Chapter 14

Your Highness,

Respectfully, I will be entering the Tournament as a competitor. I will be made second to no one, and as future ruler it will be your solemn honor to earn my respect on the battlefield as the current favorite to win. There is no easy way to prove your worth to your father, and defeating me will only lend credit to your prowess. I look forward to our meeting on the battlefield.

And I look forward to seeing you again before that, as well.

Sir Shadow, Rose Kingdom


Amy appeared that evening in the glen wearing her pageboy clothes, her quills tucked up in her cap once again. She understood that all the people who were to be in attendance at that night's training session already knew who she was, but she felt more secure under the protection of the cap, with her face concealed in as much shadow as it could possibly be.

She didn't fear the people Sonic was bringing, but she did want them to know that she would not be easily intimidated or pushed around.

As she reigned in her horse and dismounted, landing on the ground with a satisfying thud, Amy stood tall, with her shoulders back, and looked up at the people in the glen from under her hat brim.

Three pairs of discerning eyes stared back at her, each sizing her up in their own way, and Amy held her ground as they all quietly made their assessments of each other.

Externally, Amy hit the group with her most commanding and respectable stare, hoping she projected the aura of a natural leader. Internally, Amy wanted desperately to prove herself to them, to prove that they could trust her to be a good and proud Queen. To show them that she would move mountains if it meant that they would consider her worthy of their respect.

The three figures stood like statues, perfectly posed in an assertive triangle. Sonic took point, hands on hips, tapping his foot impatiently. His eyes widened for a fraction of a second when he finally saw her. Amy wondered what for. Was he happy to see her? Worried? But then he offered her a smile, and she couldn't help but return it.

Flanking him to the right was a hulking red echidna leant against a tree, his head bowed and tipped towards her artfully. He peered up at her from underneath his furrowed brow with obvious incredulity, his less-than-friendly stare made even more intense by his striking violet eyes. Amy held his eye contact for longer than she realized as some hazy memory stirred in her mind at the sight of him. He raised an eyebrow as they looked at each other, as if daring her to try and place him.

She couldn't.

On Sonic's left was the youngest member of the team, a charming fox teen who was clearly trying his best to offset the tense mood of the other man. He wrung his hands behind him, offering her a smile that she suspected was meant to reassure her.

"Amy, it's… I'm glad you're here," Sonic said, stepping forward.

Greeting her with other people around made him feel awkward. He had become too used to their uniquely intimate dynamic, just the two of them. He knew that Tails in particular was likely scrutinizing his every move, and was careful not to betray how hopelessly familiar he and Amy really were. Although, Sonic realized, he wasn't really sure why he felt so protective of what the two of them had together to begin with.

"Ames, meet Knuckles -" Sonic gestured to the echidna, "and Tails -" to the fox. "Guys, meet -"

"Miles Prower, nice to meet you!" Tails stepped forward, clearly nervous but nonetheless eager. He bowed awkwardly, stealing a subtle glance up to see how she might take the gesture.

Knuckles didn't move, didn't even blink.

"Oh! Please, that's alright," Amy said, grabbing Tails' hand to pull him up and shake it warmly. "And they call you Tails because…"

Tails sheepishly unfurled a pair of fluffy tails that began to swish behind him anxiously, and Amy nodded slowly as she understood.

"He's special like us," Sonic said, throwing an arm around the kid and shaking him affectionately. Tails blushed, and Amy was charmed by the pair.

"Gifted and I hear you're quite the teacher. I must say I feel rather lucky to be your student tonight," Amy offered up the compliment with a tip of her hat and a friendly wink. A move she must have learned from Sonic, she realized. To her relief, Tails' smile became less strained as he relaxed and pushed Sonic off him congenially.

"And you?" Amy turned to Knuckles, forcing her voice into a more commanding tone as they locked eyes again. He finally looked up at her, and as she got a good look at the man for the first time, the same itch of familiarity niggled the back of her mind.

