Ughhh... This was so cheesy... My face was on fire while I wrote. I curled up in the corner of the bedroom in Metal's base and used my sketchbook to prop up the stationery I brought from home. My letters were getting sappier and sappier...



I probably said lamer things to him in person. I mean, a lot of my old letters were pretty bad, too... I tried so hard to sound sophisticated and mature in some of those letters, especially when I was a younger teen. A lot of those flowery feelings came back when I thought about Metal... I was always in love since we got together, but something else was happening to me recently. I thought about how he took care of me when I was so upset. We talked about living together for real and planned for it... My heart fluttered like crazy and it wouldn't stop.



I hoped he'd use his claws to bring me close to him again... I sighed aloud and held the side of my head. Oh, Metal...



I continued writing down my hopeless romantic thoughts...





Krr-chunk!



I nearly jumped out of my skin! Metal walked through the open door, looked around... He didn't see me yet. I flipped the paper over to hide the letter and scrambled up. "H-hey! Heyyy," I said, hugging the sketchbook tightly to my chest. "Good afternoon!"



He turned his head towards me, then turned his whole body afterwards. "Hello, my Rosy. Belle worked on me for longer today... She believes she made significant progress."



"Really?" My eyes widened. "That's amazing news!"



"There is still no proper time estimate, but... I'm hopeful my programming can be fully altered." He stared at me for a brief moment. "... You look very flushed."



"What?" I coughed. "I-I'm fine! Just a little hot in here."



He paused and glanced away. "Oh... You're lying," he said in a lighter tone, focusing back on me. "I see. Were you drawing in your sketchbook again? Can I see your work this time?"



"N-n-no! No! Those are private!" I shouted, my face even hotter. I held onto the sketchbook tighter as I shuffled out from the corner of the room. "I-I was just... Umm..." I was acting so silly. Why was I embarrassed?



One of his claws graced my chin...! I totally froze. I was gonna die for real. He very slightly pulled me forward, making me take a few steps towards him. He leaned in, examining me. Steam had to be coming out of my ears.



He felt one side of my face. I needed to look away, but I couldn't bring myself to...



"Are you craving affection, Rosy?" he asked.



I collapsed. He caught me before I hit the ground fully and gently pulled me back up. He tilted his head at me.



"Yes?" he asked in a teasing tone.



I vigorously nodded... Wait! I had to go meet Sonic at Tails's workshop! "Uh...! I a-actually... I have... uh... I forgot I have to go," I squeaked. Dammit! Damn him! I wasn't sure who I was damning yet!



"Stay with me for a little longer," he said in a tone that made my head fill with static. I would've collapsed again if he wasn't holding me. "I crave your affection as well."



He took my stuff out of my hands, then he placed them on the dresser close-by. He moved me closer, making our chests press together. I put my arms around him and must've given the most desperate look ever because he let out the cutest laugh and I couldn't handle it. He could probably feel my heartbeat. I was a mess!!



He kissed me. I totally melted... I leaned fully against him, holding myself up only by my grip around him. He tightened his hold. I kissed him.



I grabbed the back of his head as I got into it-- he fell back against the bed. The sudden change surprised me-- ah! He flipped over and pinned me instead! Our muzzles separated and we lovingly stared at each other... My hands fell by my head. He unfurled his arms and held both of my hands, our fingers intertwining.



... I had to do something. What did I have to do?



I... genuinely forgot. It was kinda important.



He laughed. I wanted to be mad, but I couldn't be! I-I was feeling a lot!



"You look perplexed... What are you thinking about?" he softly asked.



"Nothing...~" I answered with a cute little sigh. Wait, he was taking me over. Control yourself, Rosy. "... For real! I'm thinking of nothing! I forgot!" I yelled, then puffed my cheeks.



"You said you needed to leave... After spending time with me," he replied.



Oh! That was right. Going to the workshop. Right. Yeah. "Y-you added that last part."



"Will you do so anyway?"



I shyly wiggled. "Maybe..." I met his gaze again and couldn't help but grin. I lifted my head to kiss him again.



Metal won... Hah, did I ever have a chance in the first place? He was amazing...



I spent my quality time with Metal, but I really did have to go after a little while. Honestly, it was good I had that time at all since I would probably be hung up on my letter the whole day, and then Sonic would try to annoy me about it...



