DISCLAIMER:

All characters related to the Sonic games are property of Sonic Team and SEGA. Any other related characters belong to SEGA.

All other fan characters belong to their rightful owners.

Chapter 5 -

"You've won this time! BUT I'M NOT THROUGH!"

An enraged, husky voice of an elderly gentlemen with a huge broom of a brown mustache snarled from the air. The old man was sitting in his hovercraft, glaring furiously down at the blue hedgehog.

"Yeah! Right!" The blue hedgehog stood up straight from where the pink hedgehog girl had tackle-hugged him. He watched, grinning triumphantly as the old man hovered away in his round aircraft. Then he turned to the girl, smiling at her gratefully. She had fearlessly jumped out of the X-Tornado while still airborne to free him from the robot he'd been struggling with. "What you did was crazy."

She returned the smile, her eyes shining with affection. "I know. But you make me do crazy things."

The blue hedgehog smiled back, but he looked away uncomfortably. He usually acted that way whenever she tried to be affectionate towards him. She always figured it was because he abhorred the mushiness of romance, but perhaps there was something else? She thought she caught a gleam of affection in his own eyes as he tried to avoid her gaze.

"Everything okay down there?" Their young fox friend swooped overhead in the X-Tornado plane, calling down to the blue hedgehog and the pink hedgehog questioningly.

"Yeah, Tails! Thanks for the ring!" called the blue hedgehog as the plane whizzed by and left the vicinity. The fox friend had also helped the blue hedgehog battle the robot by sending a ring, by which the blue hedgehog was able to successfully use a spin attack against the robot. The blue hedgehog waved assuringly at the plane, then turned back to the pink hedgehog. She was still smiling at him tenderly. He smiled and nodded. "Thank you." He started to walk off.

"Hey!"

The blue hedgehog turned back curiously as the pink hedgehog called him back. He turned to see her smiling again and holding out her hands. The blue hedgehog looked down into her palms to see a bracelet strung with pink seashells.

"This is a bracelet I made to protect you in the water," she told him softly.

"Oh?" The blue hedgehog turned fully around to observe the bracelet more closely. It was a pretty little trinket. "You made it for me?"

"If you wear it, it'll bring you good luck," the pink hedgehog answered, blushing shyly.

"Really?" The blue hedgehog looked stunned for once. She had clearly gone out of her way to make him an intricate gift. He was amazed by her kindness. She had made the bracelet just for him. With a small blush of his own, he slowly reached for the bracelet.

A rumbling beneath their feet startled the two. It was so great that the bracelet was flung from the pink hedgehog's hands. She stumbled and fell into the blue hedgehog's arms. The bracelet landed several feet away from them.

The pink hedgehog struggled in the blue hedgehog's arms. "Your bracelet!"

A huge robot leg smashed down on the top of the bracelet, crushing it to pieces.

"Oh no!" cried the pink hedgehog, horrified. "I can't believe it!"

"Mmm."

Amy lightly touched her forehead. She had been having strange flashbacks all day. She kept picturing herself with some familiar blue hedgehog... but she couldn't remember exactly who he was. She knew it was useless trying to recall, but she couldn't rid herself of the recurring images of herself and the blue hedgehog. She pictured herself offering the hedgehog a pretty bracelet made of pink seashells...

But the sinister old man with the frizzy mustache had returned swiftly with another large robot, intending to annihilate the blue hedgehog and anyone else who stood in his way. The blue hedgehog daringly leapt forward to try to distract the robot, while Amy had knelt on the ground to pick the broken pieces of the bracelet she'd attempted to give him. Tears had filled her eyes.

Amy couldn't remember precisely why it was she had been so heartbroken just because some silly old bracelet had been smashed to smithereens, but she kneew she had been pretty torn up about it.

So torn up, in fact, that Amy remembered herself having become uncontrollably furious and had lashed out at the old man who had ruined her perfect plan to give the blue hedgehog the bracelet. She remembered pounding away with her hammer until she had knocked the old man in his little hovercraft out to sea. With one final blow, Amy had knocked him far off into the horizon. But she herself had fallen into the water... and then everything had gone black. She remembered seeing familiar green eyes shining in the darkness, as though someone had been trying to rescue her... but who?

When her memory had returned, Amy remembered waking up beside her young rabbit friend, Cream, who informed her that she had been brought safely to the villa and that the blue hedgehog had managed to make it out safely, as well. Amy remembered the image of her empty hand and being so griefstruck at her failed attempt to win over the blue hedgehog. It had all been a mistake.

"Hey, Amy!"

Amy awoke from her thoughts. A blue hedgehog girl, a yellow hedgehog girl, a white bat girl, a purple cat girl, and a cream-and-orange rabbit girl and her little blue Chao companion were approaching her. Amy shook away the strange flashbacks. Oh well. It had been a mistake, anyway- she and that strange blue hedgehog just weren't meant to be.

"Hey, Amy," said the blue hedgehog girl politely, flashing Amy a warm smile as she approached.

