"Sonic..

..Sonic!"

My eyes cracked open a little, but before I could process whose voice was echoing through my head, I was squinting from the flashlight shining in my face. "Sonic.." Tails said softly as he flipped off the light and hovered over me. "Thank goodness. Knuckles, he's awake!"

I sat up and looked around to see that Knuckles was laying on the ground beside me, panting and dripping wet. I looked between them in confusion. "What the? What happened?"

"Knuckles had taken me to the window to watch after he sent Amy out there, saying that 'something magical was about to happen'. I expected something stupid, but I didn't expect to see Amy transform into something totally different!" Tails explained quickly. "And then you dived into the water after her like a madman! Knuckles had to go in to save you."

"I told you, Sonic. Didn't I tell you that something fishy was going on?" The red echidna said as he raised up on his hands and knees. "But I still can't believe you did that."

It suddenly came back to me. Amy had morphed into some strange purple dog girl, then jumped into the water. I had followed out of impulse; only to remember seconds later that I couldn't swim. I clenched my fists at my sides. "Did you see where that girl went? And where's Amy?" I asked before I began to cough up a bit of water.

"No doubt Eggman captured her again." Knuckles suggested.

"Now, let's not start blaming things on Eggman," Tails retorted gently. "He did disappear, after all."

"Yeah, but he disappeared when we had all that Nocturne stuff happened, too." Knuckles pointed out as he sat up and shook his wet quills like a dog. I glared as some of it splashed onto me, but he only continued. "And we worked with him, then he turned on us. The same thing is probably happening all over again."

"You shouldn't just assume things without proof, Knuckles. Plus, you're a fine one to talk." Tails said with a pang of annoyance in his voice. Then he sighed and turned to me as I continued to cough. "Are you okay, Sonic? Did you swallow too much water? I thought I was going to have to give you CPR there for a minute."

When I didn't voice a reply, Knuckles sat up and gave me a strange look. "Why're you being like that? Amy's been captured several times. She never gets hurt, and we always get her back."

"Its not just the fact that she's gone," I finally answered. "Its that girl. Whoever she is, she's been masquerading as Amy for who knows how long. She must be the one behind Amy's disappearance, or at least involved in it somehow. And if Eggface is behind it, that makes everything that much better, because he's probably trying to hatch another useless scheme. And who knows what's happening to Amy right now."

It didn't hit me until later, but Knuckles had noticed something that I hadn't even noticed at the time. Yeah, she had been captured several times before, and I had been worried about her every time. But this time was different. This time, I was infuriated.

"Still.." Knuckles started slowly. "I didn't expect you to dive in like that after her. Did you become friends with water since the last time we talked or something?"

"Tails," I said as I stood, ignoring Knuckles. "Let's see where that chip leads us."

"I already have the coordinates. I got them earlier when you and Knuckles were out here." The fox stood with me, looking at me curiously. "But what if its a trap, Sonic? Whoever she was.. She wanted to get to whoever commanded the robot. That, or she wanted to lead us there. We have no clue as far as her motives go."

"If they want to play their little game, we might as well have some fun and play along." I said smiling and giving him my signature thumbs up.

Tails led us back inside, first giving us towels to dry off with, then heading over to his large computer whose screen stretched across the wall. He gestured towards it as he zoomed in on a grid. "Eggman likes to keep track of his robots at all times. He also tends to act as a sort of command central, so with this chip, it's easy to pinpoint the exact location of where this robot's 'command central' is. Just to our luck, it's in the middle of the ocean. Literally." He gestured to the speck of land on the edge if the screen. "We're here on the edge of the island, and the signal is coming from way over here." He pointed to the little purple dot in the middle of the grid. "Now, the signal is faint, meaning it's pretty deep underwater, and probably not on a boat. But not too deep, because I can still pick it up. Either way, we'll need a submarine, and we don't have access to one."

"Can't you build one?" Knuckles asked.

"I could draw up some blueprints for one, I guess, but it would take quite a while." He crossed his arms over his chest as he thought. "Actually, we could rent some scuba gear. That might be quicker."