I always hated leaving Metal, though. I missed him as soon as we parted. He went back to helping Belle while I made my way to the workshop. I ran towards town with my faithful Piko Piko Hammer, zipped over some trees, made it to the street and continued down at a brisk-but-not-weird pace. I put away my hammer to make it even less weird.



My short journey brought me to the front door of Tails's workshop. I knocked a few times and waited--



The door swung open, Sonic on the other end. "Finally!" he groaned. "I thought you'd be here earlier! I'm starving."



I blushed and nervously laughed. "Sorry, heheh... I was busy."



He raised a brow at me, then smiled with a simple roll of his eyes. "Well, our journey's elsewhere! C'mon, let's walk n' talk." He shut the door behind him and joined me on the sidewalk.



"Whoa, you? Walking? Pinch me," I joked.



"Ha ha. How was your date?" he asked as we went down the street together. I followed behind him since I wasn't sure where we were going and he hadn't told me much.



"I had a wonderful time. We did some adventuring," I said with a smile.



"Aw, that's pretty cute. I assume you didn't come across anybody?"



"Nah, it was just us. Thanks for giving me the day. Have you thought of where we're eating?" I asked.



"Yup. Let's get some take-out and wind down in the park. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, so let's enjoy what we can, eh?"



"Sure. Since I made you wait, I'm happy to buy for the both of us."



"You sure? I'm really hungry," he hummed.



I sighed, also with a smile. I was used to this. "Yeah, it's fine."



We went to one of our more common haunts closer to town... And, uh... Wow. Sonic was hungry. He ordered a ton of food, but to be fair, he warned me. We waited for our truckload of food, then carried the bags out to the park I've been to a few times before. The last time I went there was for my birthday party... Ah, good times.



Sonic hooked his arm around mine right as we entered the park. I squinted at him.



"Uh... Hi?"



"Hey! Just happy to be close to my good buddy," Sonic beamed in return. He was acting suspicious.



"Can you be close to me without hanging on my arm?"



He laughed. "Wow, I gotta get used to that." Despite him replying to me, he still didn't unhook his arm. I couldn't exactly move him off because I had bags of food in both of my hands.



"No, but seriously, can you let me go? You're being a bit weird," I said. I wiggled my arm in hopes he would not cling to me.



I looked ahead and completely froze. Sonic tightened his grip on me and kept urging me forward.



"Is this why we got a lot of food?!" I growled to him with a hushed voice. The Chaotix were right there at one of the picnic tables! Sonic wouldn't let me go because he knew I didn't really want to-- urgh!!



Sonic let out a whimsical sigh. "A very nice peace offering, wouldn't you say?" he teased. He was pissing me off. Maybe Metal did rub off on me.



I thought for a moment... I mean, I couldn't fight them forever. I didn't want things to stay awkward even though they probably would. I wanted to at least give a real apology for wrecking their place... I nodded. "Yeah, I guess it is," I said quietly.



Sonic's eyes brightened. "Great! Still not letting you go until we sit down."



"Ugh, fine."



The Chaotix were talking to each other when we approached. Vector saw us first, making Espio and Charmy look our way. Charmy excitedly waved at us, Vector gave one of those awkward smiles, and Espio kept eye contact with me for a total half-second.



"Hi Amy!" called Charmy excitedly. "Is that food for us?!"



I smiled. Nothing was ever awkward with Charmy. "Hey, detective. Yeah, some of it is."



"Ames bought all of it for us!" beamed Sonic. We approached the table and I put the bags down. He finally let go of me when we sat down. "We're all aware of the same stuff here, about where your investigation went, y'alls fight at the detective agency... We can't settle anything without a good meal first, so... Let's eat!"



I made sure to get what I ordered for myself first, then let the boys sort everything else out. I was at the far end of the picnic table, Sonic sat beside me and Charmy buzzed beside him. Vector was in front of Sonic and Charmy while Espio was in front of me.



"Yay!" Charmy rabidly dug into the bags. Sonic wasn't the only one starving, huh?



"Hey!" huffed Vector. "Charmy, what do we say?"



"Uhhh..." He narrowed his eyes like he wasn't sure what Vector meant. His eyes shot wide open in realization. "Oh! Thank you for the food!" He gave me the cutest grin.



"We appreciate it, Amy," Vector said afterwards.



"You're welcome," I said, grinning back. "It was Sonic's idea, so give him some credit." Including the fact that he didn't tell me we were meeting up with them...



