Stronger Without You

Chapter 1: Strong Enough

    It was a quiet, clear midnight. Most of the Mobian citizens were asleep or/and enjoying the peace in the late hours...but, one hedgehog girl was still wide awake, the memories of earlier events played through her head... "I did it again...he's hurt because I'm to weak to defend myself again..." The 16 year old pink hedgie solemnly said, her emerald green eyes stared dully at her reflection on her dresser's attached mirror while she sat at the edge of her bed. The Piko Piko hammer swinging hedgie, Amy Rose was alone in her bedroom, pained by the memories of the recent, close called battle. Amy wore a plain, short sleeve and light yellow colored V-neck tank top, which showed off her red rose pendant; the red rose flower was made of red coral, 3 leaves of the red rose are made of jade and the stem of the rose and the chain of the pendant are made of gold. Also, the pink hedgie wore a knee length, white colored jean skirt that showed off her curves a little, and a pair of open toed, light yellow colored flip-flops that showed off her manicured, light yellow painted toe nails. Lastly, Amy Rose's quills were now passed her back and was currently tied back in a ponytail. "Because of me...the love of my life was almost killed..." the pink hedgie somberly stuttered, a small stream of tears rained down on her cheeks. Staring at her knees, Amy spoke gloomily "Why...why did this all had to happen..?" A few hours ago, on a calm and mildly sunny June afternoon, Amy was sitting outside at a popular cafe in Station Square called MilkyWay Breeze, wearing the same outfit that was mentioned before. Also, the Piko Piko swinging hedgie was hanging out with Blaze the Cat, Cosmo the Seedrian, Breya the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat, Cream the Rabbit and Cream's pet chao, Cheese, casually talking and drinking frappes after a long, fun-filled day of hanging out at the mall.

    The 18 year old, feline pyromancer girl, Blaze was wearing a plain, gold colored knee length sundress that covered her knees and had cap sleeves, a small and plain, light silver jean jacket that has zipper pockets, a plain, 14K solid gold polished bangle bracelet on her right arm, and a pair of white colored, opened toed flip-flops and her hair was straighten, now stopping at the midsection of her back. The 12 year old, pacifistic seedrian girl, Cosmo was wearing a dark green colored, short sleeve and knee length V-neck sundress with white stripes, the dress covered a little pass her knees, and she was wearing dark green colored, 2 inch wedges, her hair was as long as when she transformed into her adult form when she was a kid, but she mostly still looks the same from 4 years ago. The 16 year old, loving hedgie girl, Breya had her long, colorful quills tied back into a loose ponytail and was wearing a plain, ruby red colored, round neckline tank top, a Sterling silver, ruby red, Swarovski elements heart necklace, a knee-length, dark blue colored  jean skirt and a pair of open toed, light red colored flip-flops. The 22 year old, jewel desiring bat girl, Rouge was wearing a strapless, light purple colored sundress that had a cute white bow in the middle and showed off her curves and her other "assets", a pair of light purple colored, diamond designed earrings and light purple colored, open toed flip-flops. The 10 year old, cheerful rabbit girl, Cream was wearing a plain, light blue colored scoop neckline sundress that has short sleeves, two golden colored, bangle bracelets on each of her wrists and light blue colored open toed flip-flops. Cheese, Cream's pet chao, still looked the same as before, in fact, the girls do mostly looked the same, but the only differences was the 2 inches of growth, puberty maturing the young ladies in their favor, and the change of their attire.

    "That pendant Sonic gave you for your 16th birthday sure looks breath taking, Pinky." The jewel thief said in admiration, using all her will power to resist the temptation to take the necklace for herself. Amy smiled both in amusement and appreciation as she replied kindly "Thank you, Rouge. Although, I wish he would make a move and at least ask me on a date already, I'm glad to see that he does at least care for me...as a friend..." Cream softly placed her right hand on her best friend's shoulder then cheerfully said "Don't worry, Amy. One day Sonic will confess his true feelings for you." Amy smiled in appreciation then thanked the younger girl with a small hug. "Today was quite actually peaceful though." Cosmo said nonchalantly before taking a sip of her drink. "Right? How long has it been since we had a relaxing, no crime fighting day like this?" Breya asked in a joking manner before bringing her cup to her lips, drinking her frappe. "If you asked me, it's been WAY to long." Rouge said in a fake exhausted tone. "Why can't we have days like this all the time?" Cream chimed in as her chao friend drank some of her frappe. Of course, in that moment, a loud explosion was heard near the park. They all groaned from annoyance then Amy said from irritation "That's why..." They quickly got up from their seats then bolted to the park, leaving their unfinished drinks behind.            

