Chapter Text
It had been a horribly rainy spring in central city so far, so Amy was incredibly excited when she woke up to find the sun peeking through the clouds. Yesterday’s shower had left fresh dew in the green grass that sparkled like glitter in the light. The breeze was warm, the flickies were singing, and there wasn’t a single badnik in sight! This truly was a perfect day.
Amy ran to her closet and rummaged through the section in the back where she kept her favorite dresses. Today she felt like the pink plaid overall dress with the strawberries embroidered on it. She put on a nice white blouse before taking the dress off the hanger and putting it on. Amy then went to the bathroom to brush her quills and search through her headband collection. She finally settled on a white one with a cute bow on one side.
Amy also felt like having a picnic. She grabbed her phone from her bedside table and sat down on the edge of her bed. She messaged Sonic first, because of course she did, before messaging Cream, Tails, and Knuckles as well. She considered texting Shadow or Rouge, but Rouge was probably too busy to be available on such short notice, and Shadow would just leave her on read. But that was okay! Having less friends made it more intimate anyway.
If we’re going to have a picnic, we need something to eat! That’s the most important part! Amy considered. She went into the kitchen and opened the fridge. To her horror it was all but completely empty. She had an egg carton with a singular egg in it, some leftover pasta from her dinner with Sonic last Friday, an unopened container of spinach, and some expired milk. She threw the milk into the garbage and sighed. It was time for a trip to the grocery store.
Amy put on her Mary Janes and some frilly socks before grabbing her hammer, her phone, and her wallet. As she set foot into the beautiful morning that had inspired this whole ordeal, she suddenly didn’t feel so bad about having to go to the grocery store.
By the time she arrived at the store she had already received responses from all her friends.
“Sure ames, suonds like fun! Cya there!” – Sonic
“That’s great! Thank you, Sonic! This is going to be so much fun <3” – Amy
“A picnic? That sounds like the perfect place to test my new invention: the emergency umbrella! Basically, it’s like a normal umbrella except WAY bigger! AND, it opens by itself when it starts raining! They’d be perfect for emergency shelter in case of a rainstorm, although I doubt the current design will hold up in severe weather conditions. I think it’s best for me to focus on weather the rain activation works or not. Haha, get it? Weather? Not that I think it’ll rain, or anything! But it might, and if it does our picnic will stay nice and dry!” – Tails
Being a dedicated friend, Amy read the entire paragraph Tails had sent her, even though most of it had nothing to do with her original question. She always found it interesting how clearly inspired Tails’ inventions could be, while at other times they seemed to come from nowhere.
“Oooo, that sounds like a really neat invention, Tails! I can’t wait to see it. Now I hope it does rain, hehe :D” – Amy
“A picnic? I’m sorry Amy, but I cannot let more favorable weather distract me from my duties. I hope you have a good time.” – Knuckles
“On second thought, Sonic and Tails are both going so I guess I might come” – Knuckles
“They’re forcing me to come” – Knuckles
Amy giggled. “I’m super happy you’re coming, Knuckles! I feel like I never get to see you. It’ll be lots of fun, I promise! ^.^”
“That sounds like so much fun! Let me ask my mom” – Cream
“Momma said I can go! And she’s going to send me with a basket of yummy cookies, too!” – Cream
“COOKIES?! Yum! Thank you so much, Cream! I’m looking forward to them!”
If Cream was providing desert that was one less thing for Amy to worry about. She could always count on Cream and Vanilla to provide sweets for her whenever she needed them, that was for sure!
In the cooler near the front of the store Amy found a bunch of clear plastic containers full of cute little sandwiches. There were three different kinds: BLT, ham and swiss, and turkey and cheese. There would be a total of five people at the picnic, including herself. It was quite possible that both Sonic and Knuckles would eat a lot of sandwiches. So, she decided to buy eight different sets. It allowed for plenty of variety, too.
