Sonic and the Chaos Kingdom

Ch. 4

By: Cutegirlmayra (So… I lost my motivation to write another chapter for Instincts XD And because of that, I've decided to regain it by just moving off it for a while and writing for my other stories I've been neglecting. This one was the last I re-read and it just makes me so excited to get back into it. You're all going to love it! Well, I hope so anyway. Here we go! ;3 )

Shadow entered into the deep dungeons of his gloomy and half robotic castle. His purple cape flowing behind him as he moved down the spiraling steps quickly, before finally reaching the open room, as the robotic dragon shut down at scanning him, as Shadow just walked swiftly on under itself.

Shadow entered the next room with robots scurrying all around the Master Emerald, as it was giving power to them, and they harnessed it into huge battery packs, which left the room in crates soon after.

Shadow looked up at the Master Emerald, shifting his gaze over its curves and edges. "You… are the one I've been fighting… and killing so many for?" he reached his hand up, as if to touch it but he was too far away, and gripped his hand tightly into a fist, shaking it. "You've given them power for years… But when Maria needed that power, you denied it to me!" He raged, as the robots around him stopped working, to stare at him and then look at each other.

The robots had dome heads with sharp noses like beaks or screws, and there eyes were itty-biddy round circles separated a little farther from the nose, making them resemble Eggman in a weird sense… They also had cylinder bodies that made up the rest of their feeble frames, as they were mostly made to work or study, do what they were told, which was mostly the dirty work around the castle.

"Ah, Shadow…"

Shadow was glaring down at his trembling hand that he had squeezed so hard into a fist that his fingers could barely uncurl now. Slowly doing so, he finally snapped out of his past. Having remembered the old Doctor, Eggman's grandfather, who had tried to use the Master Emerald's power to heal Maria, and then, when that failed... tried to resurrect her.

He had gone mad doing multiple experiments on himself, before affecting him with so much chaos energy that he ended up dying from all the uncontrolled chaos creating radiation poisoning like symptoms.

"Doctor…"

"I'm not surprised to see you here… but I am surprised that you didn't end Sonic when you had the chance!"

Eggman walked up, at first composed with his hands behind his back, before growing enraged and swinging his arm out, knocking a stack of crates over, breaking them to reveal all the hulking and charged batteries in them.

"Hmph, to have killed him now would only prove child's play. I wish for the end of the blood-line to at least be an acceptable battle." He turned himself to the side, not looking at Eggman directly. "I've spent years hunting his family down to obtain their birthright over the Chaos Kingdom… and for the wish to avenge Maria's death… I only wish to end it on a somewhat honorable note." He folded his arms; he was actually intrigued with Sonic's very different demeanor from the rest of his family who had tried to fight Shadow before. To have his sword taken from him… that move… he may have been rash, but his life was spared only because of the potential Shadow saw in him. He wanted a great end, an epic battle of skill and wit to end all wars for good, by some noble king… not some runt who just got lucky for a split moment! "Besides, I was only the distraction. I wanted to test his skill. I gave him my greeting, next time, I will not be so kind." He unfolded his arms and tugged down on one of his gloves, narrowing his eyes as if, for a moment,… he was secretly psyched about the next time he could fight Sonic again.

"I don't need you to be chivalrous,… I need you to be bloodthirsty!" Eggman spat out, almost roaring his words as he walked with brisk steps in his anger over to the Master Emerald. "Let it not happen again! We could have had him!...ugh, nevermind that now. What is in the past is there and gone, now… now we must look to the future!" he spread his arms out as the Master Emerald's glow shone, and he laughed a deep, dark tune.

"By this time tomorrow… we will have enough power to completely LEVEL the Chaos Kigndom!"

"UH, ACTUALLY SIR. WE WILL NEED A LOT MORE TIME BEFORE THE OPERATION IS FULLY FUNCTIONAL."

"…"

A robot had stepped out of line, standing straight and looking up, blinking his glowing flashlight eyes as Eggman turned around, looking ticked off as he twitched at the robot's words.

"Eh-heh-heh… quite right… but of course, most people would think that's just A EXPRESSION!" Eggman turned forward, holding his hands together and seeming to keep his cool before turning to punch the robot into the far wall, as the robot flung back and crashed, his head springing off and his eyes flickering off as he sparked from the damage. A great, big dent in his stomach area. "My grandfather could only DREAM of this moment! For generations we've waited for an opening to steal the power of the Chaos Kingdom… does anyone ELSE want to correct my word choices?"

As Eggman looked around, the robots freaked out and jumped up, rushing back to work overtime, dashing to and fro as carts were loaded and hauled out with the crates on them out of the room.

"That's what I thought…" Eggman darkly stated, tugging on his Advisers coat. "Oh, and Shadow..?" as he was walking off, he turned to speak over his shoulder to Shadow, who looked down sorrowfully. "I hope we don't have to talk about this any further. I assure you, Maria wouldn't want you to hold back either." Eggman chuckled, and walked back.

Shadow's fist closed again and shook with rage, before being still and falling down to his side.

Chaos Kingdom

"Good morning, men!"

"The King is trying to esc-!"

"No, no! I'm not! I'm just going to-aw man…"

Sonic was just strolling down the hallway, but him being so friendly and waving to the guards made them believe he was trying to pull something again, and quickly restrained him.

"Treated like a criminal… in my own home!" Sonic complained, but just shook his head annoyed.

"Sonic! Sonic, please don't run away again!" Tails came charging down the hall, trying to catch his breath once he got to Sonic and hold his hands out, trying to reason with him as he just rolled his eyes.

"Like I said, I'm not trying to escape, Tails!" Sonic spread his hands out toward Tails, but he was being restrained by his arms, and couldn't really move without them holding him back.

"Wait… you're not?" Tails looked confused. "Then… why are you..?"

"What?"

"Well, I heard you were in a good mood today."

"Oh no! The King's in a good mood! He must be trying to betray crown and country by fleeing again! Goodness! Gracious! Great balls of fire!" Sonic joked sarcastically, moving his head side to side in over-exaggerated ways.

