Chapter one The sun, hitting the plain with its sunrays, started to set over an immense forest of evergreens. The aerial view of the place looked overall like a green Island, thanks to grass except for a quite rocky plateau, small in area, and mostly covered by grassless soil. On this plateau were a blue hedgehog in the activity of making a fire, a brown-orange fox, and, a little bit apart, a pink female hedgehog. Anybody could recognize them as Sonic "Don't Break My Heart" the Hedgehog and Tails the Fox. Tails had the ability to fly using his tails as helicopter blades, while Sonic was the fastest runner on Mobius. There was also Amy "the Rascal" the Hedgehog. She looked to be daydreaming a bit. Tails came towards her. "What's the matter, Amy? Are you okay?" he asked. Amy suddenly woke up. "What?" she asked. "You seem pretty unusual today. You look like you're almost depressed. Are you?" "Well... Kinda. But I do not want to talk about it." "Once I felt exactly like you do now. Something was on my mind, but I really didn't want to tell anyone about it because I didn't feel it was their business. Sonic pressured me so much to tell the truth that I quickly told him the story. He informed some of his friends about my confession. Eventually things worked out and - hey, Amy, are you listening?" Amy had turned her back on Tails and was now contemplating the view. The Island blending into the forest... "Are you trying to transmit to me some kind of hidden message here?" she asked sarcastically. "I'm just trying to tell you that telling me... or somebody, could help. Don't you think?" "Oh, all right." "Shoot." "Let's see... How can I put it... I was... um..." Tails grew impatient. "I'm listening!" he said. "...lost." Amy finished. "Lost?" "Lost in this still unknown area of Mobius. These past few weeks I did nothing but walk in search for a bit of civilization. I have not seen anybody since nearly two months until I saw you and Sonic, yesterday." "Wow," said Tails. "That's why you were so happy to see us yesterday. I thought that you had some crazy hysteria going on in your brain or something." Amy continued. "You cannot imagine. I haven't seen anybody for two months, and you wanted me to stay calm? At first it was like in a dream. I was so happy. I had finally accomplished my... um, that is, um... you... I mean..." Amy stopped talking. "Goal?" Amy did not speak. She looked down. "Heeey," said Tails with a big smile. "What's that?" "Shut up, Tails," said Amy angrily, without even looking at Tails. "Don't tell me a word," Tails replied, still with that same smile, "now I understand. Wait 'till Sonic hears this." "No," said Amy with an angry voice. "Don't tell Sonic, Tails. It's none of your business, you damned fox." "Amy! Why are you so serious about it?" Amy did not answer. "Anyway," said Tails, "now that you have accomplished your 'goal,' where will you go? We're on a mission, you know. Sonic won't let you come with us." "I'll have to go with you two. It's the only way," she replied. "Oh, no. You will be very undesirable. Sonic is going to move fast. And I can't carry you. Besides, you seem to have caught a cold." "I didn't!" said Amy, "and I think you have no choice but to take me with you!" "Sorry, Amy, but you're sick. It's not bad, but I heard a lot of coughing from you last night." "I'm going with you anyway," she said. "And I don't think I'm sick enough for you to use it as an excuse for not taking me with you!" But then she started to cough. A loud, greasy cough. But she didn't stop. It was getting harder and louder. She fell down, still coughing, and she couldn't breathe very well. "SONIC!" shouted Tails, "Come here quick!" Sonic came up to Amy in less than a second and he started to tap Amy's back; fortunately she had stopped coughing right after Tails had yelled. "Amy, you're okay?" asked Sonic. "Tails! Go get one of my sleeping bags right now!" Tails immediately executed Sonic's order and placed the sleeping bag right under Amy. "Now, Amy," said Sonic, "you just rest for a moment. I'll take care of you." He went to get some medicine. Tails, pensive, was looking at Amy. "What were you telling me again? How did you get lost?" Amy, still recovering, poorly replied, "Don't tell any of this to Sonic. I'm in love with him. I could bet anything that I have more love for him than any other girl. So I tried to move to Mobius. To do everything I could to make him love me, but I didn't land on the right spot. I landed somewhere in this big forest with nowhere to go, and absolutely no hint to the direction I could go to find a bit of civilization." Amy stopped talking. She closed her eyes and laid down, as if she was ready to sleep. Tails saw she was near crying. He bent down and whispered in Amy's ear, "Amy, I am leaving tonight." Amy slowly moved her lips forming a "Why?" "Sonic will explain you later," said Tails. "Tomorrow, I guess. Me, I'm leaving in the next half-hour." Amy felt cold. She had seen Tails as the "lawyer" who could reason Sonic to accept taking her with them. But now he was leaving. "Have a nice trip," she muttered. Tails did not answer. He walked away to talk to Sonic and to finish preparing his departure. "This is it," said Sonic after a couple of minutes. "Bye, Sonic," said Tails. Amy opened her eyes just a bit to look at Tails, but almost with an expression of contempt. Tails did not meet her look. After a last goodbye to Sonic, he opened his