Story Two: A run-in, and regret
Sonic and Amy had just finished up their backlot visit to the filming of a movie at Studiopolis, and were now making their way back towards the front of the studio. And while they both agreed that the trip here had been worth it, the two hedgehogs couldn't be further apart on their opinions on the movie itself.
"Soooo Sonic? What did you think of the set of Ristar?" Amy asked him, as the walked out of the Studio back lot tour. "Pretty neat, huh?"
"Eh, it was alright. The sets and costumes look pretty lame, though." The blue blur shook his head. "I've met the real Ristar before, on a space mission. And he would fall over laughing at that guy dressed as him in the costume!"
"Huh, this coming from the guy who licensed his own likeness out to Breezie productions, to make those horrible 'Sonic-Man' movies." Amy pointed out sarcastically.
"Hey, they pay me pretty well for those movies! It pays the bills so I can spend time saving the world." Sonic replied defensively. "It also pays for the stuff we do when we hang out like this."
"Hang out?! Is that what you think we're doing?!" Amy got mad, angry that Sonic was trying to say everything he could to avoid calling his personal time with Amy Rose a 'date'. "You are so immature sometimes Sonic! Refusing to see what's right in front of your face, if you don't like it!"
"Hey, isn't that what you like about me so much?" Sonic asked, smiling at her. "I mean, my cool rebel personality is why the girls have always liked me... and why you always proceeded to chase them away with a hammer."
"Ugh, do you always have to bring that up?" Amy puffed her cheeks out, pouting angrily. "Fine, you win. Nothing on our dates seems to make you happy! Maybe I should just stop trying!"
"Aw, come on, Ames! Don't be like that!" Sonic reached out, putting an arm around her. "You know I'm just kidding, right? Trying to act cool has always kinda been my thing."
"Hmmph, sometimes I wish you'd take our outings more seriously." She smiled at him. "Come on, lets head downtown, and see if we can find a big, fancy Studiopolis actor-type restaurant that sells chili dogs."
Sonic and Amy continued walking down the street, continuing their conversation, when the Pink hedgehog thought she caught a glimpse of a familiar face. Seeing her looking back, Sonic asked;
"Amy, is something wrong?" He asked, glancing back himself. "What is it?"
"Hang on a sec, Sonic." Amy replied, making her way back through the crowd. "I thought I saw someone..."
Amy made her way towards the familiar figure- what looked like a female islander with orange-colored skin, and wearing a blue sundress with a straw sun hat on. She was looking at an open air fruit stand when Amy tapped her on the shoulder, and surprised islander girl let out a squeak, and stumbled over onto the ground, her hat falling off. Amy looked down in shock, seeing a familiar sungazer lizard girl with blue eyes and a horn for a nose, scramble pathetically to get her straw hat back on. It was at that moment that Amy Rose recognized a face she had not seen in years, one she had almost forgotten about.
"Trip?" Amy asked, not sure if she was seeing things. "Trip, is that you?!"
"I-I'm really sorry, miss." Trip muttered meekly, stumbled over her words as she stood up, and put her hat back on so the brim covered her face like her old helmet used to. "I really didn't mean to bump i-into... Amy?!"
Within seconds, the two friends were hugging and laughing, staring at each other in disbelief. Sonic just stood nearby, smiling. It was good to run into another old friend again, especially one they hadn't seen in such a long time. Trip had changed somewhat, Sonic noticed- and it wasn't just her wardrobe that had changed. The sungazer lizard was now much taller, and nose horn and head spikes had grown slightly longer and more pointed. She had grown up just as much in the over a decade since they last saw her as Sonic and his friends had.
The two islander girls spoke for several minutes, before Amy directed them all over to a small table at a cafe. Trip and Amy quickly ordered themselves each a salad and a chaos cola, while Sonic simply got himself a cola and a chili dog. The blue blur simply sat there silently, while Amy tried to wrangle some conversation out of the shy sungazer.
"Gosh, it's been years since we last saw you, Trip!"Amy exclaimed. "Can you believe that we were just little kids when our team came to your island, and helped boot Eggman and Fang outta there."
"I-I know... it feels like ages ago, a-and like a different lifetime since all of you last came to see me." Trip kept her head as low as her voice, trying to keep her face hidden from the passing islanders. "I-I miss how you used to come visit me a lot after your adventure on my island. B-but then, your visits became less and less frequent, until till all of you s-stopped coming at all..."
