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“Sonic, focus!” Amy huffed and stomped her foot against the ground.
“Huh—what?” Sonic snapped out of his trance and smiled sheepishly. “Sorry Ames.”
Amy sighed and rubbed her temples. “Focus on what’s in front of you for once?”
“Oh yeah, what were we doing?” Sonic chuckled awkwardly.
Knuckles laughed. “Eating at Mehburger. Even I know that, Sonic.”
“Last time I checked we were at the beach,” Tails started as Knuckles shoved a burger-shaped pile of sand into his mouth and coughed.
Sticks’ eyes widened. “He’s gonna choke! I’ve always wanted to try the Heimlich maneuver!” She punched Knuckles hard in the back and he wheezed and fell face first into the sand.
Amy winced before electing to ignore Knuckles’ current situation and continuing with her train of thought.
“What’s been on your mind lately, Sonic? You can tell us. We’re your friends.”
“Nothing! Nothing at all!” Sonic blurted, and Amy shot him a questioning glare.
“Fine, fine…” He continued, “I dunno, I've just been thinking about… Uh, someone.”
“Who?!” Everyone (even Knuckles, although his voice was muffled from under the sand) asked in unison.
Sonic gulped as all eyes were on him.
“Maybe we shouldn’t press him like this—” Tails started but Amy cut him off.
“I’VE GOT TO KNOW!” She yelled before clearing her throat and playing it off with a giggle. “I’m the group therapist after all!”
Sonic blinked.
“Alright then. I was just thinking about whether Shadow was busy, y’know… I know he kind of hates us but I always kind of thought he’d be a good addition to team Sonic—If he wasn’t such a hard case of course.”
Amy’s jaw dropped and Tails closed it for her.
Sticks’ brows furrowed and a wild look came upon her. “We haven’t seen Shadow in weeks!” She exclaimed. “Did he implant a chip in your brain to make you think about him or what? ‘Fess up!”
“No, Sticks, I already told you, he didn’t! Listen, the sandcastle that Knuckles made kinda looked like him, okay? That’s all.”
Tails and Amy looked down at the mound of sand Knuckles had accumulated and exchanged glances. “Yeah. Definitely.”
Amy shot up and grabbed Tails by the arm. “I need to talk to Tails for a second—alone!”
Sonic shrugged as Amy dragged a confused Tails to the other side of the beach.
“What is going on with him!?” Amy shook Tails. “This is the fifth time he’s mentioned Shadow since he left. Why is he so obsessed with him?!”
“Why would I know?!” Tails squeaked as Amy nails tightened on his shoulders. “Calm down!”
Amy snapped out of it and let go of poor Tails. “Sorry Tails, I just—”
“You like Sonic and you’re afraid he’s moved on,” Tails sighed. “We’ve been over this a thousand times—I literally have it written down from our secret therapy sessions.”
Tails pulled out a notebook and flipped through the pages full of markings. Amy winced before pushing the notebook back towards Tails.
“Those other times were completely valid. Why would Sonic ask where Shadow went if he didn’t care?”
“I guess you have a point.” Tails tapped his chin as he thought. “Something must have happened between them before Shadow left.”
“Like what?!”
“I don’t know. We all know of the weird tension they have going on, but is there really more to it? I wouldn’t be surprised. Sonic is pretty, uh, fruity.”
“He doesn’t even know it himself though! Every time one of us asks him if he likes guys he denies it.”
“That doesn’t really stop something from happening though. Remember that time you and Sonic went on a date and he ran a mile away to prove it wasn’t a date? He may be doing something similar with Shadow.”
“But he can’t! He’s supposed to like me,” Amy sighed. “I know that’s selfish but I haven’t given up on him, so why should he give up on me?”
“As much as I look up to Sonic, I think you deserve someone who can compliment you properly. If he gave up on you, do you really think he's right for you?”
“I—I don’t know… But he has to be. He’s the guy and I'm the girl—”
“I wouldn’t say so. I’d think about it more. I know you’ll find what’s best for you.” Tails smiled and patted Amy’s shoulder before walking back to the group. Amy sighed before nodding to herself and walking back.
Maybe she should do some thinking.
The next day, Team Sonic was hanging out at the soccer field and kicking the ball around. Amy had put some thought into what Tails had told her but it was, of course, easier said than done. She couldn’t just give up on Sonic that easily. She hasn’t even had a final straw yet! It wasn’t like Shadow was going to randomly show up and give her a reason to be angry.
On cue, a red trail zipped past the group, pulling up blades of grass from the ground as they violently swayed in the wind created.
“FUCK!” Amy yelled. The universe loved to spite her. She felt her rage boil and kicked the soccer ball as hard as she could, nailing Knuckles in the chest and causing him to fall backwards onto the ground.
Amy seethed as Sonic’s eyes lit up when Shadow stopped in his tracks and puffed his chest out.
“It’s been a while, Faker.”
Sonic smirked and got into a fighting stance. “Did ya miss me?”