Her brain felt clouded in a fire-red haze when she looked at him. She heard a deep laugh rumbling through the back of her mind like the echoes of thunder. The fog in her heart felt instinctively warm and nostalgic to her. Amy might've even smiled at the odd feeling of deja vu if it were not for Knuckles' stare reminding her that he felt anything but warm toward her.

"Uh, Knuckles is… he…" Sonic trailed off as Knuckles silently pushed off the tree trunk, turned to it, and backed up.

Knuckles adopted a power stance and pounded his fists together, working himself up, before winding up and taking a mighty swing straight at the tree. The three of them silently watched Knuckles' demonstration, unable to hide their impressed flinches as his right fist connected with the tree with a resounding crunch, and then his left. The sharp, hard points in his mitts pierced the wood easily, allowing him to bury his hands deep into the flesh of the tree. With a great grunt, Knuckles pulled himself free, splintering what was left of the tree's infrastructure. He stepped back again and crossed his arms as the whole trunk toppled slowly in a messy, theatrical pile, hitting the ground with a satisfying whoosh and thud.

They all stood for a beat, processing the show of bravado. Amy took a deep breath and nodded, squaring her shoulders.

"...Got it," she said sarcastically.

Knuckles whirled on her, his look fierce as he stepped to her.

"I want to make one thing clear, Princess," Knuckles growled, spitting her title out with disdain as he stared her down. "If you double-cross me or either of my buddies, I'm gonna make sure you end up exactly like that tree. Got it?"

Amy met his eyes defiantly, her heart beating fast. In her peripheral she saw Sonic put a hand to his head.

She wasn't afraid of Knuckles or his show of strength. If anything, she was touched by his loyalty, and she could see that he would be a great teacher and powerful supporter if she could make an ally of him. Amy knew she had plenty of strength of her own, and cunning, and she vowed to crack Knuckles - to find a way through his bullish exterior and into his trusted circle.

Amy squinted up at Knuckles, sizing him up as he snarled at her, letting her silence speak to just how unintimidated she was by him.

"Do I know you?" she asked finally, with an innocent tilt of her head.

Amy watched with satisfaction as Knuckles' eyes widened, and he stormed away from her to fume at the opposite end of the glade.

"I'd apologize on behalf of Knuckles," Sonic sighed as he approached, eyeing them both with interest, "but if I did that every time he did something stupid, I'd never stop."

Sonic placed a kind hand on Amy's shoulder, offering her a squeeze that relaxed her. It felt like his own way of reminding her that he was there for unequivocally, that he would be behind her in the face of anything, and that they were still partners in crime - that the only thing they needed to get through the next few months of potentially terse and back-breaking training was each other.

"Well, you're in their hands," Sonic said jovially, patting her and turning to sit on the newly fallen log as if it were a bench. He did his best to look relaxed, leaning back on his hands as he shooed her toward his friends with a soft smile.

"She's all yours, Knucks!" Sonic shouted.

"Well?" Knuckles spoke from where he stood paces away from her, and Amy turned back to him sharply. His voice was a deep rumble, and she couldn't help but think of Shadow as Knuckles settled dramatically into his fighting stance.

Another power move, Amy suspected, and stopped herself from rolling her eyes.

"Show us what you got Princess."

Knuckles' patronizing tone poured kerosene on the ever-burning fire of anger in Amy. It was the same tone Sonic had taken with her when they first met. The same tone of her father's voice both in her head and in real life. It was the embodied sound of her own disbelief in herself, the fear she fought every day that, despite her best efforts, only got louder and louder as the Tournament got closer and closer.

Amy's eyes narrowed, and she lowered into her fighting stance. She thought she heard Sonic chuckle at her and ignored him.

She reached into the air, coming onto her back toe, and summoned her hammer, using the momentum as it dropped into her hand to swing it around in a wide circle and land it on her shoulder. She was showboating, she knew it, but she couldn't help competing with Knuckles with her own bit of theatrics. Tails sighed at them both and walked around them, headed for the log bench with Sonic.