"Hey, we didn't mean to!" Sonic spoke up, earning him a dark glare from Amy. "We were busy saving the world again and again, and life got in the way!"
"I-it's okay, I understand." Trip muttered, trying to put on a fake smile. "D-don't worry about it, Sonic... really!"
"What are you doing here on Westside Island, trip?" Amy, asked her, trying to change the conversation. "I thought you'd never leave the Northsar islands."
"A-actually, I don't live there any more, Amy." Trip gave a small smile, sipping her diet cola. "M-my husband and I are traveling the islands, and we're just stopping off here so I can s-see the sights, before we g-goes back to Seaside town. H-he's getting us a house there, and joining a detective business some of his friends own in the city."
"WHAT?! "At those words Amy's jaw dropped open, and Sonic spit out his cola. It was only then that they both noticed the wedding band on her finger. "Y-you're married?! How?! When?!"
"Y-yes, a noble warrior came to my island to train with his little brother, and he saved my life." She explained, a warm smile spreading over her face. "He stayed on the island for nearly a year while courting me, then performed our tribe's traditional mating dance." Trip ceased stuttering, and got a faraway, dreamy look on her starry-eyed face. "He's been so kind and loving, carrying me when I fall over from my clumsiness, or comforting me when I have anxiety or get scared. But he's really really strong, too! I saw him and his little brother smash a whole army of badniks when we visited flicky island! But he's really gentle, too! Especially when we..." She stopped at that moment, realizing what she was about to blurt out. Her cheeks turned the deepest red from blushing that sonic had ever seen on a girl, and she let out a loud squeak of embarrassment at what she was about to say. Trip then completely pulled her hat down over her face, and seemed seemed to want to hide under the table.
As Amy tried to get Trip back up to continue the conversation (Sonic hoped on a less...personal topic). The blue blur thought about the ramifications of what Trip had just told him. Here was a friend from the old days, one who Amy had once been close with, who had grown up asnd made a life for herself. As much as he ran from place to place at the speed of sound, he didn't like it very much when things changed around him. And it seemed that more and more, everything was changing around him at a rapid pace. Everyone who he cared about, they were all moving on with their lives. Some of them were moving on to bigger and better things, and others were moving into different jobs and responsibilities that would take them far away from Sonic and his adventures. It was something he had truly dreaded for a long time.
So many of his friends had moved on with their lives; Blaze and Silver never came around much anymore, one staying in his own time and the other in her own dimension- although they visited each other often, from what sonic had heard. Vanilla and Vector had grown much closer over the past decade, with Cream complaining to anyone who would listen that she may have a scaly green stepfather soon. The restoration had long since dissolved years ago, and most of the members of the members of the second team of diamond cutters had all retired, and started families of their own. Sure, Team Sonic was still hanging together as a family, but Cream had recently started trying to get Tails into a relationship, and Rouge had been putting pressure on Knuckles. And even Uncle Chuck, who Sonic visited every chance he could, was getting really old now. How long before something happened to him?
How long before all the people in Sonic's life went away, just like Longclaw did? How long before he was left alone again?The very thought of it made Sonic want to jump up out of his seat, and run. To get away from everyone and everything, no nothing could hurt him. It was his desire to not upset Amy that kept him in place, even as he fought off the urge to run away as far and as fast as possible.
It was while these two were holding their conversation with Trip, that Sonic and Amy failed to notice a familiar trio watching them from a table across the room. The trio had tracked the two hedgehogs here from Seaside city, and had been quietly tailing them throughout their trip through studiopolis. While the bird in the group happily tossed a bomb back and forth between his two hands, the bear snarled as he glared at their targets from behind a thick scarf. The leader of the group, an angry jerboa islander, stared at the trio of friends in anger.
That was the lizard girl who had so long ago messed him up so long ago on a mission for Doctor Eggman, and he had carried a viscous grudge against her ever since. The jerboa in a stetson hat glared at Trip, fingering the gun in it's holster at his waist. Ever since that day, he'd carried a bullet made of a special metal that could kill a sungazer in either islander form or dragon form, in a one hit. And even now, he was pulling out his gun, and loading that bullet into the chamber, and dreaming of a female dragon's head mounted on his wall. And to collect the hefty bounty that sorcerer guy had placed on the two hedgehog's heads.
"Boys, get yourselves ready." Fang the Hunter snarled. "it's just about time to earn ourselves a paycheck..."