Oops… Misnamed Daisy's special ability. Its official name is Flower Dash, but I called it Petal Dash. Should I even bother editing it? Seems such a minor thing.

Alright, we've got a chapter with a different perspective! It's kind of shorter than the last one, because it's not really that important…

I'm also working on another fic. I may or may not publish it, depending on how well I do it. It's definitely going to be after this one's finished, though, so it's going to be a while. I'm not going to be updating two fics at one right now – This is my focus.

On that note, I think we're around the halfway point of this fic. Man, it's been fun to do this again.

Chapter 13 (Amy)

Amy Rose was still hurt by what she perceived as Silver's betrayal. So, she decided the best way to deal with things was to let off steam and help people at the same time. To her, this meant infiltrating Eggman's base in White Acropolis. It also had the added bonus of possibly bringing her closer to Sonic.

She'd been going through the base for nearly twenty minutes now, and hadn't met a single robot. They were probably all outside, anyway, and, admittedly, her new skill had let her get in undetected. She was really beginning to like the ability.

Suddenly, she stopped walking, and peeked around the corner to another hallway. Not twenty feet away were robots, the first she'd seen. She hid herself with her new skill, and they paid her no mind. She came out of hiding, and turned to walk back down the hallway she'd come from when a door opened.

Out came a young woman, a human about six feet tall and with incredibly yellow hair. She wore a pink dress and a golden crown. With her were two mushroom creatures, that Amy wasn't familiar with the species of, though she was pretty sure she'd mistaken one of them for Sonic earlier; and another girl, this one clearly younger, and with red hair and a white dress.

Before any party could say anything, alarms started blaring. "Prisoners have escaped from cell block C-17. All patrolling guards, begin searching."

"This way!" Amy whispered to the group, leading them the way she'd come.

Thanks to Amy, the group managed to get back to Soleanna Castle Town with little trouble.

"Thank you," the lady in pink said. "I'm grateful for your help, and I'm sure my companions are, too."

"Yes, I'm so grateful," the redhead said. "Thank you so much for rescuing me."

"You're welcome!" Amy said, smiling at her. "I'm Amy, Amy Rose!"

"Princess Peach," the lady wearing pink said, offering her hand. "My companions are Yvan, the blue one here-"

"We've met," Yvan said flatly.

"And Wolley, the yellow one."

"Butterflies and lollipops," Wolley said, grinning and shaking Amy's hand.

"They're… Well, I guess you could say bodyguards, but that's not entirely accurate."

"My name is Elise," the last remaining member of the group spoke up.

"Wait… Elise? Princess of Soleanna?" Amy asked. "I bet someone's already on their way to rescue you!"

"Um, yes, but… Well, Peach said... What was it? 'Heroes… Something, but take action?'"

"Heroes save the day," Peach recited. "But not without the help of friends. Always try to help, even if you fail, because nothing happens when you don't. Mario taught me that."

"You know Mario?" Amy asked. "That guy who was with Sonic earlier?"

Peach smiled. "He's my best friend. He's not like anyone else I know…" Peach sighed.

"… You wouldn't happen to have some feelings for him, would you?"

"Ah… Well… Er, it's complicated… I really don't know…"

Amy laughed. "It's okay! Love changes everything! It feels like everything is huge, doesn't it?"

"I don't know if I love Mario or not," Peach said. "But… I think I can say, yeah. Mario changes everything. I don't know what I'd do without him. Miss Elise? I think we should be getting you home about now."

"Oh, right!" Amy exclaimed. "Let's go make sure everything is safe!" She ran off towards the castle, Peach following behind her. Yvan and Wolley stayed with Elise to protect her, just in case.

Soon, Amy slowed to a stop, and motioned for Peach to do the same. Peeking around the corner of a building, she saw that there were a few Eggman Robots blocking the way.

"I'll sneak up on them. Are you good at sneaking?"

"Not terribly," Peach admitted. "At least, not sneak-attacking… My game is defense, really."

"Well, alright then. I'll take out some, then you can come in. How's that?"

"Perfect."

Amy Rose used her new special skill in front of someone else for the first time. She faded from sight, becoming invisible. She walked quietly over to a couple of robots only a few feet apart from each other, and spun on the spot with her hammer. They didn't stand a chance.

Peach took this as her cue to come in. She ran in, holding a pink parasol (how had Amy missed that?) out in front of herself like a shield. The robots tried to shoot at her, but it turned out that her parasol really WAS a shield of sorts – It just deflected them, allowing Peach to get in close and smash a robot to bits with a frying pan (another thing Amy hadn't noticed). She blocked another attack while Amy destroyed another robot, focusing her energy on her parasol. After a second or so, it began to glow, and she let her energy flow out of it. A beam of hearts erupted from the tip of her parasol, hitting the robot she was defending against dead-on and causing it to explode. Amy used her Homing Attack on the last robot, clearing the way for Elise and the two Toads to catch up.

"So he knows we've escaped," Peach said.

"Nah, he's just a paranoid old coot. His robots attack Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, or me on sight. It's like, part of their basic programming."

"Oh…"

There were a few more times when they met up with robots, but there wasn't anything that Amy and Peach couldn't handle. Throughout the short journey, the two continued to talk to each other about their lives, and found they had much in common. Elise and the Toads mainly stayed quiet, content to listen to them and lend a hand when needed (the latter mostly on the Toads' part).

Soon, they'd reached Elise's home. Amy and the Toads took their leave, though Elise invited Peach inside because they had official business they hadn't taken care of, due to the whole kidnapping thing.

They hadn't even made it to the main part of the palace when Eggman himself arrived in his Egg-mobile, along with several robots.

"I've been waiting for you, Elise. And, my, Peach, you're here too. Shame you're irrelevant now. I have other options.

Peach stepped in front of Elise, getting into a protective stance. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you aren't the only Star Child. I've ascertained the identity of three more of the seven. Robots, capture Elise, and knock out Peach."

Peach pulled Elise close and ducked both of them under her umbrella, fumbling through her pockets as she tried to find an item.

"What're you doing?"

"You said you saw Mario power-up, right?" Peach asked.

"You can do that too?" Elise was surprised.

"Yeah. Here we go," Peach pulled out what she'd been looking for.

Eggman grinned. Oh, this was too easy! They couldn't stay under that super-umbrella forever. Sooner or later, they'd have to come out.

And they did – In a flash of pink, three of the robots had been sliced apart. Before Eggman could react, the same pink blur was pouncing on his other robots, ripping them to shreds as well. In about twenty seconds, all the robots were dispatched and Eggman could clearly see what had happened.

Sitting in front of Elise was Princess Peach, clad in a pink cat outfit, and, oddly enough, sitting like a cat.

"Ah. I wasn't aware you could use Power-Ups as well," Eggman said. "No matter. An evil scientist always has a Plan B." He pressed a button on the Egg-mobile, sending a nasty jolt of electricity at Princess Peach. It hit her dead-on before she could move, freezing her in place as her power-up disappeared. Eggman wasted no time in sending the Egg-mobile's telescopic arm out, capturing Elise and conking the still-frozen Peach on the head on the way.

She didn't fall unconscious, but she couldn't recover in time to give chase to Eggman. In the end, she left the castle, holding her head in pain as she went to tell Amy and the Toads the bad news.