"Hmm.." Tails narrowed his eyes, still a little untrusting.

"Augh, come on, Tails! I came to talk with the council today." He confessed.

"Ah! You actually… want to attend… an official council meeting!?" Tails's face lit up, it was like a miracle had been performed in front of him, and his joy was apparent in him shaking his hands towards Sonic and his go-lucky grin. "Uh, well, sure! I mean… Eh-hem, let him go, guys." He cleared his throat, and straightened himself up, trying to be professional again and not show his true age, as he pointed to the men and stated his order.

Sonic was released, and looked at his men, rubbing his arms where they had held him back. "Hey,… be honest, fellas… do you guys have a beef with me? Seriously? Cause I think you mean to leave these bruises." Sonic mumbled, as Tails rolled his eyes and pulled him away as the men went expressionless back to their post, but Sonic kept turning around to point to a few of them and then his arms where he just swore were going to leave marks.

"I'm tellin' ya, Tails. These guards are great and all, but they are seriously out to get me." Sonic started walking on his own next to Tails, who just sighed with a smile on his face.

"Well, I wouldn't blame them. You've been a handful as of late." Tails stated, as Sonic smiled with him.

They both looked to each other, as Sonic brotherly nudged him a bit as Tails hit him back.

"Alright, so what do you want to state in the meeting?" Tails asked, as Sonic smirked.

"Oh, you'll see. But I'll say this much. Things… are gonna change." Sonic walked on ahead, as Tails tilted his friend and looked to Sonic in confusion.

"W-wait, I'm the presiding councilman! I conduct the meetings and organize the topics of discussion, you can't just-!"

Sonic opened the tall and large doors up to the meeting room, as the room was spacious with wooden rings and seats for men to sit on above.

Tails ran in, ready to halt Sonic, but the dramatic entrance he had made left him feeling self-conscious, as he was reaching out for him and stopped in mid-dash.

"Ehem. This meeting announces and recognizes the Royal heir to the Chaos Kingdom, King Sonic." Tails quickly straightened up, clearing his throat and gestured a hand out to Sonic before speedily smacking it back to his side and walking quickly, and stiffly, up the steps to the side and walked to the second rings, showing his status granted mostly by his bloodline and father's standings, and sat down just two or so seats from the main council man.

The Chief Councilman sat up on a judge's podium almost, as it was a long and tall pillar in the center of the room, where he was the highest head in the room.

But there was a taller chair, one on the opposite side of the room, where the king and his family would be seated above in a balcony like area, somewhat like an opera theater wing seat.

"Your highness… this is… an unexpected turn of events.." The chief councilman looked to Tails, moving his head slowly and raising his huge bushy eyebrow up as if confused by this unruly behavior, curious as to why Tails didn't inform them earlier on about this, like his job stated, at the calendar reading for today's preceding, and also slightly looked scolding of Tails not seeming very organized.

Tails gulped, getting all that in one look, and sweated. He had worked hard to not come across as 'too young' for such a prestigious duty as this, and felt Sonic may have just ruined his on-going perfect reception of outstanding sessions.

This… wasn't looking so good for his career right now…

"But, nevertheless, it's good to see you step into your duties as King and watch over the proceedings." The old Chief Council men bowed, as it looked like he might be a rat with small ears, but huge fluffy hair around him like a lion's mane, except for his bald spot.

"Thanks, dude. But I'm not here to watch." Sonic kept his confident demeanor and smiled, lowering his head down cheekily. He was kinda coming off rude, and Tails begged him silently under his breath to not-

"….Dude…?" The Council looked slightly surprised to hear that word in his court, as his eyes moved up and his eyes blinked a moment.

Sonic flared out his royal robe and tied it around the front of himself, before holding it forward with one hand, trying to be somewhat regal, and flipped it over himself. Either this was Sonic trying to be intimidating or just plain snooty. Either way, his arrogance caught the councilmen's attention as they all gasped or started bickering out loud at his behavior.

"…And the crown?"

Sonic's whole demeanour collapsed in an instant.

The council men snickered. There Chief was tough, he wasn't intimidated so easily…

"Order. I won't have such disturbances with a King present, thank you very much." He hit a little fine-polished stone against a wooden square carved into the wood that allowed a harsh bang to silence the room as it echoed through it.

Sonic moved his mouth to the side in disappointed annoyance. He really was upset his little 'showing off' didn't faze the big man as much as he wanted it too.

The look of, not exactly distain, but more of a joking respect the Chief council gave to Sonic angered him though. As the Chief leaned forward on his podium, hands together, and waited for Sonic to say something. "Well,… I'm sure you have something to say. Let's address it so we may move on to the important matters of the day." He nodded to his assistant who walked over and handed him his papers and glasses.

The other councilmen did the same, as Cream was surprisingly the one who handed Tails his things, and then bowed politely as Tails waved her off with a smile, thanking her, as she went back to her chores.

He wasn't going to spend money on a fulltime assistant when he could just secretly get all his work done on his own, besides, he had other duties too. The rest of the men in that room had this as a life's work or profession, so they had the right to assistants anyway.

"Important? Sir, are you stating that the war against the Eggman Empire isn't important?" Sonic hushed the room into silent squabblings to the side. Sonic, after seeing he held their attention and, hopefully, there respect began to pace a moment, holding his head high again. "The Master Emerald is in the hands of our enemies, and you expect me to let you go on with your merry lives of discussing the next great law or trade options for the year?" he then stared straight up at the Chief Councilmen, as he lifted his head back to stare down at Sonic, squinting them to try and figure out what he was getting at. Was it an insult? Or a proposition? "I'd rather save my people and uphold my family's legacy, which is the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald's safety upon this land and having it bless us with good fortune and righteous souls to create this, a great nation, and the enrich the next generation of men and warriors." He pointed his hand down, trying to talk big, as Tails looked worriedly up to the Chief Councilman, to see what he would say back.

