What? You thought that was all there was to Chaos Race? Here, have a
sequel.
---cut on this line---
Shattered Dreams
Written by: Adrian Tymes and Alessandro Sanasi
[Legal disclaimer:
This story is based on characters created by SEGA and DiC Productions, and
Commander Packbell by David Pistone. Permission is granted to freely distribute
this story, so long as:
a: no recompense of financial value is received or given by the person who
distributes the story, and
b: the distributed copy is identical to the story as originally authored.
In other words, don't sell it, and don't alter it.
Copyright (c) 1997, all rights reserved, et cetera.]
******
Time: A week and a half after Chaos Race
******
Sonic paced back and forth near the haystack at Knothole's entrace. For nearly
anyone else, this would have entailed a lazy circling of one point, eventually
resulting in a circle of beaten-down grass along their path. Sonic, however,
paced as fast as he ran, generating a miniature tornado inside his circular
path. It was a miracle that the haystack remained undisturbed, although Sally
was having a tough time staying on her feet.
"Would you cut that out?" she asked. "It's only been half an hour."
Sonic looked up, saw Sally holding a tree for support, and skidded to a halt.
"Sorry. I'm just worried about those two."
Sally let go of the tree as the wind subsided, and smoothed out her fur. "Well,
brooding isn't going to help. They'll get back when they get back."
The hedgehog looked at the hollow log, then revved up his legs.
Sally put her hand on his shoulder with a bit more force than usual, causing
Sonic to stop. "Don't even think about it. The whole point of Tails taking Amy
through the Great Forest was that she would know you wouldn't be around.
Neither would I, or anyone else. She needs a friend to talk to, but neither of
us will do."
"I still don't get it, Sal. If she needs to talk, why can't she talk to us? I
mean, what's she want to talk about?"
"You."
******
"You still love him, don't you?"
Tails glanced around the treehouse while waiting for Amy's response. He had
discovered this place years ago, while on a training mission with Sonic. It was
too far from Knothole to be a useful outpost, and the nearby trees' arrangement
of leaves made it a highly visible structure while obscuring any useful sight
from inside. Fifteen years ago, a surveyor in King Acorn's army had dubbed it
"the most strategically worthless construction in the Great Forest". The place
was well weathered, but its lack of attention from both Robotnik and the Freedom
Fighters made it a perfect temporary hiding place for the occasional refugee -
whether from Robotnik's tyranny, or, in this case, the ears of Knothole's
citizens.
Amy feigned surprise. "What? You know I can't...I won't...I...oh, who am I
kidding?" She resignedly collapsed onto the matress she had been sitting on.
"Yes. But he loves Sally. He always has, and always will. And if I try to
change his feelings, it'll only hurt him, me, and possibly Sally. I can't let
that happen."
Tails walked over to Amy, sat down, and coaxed her head into his lap. "But you
can be friends."
"It's not the same, Tails. We're friends, but I don't feel about you like I do
about Sonic. Whenever I'm near him, whenever I see him, I know I could be happy
forever if he were by my side. I like being with you, I mean, you're fun and
all, but it's just not the same."
Tails scratched behind Amy's ear. "So, which do you want? Do you want Sonic,
or do you want Sonic to be happy?"
Amy closed her eyes and smiled. "I'd do anything to please him." She opened
them again, and dreamily stared off into space - by coincidence, directly into
Tails' eyes. "Isn't that what love's all about?"
Tails returned Amy's gaze. "Then let him go. If you let your love get in the
way of your own happiness, that'll depress him."
Amy pulled on Tails' shoulders to help her sit up. "It's not that easy. I had
a dream last night. I was roboticized..."
"Sounds like a nightmare," Tails interrupted.
"It wasn't. As a robot, I didn't have any concerns; I only followed orders. No
troubles, no questioning. Everything was so simple. I felt like I wanted to be
a robot."
Tails hugged Amy and shivered. "Geez, Amy, don't scare me like that. It's
important to question our actions. It's what separates us from Packbell."
"I know, but still...I almost wish I were roboticized. Then I wouldn't have to
make these tough choices."
"Be careful what you wish for. You might just get it."
Amy looked at Tails. "I wish..."
