Chapter Text
On Seaside Island, days were very rarely ever calm. The sound of lasers being fired, the rumbling of the ground, insults and taunts constantly being thrown about between a man doctor and a blue hedgehog. That was a normal day for the residents of the island. Unfortunately. “You can’t catch me with something like that, Eggman!” Sonic yelled as he dodged a giant claw that lunged at him. The man behind the machine, Dr. Eggman, growled and slammed his hands on the dashboard of the Eggmobile, having the giant robot shoot a laser from its giant eye in the middle.
Dodging it with ease, Sonic looked to his left as he stopped for a second. Amy was on the phone, texting someone, a smile on her face as she did. “Amy, what are you doing?” Sonic asked, bewildered on why she would be texting someone at this moment. Noticing a charged punch, Sonic grabbed Amy bridal style and moved her, but the pink hedgehog didn’t look up from her phone, even as Sonic ran from lasers being shot.
Focused too much on Sonic, and Amy by proxy, Eggman didn’t notice Knuckles and Sticks jumping on his Eggmobile, hitting and punching it. Yelling out a “Wha-HEY-” in surprise, Eggman looked down at the added weight on his transportation device, glaring at the echidna and badger. He shook his mobile, throwing the two of them off. Sonic came to a stop next to where Knuckles and Sticks landed, still holding Amy in his arms. Knuckles looked over and gave a confused look. Sonic just shrugged, not sure if should put Amy down or just keep holding her.
Suddenly, she began to giggle and kick her legs. This action caused Sonic to lose a bit of balance, but he did catch himself. “Amy, why are you on your phone?” Sonic asked, only to get a phone shoved in his face. On the screen was a very attractive looking hedgehog. Sonic would have asked who this was, but recognized that there was a UI on the video. It was one of her dating games.
“Amy, are you seriously playing Loving Dreamspace during a fight!?” Sonic called out to Amy as he thought about just… dropping her. Like, Amy needs to pay more attention, especially during a fight! The response he got from her was a huff and a pout, hopping out of his arms and onto the ground.
I needed to do my dailies before the next server day! I had only 15 minutes when the fight first started!” Amy explained, holding her phone close to her chest. Her ears then perked up when a small ding was heard from her phone. A large smile grew on her face as soon as she looked back down, more giggles coming from her as she tapped away.
Sonic groaned while Knuckles and Sticks stood off to the side, not sure how to really react. “Amy! Stop playing your stupid little boyfriend simulator game and help fight Eggman!” Sonic yelled as he walked up and swiped the phone out of the pink hedgehog’s hands. The response he got was a yell and a hit over the head.
“You can’t just take a phone out of a lady’s hand like that! Especially when she is busy with something!” Amy said as she stole her phone back from Sonic. The blue hedgehog growled as he glared at Amy, frustration showing on his brow. He opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the sound of loud beeping. Looking up, Sonic sees that the giant robot they are fighting is charging its laser again. Groaning, Sonic began to run circles, yelling out to Amy, who was STILL ON HER PHONE!
“AMY!” Sonic yelled, and surprisingly, she looked up to him, a glare on her face. “Get off your phone! Help us-”
“Sonic, you know nothing of romance!” Amy interrupted. Sonic almost tripped in shock, finding the statement was not only incorrect, but describes Amy more than him. “Romance doesn't wait!”
“Amy, you are single! You have no romance experience other than your stupid little game!” Sonic felt himself wince. The topic of personal romance was a soft spot for Amy, since she had been pining after him for years before he officially told her to leave him alone (romantically) because he had started a… situationship with Shadow. No hard feelings ended up between them, but this was still a low blow to the hopeless romantic. The look that laid on Amy’s face was that of burning rage and shame.
