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Chapter 2 for Fantasy Amy Rose Co.'s request, 'Because I Care'. I hope you are all enjoying this so far! Be sure to keep reading and reviewing! Enjoy!

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Amy stared at them blankly, her face frozen with a small smile, partially because she was genuinely smiling a few seconds before and partly because she thought their joke was funny. She chuckled a little, staring at her lap as she brushed away invisible dirt from her lap. She looked back up at her two friends, now nervous seeing their concerned expressions.

'So, uh… explain this to me again,' Amy began, 'You want me to let you train me over, what, the next year and-'

'Three weeks.' Shadow cut in.

'Right, ok,' Amy answered, deciding to wrap her head around that later, 'and then you want me to join you guys in the agency?'

'Pretty much.' Rouge shrugged.

The fuchsia hedgehog's tiny smile quickly faded from her muzzle, watching the ivory bat suspiciously as she gave a brief glance at her partner. Amy sat back in her seat, slouching as she looked around the floor as if it was going to give her an answer. She shook her head as she got to her feet to begin pacing, running her fingers through her quills, feeling the other two stare into her back.

'Alright, last chance,' Amy turned around to face them, 'is this a joke?'

'You don't have to agree, Rose, it's merely-'

'Don't sway her!' Rouge cut Shadow off, 'Amy, sweetie, we're just giving you the opportunity of a lifetime, here.'

'Take some of your own advice, Rouge.' Shadow rolled his eyes.

Amy shook her head a little, ignoring the two bickering at each other. She tried to process it all fast, knowing her friends wouldn't wait much longer for an answer, particularly Shadow. She took in a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself down and think rationally. At first, she had convinced herself there was no way she could do it, plus that would certainly make Shadow happy.

Then she got to thinking about what could happen if she really did take the chance. Rouge would be ecstatic, and Shadow would get over it. To be able to train up to be as good as she could possibly be within a few weeks was certainly a tempting thought. Not only that, being selected for the agency was an honour. There were so many thoughts racing through her head, all of them leading to the same answer.

'We need to know, hun.' Rouge shrugged.

'But, remember, you don't have to feel obliged to do-'

'I'll do it.' Amy cut Shadow off, 'I want to.'

'Damn it.'

When night came around, everyone was headed over to Sonia's cottage home for dinner and a movie of some sort. Amy figured everyone would find out about her new upcoming job sooner or later, so it was probably only fair they heard it from her. She was talking to Rouge before she left that morning, questioning whether or not it was a good idea.

The ivory bat insisted that telling the others was fine, in fact, she wanted Amy to tell them herself. What the snowy agent didn't tell her friend, was how she figured the others would react, hence not wanting to be the one to spill the beans. Rouge figured the girls would be reasonably supportive, but the boys would more than likely take a different approach.

'It's open!' Sonia called out when she heard a knock on her front door.

'Hey, girl, need any help with anything?' Amy questioned as she walked through the door to meet the magenta hedgehog.

'I think we've got it covered, the others are already here.' Sonia smiled as she met Amy and looped her arm through hers.

'Everyone? Wow, I'm impressed the boys aren't late.' Amy giggled as the two walked down the hall and into the living room.

'Well-'

'If there's food they don't have to cook involved, they'll be early.' Blaze cut Sonia off as she walked over the greet Amy.

'You make it sound like a bad thing, Blaze?' Knuckles snickered as he placed a card down on the coffee table, waiting for Cream to make her move.

Amy laughed at Knuckles and Cream's intense game of cards, before taking a seat by Rouge, unable to hide her nerves from the ivory bat. Shadow was leaning up against a door frame on the other side of the room, watching the two girls, his own stomach turning in knots with nerves about the entire ordeal. He was still unsure himself if he really wanted her to go through with this.

Sally and Cosmo followed Sonia into the kitchen to help bring out dinner and such, Tikal, Blaze and Silver stood by Sonia's lounge, chatting away about something while Sonic, Tails and Manic watched Knuckles get his butt kicked by Cream in cards, snickering away the more frustrated the fiery echidna got.

'Rouge, I don't know about this.' Amy whispered, her eyes locked on Sonic.

'What are you-' Rouge cut herself off as she followed Amy's gaze. 'Oh, don't worry about Big Blue? Or any of them for that matter! You want to do this, right? I'm confident you can! Even if the others can't admit it, they know you're more than capable.'

'Whatever you say.' Amy shrugged.

After the girls brought everything in from the kitchen, they all gradually ate, talked and laughed together like they normally would, enjoying the time they had together to relax. Normally, Amy would be chatty and all a part of the conversation and laughter, but tonight she could feel her stomach twist and turn more and more severely as the seconds passed. She watched the clock intensely, the hands ticking slowly.

After a certain blue hedgehog had polished off what seemed like the millionth chilli dog, he got up and dashed away, claiming he would be back soon. His two siblings rolled their eyes at their little brother, knowing that if he didn't get up and go for a quick run he would be even more difficult to deal with than normal. Sonic's departure, however, made Amy more nervous than she already was.

'Can you tell them?' Amy whispered to a familiar dark figure.

'Rose, you don't have to do this at all.' Shadow insisted, hoping to sway her.

'It isn't that, Shadow. I want to, but what I don't want to do is tell them!'

'One or the other, Rose.'

Amy sighed, exchanging a glance with Rouge, only to receive a friendly wink in return, one she know all too well. If she didn't tell them right now, she probably never would. Shouldn't she wait for Sonic to get back, though? Oh, he is going to be forever. He probably won't even show up again. Which, in retrospect, probably is for the best. Then, the others can be the ones to tell him!

