rose sat patiently in the grass awaiting her prized companion. Her flowery outward appearance an unfaithful representation of the flurry in her mind and heart. Sonic asked her on a date! Sonic had asked her on a date! She had been waiting for this day for as long as she could remember.
Amy went over her outfit for the 93rd time. The same red skirt, the same golden cuffs, but she had pulled out a red feather to add to her headband that she hadn't worn in a while. She had considered more extravagant clothing but opted for her usual outfit after consulting her tarot cards. After all, they had never led her astray before.
Her inspection came to a halt as a familiar gust of wind met her face. Amy looked up and there he was. Sonic the Hedgehog stood just a foot in front of her, arm stretched out with a flower that must have had all its pedals before being subjected to the speed of sound. She could sense a tenseness in his frame masked over by a feigned heir of confidence. It was so cute her heart wanted to burst, but she kept her facade much better than Sonic. Amy simply reached out and plucked what was left of the flower from his hand.
"Why thank you, Sonic." She remarked, fastening the vine to her hairband. Sonic's eyes shot from the flower's new home and back to Amy's eyes, then finally remembered to lower his arm. His ear twitched.
"I like your outfit." He said. "You look pretty… good." Amy chuckled.
"Thank you again."
"Well, we got a full day ahead of us." He said as he turned around, looking out to the fields. "Not a moment to waste." When he turned back to Amy all his stiffness disappeared as he extended his hand to his date. That was the hedgehog she loved. She happily took it and within seconds she was in his arms as they blasted off into the day.
While Amy never got tired of being carried in Sonic's arms, things seemed a little different this time around. More than once in the 2-3 minute race to their destination she noticed the hedgehog's ear continue to twitch. She asked him if he was alright, but he brushed it off. He was uncharacteristically quiet the ride over, too. The pink hedgehog eventually just opted to turn her focus to the scenery flashing past them. She recognized certain markers here and there. Oil factories in the distance as they raced through marshlands. They were heading south toward Station Square.
After what felt like way too long, the pair arrived. The blue blur came to a halt proclaiming "Well, we're-". Stopping just as soon as he began. Amy, still in his arms, followed Sonic's gaze. Standing before them was an indoor resort titled AGES: Mini-Golf Park. The only issue was a large sign at the entrance proclaiming the place as CONDEMNED for failing safety guidelines.
At first Amy was upset. "I swear this place was open the last time I checked." Sonic said. Amy turned to her partner.
"And when was that exactly?" There was a pause.
"...About a year ago…" Another pause "So the golf place is closed."
"Yes, I know that." She responded. Sonic looked a bit shocked, as if he didn't expect her response.
"Oh, yea I-" Sonic's explanation was cut short by Amy jumping out of his arms.
"Sonic, I've waited years for a chance like this," A mischievous grin grew on her muzzle. "So, condemned or not, we are going to play some mini-golf." With that, Amy produced her hammer and splintered the boards blocking the entrance.
Sonic followed the rosy rascal through the now open gate. To his surprise she strolled right past the clubs, though he picked up one on his way after her along with 3 golf balls, which he casually juggled in one hand.
The pair of heroes came to a stop at the first hole. This and the next two holes seemed to be themed after a graffiti skatepark.
"This place is pretty sweet!" Sonic said, admiring the scenery. The first hole was pretty standard, an S-curve with the hole at the end and a few inclines here and there. Sonic set down one of the balls at the start and motioned for Amy. "Ladies first."
Amy sent a sarcastic smile Sonic's way, before taking a position next to the ball, producing her hammer to make the strike. Sonic let out a bemused 'oh' at this action, then bop, the ball was sent rolling until it fell perfectly into the hole at the end of the course. The pink hedgehog let out a satisfied 'hmf' and turned to Sonic. "Your turn."
Sonic's ear twitched again. "What's your favorite color?" He asked before moving to the start of the course. Amy tilted her head. He certainly was acting funny but she decided to humor him.
"Green." She replied. Sonic lined up his shot and swung. The ball made an arc through the air, popping in and bouncing out of the first hole to land right next to it. Amy couldn't help but snicker at the shocked and slightly embarrassed look on his face.
"Red for me." Sonic replied, not even acknowledging his mishit while making his way over to his ball to tap it in. "You used to wear green, didn't you?"
"Yes, when I was a lot younger." Amy replied. "As I grew older I came to the conclusion red looked better on me. Guess I was right to wear that color to today's date, right?"
"Yea! Y-yea, it's nice!" Sonic blurted out as he retrieved the balls to move to the next course; a pair of quarter pipes lined up for the balls to zig-zag through to get to the goal. "And here we are at the second hole!" Sonic began to announce. "Sonic: two, Amy: one! This early in the game, anything can happen!"
"You know that people are supposed to be quiet during golf, silly." Amy reminded him. Sonic waved a hand at her.
"Paah, it's mini golf. Who's gonna hold it against us anyway?" Sonic gestured to the empty space around them. Amy paused mid-swing.
"Right, there's only two of us on this date?" She asked, slowly turning with a wiry grin on her muzzle. Sonic looked at her quizzically, attempting to retain eye contact. Amy was still a few inches shorter than him, so, after a moment, she balanced herself on her toes to gain more height, tilting her head down and looking directly in his eyes with a "Hmmm?".