“Sonic! You asshole!” She yelled, causing everyone to freeze, even Eggman froze to watch the drama go down. Amy very rarely cusses, so everyone watches when she does. “At least I can keep up the attention to my virtual boyfriends! You and Shadow do a ‘kiss and dip’! He never stays in the morning!” Now it was Sonic’s turn to feel his face burn with shame. Like, yeah, Shadow leaves after a night and never stays for the morning, like he’s afraid to see the day. And, yeah, maybe it does hurt to wake up to an empty bed. But Amy is still a single girl, and NOT in a relationship, no matter how good she is at romance advice!
“Well-!” Sonic began to stutter, not knowing how to really respond now. “You have no REAL romantic experience! Like Knuckles,” Sonic heard a “HEY!” from the red echidna, “And Sticks and Tails!” He got no sound of offence from Tails, but Sticks sounded quite angry from being caught up in the conversation. “In fact, you are like… Eggman in the romantic aspect! No one to love and- and- no one who loves you! Romantically!" Sonic added the last bit quickly, trying to avoid sounding like an ass, because this is really just about romance, and not about… self-esteem and stuff.
Thankfully, Amy didn’t look hurt from the words, but she did look offended instead. She opened her mouth to say something, maybe even more scathing than what he said, when they were interrupted by the sound of a loud sob. Everyone looked over to where the sound came from, Eggman. His face was in his hands, his robot staring at him, along with the rodents he was just fighting.
“Look what you did Sonic, you made Eggman cry!” Amy finally said, hands on her hips, a glare on her face. Walking over to Eggman, Amy watched as the man in the Eggmobile began to lower closer to the ground. When he finally landed, Amy jumped up next to him and began to rub his back in comfort, mummering words of “It’s okay”, and “He didn’t mean it” to the man.
“You’re right, Sonic,” the doctor said, looking up from his hands to look at the blue hedgehog. Sonic moved back a little, shocked and concerned. “You- I- I could have proven you wrong years ago but-!” another sob came out as he tried to talk to Sonic. “I blew it!” he cried out, a loud near wail following not long after. Amy began to hug him as the rest of the team just… awkwardly stood off to the side, watching as Amy ran her hand up and down the doctors back to comfort him.
“What did you do?” Amy asked softly, her eyes looking into Eggman’s as he looked at her.
“I had someone…” He said, a hiccup following soon after, more tears falling down his face. How Amy could look so kind to someone who was an ugly crier would always confuse Team Sonic. “I had someone who was perfect. A kind and thoughtful person who was there by my side…” And he began to bawl again. Amy continued to rub his back as the rest of Team Sonic stood off to the side, a bit awkwardly. Should they say something? Should they also comfort the crying man?
“And you left them?” Tails asked tentatively, his body a little shrunken in on itself as he pinned his ears back a bit in a show of shyness.
“AND I LEFT THEM!” Eggman wailed out, causing everyone (save for Amy) to jump back in surprise. “Today would have been our 13th anniversary since we had gotten together!” Sonic made a face and looked over at Tails. That explains why he was so… emotional today when they were fighting. Like, Eggman was falling for the taunts he was throwing out during the battle much more often than normal.
“Oh, Eggman…” Amy said quietly, her poor heart aching for the crying man. He seemed really torn up about this whole situation, it was obviously a sore spot for him. “How long were you two together for?” Amy clasped one of her hands on the doctor’s arm, soft eyes meeting teary ones.
“We were together f-for six ye-years… a-and-and-!” Once again, the man began to sob out, new tears dripping down his face. “I miss ‘EMMMMM!” Sonic covered his ears as the loud wail came from the man. Why were they even doing this right now? Eggman’s romantic life wasn’t their problem, especially if it was seven years ago. So why were they forced to listen to him cry about it?
Looking over to Tails, Knuckles, and Sticks, Sonic tried to sign that they should get out of there. Amy should be able to take care of this and herself, so why would they stay? Right when he made the ‘let’s get out of here’ gesture, he looked up to see Amy glaring at him. He froze in place as her glare pierced his soul. She turned away to Eggman just for a second, saying something to him before jumping down and marching over to Sonic.
