Disclaimer: all of the characters and situations in this story are copyright one or more of the following: Sega, DiC. This story is copyright Sam Durbin, a.k.a. Bryon Nightshade, and is bound by all applicable laws and statutes.
Author's note: This is a reprint of a story I published long ago. It was removed, and the reason why was not disclosed. Since I have no idea why that happened, I'm simply putting the original back up. Enjoy.
Amy Rose sized up her target and tried to suppress the growing fear within her.
This was going to be tricky. Odds were that the target would run away, though there was a possibility it might hurt her considerably, depending on what happened. There was a slim chance she would succeed… and that slim chance was enough motivation for Amy Rose to take the risk.
She swallowed hard, gathered up her courage, ignored her racing pulse, put on a cheerful face, and walked towards the target, screaming "Sonic!"
The blue hedgehog jerked at the sound. From his seat in the open-air café, he turned apprehensively. "Amy!"
"That's right!" she said cheerfully. She was close now, every moment she was getting closer. Walking now, not running, trying not to scare him off. "I've been looking for you."
"I know you have," said Sonic, who was nonetheless grabbing at something around his ankle. "Listen, Amy, what do you want?"
"To date you," Amy blurted. She regretted it immediately. It was more subtle than "marry you," which was her usual line, but—
Sonic's eyes widened considerably. He brought his hand back up and laid a few bills on the café table. "Keep the change!" he shouted, then exploded into action. Even Amy, who was used to his movements, had trouble tracking him. There he went, down 3rd Street!
"Sonic!" Amy said. Her voice was anguished, but that was only part of what she felt. It's not like this was anything new. It was, in fact, comforting. It was normal. She chased him, he ran. It meant, ironically, that she was making progress; he certainly wasn't ignoring her.
And it had to count for something that he wasn't running at top speed. He could lose her easily if he went all out, yet that never seemed to happen. She smiled to herself.
This time, it wouldn't be normal.
Somehow, her footsteps stopped making any sound. Then she lost touch with the ground below. She looked down—it was like staring into a deep well. Some kind of apparatus on the sides, then inky nothingness.
Then she was falling, falling, forever falling…
Down, down, down she went, ever further into the darkness. There was no way to measure time; however long it was had to be too long. Amy's insides roiled as they tried to figure out what was happening. It wasn't falling like jumping from a height; it was more like drifting towards the side of a pool.
A speck of light caught her attention, and slowly grew. As far as Amy could tell, she was "falling" in that direction. No move she made had any effect—the speck always had the same orientation.
As she drew closer, the speck took on a greenish color and grew. Eventually, it encompassed her whole vision, and she realized it was grass.
Abruptly the strange sensations cut out, and gravity took over.
"Ooph!"
The air fled from her body at the impact. It wasn't as bad as it should have been given how long she'd been "falling", but she wasn't tallying her good fortune at this point.
She heard water flowing nearby. She needed to get her bearings, but the fall had robbed her of strength. She couldn't rise.
"Is she okay?"
That voice! It was something she knew, something so familiar. She looked up as much as she could manage…
"Sonic!" she squeaked without breath.
His appearance was almost enough to drive her to her feet—but he was wrong, somehow. His build was different, and his eyes were black instead of green.
"Did she just say your name?"
With all of the colors swimming in Amy's vision, it was difficult to figure out where the sounds were coming from. Her eyes wandered and drifted—on some level she knew she was about to lose it, but she needed to see. That had been a female voice, who did it belong to?
Was that… a person? Flashes of brown and blue…
"Help me out here, Sal!"
The world stretched into bands of color, the colors blurred, and she…
"Come on, admit it. You laughed."
"Okay, I laughed, but I really didn't want to."
"Part of you must've wanted to, or you wouldn't have done it!"
"That's not true…"
"Admit it. It was funny."
"It was juvenile."
"C'mon!"
"You put ants in his uniform."
"See? Practical joke and pun in one shot. Can't beat that!"
"Honestly, you thought that was funny? Ants?"
"'Course. And you're not foolin' anyone by hidin' your face."
"Why do you do things like that?"
"Got to. It's just how it works. I mean, he invites it on himself!"
"But why Antoine? I know he's… your favorite target, but can't you go after someone else some time?"
"I'm not touchin' Rotor. He'll get back at me with something sneaky! Never trust the smart ones, I say."
"Which means you either don't trust me, or don't think I'm very smart. Which is it?"
"Well… um…"
"Come on, which is it?"
"You're gonna hurt me no matter what I say, aren't ya?"
"Probably."
"Fine then, we'll skip that part. I'm gonna check up on the girl."
Amy opened her eyes.
She was lying in a rustic room, very plain. Clean, white sheets under her on the bed, a few wooden chairs, an open-air window with wooden shutters. It was a bit hot. As Amy looked, she couldn't see any signs that electricity flowed through here.