"How about you show me what you got?" Amy growled back. "Might not be so tough when your opponent isn't a tree, huh?"

Knuckles' eyes grew wide with fiery enthusiasm. To Amy's infinite surprise, the man threw his head back and barked with laughter.

Amy's ears pricked and she felt her lips twitch up in anticipation. Listening to him laugh, that deep, rumbling echo rolled through her mind again. She realized with a start that the sounds were nearly the exact same.

"Come on then," Knuckles beckoned. "You talk a big game. Approach, and prove yourself!" he commanded, and she did.

As they clashed - a meeting of forces so immense that the whole glen seemed to tremble - Tails took his seat in a huff next to Sonic.

"They're two peas in a pod, huh?" Tails shook his head as he spoke, pulling a small hunk of wood from the tree splinters and taking out his knife.

Tails studied the fighters just as intensely as they fought, working away at the wood with his blade without taking his blue eyes off of Knuckles and Amy. Sonic could see the gears turning in his friend's head as he watched them, analyzing Amy's strengths and weaknesses, coming up with multitudes of tactics meant to capitalize on what she was good at and hide what she was not.

"Yeah, I knew they'd get on like a barn on fire if he'd just give her a shot," Sonic sighed, watching Amy as she brought her hammer down on Knuckles, blow after thundering blow. He took each of them with a grunt on his mighty forearms. Sonic could already see that Knuckles was grinning, sweat beading down his red fur as she shouted and came at him again and again.

Sonic watched her proudly, a soft blush glowing on his face. He could see her form had improved immensely. Her stance was rock solid, her maneuvers looked tight, and she was much lighter on her feet than she had been before. She looked so strong out there. Sonic almost cheered as she side-stepped Knuckles' attempt to rush her. She dodged and turned easily to face him, running at him faster than he could recover. Sonic smiled and nodded with satisfaction.

Watching her with Knuckles, he could almost pretend that they were rivals facing off in the arena. Seeing how well she held her own against the strongest person he knew - barring only himself - made him feel almost deliriously hopeful for her. For them.

The better she fought, the more Sonic allowed himself to indulge in that vision of them all in the future, free and together. It became clearer as he dreamed. He saw a vision of Amy in a gold crown, bathed in sunlight as she stood in the distance, and was reminded of a dream he had what felt like eons ago. Now the fog was cleared away, and the figure in the dream, turning to him wearing a ring of gold…

Tails sighed next to him. Sonic glanced over and realized he had been caught red-handed as the teen watched him with raised eyebrows.

"She's pretty good, huh?" Tails confirmed, his hands still working diligently at the chunk of wood.

"Yes…" Sonic began, feeling like there was subtext in Tails' question that he couldn't even begin to unearth.

"And she seems… kind," Tails continued.

"I'm not smart enough for this Tails," Sonic sighed, "out with it."

"I just think… you need to be careful," Tails said, with a glance that read to Sonic as something bordering on pity. "Just… think about what you're doing. I don't know what's gone on between you two -"

"Nothing," Sonic repeated emphatically.

"- But I do know you, Sonic. And I've never seen you… look at someone like that before, let alone think about something this much," Tails shook his head sadly and went back to watching the fighters. "It'd be so much easier to know what to tell you if it weren't all so… What's on the line with all this is - it's life and death. If it were any other person I'd tell you that you're being an idiot and to stop being so difficult and just get out. To go after what you want, but…"

"It's not that simple," Sonic finished the thought for him and swallowed hard.

"It never is with you," Tails agreed.

"Well, it wouldn't be fun if it was," Sonic said with a sad smile. Tails scoffed and shook his head.

They were broken from their quiet conversation by a loud shout from Amy. They looked up to see her flying backward, and she grunted as she hit the earth, rolling on her side and coming to a stop, panting and groaning. She got to her knees, using her hammer to try and stand, but her knees buckled and she sank back down, her hammer slipping from their plane of existence.