“Hardly.” Shadow did the same, clearly as into this as Sonic was despite his words.
Amy resisted the urge to cry as Sonic looked Shadow up and down.
He was checking him out.
That was definitely her final straw.
“YOU JERK!!” Amy’s eyes welled up with tears, blurring her vision as she hurdled her hammer at Sonic before dashing away. Sonic dodged the hammer, but most definitely not the confusion, and stood there awkwardly watching Amy run away. Surprisingly, Shadow seemed to share this feeling.
Tails winced and prepared to run after her but Sticks was already on it.
“I’m not getting one of Shadow’s chips implanted into my brain! See ya!” she bolted after Amy and Tails got the memo.
Knuckles was still on the ground.
Sobs echoed through the jungle by the time Sticks caught up to Amy, who was sitting alone on a rock with tears pouring out of her eyes. The cliche-ness of it all made Sticks cringe but she had more important things to worry about. She squatted down beside Amy.
“Did he implant a chip in your brain too?”
“ No , Sticks!” Amy cried. “Don’t you get it? I’ll never be Sonic’s girlfriend. I got replaced by fucking Shadow of all people! Why him ?!”
Sticks sighed. “I’m not really the comforting kind of badger, but uh… I’d be pretty mad if I was ditched like that. But then again, with the government spying on us, you can’t really trust anyone.”
Amy kept crying and Sticks just stared at the ground.
“He was—he was checking him out,” Amy eventually mumbled between sobs.
Sticks was going to point out that that was an effect of the mind chip, but either way it seemed to be hurting Amy. Sticks wasn’t a fan of that.
Sticks gently nudged Amy with her elbow. “Sonic can go trip on a landmine. hell, I’ll even make the landmine myself . He’s missing out.”
Amy gazed up at Sticks, wide-eyed. “You really think so?”
“Definitely. I mean, if one of us was a government spy, I trust that it wouldn’t be you.”
“That’s weirdly sweet, Sticks,” Amy giggled softly and wiped her tears. “Maybe you should be my boyfriend.”
Amy paused too late after the words came out of her mouth. Sticks’s eyes widened.
“I mean—just because you’re so much better at comforting me than Sonic, and—”
Sticks smiled. Genuinely.
“I wouldn’t mind being your boyfriend. Someone’s got to protect you from the mind chip.”
Sticks stood up and held out her arms. Amy followed and went in for a hug.
“Thanks Sticks. I mean it.”
“No problem, Amy,” Sticks said softly and ran a hand through Amy’s quills. “Let’s go make sure Shadow hasn’t implanted the chip into Knuckles’ and Tails’ brains yet.”
“Sounds great!” Amy smiled and took Sticks’ hand, dragging her back to the soccer field.
Sonic regained his breath as he pinned Shadow to the ground.
“You just came back and you already got your ass kicked! You’re getting rusty.”
Shadow smirked. “I’d never let you win that easily.”
“But I’ve got you pinned down,” Sonic retorted.
“Or do you?” Shadow snickered before biting down on Sonic’s neckerchief, pulling him closer.
Sonic squeaked. “The hell did you think that was gonna do?”
Shadow kicked Sonic in the stomach before flipping him over. “Distraction!”
“Damn it!” Sonic laughed. He shouldn’t be having as much fun with this as he was.
“I feel like we shouldn’t be watching this,” Tails’ eyes widened, and Knuckles just watched in awe.
Amy and Sticks, hand in hand, skipped back over to the soccer field, but Amy halted in her tracks when she saw what was occuring. Again . Sticks squeezed her hand tighter and Amy heaved a heavy sigh before turning to face her. “They’re fine. Let's go do something fun together.”
Sticks quickly nodded and led Amy away from the scene.
“They’re going to go at this until they pass out,” Tails facepalmed while Knuckles remained standing still in genuine awe.
“Dude! You got spit on my neckerchief! Gross!” Sonic kicked Shadow in the stomach and Shadow winced.
“Cherish it, hedgehog, that’s the saliva of the Ultimate Lifeform!” Shadow quickly quipped before tightening his grip on Sonic’s neckerchief.
“Hell no! And let me go!”
“How about no,” Shadow smiled with rizz. “And that little pink girlfriend of yours is already gone with the badger.”
“She’s not my girlfriend!” Sonic rolled his eyes, tired of hearing this, before it dawned upon him. “Wait, Sticks?”
“Yeah, whatever her name is.”
Sonic smiled genuinely. “That’s good, I was afraid she’d be alone.”
Shadow frowned. “Why do you care? She threw her hammer at you.”
“Well, obviously, I did something to make her angry. I’ll figure it out later and make up for it. She’s my friend. Unlike you.”
Sonic smirked and whispered, “Unless you’re so desperate to be my friend that you’d come all this way back to see me.”
Shadow hissed and kicked Sonic away before getting up and wiping the grass off his knees.
“Never!”
He bolted away and Sonic laughed.
“What a fun guy—I just wish he wasn’t so hardcore all the time.”