Don't Blink, Don't Think

Sonic and Tails continued on through the plains, thinking of a solution to the problem keeping them chained down while being on the run from the Iron Queen. Sonic stopped suddenly, observing a timeworn greenstone statue of some kind of female Erian hedgehog (in more familiar terms, a humanoid hedgehog from Erius. For example, one like Sonic). The statue had angel wings and was surrounded by flowers. "What are you looking at?" Tails asked, walking back. It wasn't often he went ahead of Sonic, but it certainly felt wrong whenever he did. "We've seen statues just like that one at least 5 times now. They must have been put here by the Iron Dominion."

"I know… but…" Sonic replied, eyes locked on the statue. "Such craftsmanship! Such beauty! The arts have truly blessed us with the power to create with our own two hands that which cannot be replicated in the biological form due to the cruel laws of reality. My patience has grown thin… and now I must bathe in this piece's beauty!" He said this in such a deep and toned voice that Tails wouldn't even guess it was Sonic talking if he wasn't watching the words spill out from his mouth. It sounded more like a character from one of Sonic's favorite video games than Sonic himself, but for the life of Tails, he couldn't remember the character's name.

"Are you just saying that because it's practically a nude sculpture?" Tails asked bluntly. Tails was never against artistic nudity, but Sonic didn't appear to get the… exact point of the sculpture…

"Uh, no!" Sonic exclaimed, voice returning back to normal gradually halfway through the sentence as he snapped out of it. He looked away from the statue. "I just think it's neat." Sonic adjusted his mask, coughing a little. "Anyways, let's keep going. The Iron Queen could be here any second."

Sonic and Tails turned around, and resumed their run. Just as they did, the hedgehog statue disappeared into a bright light. It soon reappeared just in front of Sonic, while he was busy taking in the sights around him. Sonic smacked right into the statue, tipping it over. "Ow!" He shouted, holding his nose, as it was the first thing to hit the greenstone.

"What? That wasn't there before," Tails stated. "Could it have… moved?" Tails stepped forward to examine the fallen statue.

"Owwww…" a girl said. Her voice was sing-songy, and sounded almost synthetic. It echoed on for a while, almost like it was an angel speaking down to them from Heaven. Sonic and Tails could not pinpoint where the voice was coming from. It sounded like it was coming from all around. "Owwwieeee… it hurts. :((… Aaaaa… (x__x)."

"Who's there?" Tails asked. "And why are you sounding out emoticons? It's not, how do I say this… correct..." The voice didn't sound anything like the Iron Queen, but it could've been one of her robotic soldiers judging by the electronic voice.

"Mee??? (((＞＜)))," The voice asked. "You hit me… I am statueeee."

"The statue?!" Sonic exclaimed, looking back at the tipped-over hedgehog sculpture. Tails looked completely weirded out. Sonic approached the statue, which was lying in the grass. The voice was now spitting out random characters and symbols, but the statue's mouth wasn't moving.

"Help me-e~!" The statue sang desperately.

"It's okay! I'll help you up, ma'am!" Sonic scrambled to lift the statue back onto its feet. It was heavy, but eventually Sonic lifted it upright. It wobbled for a second, but eventually found its footing. Talking to anyone but Tails was nerve-wracking and mentally exhausting to him, but Tails didn't have the strength to lift the statue. So it had to be Sonic to save the situation.

"Thank youuuu~ (-w-)!" The statue cried chipperly. "But… \(0_o)/ that is not what I meant!"

"What DID you mean then?" Tails asked, irked by the situation.

"You see… I am… guardian of Little Planet!" The statue cried. "I am Amy! Of the Roses X^w^X! But you call me Amy! Despite being the last guardian, I will fail my duties in the near future, (-_-;). That is to say, there is a bad man who has snuck onto the planet. He is killing my pretty flowers and building factories where there once were forests and fields. I… haaaaa~! Hate him! (\ _ /). Please help me eradicate his entire life. UWO."

"Come again?" Sonic asked.

"That sounds an awful lot like Robotnik," Tails whispered, in sudden fear. He turned to this Amy of the Roses character, and cleared his throat. "Okay, Amy… Can you describe this 'bad man'?"

"Oh my… he has a big ugly brownish orangish mustache, (-.-)." Amy said. "He has a red suit, metallic arm, and no head hair. He is flying, in a strange eggshell-shaped device (>/o\<)." Tails' blood ran cold.

"Sonic, we need to get out of here…" Tails hissed, wide-eyed. "Quick, before Robotnik finds us!" Tails suddenly felt a cold feeling wash over him as soon as he began to run back towards the chain to Erius. It was like the sun had been blocked out. A dark shadow was then cast over them.

Sonic turned around, to see a large, dark metallic airship in the distance. Not quite like the Sky Base they had hijacked and come to the Iron Dominion on. Not even close to a Flying Battery. It was way too large. And it didn't seem to be carpet bombing anything, as much as it was somehow coating it in a layer of metal and drab colors with some kind of widespread laser. Sonic could see as the flower field they were in began to turn to a browned, smoggy and polluted wasteland. The grass died, the flowers withered instantly when the faint green glow touched them. The only safe havens were the patches of grass under the now spider-like mechanical palm trees.

"What is that?" Tails asked, stepping back from the decaying patch of ground he had been standing on just seconds prior. "Everything's dying…"

"It is him! The bad man!" Amy cried fearfully.

"You gotta have some sort of power if you're the last remaining guardian, right? Do something!" Sonic exclaimed.

"Errmmm… ahhhhh… (*m*)..." Amy sighed. A sparkle came from her hand, and something dropped from it. A seed. It landed on the ground, and it turned into some kind of fully-grown pink flower instantaneously. "I did iiiiit! >W<!" When the laser touched the flower, it withered just like the others. "Ohhhh… TmT..."

"Amy! Get out of there!" Sonic cried in concern. He ran forward, grabbed Amy, and ran forward with her just as the laser touched where she was before.

"Aaaa, Sonikkuuuu~! 0///0!" Amy screamed in a gushy way. Sonic realized where he was holding Amy.

"Oh! Uh… is this a problem?" Sonic asked, suddenly embarrassed. He kept running despite this.

"No… thank you for saving me~!! ^W^!" Amy exclaimed enthusiastically, almost like she was unaware of the danger they were probably in. "But you are touching my legs. >:)."

"Sonic! In here! The laser won't touch us if we're under cover!" Tails cried. He had found some kind of cave entrance. Sonic hopped in, and set Amy down sideways as he ducked for cover. Sure enough, as the disgusting green hue flew overhead, they were fine. Only the plantlife above them was extinguished. Soon, the airship had passed. It then made a u-turn, presumably to metallify what remained of the once lush green zone. Sonic and Tails emerged from the cave, Sonic dragging Amy along by her base.

"That must have been the bad man…" Amy stated sadly as the three watched the airship metallify the distant mountains. Even the water was turning into oil as the airship hovered over the ocean's surface.

"Well, we can take him. I have a good feeling about this after last time," Sonic grumbled. "But it's gonna be a hassle! Damn that Robotnik, always ruining everything!" Sonic felt he wasn't truly grasping the weight of the situation. Like he was somehow detached from what was happening through some sort of defense mechanism. Robotnik was back, it would appear he was lying about reforming himself after all. According to Amy, he had a new robotic arm likely for the one Tails sliced off. Meaning he was going to be a threat to them once more without that glaring weak spot. "Amy--- walk and talk? Let Tails and I explain what we're all about!"

"Yes!" Amy exclaimed. Sonic instantly took off into the wasteland, with Tails in tow and Amy in hand.