She was interrupted by a robot arm smashing through the floor and grabbing her.
Before she knew what was happening, it had pulled her out of Tails' grasp and
back through the hole it had punched. When Tails looked through, he saw Amy
struggling against a SWATbot's grasp, with another robot reaching for him.
Tails rolled away from the robot's hand, then slid down its arm to deliver a
crushing kick to its optic sensors. The SWATbot fell from the branch it was
perched on as Tails turned to Amy's captor. He might have disabled it quickly
had a laser bolt not singed the fur on the side of his ribs. Looking down, he
saw an impressive array of weapons trained on him. He managed to dodge the
flurry of fire that came his way, but Amy was helpless to stop her abducter from
climbing down to the ground.
"Get out of here, Tails. Don't worry about me."
"But, Amy..."
"Go! And tell Sonic I love him."
Tails tried to approach through the shifting maze of destructive light which
sprang from below, but was soon fleeing for his life. He never wondered why the
robots did not pursue him this time.
******
Sonic glanced at his wristwatch, then back at the log. "One hour. I'm going."
Sally tackled him before he could move. "How many times do I have to tell you,
your presence would ruin everything?"
Sonic pulled himself out from under Sally. "C'mon, Sal, first Packbell steps up
his patrols 'til you won't even let me take Tails on a training mission, and now
you let Tails take Amy alone?"
"This was different. There was simply no other way, Sonic, and if we didn't do
something, Amy would. She might even run away again, or worse, go out looking
for a patrol. It's a risk, but doing nothing would have been a worse risk."
"But, why send Tails? I mean, if she needed a talk, why not Rosie?"
"Aside from you, Tails is the one she relates to the best. Besides, Rosie
couldn't defend her if they did run into trouble."
"I thought you said Tails wasn't old enough to go on missions. This sounds like
a mission to me."
"Well..." Sally smiled. "Ok, maybe it is. But all he has to do is grab her
and fly away. He's more than capable of that." She perked up an ear as she
stood up. "Besides, I think I hear him now."
Sonic picked himself up just in time to be knocked back down by the wind of his
friend's frantic exit from the log. Tails' tails were in full spin even inside
the hollow wooden tube, although they were spinning in a cone since the log was
not wide enough for their usual circle. The kitsune soared over the haystack,
then frantically sped off for the village center.
"Hey, T2, where's Amy?" came Sonic's voice from below.
Tails looked down, to see Sonic running on his shadow. He tried to turn around
in midair, tangled his tails in each other, and landed ungracefully in the
river.
Sonic fished him out of the water as he ran by, while turning back towards the
entrance. "Don't tell me Amy ran away."
Tails was breathing hard, limp in his friend's arms. "SWATbots...grabbed...she
said..."
Sonic skidded to a halt just short of the entrance, and carefully set Tails
down. "Bad news, Sal. Looks like Packbolt got Amy. I'm going after her."
Sally grabbed Sonic just before he sped off. "Not without me, you're not. This
is my fault."
Sonic tried, without success, to brush off Sally as he ran up the log. "For
letting her go out with Tails? No way."
"No. If it weren't for me, Amy could've just stayed here with you. I caused
this situation, I will help end it."
Behind them, Tails gasped, "...she said she loves you..." Then, totally out of
energy, he fell unconcious.
******
A solemn procession marched into Packbell's command center. Except for one
pink hedgehog, who was gasping for breath after being carried through an
especially polluted section of Robotropolis, every member of the group marched
in lockstep precision. All five of the SWATbots and both of the techbots were
constantly scanning the prisoner for any hint of an effort which could free
her, although none of them could calculate any possible method of escape.
"Well, well, well. I did not think we would meet again so soon." Packbell
made a triangle with his fingers as he saw Amy squirming in the SWATbot's grip.
"Cut the chatter, boltbrain. Just roboticize me, like you do to all your
prisoners."
"I don't think so. You are a very special prisoner. You will help me capture
Sonic the Hedgehog."
"In your dreams," Amy spat.
"I will reward you for your help. What is the one thing you would like, more
than anything else?"
"Not to have to listen to you anymore."