Knuckles stormed toward her, and Sonic made to stand up - to intervene for her. She had clearly had enough and she needed -

Tails stopped him with a hand, holding him back, nodding towards Knuckles as he made Sonic sit again.

"You can trust us, Sonic," Tails said. "He's on your side now - she did it - just look."

They watched as Knuckles stopped abruptly in front of Amy, knelt to the ground with her, and began to speak quietly.

"You're wasting too much energy too quickly," Knuckles muttered.

Amy wiped her brow and looked up at him, confused to see him knelt close on the ground like co-conspirators as they recovered from the intensity of their battle.

"How do you mean?" she asked, hoping to keep Knuckles talking. Their fight had clearly thrilled the man. It had been fun for Amy, too. More than once they had locked eyes as they fought, smiles overtaking them as they unleashed their full power on opponents that they both knew could handle it.

"You need to understand when to attack and when to back off," Knuckles instructed, "you're going too hard, too fast, and using up all your energy first. This is a rookie mistake. They think if they come out of the gates swinging, they can end the fight like that -" he snapped, "- but a real fight is about stamina. Constitution. The only thing that matters is that you are the last one standing," Knuckles glanced pointedly at her, on a knee before him, "and you can't be that if you run out of energy first."

Amy nodded solemnly. "Tomorrow," she said hurriedly, stopping him as he stood and turned from her, "I'll show you I can be better when we fight tomorrow."

"Who says I'm fightin' you tomorrow?" Knuckles asked over his shoulder, his eyebrow raising.

"How about a deal?" Amy said, pulling herself onto one knee. "The second you think I can't win, and I mean the second I show you that I'm not worth the hassle, that I'm not working the hardest I possibly can, you can leave. Quit. I'll offer you payment for your time in the form of anything you want. But until that second, if you see even a hint of potential in me, you stay and you keep digging for that spark," Amy bargained, her eyes not wavering from Knuckles for even a moment. She raised a hand by her head and placed her other one over her heart.

"On my honor," she swore, "if you can truly say that I have no hope of winning, then you can go. But if not, I'll fight you tomorrow, and I will be better than I was today."

Amy watched with interest as Knuckles looked back, saw her on her knee - pledging her best to him - and turned quickly, his eyes shutting tight. Not only had their fight been thrilling, it had been a test. Amy could only hope she assessed his character correctly and had passed.

The silence grew tense and Amy wished desperately that she could see Knuckles's expression. Finally, the big man gave an exaggerated shrug and simply grunted. Then he strode away quickly, leaving her alone in the dirt still on her knee.

Tails pressed something into Sonic's hand as Knuckles approached them, gesturing for Tails to take over training.

"Looks like I'm up," Tails said as he sheathed his knife and bounded off the log.

Amy smiled kindly as Tails approached, her whole demeanor shifting to something more inviting and natural. Sonic suddenly saw a Queen before him - someone who adapted and met individuals on their level to form connections. He smiled as Tails reached out to offer her a hand and helped her up from the ground. Tails said something he couldn't hear and she laughed. She materialized her hammer, ready to go again, but Tails shook his head and led her over to a patch of dirt a stretch away from where Sonic sat.

Sonic sighed, wishing it was he who had made her laugh, and looked down to see what Tails had pulled from his hunk of wood in a matter of minutes.

Sonic smiled as he took in the shape of the little carving, turning it over in his palm. It was Amy, roughly hewn from the cherry wood, posed at the top of her swing, hammer and all. It looked like a blocky chess piece, and Sonic glanced up from it to the real woman, his thumb absentmindedly running across the wood as he quickly became caught up in the way she walked, the sound of her voice, the messy way her quills were falling out of the ribbon she had tied them up in.

He observed Amy tenderly, thinking of what Tails had said about being difficult and going after what he wanted. Amy had asked him that same question nearly a week ago, and though Sonic had been afraid of what he was thinking at the time, Tails had seen it easily and spoken it plainly. Like it was nothing to fear, but rather something worth understanding.

