Soon the morning came and took the night's place. The sun was beginning to rise, being about half way above the golden horizon. It beamed light across the lands in the east and bounced across to the west. Sonic had gathered all their friends together outside of Tails' workshop to start a search party. He had gathered Silver, Blaze, Team Chaotix, Shadow, Rouge, Marine, Cosmo, and Cream and Cheese, along with Knuckles and Tails. Knuckles walked up to Rouge and they looked at each other with dark glares. "So, you're gonna be part of this, huh?" he growled. Rouge stuck her nose in the air and put her hands on her hips in a sarcastic manner. "Oh, and I was about to ask the same thing to you. So touché."
Sonic stepped up. "Listen up, everybody!" Sonic called, waving his hands in the air to capture their attention. "Amy's ran away. She left a note saying she ran away and she said she's never coming back, due to her thinking she's hated." Everyone began to turn in all directions in confusion and panic. "What? How could she just leave all of a sudden?" Vector of Team Chaotix said. His snout snapped together as he talked. "I don't know why she would feel hated," Cream said sadly. Sonic scratched his head and let out a nervous chuckle. "Hard to say, heh heh…" he said. Knuckles looked at him and rolled his eyes. Sonic shouted again to get everyone's attention. "So everyone! Since she departed and we don't know where she is, we'll split up into search parties. Team Chaotix, you go search in the public park. Tails, Marine, and Knuckles, you aerial search in the X Tornado. Rouge, Cosmo, Cream and Cheese, you search in Green Hill Zone. Silver, Blaze, and Shadow, you search in the eastern part of the city, and I'll search alone in the western part of the city."
Everyone agreed with where and with whom they searched with, and they began to move out. They all went in their search areas, and Sonic went alone to the western part of the big, busy city. He walked with determination of finding that poor pink hedgehog, but at the same time he walked with worry and devastation. He felt like a jerk for yelling at her like he did, and he regrets it. If I wouldn't have yelled at her the way I did… he thought. …this wouldn't have ever happened… Ugh! I'm such a big jerk! He clamped his eyes shut and sighed in frustration, kicking rocks aside as he walked. When he reached the western part of the city, he realized that it was extreme rush hour. He stared blankly at the stampede of people in suits with brief cases, trampling the sidewalks and any obstruction blocking their way. He hung his head in frustration again. "Okay, seriously? I gotta get past THIS?" he complained. He knew he had no other choice. He had to search good and hard to find her and fix the mess he's caused. "Don't worry, Amy, here I come…" He gulped and streaked over quickly to the stampede. He zipped in all directions in split seconds, trying to dodge and get across them without getting trampled. He was like a rocket zooming everywhere on the ground, jumping quickly in front of each person and dodging their stomping feet. It took a while of speed and agility, but he finally made it to the other side without getting trampled. He whipped a drop of sweat off his forehead as he sighed with relief. "Whew! I'm lucky I didn't get trampled to death," he said.
He continued with his search mission. He knew where to look first, and that was where all the flea markets and department stores are. He knew for a fact that Amy loved to shop. The clutter of stores was just a few blocks away from where Sonic was, and he began to walk to them. When he arrived to the shopping buildings, it was like a shopping paradise for shopaholics. There were shoe stores, clothes stores, jewelry stores, and accessory stories. There were people going in and out of them like there was no tomorrow. He sighed and narrowed his eyes. "Great. I gotta go into shopping stores…" he muttered under his breath. He entered each and every one of them, but he was surprised that Amy wasn't in any one of them. The last store he entered was the perfume shop, and he came out smelling like it when a woman sprayed some all over him. He crossed his arms and grunted. "Perfume? Seriously?" he growled.
He started to lose hope when he realized she wasn't anywhere shopping. Well, he thought. The last place I could look for her is in any alleys I come to. He searched for any dark alleys between buildings he saw. As he looked, he had terrible thoughts popping into his head at once. He pictured Amy lost somewhere in a dark, filthy alley crawling on the ground and rummaging for even just a crumb of food. Her fur was dirty and he could see her ribs through her torn dress. He shook his head to remove the thought, and closed his eyes tightly. Just the thought made him feel depressed and tears swelled in the corners of his eyes. "I hope she's eating…" he whispered. He looked ahead with sad eyes. "Unless that thought I pictured in my head was…true…" He gulped hard.
He saw a dark, empty alley only a few feet away from him. Curious yet anxious, he crept over to it without hesitation. His eyes took only within a few seconds to adjust to the darkness of the shadowy alley, and he slowly walked into it. The walls of the two buildings were rusty and had chipped paint and graffiti written on the walls with blue and green spray paint. He cut his eyes back and forth, and parted his lips to speak. "…Amy?" No answer. At the back of the alley was an old, crusty brick wall that towered over Sonic like a huge hawk. He saw a clutter of garbage cans pushed against it, and he heard a rustle behind them. His eyes grew wide and he walked up to them. "Amy?" he asked once more. His hands trembled with awe as he reached them across to move the trash cans aside. He slid them across the rocky concrete, then—HISSSSS! A large brown cat glared up at him with its smooshed face and narrowed green eyes, hissing at him like an irritated snake. It revealed its deadly, sharp claws emitted from its furry paws and slashed at Sonic, startling him. "Uh!" He plunged himself backwards from the deadly cat and shifted the opposite direction. "Ugh, that's not Amy!" he gasped.
He jumped out of the alley and pushed his back against the front wall of the building, pounding on it with his fist in frustration. "This is impossible! I'm never going to find her!" His head slowly propped up and he focused his stony, fiery eyes ahead. All his friends' search parties walked up to him with expressions that automatically told Sonic they haven't found any luck. He sighed and braced himself for what they had to say. Tails spoke first. "Sonic, we searched everywhere in the skies, but there's been no sign of Amy here anywhere," he said. "We, as detectives, looked everywhere, but the pinky wasn't around anywhere," Vector said with his scratchy voice. Blaze crossed her arms and glared at her search party's members. "We didn't see her…and it was hard to even look with these two fighting and arguing the WHOLE TIME!" she said. Her voice grew fierce and she narrowed her eyes on them. Shadow and Silver crossed their arms and glared at each other. "He started it," Silver growled. Blaze clinched her teeth in agitation and flung a fireball towards them. "DON'T START!" she yelled. "We also haven't found any signs of Amy, Sonic," Cosmo sadly said. "Chao, chao!" Cheese chirped. Sonic exhaled big, and his eyes became downcast in sadness. "I'm not afraid to say I haven't found her as well…" Silver looked around and sniffed the air. "Do I smell…perfume?" he asked. Sonic glared at him. "Oh, don't even bring it up…you have no idea what I had to go through," he said, rolling his eyes.
The day had gone by and it soon became noon. The sun was high in the air, shining down on the world and casting a golden spotlight on each citizen. Amy followed close behind Nyra, looking at her feet as she walked. She noticed that the grass became lusher in every step she took. The chilly wind withered her pink fur and rustled through it. She walked up to Nyra's side and looked up at her with concern. The elderly wolf walked with a determined look on her face. She had her eyes locked ahead, and she looked as if she would black out everything going on around her, focused only on her mission. Amy admired that.
"Nyra, where exactly is your refuge located?" she asked. She tried to sound calm and intelligent. "My refuge is not far from where we are now," Nyra said with her sacred voice. "It lies inside a mountain cave. I have made the cave into my own home." Amy nodded and grinned. A cave as a home? That's amazing! she thought. I think I'll stay for her a while...now that I'm on my own…