"You jest in vain, young hedgehog. I know your wants and desires. You love
Sonic." Packbell grabbed Amy's chin with his hand, but did not stop her from
turning her head away.
"That's in the past," Amy replied with a tear in her eye. "Sonic loves Sally.
If I try to get in the way, it'll just harm all of us. I know that I can't have
him."
"I thought that Freedom Fighters never gave up." Packbell's voice drowned out
the quiet hum of machinery in his hand whirring to life. "I know that you still
want Sonic to love you - and only you."
Amy jerked her head towards Packbell, fury in her eyes. "So what? Even if I
do, it doesn't matter. I will never help you capture him. Now stop toying with
me, and send me to the roboticizer."
Packbell removed something from his hand under Amy's chin, and slipped it inside
her headband. Amy felt a tingle spread through her body. "What..."
"I will make your dreams come true," Packbell said with glee. "You will help me
capture Sonic, and then you will have him all to yourself."
Amy snickered. "Yeah, right. Even if you catch him, what are you going to do?
Roboticize him? I love him for who he is, not what."
"Oh, don't be so sure of that. I know that a part of you would be willing to do
anything, just to have him. Anything."
"I care too much about Sonic to go that far!" Amy shouted defiantly.
"That's what you think now. But the chip that I attached to your head will take
care of that. It will alter parts of your brain, similar to the roboticizer.
When the responsible, caring part gets weaker, and the emotional, determined
part becomes stronger, all will be different. You won't care what happens to
Sonic, so long as you possess him."
"I'll never do it. I'm no robot. You can't just-" Amy's eyes widened as her
body went stiff, and her world became a blur.
"Yes, you will."
******
A field of grass rustled in a sudden breeze. Patches of grass bent, rippling
the green mass as if it were an ocean. On this field were two pink hedgehogs.
One of them wore a calm and friendly expression, serenity radiating from her
like light from the sun. The other stormed towards the first, leaving a path
of smoke-scented road where she crushed the grass beneath her feet. A scowl was
etched in her face.
"This time, you won't stop me," the scowler spoke, in a voice that sounded as if
it had been mixed with gravel. "This time Sonic will be mine!"
"Not now. We must deal with Packbell first."
Silence.
"I said, we must OOF!" The calmer hedgehog was sent flying by a punch from her
less controlled double. She landed hard on a patch of rock, which promptly
turned to dirt.
"I will do anything to get Sonic. You will no longer stand in my way and hold
me back. Packbell is erasing you, piece by piece, and letting me take over."
Marching up to her twin, she paid no attention to the glimmer of metal that
appeared on her fist. Holes appeared in the field and expanded into pieces of
dark asphalt, which flowed through the plants like sewage on an ocean.
The first hedgehog tried to push herself off the ground, only to see her arm
partially fade and sink through the ground, leaving her helpless.
******
"How do you feel, little one?" Packbell questioned.
Amy blinked, then frowned. "Stop calling me little! I'm at least as tall as
Tails!"
Packbell released Amy's head. "Your spirit's still intact. Good. You'll need
it to catch Sonic." He voicelessly ordered the SWATbot holding Amy to drop her.
"Now, Amy, we have important matters to attend to."
"Ok. Umm...may I ask what they are?"
"Just the most important one of all: Sonic."
******
Sonic raced through the streets of Robotropolis, headed straight for the egg
shaped central command facility. Sally trailed behind him like a cloak; she
mused that he had "worn" her so often that she probably felt like a broken-in
glove to him. Sonic could see well enough, but his attention was focussed on
his running. He relied on gentle tugs from Sally to tell him when she saw an
avoidable spot of trouble, although more often than not he had already seen it
and changed course by the time his brain registered the tug.
Sally brought Nicole out of her boot as Sonic slowed down in an empty warehouse.
One of the terminals inside had had its security codes broken long ago; Sally
had once overloaded and detonated a power plant by remote control from it. She
plugged her computer into the console, typed in a few commands, and waited.
"I don't get it," Sonic protested. "Why don't we just go ask Uncle Chuck?"
"Because he has to maintain his cover as a workerbot. We can't interrupt him
while he's at his job. If we did, Packbell would get suspicious. He's not
scheduled to get off for another hour, and we can't wait that long."