"Of course it is!" Sonic reassured, his ear twitching again. "We're the only ones in the building, that I guarantee!" Amy let out a satisfied hum and turned around to position herself in front of the ball.
The pair of hedgehogs made their way through the first section with relative ease. Sonic occasionally asked the odd question about favorite foods and other inquiries that seemed to come out of a guide book. The next three holes were themed to a haunted graveyard. The current path had a few headstones interrupting a bumpy runway to the finish.
Amy was up first again. She swung her hammer and the ball rolled in a near perfect S-curve, expertly avoiding the obstacles while taking advantage of the rough terrain, straight into the hole. She turned to give Sonic a smug smile, gesturing for him to take his turn.
"You get cockier than me when you're winning." The blue blur remarked. As he set down his ball his ear twitched again and he turned stiff and shot straight up. "Oh, not that it's a bad thing! I- I just like to see you proud of your accomplishments!"
"Nice save." Amy couldn't help but giggle.
As time went on, the conversation became more and more natural between the two as they explored the haunted graveyards, arriving at a tropical paradise filled with bananas. "Sonic: 15, Amy: 12!" The pink hedgehog gloated. Sonic trailed behind her trying not to look as defeated as he felt.
"Still a close game so far." He argued. "Anything could happen betw-" His ear twitched again, just as it had three dozen times that day. Amy turned to face him, hands on her hips.
"Sonic," She started, approaching him. "I think we should leave Tails out of the rest of our date." She promptly plucked the earpiece out of Sonic's ear. The blue blur looked shocked at this.
"Wait, how did you-" He began to ask.
"Call it my girlish intuition." She responded, placing the earpiece in her pocket. "You can have it back at the end of the day." Sonic looked in Amy's eyes, then to her dress, then back to her eyes.
"You have pockets?" He asked. This question sent Amy into a laughing fit. Eventually the absurdity hit Sonic and he began laughing with her. By the time they had calmed down there were tears in the corners of both their eyes. "Okay," Sonic admitted. "For the rest of the day it's just me and you." He pulled out another earpiece out of his other ear and flicked it away. Amy started laughing again. "No, calm down Ames. We still got a golf course to finish."
After the earpiece incident, Sonic quickly became the quippy hero Amy had come to love. Making jokes and feeling the freedom of not following a romcom script. He even played better, managing to close the gap to 18-18 by the time they reached the last themed area.
For the pieces that weren't falling apart, this area seemed to be themed after the AGES game: DuSK: Into Slumber… Grassy hills sprawled through the section with occasional miniature spruce trees with "floating" golden rings to finish the look. Sonic gave out a whistle.
"Can you imagine what this place must have looked like in its heyday?" He thought aloud. "I always thought it would be really cool to see AGES do something with DuSK again."
"Well we do know a time traveler." Amy replied as she placed down her ball on the 10th course. "Perhaps we can ask him to make the first game more successful." She analyzed the path ahead of her. Wood was rotting, pieces of courses were missing, but she took this as a challenge.
The course practically had a small canyon in the middle. Whether or not that condition was a part of the original path was a mystery but there were a few planks of wood that jutted out and that was her target. Amy pulled back, struck, and the ball went careening over the chasm and into the next section of the course.
"Sonic: 18, Amy: 19." Sonic said smugly as he walked up to make his strike. "Anyway I don't know if reviving DuSK is worth the headache of avoiding a paradox." Amy's ear caught the groaning of some rotted wood as Sonic prepped his ball. She quickly pulled out a half dozen tarot cards. She felt nervous about using them but wanted to be sure. The pink hedgehog didn't even watch the blue blur strike his ball as she produced one of the cards at random to look at it. Oh no. She looked up and saw Sonic walking towards where his ball went.
"Sonic, wait-" She tried to warn but it happened too fast. The ground gave away beneath him. Amy dropped her cards and raced after him. Barely managing to catch his club which he was somehow still hanging on to. Sonic took a moment to look around before looking up.
"Well I think I can tell why this place was shut down now." He remarked. "Thanks for the assist Ames. Wanna pull me up?" Amy obliged. Sonic was pulled to his feet and dusted himself off. "That was exciting, wanna-" A deep rumbling cut him off. The pair of hedgehogs looked at their surroundings as the entire building began to shake. A piece of steel came down from the ceiling blocking the exit.
Sonic sprung into action, scooping Amy up and dashing back the way they came, dodging and weaving through the falling rubble. Then a particularly large piece of debris broke loose from the ceiling. Sonic knew he couldn't dodge in time, but before he could turn to buffer the blow with his body, a familiar hammer swung and shattered the obstacle.
"Let's get moving!" Amy commanded. Sonic looked at her, bewildered for a moment. He felt a pang in his heart as he realized just how much the pink hedgehog had grown. He didn't have much more time to think though as Amy began to drag him back through the course.
The two ran together, saving each other more than once along the way until finally they both dove out of the entrance they came from. Sonic and Amy lay there in shock for a moment until the blue blur finally spoke up.
"I think that's enough of abandoned buildings for now." Sonic got up as Amy giggled. He extended his hand and she took it.
"As far as dates go," She began. "This was the best time I could have had." Though he tried his best, Sonic utterly failed at hiding the blush on his cheeks.
"Wanna go get ice cream or something."
"I would love to."