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Chapter 7: Soothing the Savage Beast

"Okay, here we are." Rouge whispered as she and Knuckles approached the central control room double doors. She then put her large, yet sensitive ears lightly to the door. Inside, she heard Eggman and a woman's voice; no doubt Metal Amy's. "They're in there, it was a Metal Amy. On three, you run in and lure Eggman and the Metal out. Ready? One, two... THREE!"

At three, Knuckles ran in and waved both his hands above his head. "Look at me!! Can't catch me, Robutnik!" Knuckles dared as he turned around and shook his behind at Eggman. With that, he left the room and ran the fastest he'd ever run in his life.

"KNUCKLES!!! METAL AMY! CAPTURE HIM AND KILL THAT PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A LIVING BEING!!" Eggman roared, getting out of his seat. He looked as if he was about to run with Metal after she pursued Knuckles, but he just sat back down and turned to face the monitors; switching them to "View Halls" mode and preparing to view the pain Knuckles would sustain when his Metal ripped him to shreds.

As Knuckles had passed through the doors and past Rouge, she heard him whisper to himself in triumph, "Yes! I've been waitin a long time to do that!" When Rouge saw the Metal pursue him and heard Eggman's screams of rage, she knew she'd have to help Knuckles and soon. Eggman seemed awfully consumed by the display on the monitors, so Rouge just tiptoed in and approached Amy. Before Amy could make a sound, Rouge put a finger to her lips, signaling to Amy to be quiet. Amy nodded her head in understanding as Rouge lifted her into the air by one the many ropes entangling her and silently floated Amy out of the room.

Once Rouge had gotten out of the room and clearly out of Eggman's reach, she whispered to Amy, "It's so beneficial having wings."

Then, Rouge ran. She ran as fast as she could realizing that Eggman or his 'bots could be in hot pursuit of them at any second. Eventually, she made it outside and began to run for Sonic's place, seeing Knuckles gliding away from a flying Metal Amy in the distance. When she too had to glide, she used her wings to give her an extra boost and catch up to Knuckles.

"Knuckles!!" Rouge cried from behind him. He glanced behind himself for a mere second, not wanting to slow down in fears that the Metal would catch up.

"Hey Rouge. I see Eggman's role in your plan's pretty much trashed."

"Yeah, then again, that lazy nobody wouldn't have gotten up even if there was a free all-you-can-eat-buffet available a few feet away."

Knuckles laughed at this comment. "So, Amy all right?" Rouge glanced down at her organic luggage.

"Looks fine to me, but there's no way of knowing for sure unless I stopped and pulled the gag from her mouth."

"Don't bother. I'm pretty sure she's used to this by now."

"I know, I just hope she doesn't mind. I really don't want to make her too uncomfortable. I mean, this whole thing isn't exactly her fault."

Amy was, unbeknownst to them, listening to their conversation. She was glad that she at least had a friend in Rouge.

***

Tails was busy holding back a struggling Shadow by the arms as Sonic was calmly sitting on the couch.

"They better get back soon, I don't know how much longer I can hold Shadow back." Tails mentioned. Then, as if on cue, Rouge burst through the door holding a hog tied Amy. Although Shadow was mad at Amy right now, he couldn't help feeling the slightest bit sorry for her.

"Quick... Sonic.... Help me untie.... Amy," Rouge asked between breaths, winded because of running from Metal Amy. Even though Sonic was a bit upset with Amy too, he helped. Soon, she was untied and able to move and breathe freely again. The first thing she did was run over to Shadow and hug him tightly, crying into his shirt. All Shadow did though was hold his arms away from her, refusing to touch her or even look at her.

At this motion, Amy looked up at him. "Shadow..?" She asked weakly. "Why...?" She couldn't even finish her sentence. Looking at the way he was treating her now just made her cry more and fall to the ground in a tear covered heap.

"Shadow!! Don't treat her like that! The Amy you saw kissing Sonic was a Metal built by Eggman!! This is the real Amy! She's been held captive in Eggman's base for god knows how long and she doesn't need this now! And if you don't believe me, look outside!!" Rouge screamed. No one thought she could get that upset. Actually, she too was crying; not as much as Amy, but there were silent tears.

Not being a believer just yet, he looked outside and saw Knuckles getting his butt kicked by Amy. Upon that Amy's face though was a wicked smile, a smile he knew his Amy would never make. Then, he looked back at the crying pink heap in the center of Sonic's home and put on an expression that surprised everyone. He looked like he was about to cry.

He ran up to Amy and fell to the ground next to her, gripping her in the most powerful yet delicate hug Amy had ever felt. She knew he was saying "I'm sorry" when a tear slid down his cheek and into her pink hair. Amy hugged back and whispered, "I told you I'd never leave you Shadow." No one else heard, but Shadow did; and that's all that mattered.

Soon enough, Shadow got up, a stern look upon his face. Amy was right behind him and stood there, looking down.

"Sonic, first of all, I'm sorry." Shadow began.

"That's okay, none of us knew for sure, but you're still paying for the damages." Sonic replied.

"Don't interrupt Sonic, there's no time. Now, Sonic, Rouge, Tails, go out and help Knuckles take care of Metal Amy. I'll be out there in a second. There's something I need to take care of first. Well, what are you waiting for?! Help fight Metal Amy!!" With that, everyone but Tails left through the front door to fight Metal Amy. Tails had headed out the side window and into the garage to grab his Tornado. He wasn't going to run, instead, he was going to activate his Tornado's Walker mode and fight along side the heroes.

Meanwhile, Shadow and Amy were still in the house.

"Look, Amy, I didn't mean to beat up Sonic or reject you in any way when you returned. I just didn't know that you had a double, if I did, I would've saved you before you could say "Chaos Control"." Shadow explained.

"I know Shadow. But couldn't you tell that it wasn't me? Didn't she seem different in any way?"

"Well, yes, but I was so blinded by jealousy at the time, I just… well, I didn't even pay attention to my feelings. And I am so sorry for that Amy Rose. I just feel so terrible. I feel like I've hurt you in so many ways and what hurts me most is that I know I can't take any of it back. I wanna make you feel better Amy, but I don't know how I can."

"I know a way."

"How?"

"Well, everything you said pretty much did the trick, but I need you to do one more thing; get outside and beat that Amy!"

"I love you Amy Rose."

"And I love you too, but there's an evil me outside that needs stopping, and your our only hope. So take this and get out there, hero!" Amy encouraged as she gave Shadow a big kiss on the lips. Without another word said between the two, Shadow walked outside and prepared for battle.