Sonic rolled his eyes. "We can't wait another second. Nicole, hurry it up,
will ya?"
"CHILL, MY MAIN HEDGEHOG. AMY IS NOT LISTED ON ANY OF THE CURRENT PRISONER
RECORDS."
"Uh oh. She's probably already been roboticized!"
"NEGATIVE. DIRECT SCAN CONFIRMS NONROBOTIC STATUS."
"Direct scan? You mean, you've seen her?"
"SHE IS BEHIND YOU."
Sonic and Sally turned around in an instant. Amy stood in the middle of the
room, smiling. "I knew you'd come for me. Now we can be together."
"Amy? How did you escape?" Sonic quickly walked up to her. "Let's get back
to Knothole before - HEY!" Sonic sank halfway into the floor, displacing part
of a puddle of goo which was exactly the same color as the floor. "What the...
Megamuck? At least Packbell's gotten rid of that icky green color. Amy, help
me get out of this stuff!"
Amy chuckled. "Oh, Sonic, Packbell wasn't the one who recolored it. I was."
She waved a hand, and five SWATbots stepped out of the shadows, surrounding the
trio. One of the robots bent over, picked up the section of the floor Sonic was
in, and lifted it, revealing a pit of the sticky quicksand and petroleum
mixture. Enough of the goo stuck to the floor panel's bottom to immobilize
Sonic's lower half. "Mister Packbell can't roboticize you if you're running
around, can he?"
"This is crazy! Why are you helping him?"
"'Cause Mister Packbell's gonna make my dreams come true. We can be together
forever."
"You can't love without free will. Besides, who says he'll give one whit about
you once he's got me?"
"Well...hmm." Amy stared off in contemplation.
The other SWATbots were standing at attention, but had not been ordered to do
anything. Sally seized upon the opportunity, and leapt straight at Amy. But
Amy quickly stepped out of the way, and the squirrel crashed face-first into the
floor panel on its sticky side, covering her entire body in the goo. She
quickly pulled away, but only managed to get enough of her nose free to avoid
suffocating.
"Gee, Sally, if you wanted to come that badly, you should've said so." Amy
giggled as she gestured her SWATbots out of the building.
"But, Amy, what about Packbell?" Sonic pleaded.
"I'm sure he's not that bad. Mister Packbell was nice enough to let me have
these robots, and he showed me the terminal he knew you'd use. He's honest, and
kind, and..."
"RECLASSIFYING ENTRY ON AMY ROSE," came a voice from within the Megamuck
covering Sally's boot. "STATUS: INSANE."
******
"Mister Packbell? Once Sonic's roboticized, what'll happen to me?"
Packbell looked away from where his SWATbots were carefully removing Sonic and
Sally from the goo. "Why do you ask?"
"Sonic thought you wouldn't care about me now...as in, maybe you wouldn't let
Sonic and I be together? Maybe you'd just roboticize me and put us to work in
your factories?"
"No. You are more valuable to me the way you are now. You have intimate
knowledge of the Freedom Fighters' tactics, and you know where Knothole is.
These things would be lost if I were to roboticize you. And who better to guard
you than Sonic, under your command?"
Amy spent a moment taking this in, then gasped in joy. She leapt up to
Packbell's head, hugged him, and gave him a kiss. "Oh, thankyouthankyouthankyou
thank you!" She continued to squeeze him for a few seconds, then dropped back
to the ground.
Sonic and Sally were stunned, as was Packbell. "No one...has EVER...done that
to me before," he shouted in disbelief after a short pause.
Amy looked up, clasped her hands behind her back, and traced an arc with the tip
of her left foot while standing on her right. "I'm sorry."
"Just don't do that again."
"Ok."
"So, how'd you do it?" Sonic asked while nearly covered in SWATbot hands and
Megamuck. "How did you get Amy to work for you?"
"Isn't it obvious? I promised her the one thing she always wanted: you. Under
the influence of my new controlling technology, she gave in easily, and now
obeys my every word."
"You could have gotten that if you roboticized her."