tails, and flew away under the sunset of the evening. The night fell on the high plain. By eight o' clock, Sonic and Amy had finished eating. Sonic had found himself forced to wake Amy up to eat dinner, but now that it was finished, she could sleep all she wanted to, he thought. After cleaning up everything, Sonic carried Amy inside the small tent, believing she was asleep. However, after Sonic got in his sleeping bag and closed his eyes, Amy whispered to him, "Sonic, what are you going to do about me?" Sonic thought for a moment. And then, "I haven't decided yet. I'll tell you tomorrow. But relax: I'm not going to leave you here all alone." Amy wanted to discuss it more, but she was so tired she let it go. She soon fell asleep. Chapter two As soon as she saw Knuckles coming towards her, Amy felt anguish. Knuckles was here to kill her. Amy immediately turned back and ran in fear as fast as she possibly could, but she tripped and fell on the ground. She was now on the edge of the Floating Island. Knuckles was still approaching her. She began to distinguish Knuckles' maddened face. She could not get up. She moved backwards, knowing that she would fall over the edge of the Island. And she did. Luckily this unrealistic scene was only a dream. Amy woke up, and she saw Sonic outside the tent cooking breakfast. She figured it was about eight thirty in the morning. She thought about her nightmare. It was only a nightmare, but built from pieces of memory. Recent memory. She tried to erase all this from her mind. She did not want to think about this. But all she could think of was that she feared Knuckles "the Terror", a red creature that had almost the strongest fists in the known world. Amy had the idea he was out to kill her. Her dream had developed a phobia from now on. She had to stay with Sonic. Knuckles was, or would be, soon enough, searching for her. She went outside the tent, where Sonic was cooking breakfast. "Hi, Amy," said Sonic when he saw her. "Did you have a good night sleep?" "Mm..." Amy answered. "Would you like some coffee for breakfast?" Sonic asked. "No thanks. I drink chocolate milk," Amy replied. "All right, Amy. I'll get some milk at the village ten miles south." Five minutes later he returned and started heating it over the fire. Amy sat next to Sonic. "Sonic," she asked, "will you tell me what you and Tails are looking for?" "Sure, Amy. Have you ever heard of the Perfect Leaves?" "The what?" Amy asked. "The Perfect Leaves are said to be two leaves that are from heaven." "Cool," Amy said. "Now what's the use of trying to get them? Do they have some kind of special power or something?" "We don't know what they're for, but right now some people are racing us to get it," Sonic answered. After a pause, he said, "Actually, it's more us that are racing them. They started to search the leaves before us." "Who are 'they'?" Amy asked. "Well, our main opponent is this guy whose name's El. Ever heard of him?" Amy shook her head. Sonic continued. "He's a really nasty person. He's in possession of some pretty nasty technology, and his H.Q. is guarded by a bunch of sneaky 'bots he made up. He now installed his base deep in this forest, where he's searching for our Perfect Leaves that are supposed to be there." "Okay..." said Amy. "So that's the guy against us." "But we are also racing against someone else," said Sonic. "We, the people of Mobius, have no special hate for this El. El's enemy is this guy searching for the leaves too; he is in fact our old friend, Knuckles, and..." Sonic kept talking, but Amy didn't hear him. She felt as if she was hit by a knife going through her stomach, and that knife was Knuckles himself. Her whole body was trembling now. "Amy are you okay?" Sonic asked. "Knuc-Knuckles is searching f-for..." Amy said with fear. She was now looking at Sonic straight in the eyes. "What's the matter, Amy?" asked Sonic. When Amy heard Sonic, she controlled herself and stopped trembling. "Nothing," she said, "go on." Sonic tried not to bring Knuckles in the discussion again. He continued. "El's base is about 5000 miles northwest from where we are. Normally we can make it there in ten days." Amy was surprised. "Ten days when it only took you five minutes to run ten miles?" "Actually twenty miles, 'cause I had to go back. And I spent a minute purchasing the milk." "Yeah, well..." "It's because in the forest it's a lot harder to run fast because it's easier to run into an obstacle. Also you will be slowing me down. You're kind of heavy to carry, you know." "Wait... Does that mean I'm going with you?" Amy asked, overjoyed. "Oh, yes, I forgot to tell you," Sonic explained, "you're coming. It's really that I had no choice. The people in the village next door don't even speak our language, and - HEY!" Amy had literally jumped on Sonic hugging him tight. "Oh, thanks very much, Sonic..." "Uh..." said Sonic as he tried to escape Amy's embrace, "no problem." The next half-hour Sonic and Amy had everything packed up and were ready to go. "Okay, let's go," Sonic said. "Give me your hand, Amy." Since she did not respond as quickly as Sonic wished, he actually grabbed her by the waist and ran into the forest, carrying Amy. Chapter Three And so Sonic and Amy traveled together in the forest in the northern part of Mobius, Sonic carrying Amy all the time. At noon they would stop for about half an hour to eat lunch. And at about seven in the evening they would stop to eat