    What used to be a calm, lively place has turned into a messy, semi destroyed battle field as Sonic, Silver, Tails, Shadow and Knuckles fought off the Metal knock offs of themselves, created by Dr. Eggman. The boys looked the same since the 4 years passing of the fight against the Metarex, but the only differences was that they grew some inches, they was all wearing clothes that are now wrinkled, dirty up, and have a few holes due to the long, tedious battle and Sonic, Shadow, Silver, and Knuckles' quills and hair has gotten a little longer and the development of slightly larger triceps, biceps, and 6-packs began...which was visibly and instantly noticed by many fan girls... The 19 year old, heroic blue hedgehog, Sonic was wearing a sleeveless, red muscle shirt, a pair of dark blue, knee-length running shorts, white colored anklet socks, and his regular red shoes with white stripes. Although he is supposed to be 50 or maybe older than that, Shadow was now, thanks to the lost of his immortality and the supernatural help from his deceased friend, Maria, he was physically 19 and can now age regularly. Also, Shadow was wearing a dark gray colored, sleeveless muscle shirt, his two regular, gold colored power rings, a pair of black colored, knee-length sweat shorts, a pair of dark gray colored, anklet socks, and dark gray colored, hover shoes with black stripes that were similar to his regular ones. The 18 year old, silver psychokinetic hedgehog, Silver was wearing a  light blue colored, plain short sleeve T-Shirt, his regular white gloves, a pair of white colored, knee-length sweat shorts, white colored anklet socks, and plain, light blue colored sneakers. The 12 year old, young genius inventing fox, Tails was wearing a white colored short sleeve T-shirt, his regular white gloves, dark blue colored, knee-length sweat shorts, white colored anklet socks, and dark blue colored sneakers. The 20 year old, hot tempered echidna, Knuckles was wearing a dark purple colored, sleeveless muscle shirt, his regular white gloves, a pair of black colored, knee-length sweat shorts, black colored anklet socks, and dark purple colored sneakers.

    Sonic and Shadow was fighting their metallic, doppelgängers, both real and robotic hedgehogs moving in a tremendously fast pace as they tried to outdo the other, Knuckles was in a wild/brutal fist fight with his metal knock off, getting the wind knocked out of him a couple of times as he tried to land a few of his own punches at his opponent, Silver and his evil, robotic version was using their psychokinesis powers to levitate any an adamant object that could aid them to either block from/propel at their enemy's attacks and Tails was behind a large, colorful merry go round that had some parts of it badly shot off, hastily trying to shoot his metal doppelgänger with his well functioning, dark silver colored  plasma revolver handguns while trying to dodge the similar, blue plasma charge coming from his metal look alike's actual, robotic right hand, taking cover behind a somewhat scorched up tree. The oh so familiar, triumphant laugh from the mad scientist roared above their heads before he spoke in a cocky tone through his hovercraft, the Egg Mobile's speakers "What's wrong, pests? Tired? Well, don't worry, soon my metal soldiers will put you out of your misery." Dr. Eggman hasn't changed a bit. The only difference was a few grayish-silver hairs on his mustache and some wrinkles. Right when he said that, both Sonic and Shadow, along with their metal versions ceased their fighting for a moment. You could tell that the speed loving hedgehog and the powerful hedgehog was both exhausted and worn out as their opponents had some minor dents and dirt on their metallic skin. "It's funny how you think these fake look a likes will take us down, Egg-head. You still haven't learned your lesson at all." Sonic teased Dr. Eggman, only making him very annoyed. "Try saying that when you're in your grave, blue rat." The irritated scientist shouted in rage through the loud speakers.

    "Not if I have anything to say about that." Right on queue, a large Piko Piko Hammer rammed Metal Sonic on his side, causing him to hit Metal Shadow on his side as well and they both were sent flying towards a wooden park bench. After landing on the am adamant object, they both found themselves lying on a pile of broken parts from the wooden bench. Sonic grinned in amusement as he turned his attention towards the girls, saying in a joking manner "Late to the party as usual, ladies?" Amy rolled her eyes playfully, another Piko Piko Hammer was held in her right hand as she said in a similar joking matter "That's because we're always hearing about them at the last minute." Before Sonic could reply back with his own witty comment, they all heard a furious shout then the familiar voice saying out of pure annoyances "I will not let you ruin my plans this time, girl!" It all happened so fast, not even Sonic and Shadow saw it coming. Amy cried out in panic as she found herself trapped in the grip of a metallic arm like trap that was attached to the hovercraft. "Fall back!" Dr. Eggman commanded his metal soldiers before taking off into the skies with Amy. The metal doppelgängers ceased what they were doing, activated their rocket thrusters then retreated with their master. "Silver, get me up there!" Sonic quickly ordered as he desperately wanted to save the pink hedgie. Silver didn't need to be told twice. The silver-white hedgehog used his psychokinesis powers to propel Sonic straight at the hovercraft. When Sonic got close enough to Amy, he held on tightly to the metallic hand then began using all the strength he could muster to get Amy out of its tight grip. "Fine, since you want her out so badly, then I'll let her go." Dr. Eggman said deviously, smirking wickedly with a glint of mischief in his eyes.