"No. For some reason, individuals can not access their memory after being
roboticized. It has something to do with their loss of free will. This was one
of the reasons I did not roboticize Snively. Now Amy will serve as his
replacement - a much more competent replacement."
Amy frowned. "You want me to help you conquer Mobius? I don't know..."
Packbell looked down at her from above. "You WILL."
******
Smoke clouded the air above the now mostly paved plain. The angry hedgehog
growled at her peaceful counterpart, who lay helplessly at her feet. "I won!
Now I can be with Sonic forever..."
"What you did was wrong," the other hedgehog whispered weakly. "Packbell is
using you for his evil schemes. Soon you will be nothing more than one of his
workerbots."
The hedgehog blinked, then looked at her body. Her arms and legs were fully
robotic, and the metal was slowly spreading to her torso. "You lie. Packbell
will keep his word to give us...to give ME Sonic. And it feels GOOD to be
metal! It makes me strong, much stronger than you. Finally, I can be with
Sonic..."
"...right beside him in Packbell's factories," the other one added. "Packbell
uses people like he uses machines. Even if he doesn't roboticize us in body,
he'll still have taken away our free will. Once Packbell has won, he will have
no further need for us. What do you think will happen then?"
"Stop it! Stop it!" The hedgehog picked up her limp twin, turned her
upside-down, and brought her down hard, making sure she landed on her head. Her
double gave a short yelp, and was out cold.
******
"Ok," she eventually squeaked.
Packbell turned back towards Sonic and Sally, who had both been placed inside
roboticizer tubes. "You see? I have finally won, and I have Amy to thank for
it. Don't bother trying to escape. Nothing can break this glass - not even
you, Sonic."
"You haven't won yet, Packbreath." With that, Sonic ran up the side of the
roboticizer tube, and spindashed his way through the top.
Amy pulled out her arrow-gun, but Sonic dashed past her with such speed that she
was literally blown off of her feet, dropping her weapon in the process.
"SWATbots," Packbell screamed. "Capture that Freedom Fighter!"
"You will never get close to him," Amy interrupted. "Sonic is too fast for your
robots. I might be able to get him out into the open if I go alone. Leave the
SWATbots here to make sure Sonic won't come back to free Sally."
"You're right." Packbell turned to the robots. "Guard this room from the
outside, and make sure that no Freedom Fighter enters."
Amy pointed to the SWATbots that had escorted her. "You five: guard Sally from
inside the room. Make sure she doesn't escape."
******
Sonic hid in a ventilation shaft overlooking the room. None of Packbell's
robots had been able to get a proper fix on him, allowing him to zip up the air
ducts undetected shortly after his escape. He was relieved to see all but five
SWATbots leave, and was just preparing to take them on when he felt a tap on his
shoulder. Looking up, he was startled to see that Amy had snuck up on him. He
slowly backed away.
"It's alright. Packbell doesn't have any microphones in here. I don't have to
pretend now."
"Pretend?" Sonic continued to crawl backwards. "What do you mean? How did you
find me?"
"Silly." Amy smiled. "Packbell was right about one thing: I know your tactics.
I had to pretend to obey him while he could observe me. I'm sorry if I scared
you, but now we have to free Sally. I can help you."
Amy could hear the tense edge on Sonic's breath. "After what you just did? Why
should I trust you?"
"Look, Packbell trusts me. If I keep playing along, I can sabotage his plans
from the inside. A typo here, a glitch there, and Packbell's robots could shut
down just as you attack. I could weaken him enough to let you finally end this
war." Amy looked through the vent grating at the room below. "But he might
not think he'll need me if he roboticizes Sally. He has to think you freed her,
but I can help you as long as he doesn't find out."
"Well, ok. But I don't like it."
Amy giggled. "Try and stop me, without attracting Packbell's attention. Which
reminds me, were you thinking of trashing those SWATbots?"
"Yeah. Then we pull Sally in here..."
"...and get all those robots that just left shooting at us. They're just
outside the door. You might be able to destroy them, too, but if you hadn't
noticed, some of them are workerbots. Do you really want to kill the ones
you're trying to restore to life?"
"You're kidding."
"Am not." Amy frowned. "Besides, any battle that large will attract the
attention of every SWATbot in the city. Even you can't fight that many robots."