I felt kind of queasy just thinking about it. "I'd rather take a sub. Can't we just borrow it from someone?"

"I don't know anybody who has a submarine, Sonic." Tails said. "Do you?"

I crossed my arms and tapped my foot impatiently, leaving the towel draped over my head. "Can't we ask GUN?"

"I doubt they'll just hand us a submarine, if they even have one. They're the military, you know. I'll just rent some scuba gear first thing in the morning. If you don't feel comfortable, then Knuckles and I will go to investigate, and you can stay behind."

"No way." I said flatly. "Rent me some too. But do we have to wait until tomorrow?"

"No shops that will rent stuff like that out are open so late. So you go on up to bed and try to sleep, alright? You don't looks so good."

I frowned as the towel slipped off and drifted down to the floor below. It wasn't as if we had any other options. "Fine. But-" I stopped completely as my gaze landed on the little blue chao across the room, fluttering up to the computer to try and press a button. Tails followed my line of sight and quickly picked it up, and turned back around to me.

"I forgot about him. She must have left him behind." He said thoughtfully. "Um.. where did he come from, exactly?"

I took the little guy and looked down at him as he stared up at me. "Dunno, really. I was taking a walk and I heard Amy scream, and when I got there, the robot had her. Then she claimed that the robot was after this guy."

"So.. what do we do with him?" Knuckles asked as he stepped beside me and took a good look at it.

"I guess.. keep him?" I suggested with a shrug. I held the little blue guy up in the air. "I shall call you.. Little Buddy!" I declared, and he began to "choo!" and wave his little stubby arms.

Tails frowned at me, but when I looked to him in question, he sighed. "Okay, you can keep him. But I'm not taking care of him next time you run off for days at a time."

"No worries, Tails." I said, then paused. "So we'll get scuba gear? You have to be a good swimmer for that, right?"

"I'll be right there beside you." Tails smiled. "Don't worry, I'm just as worried about Amy as you are. I'll try to find an alternative, but if I can't, then waiting until tomorrow is our only option. So just relax, okay? I'll be in the garage to see if I can put anything together."

I nodded and watched him leave, then turned to Knuckles as he collapsed on the couch. I walked up to him, narrowing my eyes. "Don't you have an emerald to put back together?"

"Yeah, but if I have to go with you guys in the morning, then I need some sleep. I'd advise you to do the same."

I turned towards the front door, but stopped. "How'd you know that would work, anyway? With Amy, I mean. You're supposed to be the dumb one."

"Hey, who you calling dumb?" He barked angrily. I smirked and walked outside without answering him. I went up to a tree, turned my back to it, and slid down with a sigh. I leaned back and looked up at the stars as they twinkled across the night sky. They looked like tiny little dancers, all twinkling to their own beat.

I looked down as the chao crawled into my lap and looked up at me, a sort of curious twinkle in his eye. I gingerly brought my hand up to pat its head. "Hey, you don't already have a home, do ya?" I asked, not really expecting an answer. "Did you come from the caves? I hear there're a group of chao that live in there."

The chao didn't exactly respond. Well, for one, it couldn't talk. But it wasn't quite as responsive as Cheese was. However, it surprised me by cuddling into my arm like a little child would. I lifted my gaze back to the stars above, leaning my head back against the tree. "I wonder where Amy is.." I whispered. I looked down at the chao and rubbed its head. "Amy is my friend. She looks like the girl that was around earlier, but.. she doesn't usually transform into someone else." I stifled a weak laugh.

What would have happened if it really had been Amy that I had kissed? How would she have reacted? What would she have thought? Would I have been able to kiss her? Where had I even conjured the guts to do so? I felt my cheeks grow a bit warm in response to my thoughts. Teasing her was so easy. Likewise avoiding her. But actually responding to the affection she had always showered me with? Talk about scary. Responding to my own affection towards her? Even worse. You're seventeen now, Sonic. Almost eighteen. I scolded myself. You should know what to do by now..