"…Those discussions you speak of help keep peace and order in your kingdom, which, quite frankly for about 20 some years now, you've been uninterested in." The Chief Councilman stated, as the other Councilmen nodded their hands and silently agreed with the spoken word.

"What do you wish to discuss, boy?"

"Boy?"

Sonic was insulted by that, as he glared up to the man.

"I have a title. Do not treat me so lightly, Councilman. Your job might be at stake."

The Chief laughed lightly, "The people decide my standings, not you. I speak for them as I speak for you, to them. We, the humble councilmen of the Chaos Kingdom, were the government after your father, may he be blessed to rest in the garden of kings, died after his faithful service to these people. And now, you, the son of such a noble king, dares to not even have read the book of our laws, and study it page by page, till it is literally engraved in mind, body, and spirit! Your blood holds power, wield it with honor! You disrespect us by you're ignorance and proud air of entitlement." The Chief Councilmen didn't hold back with chewing out Sonic, as he was not only showing his wisdom over him, but his authority and patriotism. "Earn our respects, and we shall be happy to give you yours." He settled down back into his seat, as Sonic breathed quietly, trying to keep his temper down but he felt like a fool in front of all these men, as he clenched his fists and looked down, ashamed.

"Now… what point are you trying to make to us? What request do you wish for us to fulfill?" The Chief placed a hand to the side of his face, and leaned on it, gesturing the other in a questioning way as the other councilmen nodded, all wanting to know why Sonic was making such a spectacle in such an important political place.

"…I come asking for permission to officially declare war." Sonic stated, and looked up with defined eyes, having narrowed them down and looking unyielding, even with the embarrassment of the moment before.

"Hmm… I see the true strength of your family in your eyes. But war would be unwise at this current time." The Chief Councilman leaned up, and adjusted his glasses as he looked at his papers. "Now then, since that's over with. We shall begin discussion on-"

"Hold on! I'm king!" Sonic stated, hating to be ignored so quickly, as the men looked back to him.

"That you are." A shaky voice stated, as an old man spoke up to Sonic's side, sitting in the lowest ring to the far side, as he had a huge long beard, decorated with many curls and braids, also having small glasses. He seemed to be a Bear, "I hold no ill will to you, boy. But you are just a child… what know you of war? And the proceedings of it, thereof? See here, you know nothing, and in return, we must know everything." He slowly turned his head down after speaking, as Tails bended his ears back and looked down too.

Sonic stared at him, as if wanting his help, but Tails couldn't help… Sonic had once again been rash, and it was biting him in the butt… again…

"The boy is still right." Another voice spoke up, younger this time, as it was an adult man, his attire looking humble for the occasion, but he was no doubt wealthy. "He may not be wise as a King yet, but he still has mentioned a valid point. The Eggman Empire has the Master Emerald. We must stage a military recovery plan at once. That Emerald is the sacred life source of our land, without it, we will surely crumble into dust." He had stood up, and held his hands down in front of him on the ring's round surface.

"Hmm… These two bring up good arguments." The Chief finally took the conversation more seriously, and placed his paper down as he held his hands together in front of him on the podium again, and looked around. "Do others have anything to say? Let the discussion begin."

"Yes, I have something to say, old man." Sonic stepped forward, after turning around to point to the guy who agreed with him and smiled to him, happy to have someone voice for him, as he turned his attention to the Chief. "I may not be 'ready' in your eyes, but I'm not an idiot. I know they're going to attack when we're weak, and even though we still have the Chaos Emeralds, they are incomplete in giving this land it's blessings and power without the Master Emerald. I agree with the Councilmen. Let me lead a team to sneak in the Eggman Empire and take it back!" Sonic placed his hands on the lower ring's surface, glaring up as his teeth gritted down. He wanted to have this approved so badly… he hated asking permission, but it was law, and he had to obey by his people…

"…We shall arrange a comeback." The Chief stated, as Sonic smiled.

"However… you are not to lead it."

"What?!"

"You, your highness, must start looking to your people's needs, not the battlefield. You are too precious to lose, without an heir, you are the last of your bloodline. We cannot risk your demise."

"Darn it!" Sonic kicked the wooden ring, and stomped off into the center of the ring, turning his back from the men. "But we have to go now! Shadow holds too much power, as is! I was in the field before, I can-!"

"Prove yourself? Please. What we need now is a King dedicated to his duty. Not to war that will lead to the ruin of his people."

Sonic looked to Tails again, as his eyes were in shadow, hands on his knees, trying not to look up.

He couldn't fight the Chief Councilmen's reasoning… he was right. And although he hated to fail his friend, he couldn't deny nor argue with the truth.

"Now then, shall we return to the calendar?" The Chief excused Sonic once again, disregarding him and his stunt as he adjusted his glasses and held up the 'first order of business' on the list.

"Wait!" Tails finally stood up, as the Chief let out an annoyed sigh.

"What is it now, Councilman Prower?" he stated, turning to his side to address Tails.

Sonic looked to Tails, feeling hopeful now, as Tails usually had a smart way to get what he wants.

"I…I was on the um… battlefield." He closed his eyes, trying not to stutter, but he was nervous. This took a lot of courage in him, and he kept his eyes down. "I saw the technology of my father being used against us. They also pilot more and more robots, that kill more men than can defeat them." Tails finally took a deep breath in, and looked eye to eye with the Chief Councilmen, who leaned back and stroked his beard, listening…

"Sir! We can't just ignore this! Sonic may not be ready to lead an army, but his words can not be discussed at a later date. If we are to stage an attack, please allow me to work right away on it, as I am the Lead Strategist over the royal army." Tails held a hand to his chest, and waited, breathing at long last to try and get the nerves out of him.

"…Very well. All who agree to allow Mr. Prower the right to stage a mock-up of a future endeavor at recovering the sacred Master Emerald, say aye." He raised his hand.

"Aye." The men began, raising their hands as even the bear finally said it, and raised his shaky scrawny hand.

Sonic stormed out of the room, dissatisfied with just a future attack and not staging it now.

Tails closed his eyes, knowing Sonic was mad at him, and excused himself quickly, stumbling out and stating he would be right back.