"Just watch me."
Amy grabbed Sonic's hand. "Come on, I've got a faster way to do it."
"Faster? Than moi?"
"Well, maybe a little." Amy turned around and started to crawl off.
Sonic smirked. "This I gotta see." He followed Amy down the dark tunnel, only
seeing occasional bursts of light along the path. Eventually, Amy stopped near
an open duct. Unable to see a thing, Sonic grabbed Amy, leapt down to the
floor, and set her down, still holding her hand to avoid separation. He
followed her insistent tugging to where a spotlight highlighted an oddly
familiar step. "So, is this it?"
"Yep." Amy let go. "Just step up."
As soon as Sonic had both feet on the platform, the spotlight went out. One
second later, the room's lights came on to show Sonic in another roboticizer,
with the glass tube already down and armor on its top.
"Gotcha."
"What's going on here? You lied to me, Amy!"
"But of course. I had to get you somehow, and that seemed the best way to do
it."
Packbell stepped out of a shadow in a corner of the room. "Well done, Amy."
Sonic winced. "I still want to know one thing, Amy. Why? The Amy I knew would
never have done this."
"She is still the same Amy Rose you have always known," Packbell explained,
"with all her intellect intact. But now that I have supressed her reasoning and
morals, she does anything I ask, just to have you. She's running on pure love."
"That's not what love is. Love's about giving joy, not receiving it."
"Gee, Sonic, that sounds just like what Tails said," Amy commented.
"It should," Sonic replied. "That's what he told me, once."
"It is time," Packbell stated. "Amy, for this special occasion, you may have the
honor of pushing the button."
"Ok." Amy walked over to the roboticizer controls and put her hand on them.
Sonic desperately tried to find a way out of this situation. It seemed that
there was no way to convince Amy that all this was wrong. With her reasoning
blocked, she wouldn't listen to arguments.
But what if he could appeal to her emotional side?
Sonic looked at Amy, trying to make eye contact. "Don't do it, Amy. I love
you."
Amy froze, and turned her head toward Sonic. "What?"
"You know it's true. I always loved you, with all my heart. We are meant for
each other. You are the one that gives my life meaning."
"But...but..." Amy stammered, at a loss of words. "It can't be true, you always
said that you and Sally..." She held her head, unconciously shifting her
headband. "I..." Her eyes suddenly glazed over.
******
The scowling hedgehog trembled, now almost completely metal. Disbelief mixing
with the anger on her face, she confusedly stumbled towards the only spot of
grass left on the vast plain, and her bruised twin at its center.
Suddenly, the seemingly dead Amy stirred. Her face broke out in a smile while
she reached out for her robot double, pulled her down, and embraced her. The
industrial road faded back to grass, as she saw a sudden glimpse of
understanding in the eyes of her robot sister.
And then, they were one.
******
The chip fell out of Amy's headband and shattered on the floor. Packbell looked
at Amy with concern. "Well?"
"I..." Amy slowly shifted to a fighting stance. "No! I won't do it!"
"You have already served me well. I can do the rest myself." He lazily swatted
Amy away from the roboticizer, then approached its controls. "I guess I'll have
to roboticize you after all. But first, you can watch your boyfriend..."
Packbell's sentence was interrupted by a metal arrow striking the controls. The
panel blew up in a spectacular display of fireworks, taking a large section of
the roboticizer tube with it.
Sonic leapt through the hole. "Now it's you and me, boltbrain," Sonic shouted
while spin-dashing at Packbell.
Packbell made a quick retreat to one of the exits. "You might have won the
battle, but not the war," he commented as the metal doors closed before Sonic
could reach him.
Sonic walked back to the control panel and examined the arrow. "Hey, this
looks like the arrows Amy uses. But how...?" He glanced upward, and saw Sally
crouching at the ventilation shaft's entrance near the ceiling, holding Amy's
arrow-gun.
"Well, if it isn't two of my three favorite hedgehogs." Sally smirked. "You
shouldn't leave your weapon lying around, Amy."
Sonic caught Sally as she jumped down. "Three hedgehogs? Who's the third?"
"Up here, Sonnie."