Sonic looked back down at the carving and dared to think it outright for the first time.

He wanted her. And he wanted to be in her life far longer than another two months after the Tournament was long behind them.

A sudden, irrepressible grin took hold of him as a spark stoked a flame to life directly under his heart, sending it fluttering about uncontrollably in his chest. He clutched the carving tight, and shook his head at himself. It was almost too easy for him to feel so happy, and it made him feel like a fool for keeping it from himself for so long.

Knuckles sat, pulling off his shirt in a huff and using it to wipe his sweaty brow.

"Ugh!" Sonic groaned, leaning away to hide his smile. "Go do that somewhere else, there's a pond right there!"

Knuckles glared at him like he was going to throw the shirt at him, but leant forward to watch the lesson taking place intently, his elbows resting on his knees.

"You're a real piece of shit, you know that?" Knuckles said firmly.

"I'm gonna do you a favor and not take that bait," Sonic sighed, pocketing the figurine discreetly. "Besides, you're just mad because she's just as good as I said she was."

"She's not terrible," Knuckles corrected as he donned his shirt again.

"Wow - what an incredible compliment," Sonic mocked, his eyes still on Amy. "...Think she could win?"

Knuckles' lips were set in a grim line as he looked across the glen at Tails and Amy. "Not yet," he answered honestly, but Sonic saw Knuckles weighing her up in his mind, truly considering the depth of her skill and potential.

"...But I could get her there," the big man admitted after a beat.

Sonic had to stop himself from sighing with relief. He knew that Knuckles was at least invested now, and Knuckles was nothing if not intensely loyal. If anyone could see Amy to victory, it was him.

"Knuckles," Sonic tried to catch his friend's eye but couldn't, "I am sorry about… lying. But you have to know that I'd never do anything to purposely endanger Tails… or you. I don't really know when I got in so deep with her, I looked up and it had just… happened. But I wouldn't have let it if I didn't think that there was something for you both on the other side. I am loyal, I… want this to work for all of us."

Knuckles finally looked at him, clearly grumpy to hear Sonic's sincere words - likely because it meant Knuckles would have to be sincere back, Sonic thought.

"You, me, Tails…" Knuckles said gruffly, his eyes narrowed on Amy. "We're all in this situation because of her. Your family, my old man, Tails wasting his life away as a thief…. It's all because of the royals and how they run this place. Doesn't matter about the details, at the end of the day it always comes back to her and her family."

"Amy is not her family and won't run it like them," Sonic pointed out gently, but the point was made and his grin faded.

"Maybe not, but she's a noble and we're thieves. Nothing can change that. I just… don't want to see you like you were back then again," Knuckles admitted with a light growl.

Sonic turned away from him, thinking about what Knuckles was talking about - the first time they had met all those years ago. Sonic was 13. He hadn't spoken in weeks and was wasting away, and Knuckles had just arrived - an overly pompous 15-year-old with something to prove. Sonic hadn't yet been brought into a team then, had hardly even moved from where he slept out in the open by the bonfire, and Knuckles had been determined to prove himself to a group of older thieves by stealing Sonic's ring for them. The one thing the other kids in the camp knew that Sonic had of value. The fight that happened when Sonic caught Knuckles was one of his fondest memories.

The next day they had headed out together, determined to outperform the other on the road, and then every day after that.

Sonic looked at his friend sitting before him and thought about what Amy had said, about what lurked underneath a person, and guessed aloud, "Your old man… there's more to all of this for you, isn't there?"

Knuckles hung his head and grunted noncommittally.

"Well, she'll wring it out of you whether you want her to or not, it's only a matter of time," Sonic gestured to Amy with a fond smile. "It's kind of her specialty."

Both men watched Tails and Amy for a beat where they stood laughing. Tails had a long branch which he used to trace lines and draw plays. They were strategizing. They'd probably be at it for a few hours. Knuckles leaned back and closed his eyes like he might try and sleep, but before nodding off he opened one eye incredulously at Sonic.