"Sonic!" he cried out, rushing across the courtyard to him.

"I needed you! What was that?! Let me plan something that won't happen till it's too late?!" Sonic spun around, voicing his frustrations as he clenched his teeth down hard.

"Don't be mad at me! I saved your plan!" Tails yelled back, standing his ground and glaring at Sonic. "If you, maybe, would of TOLD ME you were going to ask such a thing, then maybe, oh just MAYBE, I could of planned that better!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah! Because flaunting your royalty is a sure deal to make yourself look like an imbecile." He gestured to his royal attire.

"Imbecile?!" Sonic raised an eyebrow, leaning forward and getting madder by the second.

"Yeah! Imbecile! Because only an imbecile would of thought that kings can rule out over a council MADE to overrule a king if needs be!" Tails shouted in his face, having become mad at him for not letting him in on what he was doing, and almost costing Tails his reputation and job. "Why didn't you tell me you were planning this, huh? Then I could of gone over the rule book and shown you how to speak to them and get what you wanted! Now, you've screwed yourself over with them! They'll never see you as king!" Tails now held a sad tone to his voice, disappointed because all he wanted was for his friend to be respected for being a king, something he knew he could be, if he tried too, that is.

"What? And just let them walk all over me!? I won't beg and be at the mercy of some… some bunch of grumpy old men!" Sonic gestured back to the council room, as Tails's frustrations with Sonic rose again.

"Grumpy old men..?! I'm apart of that 'grumpy old men' society, Sonic! Because I care what the people say, and I've spent YEARS making you out to be a kind-hearted king that cares about his people, when all you ever did was try running away and having ME go over the decrees and laws that you just grabbed and signed if I handed it to you. Once, you even just tossed it over your shoulder and scribbled your name on a declaration for orphans to be placed in surrogate family that can keep them off the streets and be well taken care of until able to live on their own! I mean, even KINGS have to grovel at the feet of the council, Sonic! Your father often begged for things, and he was respected and loved! No one was ashamed of him for knowing his place when it came to his people, who by the way, he loved dearly enough to let them speak their minds and had an active place trying to keep the kingdom together. You? You just read a BORING book's legends and skip over the rules of the people and everything else! You are selfish! And if you want my help, then you need to man up, and ask me! Don't look at me like I can fight all your battles for you, Sonic! I'm not a warrior like my father was!" Tails huffed and puffed, realizing he had gone off on a long rant, just letting out steam as Sonic felt the built up frustration from him after all these years of babying him…

Tails started to tear up slightly, "You know… I really care about you. So did my dad, heh." He wiped his eyes. "He once said… Now Tails… I want you to be like Sonic. I want you to be bold and speak your mind, to not let anyone tell you want you can't or can do…" he held his pointer finger up, before rubbing his nose on his arm. "I admired you… because my father had taught and loved you, as if you were his own son. Him and your dad? They were the best of friends… and I always thought we were close like that…"

"…We are close, Tails." Sonic stated, putting a hand up and placing it on his shoulder as Tails tried to regain himself, rubbing his eyes off of all the wet tears.

"Yeah… I know." He sniffed. "But it's kinda hard to believe when you don't always tell me things.."

"…I'm launching an attack on the Eggman Empire tonight."

"…Beg your pardon?" Tails looked up at him, blinking his eyes.

"I just wanted permission, but even without it, we're getting back the Master Emerald."

"…Oh good, sweet Chaos." Tails shook his head, rolling his eyes.

Dining Room

"Drink my boys! We are alive and well!"

"Huzzah!"

Knuckles had just ended a valiant speech about those men he had lost, and drank his drink down quickly, before turning around and softly letting tears build over losing the Master Emerald. "My Emerald…" he whimpered out, as a man looked over, noticing his face turned, and knew, from being his second in command, what he crying about.

Patting his back, the room was suddenly interrupted by Sonic strutting in, grinning as Tails looked exhausted and annoyed at Sonic's 'grand entrances' he kept making.

"Hello, boys!" Sonic greeted, trying to look good again, as Tails rolled his eyes and 'puff'ed some air up at his three hairs up from being down in the depths of disappointment from Sonic's rash and not well-thought through scheming…

Of all things, he was breaking his own kingdom's laws…

"You always have to make a dramatic entrance, don't you?" Tails grunted out, as Sonic looked back to him, and then away, reaching back and ruffling his hair with his hand in a joking but friendly way, as if saying 'cheer up, buddy. I've got this'.

"Sonic?" Knuckles looked forward, composed instantly as he shoved the other commanders hand off of him, as that commander just rolled his eyes. "What brings you in here? Want to drink to life?" he held up his glass, and laughed. "Yeah… me neither." Knuckles mumbled softly, lifting the glass and drinking a bit more. "Ah, it's good stuff though." He nodded, as he looked to his second in command, who nodded with some bobbing of his head in agreement too, moving his mouth to the side quickly in a gesture like, 'yeah, it's not bad.'.

"I've come to recruit you all in a secret mission for king and country!" Sonic placed his hands on his hips, as the laughing and joy making stopped, and all eyes turned to Sonic, as only one solder stuffed his face, looked around, realized the situation, took large chunks of the food he hadn't chewed out, and sat back quickly, not trying to create anymore attention to himself as he cleared his throat in embarrassment.

"Really?" Knuckles looked to the solder, before Sonic got up on the table, walking over it as the men looked up at him, confused by his odd behavior.

"I stand in front of you today, not just as a king, but as a man on a mission." He started, as Tails 'Oh brother'd and face-palmed himself. "I plan to create a small group of men, to help me sneak into the Eggman Empire, and-"

"Woah, woah, woah. Hold on." Knuckles got up on the table too, not wanting to be bested by Sonic, and walked toward him. "We JUST lost a major battle that ended a majority of our mens lives!" he gestured behind himself. "And now, you're asking the survivors, who, by the way, if I might mention this little tid-bit, ARE EXHAUSTED after such a battle, to fight and risk their lives AGAIN after only a night of rest?"