She turned her attentions to the door. She'd heard voices just now—one female voice, one male. The male voice had sounded like Sonic's, but that didn't make sense. Nothing made sense, but especially not that. The male voice had said he was coming to check on her, and sure enough, the door knob rotated and a blue head popped in.
"Sonic!" Amy yelled in delight. So it was him after all!
No—it was almost-Sonic. His eyes were wrong, his build was wrong—and his attitude was wrong. He withdrew the moment she said his name.
"Sal? You handle this. Something about this creeps me out." That was Sonic's voice, much to Amy's disappointment.
"No problem," answered the female voice. The owner of the voice entered the room, and Amy knew it was a whole new ballgame.
Brown fur throughout, somewhat lighter on the face and torso. Auburn hair, cropped short. Very slender, but deceptively so, as if the thinness was a disguise of some kind. Almost no tail. Age was hard to determine; physically she didn't seem fully developed, but she felt old. For clothes, naught but a blue vest and blue boots. A head that seemed a size too large for that body.
And eyes—vibrant, intelligent, appraising eyes, sparkling blue in color.
She spoke with measured kindness. "I'm Sally." She pulled a chair close to the bed and sat down, looking Amy in the eyes. "What's your name?"
"Amy," she responded. "Amy Rose."
Sally smiled. "It's a good name. Welcome to Knothole Village."
"Where?"
It was the first thing Amy could think of; she said it because she had to say something. Things were just too bizarre to try nothing.
"Knothole," Sally repeated. "You've probably never heard of it."
"Well," said Amy, gathering herself and trying to think logically, "what country am I in?"
Sally looked uncomfortable. "Amy… it's hard to say this… I don't think you're on the right planet."
She waited for the words to sink in, but Amy merely blinked in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean? The right planet?"
Sally reached down to her boot. Amy noticed, for the first time, a small grey box attached to the boot. Sally unclipped the box, unfolded it, and said, "Nicole, display image 'hole1'."
The box displayed a hologram in the air between the girls. Amy didn't know how to divide her attention. The box—obviously some sort of computer, way more powerful than any Amy knew of—was impressive enough, particularly in a place with no air conditioning. But the image it projected…
"That's the hole I fell through," she said.
She wasn't quite sure how she knew this, for the image was a weird one. It looked like a normal forest clearing, except that suspended in the air was a hole. The hole had no depth, just a circle of absolute blackness hanging by itself.
"That's right," Sally confirmed. "I got this image after you fell through. As far as we can tell, it's a hole between dimensions."
Once more Amy found herself unable to speak. Sally waited for her to respond, but it was a struggle to find anything sensible to say. "Can you… say that to me again?" Amy said.
"It's a hole between dimensions," Sally repeated. "You've been pulled from your world to ours. We don't know how or why."
Panic filled Amy's heart. "Where… where am I?" she said breathlessly. "What country?"
"The Kingdom of Acorn," Sally said. Amy normally would have noticed the shadow that descended on Sally's face at the words, but she was preoccupied.
"What continent?"
"The Main Continent."
"What… planet?"
"Mobius."
Amy felt herself getting light-headed. Sally, whose voice had remained calm all the while, eased the younger girl backwards. "Relax," she said. "It's a lot to handle, I know. We'll help you any way we can, but right now, you need to rest."
Amy was hyperventilating. "Where… Sonic, I have to see Sonic!"
"I don't think that's a good idea," said Sally.
"Sonic!"
Sally hesitated, then turned to the door. "Sonic," she called.
The blue face appeared again. Amy had counted on him for reassurance, the way she did with Sonic normally—but now all she could notice was how this wasn't Sonic and how far he was from how she needed him to be…
She blacked out.
When Amy woke up this time, it was night. The moon shone through the open window. Sitting next to her was an old anthropomorphic chipmunk. She was knitting in the poor light, her well-practiced fingers making no mistakes.
More than anything, Amy was acutely aware that she was not at home.
She sighed in disappointment. So it was all real, after all…
The old lady noticed the sound. "Well, good evening, Miss Rose."
"Call me Amy," she said absently.
The old lady smiled. "That will clear up a little confusion, then. My name is Rosie. It's a pleasure to see you awake, Amy."
Amy sat up but felt down. "Where's Sonic?" she said.
"Sonic and Sally are out," said Rosie gently. "They didn't want to leave you alone, but they had to go, so they left me. Here, I made you some sandwiches."
Amy realized that she hadn't eaten since… well, it had been early afternoon back in Station Square, but she had no idea here. She didn't know how long it had taken to fall, she didn't know how long she'd been asleep—in fact, there was no way to know or guess how many hours were in a day here.
Either way, she was hungry.
She reached for the sandwiches. She was tentative at first—how could she even know what a sandwich was like here?—but she soon sped up as she gained confidence. Even if nothing else in this world was the same, a sandwich was still a sandwich!