“You are not going anywhere, Sonic!” she said, shoving a finger into his chest, towering over his shrinking form. “You are the reason for this whole thing, so you will help me fix this!” Sonic wanted to reject, to tell her that it isn’t his job to help, but the rage in her eyes told him it was his fault. And to be real? It was his fault. He made the unnecessary comment and brought everyone into the argument he and Amy were having. Sighing, Sonic nodded as Amy backed off and turned back around.
“Eggman?” Amy asked as she walked back to the man in the Eggmobile. “Sonic and I are going to help, do you wanna talk about your problems?” The doctor nodded as he got out of his vehicle and sat down on the ground. Amy sat next to him, her hands back onto his in an attempt to comfort him. She then looked over to Sonic with a glare, gesturing her head to sit next to her.
Sonic trudged over, his feet dragging and face unimpressed. This better be over soon so they can go back to being enemies. “Ugh…” Sonic groaned under his breath as he sat down next to Amy. She looked at him pointedly, trying to tell him to say something. Groaning again, Sonic opened his mouth to try.
“Look, Egghead-” a glare from Amy caused him to backtrack to correct himself. “Eggman. I’m sorry to hear about your struggles with… uh… romance.” Sonic tried. He didn’t want to look at Eggman, in case he started to cry again, so he missed the look Amy gave him. “But I don’t know how we are supposed to help you with that. It’s been like… seven years.” Now everyone was staring at him, yet he didn’t look up. “They probably forgot about you.”
“Sonic!” Amy yelled, tugging his quills in anger to get his attention. Next to her, he heard loud sobbing from Eggman and a “Not cool” from Tails. Sighing, Sonic pinned his ears back and groaned.
“Amy, you know I’m not good at this!” Sonic said, finally looking up to Amy. If looks could kill, Sonic would have been dead long ago.
“Oh! I wish you had figured that out BEFORE this even happened!” Amy hissed out, her hands still rubbing the Doctor’s back. Sonic winced, understanding what she was implying. His last statement was a confession that he knew nothing of romance when compared to Amy, and this wouldn’t have happened if he didn’t fire back at her petty insults that involved others.
For the next TWO HOURS, the team stood, or sat, around the crying man with Amy talking to him. At one point, Tails tried to play a game on a tablet, but the sounds it made distracted everyone and Amy angrily shushed the fox. By the time they were finally free from the sobbing man and his therapy session, the sun was starting to set.
Amy was talking softly to Eggman while the rest of the team stood off to the side, Sonic rushing over in a blue blur to be away from the other two. He had heard all of the information about Eggman's “old partner” and even more information he didn’t want that related to the man’s old romantic life. Amy listened and asked questions, helping him through the… issues he was going through. A part of him was worried that Amy would offer that he stay at their place to help him feel better, but thankfully she seemed to remember the first time that happened.
They watched as the man got on his Eggmobile and left, the robot they were fighting hours ago dangling from the giant magnet coming from the bottom. Team Sonic stood and waited until they could not see the Doctor anymore, feeling a sort of weight lifted as he left. Tails walked over to Amy to try to talk to her, but only got a tired and slightly angry glare before she walked off. Part of Sonic wanted to talk to her instead, try to make her smile again and put this behind them, but her body language told him he would be hit with her hammer if he tired.
They all walked back to town, Amy not even stopping to say hi to people and heading straight to her house. The rest of the team stood awkwardly as she walked into her house, feeling the heavy weight that had vanished when Eggman had left to start to come back. Knuckles looked at Sonic, worry written on his face.
“She’ll be back to being okay tomorrow, right?” the red echidna asked, getting a little shrug from the blue hedgehog and nod.
“Yeah, I think she will be… Well… Who's hungry?” Sonic changed the subject after his answer, trying to help ease the awkwardness. The team agreed, readily heading to Meh Burger for a good meal.
Down at the beach, far from where the main town of people could see, a man looked into the forest. He smiled as he jumped off the boat he came on, dusting himself off and fixing his cuffs.
“I finally found you, Doctor.”