"It's been a day or two." Sonic shrugged, as the men looked to themselves, having awkward tear drops on the side of their faces as Knuckles groaned and face-palmed himself.

"For once, think about someone other than yourself." Knuckles stated, as Sonic's eyes softened to a sad look, as he looked down, and his ears slightly twitched, wanting to move down to express his sorrow at hearing that again… and again… and again, from multiple sources before finally shaking his head and looking determined to prove himself again.

"Look, Knuckles, I am thinking of others right now. I'm thinking of those poor people in my land who are grief stricken with losing a national treasure. The one thing that helps their crops grow, their children remain without disease, and there souls purified from all wrong and evil doing. I have to get the Master Emerald back! And I need you, and ANY men you can find to help me. Will you, Knuckles?" He held Knuckles's shoulders, as Knuckles looked down, before staring back up at him.

"Wait… did you say you're going to steal the Master Emerald back?" he narrowed his eyes at him, holding a threatening finger up at him. "Did you mean that..? Or are you trying to play some kinda sick trick on me right now..?"

"N-no, no! I meant it!" Sonic moved his hands off of him and shook them in front of him. "I want to give my people their hope back, and hopefully, start proving my worth as a proper king. I'm getting tried of all the disrespect-"

He was cut off as Knuckles held his hand out for him to stop. "Say no more, come on boys, we're getting papa's shiny emerald back!" he drew his axe, and held it high. As his men awkwardly raised a toast, before cheering back. They, too, had families who needed the blessing of the Master Emerald, but not only that, they needed to fight for that hope Sonic talked about, and were willing to fight again for it.

…Of course, Knuckles needed to round up some more people, and did so secretly, as Sonic wanted to keep this activity away from the Council's knowledge…

As Sonic walked back to his room, a little victory dance in his stride, he noticed in the gardens and near the second courtyard he was walking through that Amy was holding somesort of pose…

She looked pretty focus, as she had her eyes closed, one leg up, her arms at a certain degree as her hammer was summoned.

On normal terms, seeing a weapon out on the king's court could drop someone in serious trouble, but Amy found a time in the open gardens when no one was around, and began to move slowly in a type of training trance.

Curious and mesmerized, Sonic slowly approached her, hiding behind a pillar and watched her as she seemed off in her own world.

She stepped lightly, but with precision, as she circled an invisible opponent…

"That's great honey, now, remember, chin up!"

Amy lifted her chin up.

"That's my girl! And… strike!"

Amy held her hammer in a certain way, before lashing only a single hit out, and returning to her last stance.

She opened her eyes, and the world was different, more colorful, as her father stood before her, and she was a small girl.

"Great! Great! Excellent work, my darling. Simply fantastic!" he ruffled his hand to her hair and pinched her cheeks lightly, before leaning back up and holding his own hammer out. "Excellent, excellent. But you're footing is a little off. Nothing major! You're doing fine. Let's just… fine tune that a bit, shall we? First position, go!"

As the scene rotated and passed a pillar, it was back to Sonic watching Amy, and Amy seeing a faded image of her father before her, only in her mind's eye, of course. As she pictured her father still there… coaching her… even now.

"Good… Good… but an opponent won't tell you when to switch! You must be fast, my dear! And-… Ah-ha!" he lunged forward, as Amy spun herself and began to fight him without his warnings to aid her.

She fought air and grunted out battlecrys as she finally threw her hammer up and jumped, spinning to then lay a powerful hit down, but making sure not to hit ground.

She huffed and puffed, and wiped her forehead as she stood up.

"That's my girl."

"…Thanks, Daddy." Amy whispered, smiling as she took a deep calming breath, and looked up to the morning sky, looking very peaceful, but kinda sweaty…

"YOU!" The lead head maid came bounding out, as you could swear the ground shook with each stomping step of her feet, having a huge frame for a large woman, as she pointed a rolled up paper at her.

Amy jolted and quickly stood straight, freaking out and trying not to cry in fear as her superior came over, but she quickly hid her hammer behind her back, and 'poof'ed it away.

"What do you think you're doing!? Slacking off again!?"

"N-no ma'am! I..uh.. I finished my chores so-!"

"SHUT UP!" The woman smacked the paper down on her, as Amy took the hit on her head, and didn't even bother to move her arms up to duck or dodge the hit. "You mean to tell me you finished everything? This EARLY IN THE MORNING!?" she hollered right in Amy's face.

Sonic flinched back, that old woman scared him like nothing else, but he felt a fire burn slightly in him as he saw that Amy, even with her warrior skills, didn't bother to dodge or evade that woman's attack…

He found himself glaring, and feeling a little bit protective…

"I worked all last night towards early morning, ma'am." Amy spoke out, keeping her eyes shut as they shook in her fear, she sweated in nervousness too, and trembled a little bit.

"Oh..? Well, you work to try and get some vacation hours? Huh?" she lightly hit the rolled up paper on Amy again, as Amy flinched and peeked through squinted eyes up at her. "Yeah, well, let's see…" The woman put the paper under her armpit and took out a clipboard of sorts, looking through things. "Well, you're in luck! I have about 300 jobs I need done. And since you work so fast, you'll be getting 15 to do today."

"fifth-fifteen!?" Amy shouted out.

"What? You got a probably with that?! What? You think being a maid at a royal castle means you live in luxury?! Get off your high and starry cloud and start remembering that rainbows can't be caught or jumped over. No pot of gold in this joint!" she wagged her rolled up papers at Amy who tried not to be intimidated by them as the woman threw her new chores and walked away.

Amy huffed, grabbing the paper and reading over it. "What!? Augh! Why'd I open my big mouth!" she started walking away, as Sonic wanted to follow her, maybe find out why she didn't stand up for herself, but was quickly pulled away by a voice.

"Mr. Sonic? Mr. Sonic!" Cream called.

Sonic looked to Amy, and unwillingly sighed in a bit of annoyance and ran to Cream's voice.

