Amy's Choice

Chapter Nine - Amy's Predicament

Rage, an emotion Amy knew but rarely retained for long. Her tantrums in the past at her friends and losing her temper with Sonic was nothing compared to this. Such fierce uncontrollable rage erupted through her head. Amy groaned and pressed her hands firmly against her temples. The anger was amplified, fury and resentment caked the walls around her. This wasn't the anger of one person it was the combined mesh of thousands of ferocious voices, screams of revenge and desperate yearning. The throbbing in her head intensified it was the same jagged agony she had encountered after turning super. Her own heart ached and stomach tightened – what was Angel doing to her?

She forced herself to acknowledge that Rouge was still alive. That all Angel had done was not her fault and that things couldn't possibly get any worse. The monster had threatened to kill her friends one by one if she didn't comply. The kind hearted hedgehog felt violated and dirty. Her body was being used as a host to this 'thing' and a weapon against everyone she cared about.

Perhaps most disturbing of all was the way Amy could feel the emotions of Angel. When the super being was happy Amy felt an over whelming sense to be happy too. It was alien to be happy when faced with the destruction and death that Angel was bringing to Mobius. To see the fear of others as they ran screaming in terror and orange raging flames consuming homes and countryside - it was sickening. To sense even a small trickle of pleasure made the girl want to shrivel up and die.

Ever since Angel had managed to take the red Chaos Emerald from Shadow she felt terribly weak. If she wanted to stop Angel again she wasn't sure whether she would have the strength to attempt it. Nothing was clear in this place, wherever she was. Down was up and left was right, happiness meant sadness and fighting back was rewarded with pain. In this prison the sounds of Angel's laughter cut through her and the one person who could make this all go away was nowhere to be seen.

"Sonic, where are you?"

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Meanwhile at a hot dog stand on the eastern quarter of Mobius our speedy blue friend eyed his first chilli dog of the morning. A warm white bun dusted with flour, one hot dog plump and juicy smothered with the hottest and spiciest chilli. The aroma was perfect, time for the chilli dog to meet his stomach… Sonic sighed, placed his breakfast back on the plate and checked his mobile phone. No text messages or missed calls – again. He looked at the chilli dog with guilt and then at the stand owner.

"Women trouble the only thing to keep a man from his chilli dog, am I right?"

Sonic smiled briefly and pushed the plate away from him he was genuinely not hungry. He hadn't seen Rosy the rascal in days not through want of trying either. He had taken several jogs out his way to comb the zones she liked to hang out in. The flower fields of Green Hill were empty she wasn't having a picnic at Aqua Lake or shopping at the new multi complex in Spring Yard. Cream hadn't seen her and was quite upset at being abandoned by her best friend. It wasn't like Amy to just disappear no matter how much he had wished it in the past.

The phone vibrated and instantly Sonic's small ears pricked up.

"Amy?" He said hopefully.

"Sorry Sonic it's just me," Sonic's ears drooped slightly it was Tails. "I've seen something on TV you might want to have a look at and…there's some guests too."

Tails didn't mention the guest's names which Sonic found odd, who could visiting them now? He picked up the pace, spun his legs into a figure of eight and jetted off across the Emerald Hill Zone. He accelerated through the 360 degree loops scattered around the area it was time to find a new lead on Amy.

Back at freedom headquarters Sonic looked at the grass verges surrounding the base it was crowded from head to toe with reporters and video cameras! A banner with the logo for Mobian News was camped right outside the hidden front entrance. Sonic felt his throat tighten as a female blond haired squirrel with a microphone leaned her manicured hand casually against the red stone, which was the outer shell of freedom head quarters. He took the back entrance quickly and hissed savagely as he entered the living room.

"Tails, what is going on? Why are all those reporters outside?"

Rouge raised her glass of lemonade with a smirk resting her broken arm and leg on the blue sofa. Shadow too was sitting calmly on the sofa watching Tails the fox intently. Finally he turned his gaze to Sonic and the blue hedgehog could see his acquaintance's singed fur teamed with a bruised face. Sonic relaxed slightly the state they were in it didn't seem a fight was on the cards. This was all fine by him, but he still wanted to know why Mobian News was pitched outside the supposedly secret base!

"Little Miss Rose has landed herself in a whole heap of trouble," Rouge began without even waiting for Sonic to sit down. The hedgehog's nose instantly wrinkled he didn't like the sound of that one bit.

"A few days ago Amy used the Master Emerald to turn super to save your miserable hide, is that not so?" Sonic nodded reluctantly still waiting for the answer to his own question.

"And the reporters?"

"Shadow honey you'd best show our slow host the security tape …" Rouge instructed patting him gently on the arm. Shadow raised an eyebrow but took the tape and slotted it roughly into the console. "This is a tape taken from my precious jewel two days ago…"

"Does this have anything to do with Amy?" Sonic snapped impatiently, "and the reporters?"

"Watch and all will be revealed!" Rouge smiled briefly before slipping into an ugly frown. The four watched the video in silence everything from when Rouge first spotted the club's unwelcome guest and Shadow's fight, to Amy's brave struggle against Angel. The film footage could never capture Rouge's horror as she watched her hard work and source of revenue being crushed.

When the screen went black Sonic continued to gaze at it in silence the figure in the video, it looked like Amy, but was it really Amy? Had the power of the Master Emerald warped her mind?

"So, the reporters want to pin the blame on Amy and they wanted Sonic for an interview to see what he would say…" Tails mused to himself and clenched his fists. "That can't be Amy she wouldn't do something like that!"

"I agree. That girl would never take the life of another willingly I am a testimony to that. After all she did save my life…" Rouge looked to the young fox and her piercing aqua eyes grew softer for a few seconds.

"Angel is responsible," Shadow confirmed, "a powerful and lethal demon that possesses the negative energies of the Master Emerald. She has taken Amy captive in her own body."

Sonic played the tape again and pressed pause at a moment when Angel was at her worst. Her face was twisted into a snarl with red eyes burning. He tried to imagine the same hedgehog saving him from the Coloureds only days ago. The sweet, tender face holding him close and secure that had been Amy, this was some sort of monster. With Shadow on the floor unconscious she had taken the Chaos Emerald and absorbed it. Amy…he'd only just got his friend back after a coma, would Angel take her away from him?

"We need to get Amy out of there!" Sonic slammed the palm of his hand on top of the console.

"Now you just hold fire, take a good hard look at what she did to us! What she did to my club! You reckon you can just run in there and take Angel down? Ha! You are sadly mistaken and quite deluded, there is nothing that can stop her and believe me sweetie, Shadow and I have tried."

"It'll take more than your usual cut and dash episode to save the girl, faker." Shadow proceeded to lean back against the wall with his dark eyelids closed thinking. "Rouge is correct in all detail but one…there is someone who can stop Angel."

"Who would that be?" Tails asked puzzled.

"Amy herself."