dinner and spend the night. The first two evenings, Amy felt total happiness when they got in the tent to sleep, because Sonic slept in the same tent as her. Of course, they didn't do anything special, but each night Amy could observe Sonic, and talk to Sonic... And each night she would dream about him. Then came the third evening. Sonic stopped to run at about six-forty-five. They set up their tent in a clearing in the forest. "Amy, go get some wood for the fire," ordered Sonic. "Me? You want me to do it?" "Course! It's your turn today," Sonic answered. "I did it yesterday and the day before yesterday." "Okay, I'll do it then," Amy finally said. Unfortunately, since it had rained a lot this day, wood was very hard to find. Amy, while searching for what Sonic wanted, suddenly was struck by the memory of her journey to the Floating Island. The Island was a chunk of earth several miles long and wide that was floating in the sky using the power of the Chaos Emeralds. There was a whole environment and population living on the Island, and Knuckles was the boss over there. Knuckles was able to control the Chaos Emeralds, which meant he could also control the direction and the speed at which the Island was moving. Amy remembered how she had traveled from her homeplanet to someplace in Mobius, near where the Floating Island was passing by, which was what she wanted. Her goal was to find Sonic, and the people of the Island knew far more better than her how to reach Sonic's village. Once the Island stopped, and Knuckles had to leave for several hours. With Knuckles gone, Amy secretly got on the Island where she met Knuckles' friend: Espio the Chameleon. Espio asked Amy what she was doing on the Island. He called her a trespasser and said he would turn her in to Knuckles, who was not the kind of guy to accept Amy on his Island now, since they were, Espio explained, in a critical situation. Amy said that she was looking for someone since long, because she was all alone in the forest. She said she didn't know how to live in the forest and that she would probably die in a few weeks if she stayed in the forest. "This Island is my only hope," Amy cried. Espio was really embarrassed, seeing this girl cry in front of him. "Look," he said, "it's okay with me if you stay, but you gotta understand: Knuckles is not gonna like this. You better hide quick, 'cause he'll be back soon." "But where can I hide in this Island?" Amy asked. "I can find some place for you in Knuckles' town," Espio replied. "No, not Knuckles' town," Amy pleaded. "If I'm go there someone will probably recognize me and tell Knuckles about me! Hide me in your home instead." "IN MY HOME? Are you out of your mind, girl? Who do you think I am?" "Pleaaase," Amy said as she got down on her knees in front of Espio. Espio was really embarrassed by now. "Look..." he started, "um... gee, I don't know." He wanted to get out of there quickly. "I think I hear my pals! Hide somewhere, quick!" "Your pals," said Amy as she got up again. "Yeah, my teammates, the guys I work with. Quick, run somewhere and hide!" Amy did not need more advice: she quickly hid under a bush while Mighty the Armadillo arrived at the scene. "Hey, Espio," Mighty said. He looked around. "Where's Knuckles?" "Down there," Espio replied. "I think he's going back up now. Oh, there he is." Knuckles appeared over the edge of the Island. He came towards Mighty and Espio. "Okay guys, I got it. We gotta move west: should take us about four weeks to get there. That's long enough, so don't delay it any further. Let's go!" "Got it," said Espio. "I'll direct the Island's direction, 'cause you gotta rest." "Really?" said Knuckles. "Yeah," said Mighty. "We can take care of business, so go ahead." "I guess you're right. See ya later, guys," said Knuckles as he left the scene. "Okay, that's very nice, but now we gotta get this Island movin'!" said Espio. "Why don't you get that done, Mighty?" "Got it, man. 'Later." As Mighty left, Amy came out of the bush she was hiding in. Espio was a little surprised to see Amy: he had kind if forgotten about her. "So can I hide into your house?" Amy asked again. "What!? I... No, that's out of the question!... Until when would that be?" "Well, you could take me to Sonic's village. How long would it take to get there?" "Who's village?" "Sonic the Hedgehog's." "Oh OK. But no, we can't do it. It would delay..." "Delay what?" "Shh. You're not supposed to know about it." "C'mon... Do it. Pleaaase?" Amy said as she again got on her knees in front of Espio. "DON'T DO THAT! I hate when you do that! Stop it!" said Espio, visibly annoyed. "Sorry," said Amy as she got back up again. Espio sighed. "All right, I'll find you a place. But we cannot change our itinerary to make a stop at whatever his name is' village." "Sonic," Amy said. "Huh?" "Sonic. That's his name." "Fine, fine! Look, girl... What's your name?" "Amy." "Okay, Amy. You're not supposed to be here. If Knuckles or even Mighty or Vector or whatever finds out you're here, you're dead. You're a trespasser, you know that? And for these guys, girls = trouble. And trouble is the very least thing we want now. Got it?" Amy was frightened. "Wa-wa-what if s-someone finds out I'm here? Will they drop me over the edge or something?" Amy asked, trembling. "I don't know... But I know that I shouldn't be doing this! My duty is to turn you in right now!!!" Amy screamed for several seconds until she fainted...