Ah, but I didn't, and that was the most aggravating part.

Other people were in relationships. Other people knew what to do with feelings. Even the knucklehead echidna was able to take his strange rivalry with Rouge to a whole other level. They had been in an off-again on-again relationship for the past year or so. So why couldn't I with Amy? Dang it, why were feelings so hard? Three words - that's all I ever had to say. Three stinking words. I could bust up any robots, aliens, or rivals that stepped in my way. I could save the world a million times over. And yet, I didn't know how to handle a single girl who already liked me back?

I exaggerated a sigh to myself, as if that would alleviate some of the mixed emotions. Well, it didn't. But it did cause me to mindlessly glance up just in time to see a silhouette of someone tall run towards the workshop in front of me. Another silhouette followed, and I quickly recognized the shape as Shadow the hedgehog. I squinted my eyes to see through the dark as I watched the other silhouette bust down the front door. As it came in contact with the light inside, I noticed that it was a red and silver robot. Curious, I stood, but before I could take a single step, I heard Tails screech my name.

I rushed inside and then into the garage to see Tails was way under the plane and a robot was attacking the side of the it as if trying to get to him.

"Omega!" I called, but it didn't cease it's ripping at the side of the plane.

"Omega? Shadow's robot friend?" Knuckles asked as he came up behind me.

I jumped up and over the plane, slamming my feet down on the robot's head to stop him. "Long time no see, Omega! What're you-" I stopped. His eyes, once red, were now glowing purple. His arms didn't have their regular claws; they now looked as though they were made to shred. It had done quite a bit of damage to the X Tornado already, making the plane looking like a heap of unsalvagable scrap.

"You didn't come here for a visit, did ya?" I asked as I jumped off and landed a few feet away, standing my guard.

"Sonic the Hedgehog.." The robot said in its dull voice as it slowly turned to me. It raised its arm and started to come down on me, but I jumped up and onto the top of my plane. I jumped up again and rolled into a ball, and went for him. But right before I hit him, a black ball slammed into me, knocking me aside.

"Do not attack him, Faker," It growled in warning. I looked up to see that it was none other than Shadow. He stood, pulling me along with him. Omega turned to us and brought his claws down to strike us; but Knuckles jumped just in time to grab his arms and hold him back. Shadow and I jumped aside, scattering our formation.

"What's going on, Shadow? I thought he was our ally?" I asked, glancing at Tails who was attempting to crawl out from underneath the plane while he had the opportunity.

"Omega has gone haywire, Sonic." Shadow replied. "I had tried dismantling him and was bringing him to Tails so he could take a look at him, but as I got closer to the workshop, he suddenly turned on and busted his way in."

"Why is he attacking the Tornado?" Knuckles asked as he jumped between us.

"I don't know, but he's far more dangerous now.." Shadow answered with great concern. "I've never seen him like this."

"You'll have to tell us the story later," Tails said, flying over to us. "But for now, we'll have to break him."

"No!" Shadow snapped. "Can't you see that something is wrong with him?"

"Shadow, I can fix him later!" Tails said firmly. "We have somewhere important that we need to go, and I don't have the time to assemble a brand new Tornado!"

"No!" Shadow cried. "Wherever you're going, its not as important as Omega!"

"Shadow!" I snapped angrily, clenching my fists. "Think of someone besides yourself for once! Knuckles!" I called, glancing over my shoulder to see Knuckles nod and grab Shadow.

I zoomed around the plane and jumped on top of it again. I rolled into a ball again, and grinded Omega's head. After a few seconds I jumped off and landed beside him, thinking for sure I had damaged him. But when I turned to look, he was competely normal. Catching me off guard, he slashed his claws deep across my torso with nothing less than killing intent. This kid had went into serious mode.

From there, everything went blurry. I could see Shadow's dark figure running toward me, voices calling for me; but I was virtigoed. All I knew was that I was lifted up, and crashed through the ceiling. Then, I was completely out.

xoxo