Zipping up in front of her, he looked down at her, standing with his hands proudly on his hips and leaning back a bit, his legs spread out to look like some big shot it seemed. "Yes? And what can a King do for you, little lady?"

"Hehe, oh Mr. Sonic, you're so cool!" she praised, as he grinned and looked up, closing his eyes and absorbing the cute praise.

"I know." He chimed, lifting a finger up and rubbing under his nose quickly in pride.

He then looked down to her, kindly, bending down and speaking politely to her. It was always children that made Sonic show a softer side of himself, maybe because he just didn't have a heart to be rude to them, or maybe he felt like a hero when they admired him so much, probably a little bit of both. He was a child at heart, after all, so maybe he felt they were his peers? "Now, what is it you wanted to ask me?"

"Hehe, my mother is a little under the weather right now, and she asked me if you would take a bath without her. She knows you need someone but-"

"A bath? Alone?" Sonic's eyes lit up. Finally! Privacy! "Sure thing! Not a problem."

"O-oh? I'm so glad!" Cream jumped up and placed her hands together, thrilled that he was so willing to comply. "My mother will be very happy, and be able to rest better knowing you've bathed after that big battle!" Cream waved him goodbye. "Goodbye, Mr. Sonic!"

"Just Sonic, and no problem." He winked to her, and got up, waving her goodbye. "Ah… sweet kid." He smiled kindly after her, and then sighed, turning around and heading for the royal bathing room.

For the first time in his life, he was excited to take a bath. At last! Alone! No one but himself! He can finally think to himself and not having something cleaning him as if he was a child and couldn't do it himself!

Dashing down, he opened the door and got into the water, getting his own supplies and started to get himself soapy.

It was only a few minutes after before…

He heard a noise, but thought it was just the echo of the room…. But then…

A tin bucket fell and spilled some cleaning supplies.

The loud noise shocked Sonic as he turned around, "Wah-what the-!?" he turned around, before his eyes widened as Amy's face was a bright red, her mouth gaping open, as she quickly turned her body around and adverted her gaze with her hands, covering them.

"AHHH!" she screamed. "I KNOCKED AND NO ONE ANSWERED!"

"AHHH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Sonic ducked into the water, freaking out, though the fur covered the important things… still!

"M-my chores have been doubled! I-I… I came to clean the bath!"

"RIGHT NOW!?" Sonic shouted out, literally having only minutes to himself before she arrived.

"W-well, I knocked!" she cried out, before trying to wander back to the door, eyes still shut but hands out, searching for the door. "I-I-I'm not in the wrong here!"

"Grr…" Sonic grumbled, and then got up, turning his back to her. "Just leave and come back when I'm done.." he felt so embarrassed, but at the same time, he was just glad it was Amy… and not some other maid…

"Ah, wait." Amy blinked her eyes opened, and took a peek behind her shoulder before jolting and shaking her head, talking forward. "A-aren't you suppose to be here with Vanilla? They made a rule you have to be bathed by someone else. Wasn't it because a King's child once drowned here alone?" she put her finger to her mouth, thinking about that sad story.

"Huh? Oh… I never knew that." He always figured it was a royal 'treat' or something, which it was, but now having a family death, especially a child, made more sense of why that rule was established.

"U-um… it's against law for a king to bathe without support." She stated, and starting blushing, fidgeting with her hands out and down in front of her. She looked down, not sure how she was going to say this…

"It's just tradition. Don't worry about-….wait…. what are you saying.. exactly?" Sonic glared over his shoulder, after realizing she was probably trying to suggest something…

"W-w-well…" Amy stuttered, unable to really ask what she knew was her duty as a citizen of Chaos Kingdom, and as a maid to the royal family… "I-It would be b-breaking the law to-to…well… not um…"

Sonic lifted his eyebrow, and turned around, laying on his stomach and letting the water roll over him. "…Go on?" he was surprised by her boldness… if she actually got the words out. Which, heh, she wouldn't-

"I'm staying her to support you!" She finally shouted out, pushing her hands down to her side, before getting flustered again. "I-I mean, help you bathe! It's only for today! Where's Vanilla anyway?" she walked to get some cleaning salts or whatever he used, as she looked at the bottles and had no idea what was what, sweat dropping a bit and 'uuuuuh'ing silently as she held her hand up to choose one, but didn't know where to start..

"…She's under the weather. And I forbid it." He stuck his nose up, and swam a little farther into the water, not wanting her near him.

"Ohhh! Quit being unreasonable!" Amy turned around, pouting as she saw he already had some bottles near him. "Oh. You already got what you need?"

"Why are you still here, again?" he rudely stated, cleaning his feet quickly, just in case she forced her way into bathing him. He knew if she set her mind to something, she wasn't going to give it up. Once she decided, that was that, and in this situation? It scared him a just a little bit…

"Ohh… you're so rude." She grumbled out, walking over, and looking around the room. "Wow…" she was taken in by it all. "It's… so white.. and wide… Ah! How deep does the water go?"

"..Pretty deep. Enough to dive." As long as the conversation was off of him….

He quickly got some more stuff for his hair, and started washing it.

"Ah! I'll help with that!" she saw him hurriedly scratch his hair and then groan as she noticed him, as she raced into the water, and then backed up. "Oh, um." She took her shoes off and rolled her clothes up so that her legs were exposed.

Sonic blushed, as that was the most leg he's ever seen from a girl, and turned away quickly, jolting in spot. "WHY ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING THAT?!"

"What? It's not inappropriate." She stated, and ran over, kneeling down as Vanilla did and started reaching for the bottle.

"W-wrong bottle!" he was frustrated now, but knew it was 'the people's rules' and if anything of what Tails had said stuck to him, it was that he needed to care about how his people felt, and if they wanted him to bathe with someone able to make sure he's safe and not drowning, then… so be it…

He folded his arms, not liking his new resolve as he flinched when he felt Amy's hands go for him. "Ah!" he freaked out, not comfortable with it.

