AMY and SONIC Chapter 2 Copan created quite a stir in his village when he brought in the mysterious pink girl! Everyone stopped what they were doing and crowded around Chief Kukulcan’s hut to try and get a glimpse of this alien creature. The tribe had for generations believed that there were no other peoples beyond their island. The arrival of this girl was the most incredible thing that even the oldest of the tribe could remember! Murmurs were already circulating through the crowd: She’s not an Echidna! Where could she have come from? Could there really be other tribes out there? Maybe she was sent by the gods? Chief Kukulcan did not seem to be particularly thrilled about this stranger who was being cared for in his home. “Son, we know nothing about her!” He said. Copan had placed her in the simple spare bed. “She does not appear to have any harmful intent. She was lying on the beach injured, washed ashore from who knows where?” Copan looked at her. “Perhaps the gods meant for us to find her.” “Meant for us to find her?” Kukulcan scoffed “And for what reason?” “To show us that there are other people out there!” Copan said with excitement in his voice as he pointed out the window towards the beach. “Son, we have had this discussion before!” Kukulcan knew that his son was a born explorer, he knew every inch of this island. Since childhood, Copan had dreamed of leaving the island and discovering other tribes. But Kukulcan had always discouraged it. Other would-be explorers have sailed from this island, he would say; none of them have ever returned. They fell off the edge of the world because there was nobody else out there to be found. “Yes, I know.” Said Copan. “But now someone from the outside world has found her way to us! It can’t be just by chance! There is so much she can tell us about her world and her people! Maybe there are even other tribes of Echidnas! Father, you know the story of the Pachacamac tribe!” “Yes, and that’s all it is: a story! A child’s fairy tale! A great water beast? A girl sealing herself inside of a Master Emerald? It’s just a bedtime story!” Copan said “But the story could have been based on an actual tribe…” “Copan?” Copan and Kukulcan turned to see Sayil standing in the doorway. Copan thought “She looks so much like the girl in that story… so pretty.” Sayil made her way to the bed. “It’s true, you did find someone on the beach.” “Yes, but Father doesn’t seem to approve of her presence!” said Copan. “Oh, and why might that be?” asked Sayil. “She doesn’t appear to be any great menace bent on our conquest to me!” She added in her usual witty tone. Indeed, Kukulcan’s future daughter-in-law was one of the few who could speak in such a tone to the Chief and get away with it. Kukulcan sighed. “All right, I’m not going to fight both of you. She can stay… for now!” “Thank you, Father!” said Copan. Tails awoke from what little sleep he had had. He made his way to the spare room that Sonic had been using. Sonic was not there! His bed had not even been slept in. Tails made his way outside and found Sonic lying against the Tornado where he had finally fallen asleep. Tails saw that Sonic had something in his hands. As he got closer he saw that Sonic had in his right hand a picture of Amy Rose. Tails had never suspected that Sonic had ever kept a picture of ANYBODY, let alone a picture of Amy! But it was what was in Sonic’s left hand that really caught Tails’ attention. It was a gold heart-shaped locket. It was open, and inside was a picture of Sonic. The locket had the simple inscription “To Amy Rose.” Tails decided that it was best to just let Sonic sleep. But as he got up, he heard Sonic stirring. “Uhhhhmmm, Tails?” “Sonic? Uhhhhh….” He pointed to the locket. “What is that?” “It’s nothing! Never you mind what it is!” Sonic tried to hide the locket from Tails’ sight. “Sonic!” “Oh, all right!” Sonic relented. “It’s something that I was gonna give to Amy someday!” Sonic reluctantly let Tails have a look at it. “I uhhhh… I was gonna have something more added to the inscription as soon as I thought of something appropriate to say!” “It’s lovely.” Tails replied. Sonic snatched the locket from Tails’ hands. “Yeah, it’s lovely! But what good is it now?! Amy….” Sonic turned away quickly. “Sonic? Are you alright?” No answer. “You… you really cared about her, didn’t you?” “Well of course I cared about her!” Sonic snapped back. “I care about you too! Hell, I even care about Knuckles… sometimes!” “You know what I mean, Sonic!” “I don’t want to talk about any of that!” Sonic walked up the runway, but Tails shouted to him: “Sonic! Cut the ice-cold macho crap! You DID love her, didn’t you?!” Sonic stopped. He stood there for what seemed like an eternity before he turned around and quietly said: “Yes! Yes I did!”