"And you're sure you didn't -"

"No," Sonic almost yelled, rolling his eyes.

Knuckles finally cracked a smile as he shrugged.

"Alright, alright. None of my business if you did anyway," Knuckles mumbled.

Sonic decided not to point out that only yesterday Knuckles had been yelling at him about how it very much was his business and instead quieted his raging mind by watching the way Amy's quills blew in the wind around her face prettily, or how she flushed when she smiled.

There was one thing Knuckles was right about, Sonic thought as he realized his heart was beating fast again while watching her. Amy was a Princess. Admitting that he was interested was one thing, entangling himself with her like that was quite another. Life and death, Tails had said, and Tails was - once again - right.

Sonic shook his head. Nothing could happen, he knew that deep down, so he leant back and contented himself to just watch, trying in vain to tame his rebellious heart.

"So, Sonic tells me you're a genius," Amy said with amusement as she walked with Tails over to a patch of dirt.

"Oh, I don't know about that," Tails laughed humbly, and Amy grinned as he blushed. She knew quite immediately why Sonic felt so effusively tender towards the kid.

"But you could be one," she reasoned. "Just like I could be a champion. If we just got our one shot."

Tails cast a hopeful glance at her as he grabbed a long stick from the brush and began drawing a large rectangle in the dirt.

"I've… always wanted to be an inventor," he admitted. "I once thought I could be."

"Your parents never put you in school?" Amy asked.

Tails froze for only a second before continuing his diagramming. "My dad tried. It… didn't go well with the other kids," his two tails twitched anxiously. "He pulled me out pretty quickly and then… he died."

Amy's anguish at this news was plain on her face, and Tails gave her a sympathetic look. Only days ago Sonic had spelled it out so clearly for her, and his cynical proclamation rang in her mind.

Tails was just another sorry kid in a sea of millions who was born a nobody, made into an orphan, and turned into a thief.

"I'm sorry," Amy said, quelling the impulse to hug him.

"Thank you," Tails murmured, finishing his diagram and looking at her with eyes that were full of profound and understated wisdom.

Unlike Sonic, Tails accepted her sympathies gracefully and nodded with knowing sadness before taking a deep breath and resetting himself. Amy was impressed and humbled by him, and she ached to whisk him away that very night to a new life that he so clearly deserved.

"Now, show me this hammer of yours," Tails commanded delicately.

Amy pulled her hammer out of nothingness and into her grip, demonstrating for Tails how she called it out of the air several times so he could try and decipher its mysteries. She told him what it felt like to hold the weapon, what she thought about when she materialized it, and when she had discovered her natural ability. She told Tails what she knew about her hammer, which truthfully was next to nothing.

All Amy knew was that her hammer was hers, and she never doubted that it would be there when she needed it. She counted on its presence like she assumed she would wake the next day when going to bed, like it was an extension of everything she was. And it hadn't failed her yet.

Tails nodded as she spoke, humming every so often with intrigue and hanging on her every word. Amy let him touch it and try to heft it, which he couldn't manage much to her amusement.

"There's one thing that's painfully clear to me after watching you fight even once," Tails began lecturing after she had said her piece. "You're not capitalizing on your ability to - essentially - recall your weapon. For example, when you ran after Knuckles charged you, you kept your hammer in your hand. There's simply no need for that, and if you had let it slip into its other plane of existence while you ran, you'd be much more free to navigate without having to handle and maneuver all the extra weight."

Amy nodded slowly, realizing that the kid was right. She kept the weapon out far too often. It was like her safety blanket in that way.

"You're saying I should let it slip away when I could use some extra speed and agility?"

Tails nodded. Amy smiled at his confident diagnosis - his newly put-on authority reminded her of a professor. And a good one at that.

"And another thing," he kept on, raising a finger astutely, "though you can't make your hammer appear anywhere other than directly in your grip - have you ever purposely manipulated its orientation?"