Vector helped bring out all the food and handed out some to Charmy, making him sit down, then to Espio, who politely took it. Sonic grabbed his own food and took no hesitation in chowing down.



"... Thank you," Espio said quietly. I thought he said it to Vector at first, but when I looked at him, he stared right at me.



I smiled at him, then focused on my food. The tension between us could be cut with a knife at this point. I knew he meant his expression of gratitude, though. It's not like either of us wanted to hold on to those negative feelings, it's just... His problems with me were beyond making up from a simple argument.



Instead of think more about it, I ate more. The table was quiet for a little while as we had our meals. Charmy was the first to break the silence, eyes bright as he focused on Sonic: "Hey Sonic, did I tell you I carried three people on my own? Including Vector." Charmy pointed at Vector excitedly.



"Why're you pointin' me out?!" Vector asked, then sighed.



"'Cuz you're a big crocodile. You're right though, it's not too surprising since I carry you all the time! You remember when I carried you too, Amy?" he asked, leaning over to look at me.



"I do. You're really strong," I said with a grin. Charmy eagerly nodded in agreement and kept eating as normal.



"Whoa! Three people? You think you can do more?" Sonic cheerfully asked.



"Pshh! Easy. Maybe not four Vectors, but, like, two for sure."



"S-stop usin' me as a measurement!" squawked Vector.



The three of them-- especially Sonic and Charmy-- chattered for a while. I think we all needed that break from the silence. Sonic was good at humoring Charmy, Espio was as awkward as ever, and Vector kept the conversation from steering too far in one direction. Soon enough, our stomachs were full and the table itself was covered by empty containers.



With no more food, though, came the real conversation...



I sighed. I didn't really want to beat around the bush. "I'll start... I'm sorry for wrecking your living room. No matter how angry I was, it wasn't right. I'm especially sorry about the TV."



Vector looked nervous. "It's... It's alright, Amy. They're just things... And the food you got for us already means we have some extra money saved up towards a new TV." I had to give them the one I bought for them before they used any of their hard-earned money... They shouldn't have to buy replacements for anything I ruined.



"It's been really boring without movies, so we had a movie night at Ms.Vanilla's house!" Charmy exclaimed. "I ate a whole tub of popcorn."



Such a cutie. "Is that so?" I asked with a slight giggle. "Well... I'm glad you could spend time with Vanilla and Cream, but you can do that without me breaking things." I almost said I understood if I was never welcomed back at the detective agency.



"Sonic..." Espio spoke up. Everyone looked at him. "Charmy wasn't around for the argument that occurred. I'm not sure if it's proper for him to hear additional details," he said, solemn.



Charmy groaned aloud. He clearly wanted to hear more about it.



Sonic chuckled, then stood up. "Oh, that talk's probably boring anyway. Show me how strong you've become instead, Charmy! C'mon." Sonic paced away. Charmy lifted his head, watching Sonic. He glanced at the three of us, back at Sonic, the three of us, Sonic again...



"Okay! Be right back, guys!" He bounded up and flew towards Sonic.



As soon as those two were gone, the air felt as constricting and heavy as ever. No one spoke for a while...



"Amy, I..." Espio frowned, unable to meet my gaze. "I apologize for making you so upset." He stared down at the table, rubbing one of his arms. "I went too far with my comments regarding your past feelings."



"... I forgive you. Sorry for whaling on you."



He slightly raised his hand as if to dismiss the notion.



"I'm not..." I took a deep breath and looked at the both of them. Their attention was on me. "... Expecting you guys to suddenly like anyone. Maybe it doesn't seem like I get it, but I do. My relationship with him, it goes back farther than mine with you... And I don't mean rivalry. He's more complicated than meets the eye. No, it doesn't remove all the bad, doesn't take away from all the evil stuff he did with Eggman and on his own." I frowned. "Hell, you don't have to like me anymore... But I'm not against you. I never was."



They were quiet. Maybe they were thinking of what to say... Or they were letting the words sink in.



"I need to be clear that my relationship isn't some snap decision or a fling or whatever else. It's serious. I regret saying anything, but I thought it was the only way you'd understand what was going on." I grabbed my head and sighed.



We were all quiet for a while. Neither of them knew what to say back... I didn't make them answer.



"Speaking of everything going on... My other regret was that Eggman knocked me out totally cold back at the big showdown. I don't remember much after I saw him," I said to slightly change the subject. I didn't really want to drag out the relationship conversation.