Amy was too focused on planning her picnic to consider what else she might need from the grocery store. She had the sandwiches, a box of variety chips, and water bottles of course. After checking out and putting her cart away Amy realized that the little grocery bags on the rack would do little to help her carry all this. Taking it home would require a little creativity. Amy set the big box of chips on the floor first, stacking the container of water bottles on top, and then arranging the sandwiches on top of that. She found that she could lift the weight quite easily. The tricky part would be seeing where she was going and opening doors. Luckily, the exit to the grocery store opened automatically, and her home wasn’t far from here.
Amy got home without too much trouble, but she was still quite relieved when she finally set her pile down on the kitchen table. She took the sandwiches out of the plastic containers and arranged them in a pyramid on a plate. To keep the sandwiches from falling off she wrapped the whole thing gently with a towel before setting it inside her picnic basket. She took the chips out of the box and put them in another basket. The water bottles went in that basket too. Amy found her picnic blanket in the hall closet. It was pretty big, even when folded, but she managed to fit it into the same basket as the sandwiches. She just hoped they wouldn’t get too squished in there. Maybe she should’ve left them in the containers.
It wasn’t long before it was time for the picnic. Amy took one basket in each hand before setting off to the park. Despite Tails’ precautions regarding possible rain, Amy found that the sun was still shining clearly, and the clouds were all soft and white. One of the clouds looked like Sonic. Well, it would look like Sonic if Sonic had much longer quills. Maybe it looked more like Knuckles.
Cream arrived first, when Amy was still unfolding the picnic blanket. She was carrying a little blue basket, presumably full of the cookies she had promised earlier.
“Good morning, Miss Amy!” Cream said, waving.
“Good morning? It’s nearly lunchtime,” Amy replied with a smile.
“If it’s not lunchtime yet then it’s still the morning,” Cream reasoned.
“You’re right. It just feels funny to call it the morning.”
“Would you like help with the blanket?” Cream asked.
“That’s very kind of you, Cream! You can grab that corner and I’ll grab this one. There’s a big wrinkle in the middle I’m having trouble getting out,” Amy said, gesturing first to the far left corner, and then to the one she was holding.
Cream set her basket down on the grass before she ran over to help Amy. With Cream’s help Amy was able to straighten the blanket much more easily.
Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles arrived together. Knuckles was carrying a large umbrella, which must have been the invention Tails mentioned earlier. Although Tails had implied that it was big, Amy had thought it would be smaller.
As Tails and Knuckles got the umbrella set up next to the picnic blanket, Sonic sat down next to Amy.
“Wow, thank you for putting this together for us, Ames. This is really nice,” he said.
Amy was so happy at receiving praise from him that she couldn’t help but giggle.
“Of course! I can’t let spring go by before we have a good picnic,” Amy said.
Tails and Knuckles sat down across from Amy, Sonic, and Cream who was sitting to Amy’s right.
“Alright, let’s eat! I’m famished,” Knuckles declared.
Amy removed the plate of sandwiches from the basket and uncovered it. She was happy to find that none of them had been squished, although the bread on the top sandwich had nearly fallen off. That was an easy fix.
The five friends consumed the sandwiches very quickly. Amy was a bit worried it was too quickly.
“I hope that was enough food for everyone,” she said. “I wasn’t sure how many to get.”
“I’m good!” Tails affirmed.
“Me too!” Cream added.
“Eh, it’s enough to hold me over,” Sonic replied.
“What’s in the other baskets?” Knuckles asked. This was probably a polite way of saying no, he was not full.
“I brought chips!” Amy announced, opening the basket. “And Cream brought cookies! We’ll definitely want to eat those before they get cold.”
Knuckles immediately grabbed the cool ranch chips. The others took a bit more time with their selection.
“How have things been with you, Mister Sonic?” Cream asked. “Have you been on any adventures recently?”
“Hmm, come to think of it, it’s been kind of slow recently,” Sonic replied.
“I’m sure Eggman is up to something. He always is,” Tails sighed.
“He could strike at any moment,” Knuckles agreed, his mouth full of chips.
Amy rolled her eyes. “Sometimes I feel like all we think about is Eggman.”
“What do you mean, Amy?” Sonic asked.
“I don’t know. I just wish I had more adventure in my life.”
“More adventure? Is battling Eggman and protecting others not adventure?” Cream asked, tilting her head to one side.