"U-um… Look, just think of me as Vanilla, okay?" she seemed to feel awkward with him leaning away from her touch, and he slowly straightened his back out, not liking his at all, but grinning and bearing it! He held his hands to his side, before folding them again, just finicky.

"S-stop squirming…" Amy reached in his hair again.

Sonic squinted his eyes shut..!... huh.

…Emm…

These weren't Vanilla's hands… and that realization caught on quickly. As Amy's hands were a bit more stronger than her gentle touch, and Amy's strokes to rub the formula in his hair was much different than Vanilla's motherly touch.

This… felt… different.

He wasn't sure what he felt about different, but he didn't hate it, to say the least.

It was… relaxing, and he seemed to grow sleepy from it, as her hands moved like they were trained to please whoever they were working for, and get the job done as swiftly and smoothly as they could.

Though it was different, he found his tight hold on folding his arms soften with the rhythmic movement of her hands, and with each nod of his head he fell into a calming state. His arms drooped down as he let go, his body going limp as he just let her move her hands to his back quills, and let her do as she wished.

"There! All done!" She cheered, as Sonic opened his eyes in startlement, and realized he needed to clean the rest of himself, being too distracted by different to realize how much time went by.

"O-oh! Thank you, um.." he nervously got up and headed for some soap. "I'll do the rest, thanks." He shyly moved away, he didn't like going a bit deeper into the water, but he had to get away from her! And her… different little hands!

"Uhh…o-okay.."Amy looked down, feeling she had done something wrong, and got up, moving to leave before…

She stopped, looking down, and turned around to him.

"H-hey, Sonic?"

He was facing his back to her, as he started to clean his chest. "Hmm?" he didn't really want to talk to her right now…

"…I've never had a… well,… a really nice bath before and um… we're… we're friends right?" she hugged herself slightly.

"What are you talking about-? AMY!" Sonic turned around to see Amy taking off her maid's dress, showing a white and light tanish undergarments, like Edwardian underthings if you want to get precise. She had on poofy silky pants with a light corset and matching silky shirt.

Still though, this was her underwear, and Sonic freaked out, having never seen a woman unchanged in front of him as Amy raced into the water with some bottles and started cleaning her hair. "Ah~ This is gonna be GREAT! I've never had proper supplies for baths before! Teehee~ I'll swim father out, so no worries~"

"No worries?! NO WORRIES?!" Sonic was up against the ring of the pool, barely able to reach the bottle but still up on his tippy toes as he refused to turn around, hearing her splashing and probably cleaning herself. "You know, I took you as a modest woman, I'm literally shocked at you right now." Sonic stated, as Amy rolled her eyes.

"I'm still wearing clothes! Geez. And besides, this isn't as bad as when there was those thunderstorms, and I got scared, and you let me sleep in your big bed with you..~" she rambled, mentioning the pleasant memory as Sonic scoffed.

"Ha! Not as bad? We were children! This is … this is different!" He argued, as Amy just sighed and continued to move into deeper water so that she could really clean herself without Sonic knowing about it.

"Even then, you held me till I stopped crying. I trust you! And besides, you're the only man on this earth I want to marry. So you're the only one who can see my underwear." She stated, thinking that right, as Sonic groaned.

He mumbled, "I should be so honored…" and then smiled a moment. "From that quick glance I did get, nothing much too really see anyway…"

"What was that?" Amy turned around, blinking her eyes as she thought she heard something.

"Nothing!" he called out, and continued to hurry up this extremely awkward bath.

Once she was done she adjusted her clothes and swam back, getting her hair wringed out and then shaking it as Sonic looked to her, amazed that she did the same thing he did after getting out of the bath, and then remembered she was wearing her underwear and averted his gaze.

It had been a few moments and they stopped talking, but after Amy got out and took a towel, throwing one to him, he finally started to look at her, but never let her seem him do it.

"Hmm?" she turned to look at him, and he quickly looked away, shaking himself dry as she did with her hair.

She smiled.

"So anyway, why were you so… flippity-floppity as a kid?" she asked.

"..What?" he looked back to her, "Flippity… floppity?" he mocked her, chuckling under his breath at her use of 'vocabulary'.

"Well, what I mean is,… you wanted to be king, and now you don't. And you didn't seem to like me, always running away, but then you'd comfort me when I was really afraid during thunder storms…" she dried her hair out and went for her clothes, as Sonic was putting his shoes back on, and then his royal robe.

"…I get conflicted sometimes." He admitted, as Amy looked back to him, having her maid attire now on.

"Really? How come?" she asked, cutely tilting her head to him.

"…Well, believe it or not, I still kinda like the idea of ruling." He stated, before taking a deep breath and letting it go. "But um…" he clicked his tongue, sitting down, he ruffled his quills on his head and got up. "I also still want to freely to do as I please. So it's conflicting." He stated, being very honest with her, as he kinda felt more comfortable around her now…

Strange, he didn't know why he was so comfortable all the sudden, only that after a while of being silent, he actually wanted to talk to her again.

"Well, you can always find a balance." Amy states, as Sonic notices something on her arm as she got her dress properly up before the sleeves fell and it covered the strange mark.

"…What was that?" he moved over to her.

"W-what?" she was surprised that he moved closer to her, because the whole while they were together, he kept his distance.

"Your arm-" he reached to touch it and she flinched.

"OW!" she cried out, and moved away, before her eyes shook in fear and she quickly looked up to him, worried. "I-I bumped into something. It's fine." She smiled.

Sonic was confused… Amy was acting weird… and she seemed hurt…

"Was that… a bruise?" he asked.

"R-really, I'm fine!" She grew defensive, moving away from him and acting like everything was normal. "Anyway, I suppose that means you get conflicted with me too, right? You didn't really want me around, but when I was scared, you wanted to help, right? I guess I can kinda see where you're coming from but-"

Sonic ignored her, reaching for her arm again.

"Ow! Hey-ow! Stop, ow! Please!" she struggled to get him to let go as he did so.

"That didn't look like a simple bump." He narrowed his eyes, that same fire lighting in him again…

That Lead Maid…

"Amy.. are you getting hurt?" he looked up to her, looking honestly concerned, as Amy's face told him everything.