The two of them lifted their heads, eyes wide. Vector spoke first: "Eggman was there?"



"Yeah...? What, you guys didn't see him?" I asked.



Vector shook his head. "Me an' the boys were, uh, taking in the information at the time, so we hashed out what to do. Everyone was gone when we checked back."



"Rouge said something similar. She got me to a safe place and went back, but Eggman already left."



"... That's strange," muttered Espio. He exchanged a certain look with Vector and they communicated with glances I couldn't understand.



Vector looked over to me again and gave one of his nervous smiles. "That info helps, Amy. We're still following up on some investigations."



"I have my own stuff to do since talking to Cava didn't help much, but... I will help you if you ask," I replied.



Their gazes on me were much calmer. Vector gently smiled at me. "Thanks, Amy. We'll call on ya if we need to."



I felt a little better...



"Are we, uh... Good?" he asked.



Honestly, there was one more thing. I focused on Espio before I spoke. "I just want to make sure you understand I would never unfairly rope Charmy into anything. I care about him, too... And you know that. It really offended me when you implied I was sneaking off with him to... to spread my agenda, or whatever," I mumbled.



"Charmy is impressionable... And we heard a lot of shocking news from you. I don't regret my caution, but... I could have expressed it in a fairer way. I apologize," Espio said.



"You guys have to give Charmy more credit than that. He's still a kid, but I was exploring places all by myself when I was his age. I met Sonic when I was his age! Maybe he's a bit gullible, but he's a good judge of character," I retorted. "He's the only one who kept treating me the same, and it's not like he didn't think about it."



Discomfort rose between us again. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned Charmy, but I wanted them to hear it.



"He's a good judge of character because of how you raised him," I said to Vector, "and because he looks up to you," I said to Espio next. "I really do forgive you, and I'm sorry again about the damage I caused. I just want to leave you with that, at least."



"Fair enough," Vector replied. "If Charmy sneaks off like that again, take him right back home, would ya?"



"I will. No more ice cream trips," I said, slightly raising my hand. "I'll be sure to double-check it's okay with you next time."



"Thanks," Vector said with a single nod. "And thanks again for the lunch. We gotta get back to work," he said, standing up.



I raised a brow. "For real, right? You're not trying to get away from me?"



"Yeah, we actually got work. I won't lie like that anymore either, Amy. Honest and above the board conversations from now on."



I stood up too, then I offered him my hand. Vector smiled and gave my hand a firm shake. I genuinely felt better then.



Espio offered his hand to me too, glancing at me for just a second before looking away. I stared at his hand for a second...



I leaned over the table and grabbed him into a hug. He totally froze, shoulders hunched. When he realized I wasn't trying to punch him again, he hugged me back.



"Yaaay!" Charmy appeared out of nowhere, putting one arm each around the both of us. His helmet lightly bonked against our heads.



I laughed. Espio and I let go of each other while Charmy stared at us with his big, sparkling eyes. Espio smiled too and affectionately rubbed Charmy's head.



"Everything good over here?" Sonic asked from beside me.



"Yeah, we're good," I softly replied. "They got work to do and I should probably head back, so..." I began gathering the garbage on the table, but Vector politely stopped me.



"Nah, we'll take care of this."



"Thanks, Vector." I waved at them. "See ya later, Charmy!"



"Aw, you're going already? Bye Amy! Bye Sonic!" He waved excitedly with both his arms.



Everyone finished their goodbyes and we finally parted ways. While we walked back to the front of the park, Sonic confidently put his arm around me with a loud sigh.



... I shrugged him off. "Don't put your arm around me like that!"



"He did the same thing to me!" Sonic whined. "What, did he establish some weird 'don't have any of Sonic's scent on you' rule?!"



I laughed. "No! You can put your elbow on me, just not your whole arm. People think we're dating all the time because you're so touchy."



"Okay, I'll take the compromise." He perched his elbow on my shoulder and gave me a flashy grin. I rolled my eyes with a smile. "So anyways, y'all hashed it out?"



"Yeah... Things aren't the same anymore, but that's just how it is. I'll still give them some space... I kinda want that space, too. But I made sure they knew I'd be around to help," I explained.



"Good. I'm glad it's less weird now..." He cleared his throat. "Uh, on that note, I do need your help with something," he hummed.



"What's up?"



Sonic and I went back towards Tails's workshop. He wouldn't tell me what he wanted help with on the way, so I'd see what he wanted when we got there, I guessed. Hopefully nothing about Metal...