Amy shook her head saying, "I'm not sure I know what you mean."

"Observe," Tails said matter-of-factly. He stepped so close to her that their chests touched, and Amy realized that they were nearly the same height.

"Right now, I'm much closer than you would want an opponent, but if you place your hand like so -" Tails reached down and took Amy's dominant hand, pushing it between them and orienting it so that it was in a loose fist parallel to the ground, her thumb extended toward him.

"Call it now," Tails nodded, and almost before he could finish the thought, she did.

Instantly, the hammer extended before her, the head pointed out at Tails. As it appeared in space, it thrust them apart with astonishing speed and force - making room as it materialized. She heard Tails grunt as the hammer took solid form and pushed him away nearly instantaneously. They were at opposite ends of her weapon in less than the blink of an eye.

"I see," she said, her eyes gleaming with excitement as she thought of all the ways she could use her new tactical advantage. "Are you alright?"

"Surprisingly impactful," Tails coughed, rubbing his chest as Amy lowered her weapon, "but yes, I'm fine, thanks. And just think - you could use this same tactic any number of ways!"

Tails spoke faster and faster, his raspy tenor gaining energy as he grew more excited by all the possibilities. "For example, if I was behind you, or had you in a pin - just call the hammer into the space, controlling how it manifests using the orientation of your hand. It makes room for itself as it materializes, and can easily put distance between you and your opponent in a pinch!"

"You really are a genius, aren't you?" Amy said with delight, swinging her hammer with newfound inspiration. Tails smiled shyly.

"Not a genius," he corrected. "Just a good observer. That's another thing you'll need to learn if you want to win."

They tried out several grapples and maneuvers for the next few hours, playing around until they were satisfied she had learned enough new tricks to start her out on the new fighting style. When they walked up to Sonic and Knuckles, Knuckles appeared fast asleep, and Sonic looked glazed over, gently rubbing his thumb along the surface of a small wooden carving.

"You look like you're lost," Amy said, and Sonic jumped in shock, falling fully off the log backwards. She and Tails exchanged glances and broke out in laughter as he looked up at them with confusion, suddenly realizing they were there. Knuckles woke with an annoyed start at the commotion.

"Oh, no I'm -" Sonic scrambled, shoving the figurine away in his drawstring bag and springing up to standing.

"We've finished for tonight," Amy said, glancing at Knuckles. "I'd stay for another round with this one, but I want him at the top of his game when I beat him tomorrow with all these new maneuvers from Tails."

Amy risked a toothy smile for Knuckles, and the man scoffed at her proudly.

"I'd like to see you try," he dared.

"You will," she promised sweetly. Knuckles recoiled in pleasant surprise at her goading.

"Geez, you're worse than I am with him already, Ames," Sonic laughed, then shot Tails a telling look.

Sonic rubbed at his neck, hoping his friends wouldn't make a fuss as he suggested casually, "Why don't you guys start back to camp and I'll uh, catch up in a second."

"Chaos," Knuckles muttered and rolled his eyes. Tails elbowed Knuckles, but gave Sonic a pointed look.

Careful now, it said to Sonic.

"C'mon, Knucks," Tails nodded his head in a gesture to follow him out. Tails offered Amy a wave and another little bow as a goodbye, and the pair began to walk across the glen, talking as they went.

Sonic bristled as they walked away from him. He could hear Knuckles muttering about how far gone he thought Sonic was. He could only hope Tails would defend him. Though, Sonic wasn't sure he deserved it.

There wasn't anything going on with Amy, Sonic assured himself. Well, there couldn't be anything going on, he amended.

"I'm glad it's just us," Amy said, sitting on the log. Sonic tried not to smile too wide as she said it. "Because we've got a bit of a problem."

Amy pulled a wrinkled piece of paper from her trouser pocket and handed it to Sonic, who stood in front of her and carefully opened it.

"Oh my gosh, this is a problem," Sonic gasped melodramatically after a moment of reading. "Shadow is even more boring than you first let on!"