'Hey, guys?' Amy announced nervously, drawing everyone's attention to her, 'I-uh-I need to tell you all something.'

'Everything alright?' Silver cocked a brow at her.

'You're looking a little pale there, Amy?' Sally added, concerned for the fuchsia hedgehog.

'Y-Yeah, I'm fine. I just wanted to tell you guys that, well, I got a new job.' Amy shrugged innocently, feeling Rouge and Shadow watch her from the corner of her eye.

'Well, that's great, Amy!' Cream exclaimed with glee.

'What are you doing? Something in the city?' Tikal questioned.

'Well, sort of?'

'How can you sort of be working in the city?' Manic questioned, growing suspicious.

'Come on, Amy, just tell us.' Tails insisted excitedly.

It was now or never, she had to tell them. Rouge and Shadow's gazes were burning deep into the side of her face, her paranoia making their stares feel like they were physically making shivers run up and down her spine. She took in a deep breath before exchanging a glance with the two G.U.N agents, the dark hedgehog and his snowy companion waiting with anticipation.

'Shadow and Rouge have picked me for a position at the agency,' Amy began, determined to get everything she had to say out of her mouth before anyone could cut in, 'and they're going to train me up to their level so I can go out into battle with them.'

'For the record, I'm still against it, but-'

'Shadow, don't back out on me now.' Rouge cut him off through gritted fangs.

'The Chief assigned Rouge and I to find a new agent that has the ability to defeat a potentially dangerous force.' Shadow began, prepared to back himself off, 'He insinuated he wanted someone we knew, and apparently Rose here was the best choice.'

'Don't act as though you didn't eventually agree on that decision!' Rouge snapped.

'I know I should be offended but-'

'Hey, guys! What've I missed?' Sonic cut Amy off as he entered the room again.

The blue blur's regular happy and enthusiastic expression faded away at the sight of so many stunned and frozen faces. He cocked a suspicious brow at them all, glancing back and forth from Amy to Shadow and Rouge to the others. He walked in cautiously and quietly, waiting for someone to say something, give some sort of explanation, but it never came.

'Alright, is someone going to tell me what's going on?' Sonic questioned awkwardly.

'We just learnt of Amy's death wish.' Knuckles snickered sarcastically.

'Knuckles.' Tikal scolded timidly.

'It is not a death wish,' Rouge eyes burned into his, 'She will be a great asset, successful and more than capable.'

'Alright, Rose, one last time,' Shadow stepped in and walked over to the rosy hedgehog, 'You don't have to do this, you can back-'

'No, Shadow!' Amy cut him off.

'We're worried about you, Amy.' Cream admitted.

'We know perfectly well you're a competent fighter and strategist, Amy, we just-'

'Wait, wait, hold on,' Sonic cut Cosmo off, 'why does Amy need to be a good fighter and strategist?!'

'I think you're up, kid.' Silver said as he gave Amy a look.

Amy sighed, feeling a piercing pain shoot through her stomach at Silver's innocent glare. Sonic's eyes locked on hers, a mere look coaxing her to continue. The fuchsia hedgehog's knees began to buckle, her arms trembling, her head suddenly filled with questions and realisations. She knew exactly how Sonic was going to react, so she didn't know why she was so scared. He wouldn't care…

'It's no big deal, Sonic, it's-'

'The truth, Amy.' Sonia and Manic cut her off in sync.

'All that's going on is Rouge and Shadow are offering me a chance at G.U.N. You know, intensive training in physical and skills combat for when future threats attack. The Chief asked them to choose someone to train so they-'

'You two got her into this?' Sonic cut her off with an icy glare directed at the two agents.

'It was her choice, we had nothing to do with her decision.' Rouge told him firmly.

'In our defence, I did try to sway her out of it.' Shadow shrugged, earning a hard glare from the snowy bat.

Sonic's mouth gaped a little, trying to say something more on the situation but he couldn't find the words. He looked back and forth between Amy and everyone else, trying to soak in the new information. He bowed his head, shaking it from side to side as he began to pace. The bubble-gum hedgehog watched him intently and nervously before he finally stopped right in front of her.

'Amy,' Sonic said firmly as he grabbed her shoulders, 'are you out of your damn mind?!'

'There it is.' Blaze mumbled.

'Sonic, just calm down.' Sally said as she tried to walk up to him.

'Calm down?!' Sonic snapped as he whirled around to look at the chipmunk before turning back to Amy, 'Are you trying to get yourself killed, Amy?!'

'Sonic, Rouge and Shadow are professionals.' Tails began, 'If they think she can do it, then I'm sure she can.'

'Amy, you can't do this. Please don't do this.'

'How can you say that?!' Amy snapped and threw his arms off her, 'You don't think I'm good enough to do this?'

'I didn't say that…'

'You implied it! You don't think I'm capable enough to even go into training!' Amy yelled, the others bowed their heads, 'Well, you know what? I don't need your approval!'

'You're not doing this, Amy! You'll get yourself killed!' Sonic said as he shook her shoulders.

'Tell me why! Tell me why you think I'm going to fail so fast.'

'Well, I didn't say you were going to fail fast.' Sonic shrugged.

'I seriously can't believe you.' Amy spat before storming out.

Sonic watched her in shock as she stormed away, still believing he was completely in the right. He finally stopped looking at the closed door before looking around at the others with an amazed expression plastered across his muzzle. The others kept their heads bowed, no one wanting to be the one to tell him he was wrong.

'This is absolutely ridiculous…' Sonic growled before dashing away.