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not. How long has she been beating down on you like that?"

"I'm fine." She looked down, her eyes in shadow as she spoke more forcefully then.

"Amy, this is not okay! I can get her fired, you don't have to let her hurt you anymore! Why don't you defend yourself?! Why-"

"What about her life, Sonic!? What if this job feeds her family? What if she needs to vent or-"

"Not on you."

"B-but-"

"You're too nice. Even for your own good." He started for the door, getting madder and madder at her excuses.

She rushed in front of him, closing the door, spreading her arms out and glaring up at him. "Don't fire her, please. I'm a big girl, I can handle myself."

This action froze Sonic… he was feeling extremely angry at seeing his friend hurt, and having looked at her without the dress on… he started seeing more and more signs of injuries and bruises popping up and he clamped his teeth down, his fist shook, he wanted to protect her…

"Move." He stated through his gritted teeth, upset she wouldn't defend herself, and was too kind-hearted to rat out the old hag.

"No." her glare softened, but she wasn't about to budge.

"Amy…!" he held his fist up, "Why are you defending her!?"

"Because! What would the world be like without mercy!?"

"…What…" he stepped back, feeling something like pain in his heart. "What are you talking about?"

"…Everyone deserves mercy, Sonic. I'm punished for not doing things exactly right, I'm a klutz. And I often space out, and she's just doing her job so please… don't fire her… it's my fault."

The fact that she lowered her head and just justified this woman infuriated Sonic to no end. He had a sense of justice, and this was definitely unfair.

How could anyone hurt Amy?

She was the kindest and most innocent girl he had ever known.

"Please." She looked back up at him. "Let me handle my own problems. You have enough on your plate as it is."

Sonic did have something else to do but…

"If I see her hurting you again… that's it. She's done, and I never want you to stop me again. Do you understand?" To give her what she wanted killed Sonic inside, but she was right. He couldn't do this right now. Knuckles planned a rendezvous and he couldn't be late.

He put his hand up to her cheek, shocking her for a moment, and looking her dead in the eye.

"I mean it. If she hurts you in front of me, I'm going to do what I feel is right. And if I find you're hurt, I'm going to fire her even without your consent. Stay away from her, and stay out of trouble. Amy…

Do this for me."

Sonic moved around her and got out, he was mad at himself for not just denying her her wish, but he had other plans, and it killed him. It gnawed at his core, but he had to get back the Master Emerald.

Then he could deal with this problem.

And deal with it the right way.

Amy looked down and held herself, looking forward as she knew that woman wouldn't hesitate to hit any of the girls under her authority. She would strike her in front of Sonic again. She had done it before, but Sonic had probably always thought it was just a 'small hit' and didn't realize she hit Amy often.

Amy shook her head, patted her cheeks. Trying to cheer herself up, she walked to clean the bath at last with a smile on her face at how Sonic wanted to protect her, which she thought was noble and cute, but she had work to do.

One thing was for certain… she wouldn't let Sonic see that woman hurting her again. She didn't know what the Lead Maid's life was like, and she was pretty tough, it just… it got bad sometimes, he had so much to worry about already.

Sonic wouldn't forget this though… and that worried her. That he may get distracted from his duties because of her.

Cleaning the bath, she felt herself tearing up. How her father would want her to fight bullies like that woman, and how Sonic was ashamed of her for not using her skills to fight back. She just wasn't violent like that, and she wasn't someone to fight an old angry woman. Maybe a killer or evil solder guy, but an old woman?

It didn't seem right to her…

(Note: AMY IS IN THE WRONG. IF SOMEONE IS ABUSING YOU, GET HELP. That is all.)

Underground Tunnels

Sonic kept his head down, walking up and looking seriously up at Knuckles who had his horse's reins in his hands, as Knuckles felt a different feel to Sonic just then.

"Woah, are you okay?" He asked. "It kinda looks like someone just insulted your mother, and you're ready to beat them up pretty badly for it." Knuckles was kidding, laughing a little at his joke but seeing Sonic not laugh made him shut up quickly. "Hey, seriously, you okay? Thinking about the last battle or..? Shadow maybe..?"

"…It's just… something I have to keep my eye out for in the future." He walked up to the side of his horse and got up on it, getting the reins from Knuckles as he nodded.

"Alright, just take it easy. It makes me a little uneasy seeing you this way." He stated, and looked to his men. "Alright, listen up! We're going undercover, as in, even under the Council. We may be charged, but Sonic has the last say on punishment, and he'll pardon us, but you're families reputation might be at stake. Anyone want to chicken out now?"

The men stood firm.

"Good. I'm glad my last little speech really stuck with you guys." Knuckles got up on his sword, which snorted and let out a nasty noise behind it.

"…Did you're horse just-?" Sonic looked up to Knuckles, disgusted by what he smelled.

"..I'm not proud of it." Knuckles stated, "But it's my horse. And it's mother nature."

"Yeah? Well, mother nature left you a present." Sonic saw the horse begin to poop. "Is he always like this?"

"Pretty much. Get." He kicked the horse to move as it did so, wobbling a bit as it looked to be a red Shire horse.

Wind Rider didn't seem to like that horse much, as he nipped at it, and it whined and nodded it heads out of the way.

"What's his name?" Sonic asked.

"…."

"Come on." Sonic urged, wanting to lighten up and try to remember the mission, keeping Amy at the back of his mind instead of in the foreground…

But never forgetting.

"..Red…" Knuckles stated, and looked away, seeming to not want to talk about this further as the team headed down the tunnels, the men behind them following on foot.

"…Red what?"

"…Just Red." Knuckles concluded.

"…Pfft."

"Don't you DARE make fun of my horse!" Knuckles turned to him, holding a fist up in rage as he yelled to Sonic.

"I'm not laughing at your horse." Sonic admitted.

"Oh… well, we're good then." Knuckles looked forward.

"Pfft… I'm laughing at you're creative limits..!"

"WHY YOU-!"