    Dr. Eggman slammed his fist on a green colored button and the metallic hand released Amy...only to cause her to go falling downward to the ground below. Sonic's eyes widen in panic as he shouted from fright "Amy!" He quickly let go of the metallic hand then skydived nose down towards the terrified, pink hedgehog girl. He grabbed Amy by the waist and held her tightly to him as he shouted in a comforting tone "No worries, Ames. I gotch..." Suddenly, Sonic cried out in agony as he felt a familiar Chaos Sphere hit him right on his back. Metal Sonic smirked maliciously as he saw the two hedgehogs heading down faster towards the ground. "Targets will soon be destroyed..." Metal Sonic said evilly then headed towards the rest of his fellow metal doppelgängers and their master, still flying back to their h.q. Amy cried in terror from both the fact that Sonic was injured and that they were going to crash down on some of  the remaining trees that weren't destroyed during the fight. Amy shut her eyes tightly as she braced herself for the inevitable. The sounds of branches breaking punctured the silence then ended with a loud, bone crushing thump. Amy slowly opened her eyes, groaning from the minor pain some of the tree branches caused. Her face turned white from pure horror as she gasped loudly in distressed. She quickly got off of the badly injured and unconscious Sonic, the gush of blood coming out of the right side of his head and many sores/bruises that wasn't covered by the parts of his clothing during the battle was clearly visible. "O-oh my Mo-obius...Sonic, ple-ease wake up..." Amy pleadingly stuttered out as she broke out in heavy tears. "Look, there's Amy and Sonic!" The horrified pink hedgehog heard the familiar voice shout. She turned her head quickly towards the voice, watching her and Sonic's friends running towards them. Tails got on his knees, inspecting his unconscious best friend's body. "We gotta get him some medical help, now!" Tails shouted in a hasty/worried tone as he and Knuckles helped Sonic up.

    Amy's flashback ended after remembering the part about arriving a few minutes later to the nearest hospital that Shadow carried Sonic to as fast as he could since he was the only one who was equal to Sonic's speed and the agonizing wait for the news of the blue hedgehog hero's condition. The doctor that was taking care of Sonic told them all that it would take a while for the hedgehog to recover from his fractured bones, but they did managed to somewhat heal the burn wound on his back and stopped the bleeding from his wounds. When she heard about his condition, Amy dashed straight to his hospital room. The pink hedgie remembered how the feeling of remorse instantly took over her when she first laid eyes on the still unconscious, blue hedgehog hooked up to life support and unfamiliar machines and how she waited hours and hours near his medical bed, even when her friends tried to convince her to get some rest before they left. However, after much convincing from the doctor, Amy reluctantly went home about passed 3 in the morning. Of course, Amy didn't sleep at all due to everything that just happened. "I-I almost got Sonic kil..." Amy couldn't take it anymore. She buried her face in her hands as she cried in sorrow and self hatred. The Piko Piko swinging hedgie was saddened/angered by the fact that she wasn't strong enough to defend herself/the people that she deeply cared about the most and how Sonic ended up in the hospital because of her. Amy lifted her head from her hands, her tears kept running down her cheeks a little. "I can't let them get hurt because of me anymore..." She spoke softly as her red, puffy eyes gazed upon the many pictures of some happy moments that she had over the years with her friends/the love of her life lined up on the dresser. Her facial expression changed to a determined look as she got up from her bed. "No... I won't keep crying like the girl I was those years ago..." Amy spoke softly as she walked up to her dresser. Sighed in sadness, Amy closed her eyes to prevent new tears from flowing out. "I'm sorry that I wasn't strong enough to protect you all/myself, especially you, my sweet Sonikku...and I hope you all can forgive me, but I can't stay here anymore..." The pink hedgie said remorsefully, one tear slowly ran down her cheek, landing on the picture of her and Sonic on a roller coaster ride which was descending down fast after getting to the top of the slope, the feeling of excitement/anxiousness clearly visible in their facial expressions.