Not that there weren't differences. The bread was coarse, whole-wheat, and there was something fake-tasting about the meat. But the vegetables were very fresh and ripe.
"This tomato is great," she said, trying to be polite. "It tastes like it was picked this morning."
"It was picked this morning," said Rosie, still smiling. "The bread was baked this afternoon, though we had the grain in storage for a while. We don't have the facilities to process the soy, though—normally we have to either steal it already patterned or trade for patterned soy with other villages."
"Patterned… soy?" said Amy. She left the sandwich hovering below her mouth, suddenly unsure.
Rosie chuckled. "You didn't think that was actual meat, did you? You really are from another world! Here, there aren't many creatures that aren't sentient. Eating meat would be cannibalism."
Amy paled. "I'm sorry," she blurted, quickly dropping the sandwich.
Rosie's expression didn't change. "Don't worry about it. Like I said, what you're eating is patterned soy. It's close enough to meat to keep everyone happy, but it isn't really meat at all."
Amy nibbled a little for show, but her appetite was gone. "Well, those were good," she said, sliding the tray away from her. "So where did… I mean… gosh, I don't even know where to start!" she said, becoming bashful. "I've never woken up in someone else's world before."
"Neither have I," said Rosie amiably. "It's a learning experience for both of us."
There was one thing Amy knew she could latch on to despite her doubt. "Tell me about Sonic," she said. "There's… a Sonic in my world, too. I thought, you know, if I understood Sonic…"
Rosie nodded. "Certainly, Amy. Sonic's 16 now, just like Sally and Rotor and Bunnie and Antoine. I brought them all here together eleven years ago. It was quite a lot for me to handle, believe you me! And they certainly didn't make it easy on me, especially after Sonic found Tails."
"Tails!" said Amy. "There's a Tails in my world, too!" It occurred to her, suddenly, that just because he was named the same thing… "Sorry," she said sheepishly. "The Tails I know is an orange fox with two tails. I don't suppose that's very common."
Rosie chuckled. "Incredible," she said. "That what my Tails is like, too."
Amy's face picked up. "Really? Can I see him?"
"I'm afraid it's past his bed time!" laughed Rosie. "Sally put him to bed before leaving tonight."
"Oh," said Amy. "But it's okay for me to see him tomorrow, right?"
"Absolutely," said Rosie. "Just remember, you may know a thing or two about him, but he's never seen you before."
"Right," she agreed. "Anyway… so you brought them here eleven years ago. But why? I mean, where were their parents?"
Rosie's humor vanished. She swallowed hard as shades of regret washed over her face. Amy felt guilty—she'd touched on something terrible. Rosie lost the ability to speak for several seconds, living in the backwash of pain.
"I'm not the one to answer those questions," Rosie managed, voice trembling. "I wouldn't even know how to begin. I'm sorry, Amy. I wish I could say more."
Amy nodded. "I understand… I guess," she said. "I'll ask someone else."
Rosie folded her hands together, trying to get back on track. "As I said, I brought them here eleven years ago. It was quite a challenge trying to keep them all together, trying to get them to behave—and especially to try and keep them from wandering off!
"Sonic was easily the worst about that. He could run unbelievably fast, but he had no patience, either. There wasn't much for him to do here, so he would always run off on his own. I'm afraid I couldn't do much for any of them. I spent a lot of my time trying to make sure we'd have enough food to last; many times the kids had to take care of themselves. But I am proud of a few things," she said, becoming mock-serious. "I did my best to encourage their schooling, and succeeded to a degree, and I always managed to get them in bed by a reasonable hour!"
"Wow," said Amy, "that is impressive."
Rosie smiled conspiratorially. "Now ask me if I was able to keep them in bed past a reasonable hour."
"Were you?"
"Not a chance!" she said with a laugh. "I would tuck them all in and make a few rounds of inspections, but if they were still awake past that they were free; I would be asleep moments after the last call. I know for a fact that they stayed up quite often," she said, looking into the vacant air, "because they'd always be so tired the next morning."
As Amy watched Rosie, she saw a mix of emotions wash over the elderly caretaker. There was the same regret from before, and also nostalgia and respect. Amy felt impoverished. She didn't have enough information to understand all that was going on in Rosie's heart. The only thing Amy knew for certain was this: more was at work here than a few missed bedtimes.
Rosie brought her attention back to herself and smoothed out her dress. "Well, as it is, we'll both be tired tomorrow morning if we don't get some rest now."
Amy yawned uncontrollably. "That's weird," she said. "I've been sleeping all this time, I thought I'd be wide awake now. Instead I can barely keep my eyes open."
"Well," said Rosie, smiling again, "you've been on quite a long trip. Go ahead, get some sleep."
Amy nodded. "I will. Thanks, Rosie." She pulled herself under the sheets. If one person had to raise six children and it wasn't any of their parents, Rosie sure seemed like a good choice…
She slept.