CHAPTER 8

(Amy Rose)

It had been roughly ninety minutes since Amy last saw Cream. Right now, she was in the middle of the streets in some dark neighborhood, wondering where in the world her rabbit friend could have disappeared to. Strangely, Cream's mind was not preoccupied with thoughts of Tails. But that wasn't the worst part. Cream only had one word going through her thoughts continuously: Eggface. At the moment, Amy was just glad that she wasn't the only one who was concerned. Rouge kept worrying loudly enough for the both of them.

'If only Cream would show us a little bit of the place she's at...' Rouge thought sullenly. 'We can hear her thoughts, but we're as clueless as everyone else right now.'

"Rouge, your thoughts are annoying me." Amy hissed.

Somewhere along the way, Amy had joined up with Rouge, Knuckles, and Tails. The four of them were mostly quiet, uttering Cream's name only every once in a while, hoping to hear an answer and not really expecting one.

"Was I really this dense and annoying?" Amy grumbled.

Just then, a fierce wind kicked up around them. Everyone covered their face as best as they could to keep the dirt out of their eyes and Amy started swearing. But not because she got dirty.

The moment the wind stopped, Amy brought out her hammer swung.

BANG!

The sound echoed loudly, ricocheting off of brick walls like a bullet. Then one sound rose above everything else.

"OOooWWww!" Sonic cried, clutching the part of his head that had swollen quickly. "My angel, it's me! I've come to rescue you!" With tears in his eyes, he stretched out his other hand towards Amy, smiling at her as if she was a goddess.

Without a word, Amy raised her hammer, threatening to beat him with it.

Rouge intervened.

"Miss Amy! You'll kill Mr. Sonic!" Rouge cried, shutting her eyes tight as she clung to Amy's hammer.

Amy waved her weapon around, trying to shake Rouge off. "LET GOOO!"

Amy's face looked like a demon. A truly, terrifying, will-bite-your head-off-if-you-don't-be-careful demon. Her normally green eyes almost looked red.

Knuckles and Tails gulped and started backing away slowly. Sonic, however, clasped his hands together and sighed, mesmerized by Amy's apparent "beauty."

"Look how beautiful my darling is!" Sonic sighed.

Knuckles and Tails stared at their blue comrade with an 'are-you-serious' face. Just what happened to their fearless blue leader?!

At that exact moment, Amy finally managed to fling Rouge off of her hammer.

"Eep!" Rouge shrieked in terror as she spiraled into the sky.

"Rouge!" Knuckles cried as he stepped forward to catch her.

She was tumbling down from the air. He was ready to catch her. His arms were outstretched before him, longing for the soft skin the shade of milk chocolate. Her eyes were teary. His eyes concerned and determined.

Amy's eyes were large and round. She couldn't believe the swinging madly thing worked. Her hammer had left her hands in her surprise.

No worries. It had fallen a few feet away at its designated goal: Sonic's head. The blue hedgehog clutched his forehead in pain. Missing all of the action.

Tails had his eyes closed so Sonic wasn't the only one missing the action.

And then the person with the most action appeared.

Espio.

Swooping from out of nowhere, he snatched the white bat out of the sky, taking her to safety. Knuckles fell forward on his face as he completely missed his target, sliding on the concrete. He lay there for a long moment as Rouge and Espio safely descended.

"Wh-Wh!" Rouge stammered, her eyes reeling from fright. "What happened?"

Espio gently let Rouge out of his arms, but continued to hold on to her hands. Elegantly, he went down on one knee.

Everyone's eyes grew round. Knuckles quickly picked himself up off the ground and glared at Espio.

"Rouge. Will you marry me?" the chameleon proposed in the most wonderfully velvet voice anyone heard.

Tails' jaw dropped. What in the world was happening to them?

"Eh?! M-Mr. E-E-Espio?" Rouge stammered. "A m-marriage? That's too sudden!"

"Espio! How dare you propose to Rouge in her weakened stage!" Knuckles fumed, pumping his fists into the air.

Espio didn't smile nor did he frown. He simply remained emotionless, staring into Rouge's eyes as if he was trying to hypnotize her into saying yes. Rouge was flustered. She didn't know what to do or say. The two remained deaf to Knuckles' protests.

(Rouge the Bat)

'I just got proposed to! A proposal! A proposal! Gah! What do I do? What do I say? OMG, his face is getting closer. Is he going to kiss me? Wait. I'm not ready for this! !'

Rouge shut her eyes as the chameleon got closer, his lips only a breath apart from hers.

"STOP!"

Knuckles suddenly leaped in between them so that Espio's kiss landed on Knuckles' cheek instead. Knuckles held his kissed cheek as if it was lit on fire.

"Argh! Why did you kiss me for?!"

"You're the one who got in my way." Espio stated, wiping his mouth.

Knuckles had his arms around Rouge protectively and was growling at Espio who just stared back with annoyed eyes. It was showdown between the two males and a small part of Rouge felt victorious. Shocked, she blinked and whipped her head in Amy's directions. Amy looked shocked, too.

'Amy. Did I just...?' Rouge thought.

However, Amy's mind had shut down and would not respond. Instead, Cream answered.

'I wonder where Eggman is.'

Rouge's attention was forced back onto the situation at hand as Knuckles and Espio started shoving at each other. It was a show of strength. Their eyes unmoving.

"I saw her first." Espio said.

"Lies!" Knuckles growled.

"No. It's true. I was there the day she was born." he replied.

Rouge's face paled. How old exactly was Espio? He was there on the day of her birth? Why? And how?! What?!

Knuckles' face paled, too.

"Espio. How old are you?"

"Classified."

Knuckles' face returned to anger.

"Why?!"

"Classified."

"Grrr."

Espio raised one eyebrow. "Rawr."

"M-Mr. Espio." Espio turned to Rouge's voice. "I'm very flattered that you want to marry me, but I-"

Rouge had no time to finish. Esipo had kissed her again, but this time, he picked her up bridal style at the same time.

"I'm not going to take a no without good reason."

"Wha-?" Rouge's face turned bright red.

Swiftly, Espio kidnapped Rouge, jumping up onto a roof and then another as he took her away from everyone.

Knuckles chucked a stone at him, but of course, they were already too far away. Frustrated, he kicked the ground and swore.

(Cream the Rabbit)

*currently too busy looking for Dr. Eggman to let the story focus on her even for a little while.*

Another chapter! Hooray! Sorry it took me so long. Again, I am very busy now with school and all. Sorry! .'

Enjoy and REVIEW please! It always makes me happy when peoples review! It lets me know that someone is actually reading this story. haha