Amy couldn’t resist patting her on the head. “There are lots of different kinds of adventures, Cream.”
“Yeah!” Sonic replied enthusiastically. “There’s Eggman battles, races—cars, hoverboards, you name it!—exploring new places, finding cool artifacts, rescuing people, making new friends…” Sonic counted each item on his fingers.
“Learning something new about yourself, discovering a new passion or hobby, falling in love…” Amy added, finding Sonic’s list incomplete.
“Could I have a cookie please?” Tails asked.
After Tails took a cookie everyone else had too as well. They were cute, sugar cookies with yellow frosting and sprinkles. Not only did they look adorable, but they tasted delicious. It was no wonder Amy had developed a sweet tooth when Vanilla would give her gifts like these all the time.
Amy had only two bites left on her cookie when she heard a loud, sudden crash! She stood to her feet immediately, grabbing the handle of her hammer with her free hand.
“What was that?” Cream asked, hiding behind Amy’s legs.
As Amy traced the line of the park with her eyes a flash of light caught her attention. The sun reflected off something blue and metallic in the grass. From this distance it looked extremely blurry, but the color was oddly familiar. Could it be?
“Metal Sonic?!” Tails exclaimed. “What’s he doing here?”
“I don’t know, but I’m not waiting around to find out,” Sonic replied.
Sonic made it to Metal long before Amy and the others did. He just stood there, tapping his foot and looking down at Metal. This confused Amy until she got close enough to see what Sonic had already seen. Metal was lying face down in the grass. His arms and legs were barely attached to him. They were twisted, and a few of the cords were completely broken. He had several large dents on his head, and several marks that could’ve been from a laser blast. There was a line of disturbed grass behind him, perhaps from a crash landing. Amy suddenly felt like she wanted to cry. He looked horrible. She wasn’t sure he had nerves, but if he did then surely that must have hurt a lot. Amy immediately knelt beside him. Her fingers traced his cold, metallic surface as if looking for a pulse, even though she knew that was pointless.
“Oh, poor Metal. Who could’ve done this to him?” She asked, looking up at the others.
“That’s a good question. Metal here is one of Eggman’s favorite creations. I can’t imagine why he would leave him lying out here. I don’t see him or even any other badniks around,” Sonic observed.
“It’s strange. The damage he’s induced looks almost like it was done by Eggman’s badniks,” Tails said.
“What? Why would he do that?” Cream asked.
“I don’t know. But, look! A burn mark from a bee bot. A motorbug tread mark …” Tails knelt across from Amy, pointing at the evidence with his finger.
“Tails, do you think you can fix him?” Amy asked.
“Fix him?” Knuckles replied, seeming offended by such a request. “Why on mobius would we fix him? He has tried to destroy us countless times! He is our sworn enemy. Why, then, do we sorrow at his defeat? For all we know this could be a trap.”
“Bludgeoning his own precious robot just to get our attention? That doesn’t sound like Eggman,” Sonic replied.
“I still don’t think we should render him any aid,” Knuckles replied, crossing his arms.
“What, so we’re supposed to just leave him here?!” Amy replied. She could feel her anger boiling within her like a pot of water left on the stove for too long. She stood up to face Knuckles, clenching her fists. “Metal is hurt! He clearly needs our help. When have we ever turned someone like that down before? I know I don’t remember a time.”
“He’s not a person! He’s a badnik,” Knuckles spat back.
“Badniks can still be good! What about Omega? Or Gemerl? Or Gamma?” Amy replied, putting her hands on her hips.
“Mister Sonic, what do you think?” Cream asked, looking up at the blue hedgehog.
Sonic scratched his chin. “If Amy here really wants this thing fixed up, I see no reason why we shouldn’t give it a try. If nothing else Metal here has some explaining to do.”
Knuckles grunted in disapproval but did not add anything further to the conversation.
“That is, of course, assuming I can fix him,” Tails said, sheepishly scratching behind his ear. “From the look of his exterior I’m sure he’s taken some internal damage as well. It’s entirely possible that a major function has been shut down, and that might not be reversable.”
“Just do your best, little buddy. That’s all I can ask from you,” Sonic replied.