'Well, I'm not doing it.' Amy said firmly.

'What's your excuse?' Knuckles huffed.

'You're kidding right?'

'Fine.'

'Well, I'm not doing it. What if she wakes up?!' Sonic exclaimed.

'Fair enough, so Sonic and Amy are definitely out.' Tails said.

The gang got up early, just as the sun was rising in order to get the Tornado ready to leave. Once it was packed up and ready to go, they had to decide who went in to get Cream out of the spare room. It had to be someone who could carry her, not that she weighed very much. Plus, if the person woke Vanessa up they'd all be screwed. The team had come to the conclusion that this feline may or may not be a little bit crazy.

'Personally, I think Rouge would be the best candidate.' Knuckles smiled as he leaned against a post and rested his eyes.

'What?! Why me?' She exclaimed.

'Plenty of reasons. You can carry her, you can fly if you have to, you're a soy so you know how to be sneaky and if you get caught, Vanessa likes you.'

'She likes me? So what?!'

'So you'll get away with it better than Sonic or Amy will.'

'Well… Well, what about Shadow?' Rouge pointed to her G.U.N partner.

'He looks too much like Sonic. Before we know it, that crazy cat will be cracking onto him.' Knuckles smirked and Tails couldn't help but giggle.

'Argh! Fine.' Rouge sighed in defeat.

'Rouge made her way inside and quickly up to the spare bedroom where Cream lay peacefully. She picked her up and flew back down to the hallway leading to the front door. She was almost there, she just had to walk past the kitchen and she was out. She poked her head around… low and behold a yellow feline is standing in the kitchen making a pot of tea.

'What the hell is she doing up so goddamn early?!' Rouge screamed to herself.

She poked her head around again, trying to stay out of Vanessa's peripheral vision, and waited for her to turn her back. Once she did, she jumped across the doorway and slipped out the front door, which luckily she left open. She flew as fast as she could to the Tornado which tails had prepared to lay Cream down in.

'You ok, Rouge?' Knuckles asked as he looked at the nervous bat's shaky hands.

'Shut up and get on the plane, we have to go now!' Rouge exclaimed in a whisper.

'What, why?!' Sonic asked.

'She's awake! She's in the kitchen!'

'Why is she up this early?' Shadow asked.

'How should I know?! Let's just go!' Rouge snapped again before flying into the sky.

Tails drove the Tornado silently along the path before rising the ship into the sky. Unfortunately, it was quiet enough for them to get away without Vanessa knowing. She looked out her kitchen window and watched them fly away, Sonic and Shadow running along the ground.

'Hmph, he can do so much better than that pink waste of fur.' She said to herself.

'Well, thank God that's over.' Amy said to Cosmo who was reading.

'You're not wrong.' She replied bluntly, too involved in her book.

'She was a little bit on the crazy side, hey, Amy.' Tails said with a smile.

'She was like a sluttier version of Rouge.' Amy mumbled.

'I HEARD THAT!' Rouge snapped of the communicator, having heard it over the Tornado's communicator.

'It was a compliment! Besides, you have better style, you're way prettier and you know when enough is enough.' Amy replied.

'That's more like it.' Rouge said proudly.

'I don't regret saving her, but geez if I'd known that was coming I wouldn't have been so nice to her.' Sonic said to Shadow.

'How nice were you?'

'Not that kind of nice! I'm not saying I would be mean but I'd brace myself.' Sonic shrugged, still running alongside his ebony twin.

'Don't lie, Sonic, you wouldn't know what you were doing.' Knuckles chuckled over the communicator after overhearing the last bit of their conversation.

Sonic huffed before getting into a silly argument with Knuckles and Shadow, which everyone turned on their communicators to listen to. It certainly lightened the mood after an awkward encounter with one of Sonic's previous Damsels in distress. It turned out be a pretty good day, it was long but sunny and warm. Filled with laughter and talking throughout all the travelling. They stopped around four o'clock when Tails discovered one of the Tornado's engines was overheating.

Everyone, including Shadow and except for Sonic were quite thrilled to see where they had stopped for the night. Tails landed the X-Tornado and began to do a few repairs, he suggested everyone take a walk and check the place out because this would be as far as they'd be going for tonight. They all walked for a short while before they could smell a familiar, salty aroma. Cosmo Ran towards the smell and opened up and few tree leaves to see the sun setting over the ocean. Everyone ran onto the sand before Knuckles and Cosmo ran into the water.

'Oh great.' Sonic sighed.

'Oh come on, Faker. It's not like you have to get in the water.' Shadow rolled his eyes before walking past him.

'Yeah, yeah.' Sonic said to himself.

'We can go and look for somewhere to stay if you want?' Amy said from behind him, causing him to turn around.

'Sounds better than being this close to the water.' Sonic replied with a smile.

The duo began walking along the beach for a little while before making their way back through the trees and back onto a dirt path. They walked in silence before Sonic noticed Amy's quiet mood. He looked over at her and she was simply staring at her feet.
He nudged her arm and sent her a little off balance, she returned the favour, only a little harder, causing him to almost fall off. They both began to laugh before Sonic picked her up and playfully tackled her to the ground.

'Don't make me pull out my hammer, Hedgehog!' Amy giggled.

'Oh is that so, Amy?' Sonic said as he held his arms up, threatening to tickle her.

'No! No! Don't you dare!' Amy begged.

Sonic laughed as he began to tickle the pink hedgehog under the ribs and around the ribs. They rolled around in a small patch of grass until they stopped and stared into each other's eyes. They were both smiling until Sonic realized what was happening. His smile quickly faltered before he quickly got off her and helped her to her feet. They then continued to walk a few more steps in silence.

'That Vanessa sure was something, huh?' Sonic said, trying to make conversation.

'So many words come to mind, none of which are appropriate.' Amy snarled.

'You're probably right.' Sonic giggled.

'I have to admit, I was pretty shocked at how you handled it, I think we all were.' Amy said, a pained looked growing on her face.

'I'm sorry about that, Ames. I didn't know what else to do, I probably took you by surprise.' Sonic shrugged.

'You're sorry for the wrong reason, Sonic.' Amy looked at him with a hint of a smile.

Sonic looked at her with a confused expression on his face. Amy ignored him and walked ahead of him after spotting a small house up ahead. She jogged ahead little before feeling something grab her arm and pull her back.

'What do you mean I'm sorry for the wrong reason?' Sonic asked.

'Hey guys! Check it out! There is a house up ahead!' Knuckles and Cosmo yelled out from just up ahead of them.