"Hello there, Aqua," Amy replied politely. She nodded at the others. "Lightning, Rouge, Blaze, Cream. What are you all doing?"

"We were heading out to the mall to do some shopping," Lightning answered. She grinned. "Wanna tag along?"

"It'll be a good chance to help you recover your memory!" Cream added excitedly.

"Chao, chao!" agreed her Chao friend, Cheese.

Amy shrugged. "I guess we could go for a walk. I don't see why not." She got up and began to follow the other five girls out of the house and into the streets, bound for the town square, where most of the shops would be located.

"You know what I like best about visiting Station Square?" Rouge, the white bat girl, declared to her cat girl friend, Blaze, as they went.

"Shopping for clothes?" Blaze asked quizzically.

"Nope." Rouge shook her head. She grinned. "I just love visiting Station Square. You get to walk by lots of people."

"How is that fun?" Blaze asked, wrinkling her nose.

"Well, most of those people would be boys," Rouge said. She smirked. "You get to impress them with your flair and your good sense of fashion style!"

"Ugh." Blaze rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Rouge. There are more things to think about than just boys."

"You're right; there's lots of jewelry out there just waiting to be discovered," Rouge agreed with a little chuckle. She eyed the cat girl. "Although you wouldn't think that if it had to do with Silver."

"Wha-?" Blaze's face flushed red. She whirled around to glare at the bat. "And just what do you mean by that?"

"Just what you think I do, honey."

"You're not serious, are you?"

"Dunno. Do you think I am, Blaze, hon?" Rouge shrugged casually.

Blaze glared. "You're... just jealous." She scoffed and tried to maintain poise. "You're mad because Knuckles doesn't treat you as nicely as Silver treats me."

Now Rouge looked irritated. "That isn't true." She started to mutter under her breath. "Killjoy."

"You two, knock it off," Lightning ordered. "Sometimes you guys are like oil and vinegar!" She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Honestly. If you ask me, it's rather foolish to argue over something like boys."

"And why do you say that, Light?" Aqua asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Because it's silly," Lightning retorted sharply. "There are lots of way more important things to think about. Like, uh..." Her voice trailed off. "Uh..."

"Uh-huh." Aqua folded her arms and shook her head. "Oh, Lightning." Lightning blushed in humiliation.

Amy hesitated. She might as well get her question out before the subject of the conversation changed again. "Say, you guys... You don't mind if I ask a question, do you?"

Lightning looked up. "Sure! Shoot."

"Well..." Amy stopped walking, and the others did too. She shuffled her feet awkwardly. "I was wondering... does that blue hedgehog like me?"

The other five girls stared at her confusedly.

"Are you talking about Sonic?" Aqua asked curiously.

"Yeah. I heard some people talking about what had happened before I lost my memory. I get this feeling that Sonic likes me," Amy said, shrugging. "I don't know. Maybe it's stupid."

"No, no," Blaze said quickly. "Perhaps you are regaining your memory, Amy. That's a good thing."

"Although I wouldn't say it was Sonic that had a crush on you," Rouge admitted. "It was more like you were in love with him."

"Oh." Amy looked down. Maybe that explained a few things about her flashbacks. "Does Sonic have a crush at all?"

Rouge opened her mouth to respond, but she hesitated and no words came out. Blaze also lowered her head, unable to answer. Cream simply held Cheese tight and grimaced gravely. Amy turned to Lightning and Aqua, who hadn't spoken yet.

"Well-" Aqua began.

"It's kinda hard to explain," Lightning finished. "Ya see, Sonic has this problem with not being able to be free. A relationship with a girl might hold him down. He likes his space. He doesn't tell a lot of people about his feelings. No one really knows for sure if Sonic has a crush, but if he does, he's hiding it pretty well."

"I'm sure there are plenty of people who crush on Sonic, though, right?" Amy mumbled. It wasn't so hard to believe. She still didn't entirely trust the blue hedgehog, but she had to admit, he was... somewhat handsome.

Rouge scoffed. "Huh!... Honey, you have no idea."

Blaze nudged the others. "Speaking of which." She nodded at the horizon, over which three shadowy figures were appearing.

Cream's eyes widened. "Uh-oh. It's them!"

"Who's them?" asked Amy, looking at her confusedly.

"You don't wanna know, trust me!" Lightning said hurriedly, trying to push Amy away. "Come on, let's get out of here, before they see us!"

"But who are they? Why-"

The others tried to shove her on as quickly as possible, but it was too late. The figures had already spotted them.

"Oh, great," Rouge muttered. "Just what we need."

"Huh?" Amy watched as the figures drew closer. "What in the world...?..."

~ To be Continued... ~

Dun dun DUN! Cliff-hanger. XP Well, how did you like that chapter? I, personally, thought it was kinda lame, but like I said, this one of my more amateur pieces of literature...

Anyways I hope you liked it all the same. ^^ Stay tuned for the next chapter soon.