We got to the house itself and went inside. Everything was as messy as ever! Ugh, this would drive me crazy. I almost offered to clean it, but I bet a part of him liked the mess, while Tails was too focused on his own projects. We continued towards a door to the actual workshop area, the huge garage in the back. Weirdly, this room was a lot cleaner.



"Yo, Tails!" Sonic called.



"Back here!" Tails yelled from a distance. Uh, where was he? "Anyone else with you?" he asked.



"Just Amy," Sonic replied. "Let's show her."



"Sure thing." A hidden part of the wall opened up to show a door. I, uh, forgot they had anything like that in this place. As we approached, I saw a smaller room, a light hanging overhead and a ton of computers and random technology around. There were so many wires and outlets I didn't know what was for where or how.



I saw Tails as we stood in front... And... I saw Cavalier Sonic. He was here and he was suspended up to be operated on. Tons of wires connected to his head, displaying data on different screens. His torso had been torn completely open, a bunch of wires hanging out. Tails was at a nearby counter, rebuilding what looked like Cava's turbine.



"Oh my God," was all I said.



Sonic's stare told me he didn't expect my response. "To get you up to speed, Ames... The Chaotix found him offline with his torso torn through like that. He was on the ground in the same area you guys were in before. I'm guessing they didn't tell you, huh?" He raised a brow at me.



"No... th-they didn't. I had no idea where Cava was at all. But he's... How did this happen?" I asked no one in particular.



"That's what I wanna know. They said that Neo didn't do this?"



"No... Cava's the one who nearly destroyed Metal. If it wasn't Eggman, then... I mean... Only the future Metal could've done this." I nervously brushed my hand through my quills. "They were on the same team..." The theory that there were two future Metals became even more believable.



Belle and Metal needed to see him. I could at least get Belle roped in-- Wait!



"What's his power source?!" I asked.



Tails turned to look at me and scratched his head. "That's the one thing I can't tell you about this guy," he sighed. "And it's what's tripping me up in getting him back in working order... Look at this--" He walked over to one of the computer screens, typed something into a keyboard...



Blip! Schematics of Cavalier Sonic came up, showing all of his individual body parts.



"He's definitely from the future like the Chaotix mentioned... And he can do some crazy stuff. I can't even understand all this code, so I'm only imagining what's not listed here. I kinda get why he gave Neo a hard time..." He pointed at the center of the screen, where the torso and turbine were. "His power source is here, just below the actual turbine but still connected. There's a container there, but there's nothing about what's supposed to be in it. What I can tell you is his wacky coding hinges on whatever that power source is."



"And since there's a huge hole in him, uh..." Sonic gestured. "Your guess is as good as ours, Ames."



"We need to get Belle over here. She can probably help with this," I told them.



Tails's posture changed, became shyer. "I'm not sure that's a good idea..."



"What? Why not?" I raised my brow. "Her whole thing is fixing robots."



Tails sighed. "I, uh... I think Belle may be a little too close to what this robot is," he said, frowning. "That's not to say she'll do anything wrong, but... I think her safety might be on the line."



"Why not let her make that choice?" I asked.



"I have everything handled, Amy. For what it's worth, his schematics are pretty readable, so he'll look as good as new before long. His systems are totally fine too other than the obvious. But if you have any pointers on where to go with the power source, that'd help us a lot."



Tails was paranoid about Belle... Not too surprising, unfortunately. At least he didn't really know everything Sonic knew. "Wait... Can you, like... pull up his files? Are you able to see all that?" I asked. "Like, do you know why he's here?"



"Nope, all that kind of stuff is encrypted with some of the aforementioned crazy code. I could probably make a less harmful device like what Eggman made to get him up and running as normal, but he would be pretty limited in what he could do... I guess that's about what we got back when we first had an encounter with him," Tails said with a shrug. He returned to the table and continued working on the turbine.



"I-I'll see how I can help. Be careful, okay?" I really needed to go back to Metal's base. Wow.



"Thanks for stoppin' by, Amy. I'm gonna keep working on this..." Tails pulled some goggles over his head and hunched over as he messed with details of the turbine.



I left the room, dragging Sonic by the arm. The weird secret door closed behind us, separating us from Tails.



"Congrats," I whispered to Sonic. "You're roped in now."



He gave an awkward grin. "... Man, I thought I'd be more excited."