Sonic looked up to see his uncle, Sir Charles, where Sally had been. "Uncle
Chuck? I thought you were still at work."
"I feigned maintenance problems when I heard Amy'd been captured. I figured you
could use a hand, and it looks like I was right. Good thing Sally's guards
didn't have better voice recognition. I tricked them into thinking I was Amy,
and ordered them to shut down. We've got about two minutes before the SWATbots
get here, so we'd better hurry. Packbell guided Amy through the vents with
those flashes of light, so he'll be sending the SWATbots through the vents too.
We'd better take the low road." He jumped, and landed on the floor with a
resounding clang. Then he grabbed the dazed Amy and started pulling her toward
the door.
"Wait, hold it." Sonic stopped and pointed at Amy. "How do we know you won't
just betray us again?"
"I'm really sorry. I just couldn't...I mean, I..."
"She means that she knows what it's like to be a workerbot," Charles finished.
"Packbell manipulated her mind, and was relying on that chip to finish the
process. Without it, his influence vanished. A few more minutes, and Amy
would've been his slave for life."
"I'm not sure..." Sonic glared at Amy, who hid behind Charles.
"Give it a rest, Sonic. If Uncle Chuck says she's ok..." Sally glanced at
Charles, who nodded. "...then she's ok."
"I don't know."
"We don't have time to argue. She's coming, and that's final," Sally protested.
******
Back at Knothole, Sonic was pacing again, this time near the power ring pool.
Sally stood nearby, watching the waves generated by Sonic's motion. "Nicole's
finished her diagnosis. Uncle Chuck was right - whatever Packbell did, it's
gone now. Amy's back to her old self."
Sonic continued to pace, and said nothing.
"She's really sorry, you know. I think she'd like to apologize to you, but
she's scared."
He stopped, turned, and looked Sally in the eye. "I won't chew her out. I
promise."
"That's not what she's scared of. She's scared of you."
"Whoa, Sal. You're not making sense."
Sally sat down on a log. "She likes you a lot, Sonic, but what she did was
fueled entirely by her emotions. No anger, no logic, just love. Packbell
removed all her reasoning when her actions affected you. She's afraid that,
however she tries to show her true feelings, it'll come out like that again.
And if she talks to you, she won't be able to hide it."
Sonic remained standing. "So, what? Now she can't even speak to me?"
"She's confused. I asked Rosie and Tails to comfort her, but..." She sighed.
"But what?"
"I don't know if it'll do any good. And there's something else."
"Yeah?"
"A few more minutes, and Amy would have been like that forever. The scary thing
is, it wasn't roboticization. He changed the essence of who she was, and we
couldn't tell until it was almost too late. Just think...if things had gone a
little differently, one of us could've been like Robotnik. Even you."
"Me? No way. I'm way too cool for that."
Sally shook on the log, her eyes on the ground. "Even me," she whispered.
Sonic was at her side in an instant. "Hey, we all have our own demons. The
thing that made us different from Robuttnik was that we controlled ours. His
controlled him." He gave Sally a hug. She leaned her head on Sonic's shoulder,
and embraced him.
******
Two pairs of eyes watched, hidden in the forest beyond the far side of the pool.
"You see, Amy? That's the love Sonic and Sally share."
"I guess you're right, Tails." Amy sighed. "I only thought of Sonic and I
sharing our good times, not our bad. I guess that's what I fell in love with -
the promise of endless joy. But that's not true love."
"C'mon, we'd better leave them alone before they get mushy." Tails crawled
away, deeper into the foliage.
"Yeah, we'd bettter...hey!" Amy quickly crawled after, and overtook, the
kitsune. "Things were pretty mushy already. I thought you hated that stuff."
"Well...you gave me a tolerance for it."
"A tolerance, hmm?" Amy smiled. "At least, when it's being done to you,
right?"
"Umm..." They reached a clearing, and Tails took off. "Hey, Amy, how about
some air tag?" He playfully swatted her head quills. "You're it."
"No fair! I can't fly!"
Tails began softly singing, "If you're strong, you can fly. You can reach the
other side..." as he flew out of hearing range.
Amy looked up in puzzlement. "Where have I heard that one before?"