Amy rolled her eyes. "Sonic, this is serious. I'm going to have to face him in the ring! I'm telling you right now, I'll never win that fight."

"You're either giving him too much credit, or yourself not enough," Sonic sighed, unimpressed. "It doesn't matter how good of a fighter someone is - everyone is beatable depending on the circumstance. You just have to figure out how to do it." He tried not to linger on the last line of the short letter as he shuffled in front of her.

"What am I going to do about him though?" Amy pressed.

"Look -" Sonic rubbed at his neck as he thought out loud, "- you say you're friends, and sometimes friends push each other to get the best from each other, but they don't really mean any harm." Sonic cast a glance back to where Knuckles had disappeared with Tails. "He's probably just saying this stuff to keep you motivated or scare you into working harder. And if it turns out he's serious when you see him again, just bat your eyelashes at the sucker a few times and I'm sure he'll do whatever you want him to."

"Hmm… you're right," Amy conceded with a wink. "That has worked for me once before."

"Verrrry clever. You never miss a beat, do ya Ames?" Sonic replied dryly.

They lapsed into brief silence. They both felt like they wanted more time together, like they hadn't gotten to be with each other all they would have liked now that it wasn't just the two of them.

"Things feel a little different now, don't you think?" Amy said, catching Sonic's eye.

He smiled down at her affectionately. She had no idea.

"Do you… think they like me?" Amy asked quietly. The truth was, she cared very much what Sonic's teammates - his family, she gathered - thought of her.

"Of course they do," Sonic said with a kind smile as he sat next to her and handed her back her letter. "How could they not?"

"Well, I like them," she said, holding his tender gaze.

Amy felt that feeling again as she took back her letter and their hands brushed. It hadn't stopped fluttering in her stomach all week. She felt like she was at the top of something… a precipice, and even though she couldn't yet see the drop or know when she might fall, a feeling deep in her belly was already anticipating it. Like her gut knew that the plunge was inevitable, but her mind was not quite ready to let herself tip over yet.

Actually, Amy knew she was actively trying not to tip over yet.

"You did good, Ames," Sonic said truthfully. "You looked like a real champion out there."

"A champion, maybe, but a winner? Not yet."

Sonic stood and smiled at her. She was hard on herself, he realized. Though, he supposed she had to be. The whole world was hard on her.

He offered her a hand, and when he pulled her up, they lingered for a moment, his hand still in hers.

"Sonic?" Amy hesitated. She didn't want their time together to end, but the fluttering was back and Amy knew well that her feelings were rarely anything less than natural disasters when they came. She needed to go before it all burst out in a messy, mangled mudslide.

Before he could respond, she simply hugged him tightly and gently.

Sonic felt the air leave his chest as she grabbed him around the waist, and he didn't even have time to react before she pulled away and was gone with a wave and a promise to be back the next day.

When Amy was safely out of the glen, Sonic ran off to meet up with Tails and Knuckles. He caught them stopped in the bushes where they were clearly trying to pretend they hadn't been eavesdropping. Sonic wasn't irritated, though. He was grinning like a fool again, and he made no attempt to hide it as he ran.

The delicious high of being with Amy only lasted him so long, though. Each man felt it as soon as they stepped back into camp - there was a new, strange foreboding in the cold air, plain as the black night.

Sonic's ears twitched as he looked around, his heart sinking deep into his stomach as he tried to pinpoint why he was so uneasy. The camp was cast in pitch black, save for the coals from the end of the cooking fire. Boys were sleeping or sharpening knives, some were likely stealing from each other or making deals in the dark. The camp was always a scarier, more sinister feeling place in the nighttime, but Sonic got the distinct impression that someone was watching them.

Even when he locked eyes with Vector, who waved them over silently, Sonic still felt certain that they were being observed.

"Boys," Vector sighed as they approached, glancing around the camp before gesturing to one of the wooden mess tables. "You might want to take a seat. I've got someone here for you who wants to… talk."