“May Cheese and I go get an ice cream, Tails?” she asked, polite as ever, though the way her feet kicked back and forth on the swing alluded to her excitement. He lifted his head, following where she was pointing to. It wasn’t that far away, still totally within his line of sight and within shouting distance. While he could’ve walked her over, he had a feeling Cream was a lot less likely to get herself into trouble without supervision than Charmy. Leaving the buzzing ball of pure chaos to his own devices seemed like a recipe for disaster. “Sure. Just come straight back here.” Tails gave her the go-ahead, watching as she hopped off the swing and dusted off her skirt daintily. “Charmy, do you want anything?” she asked. “Can’t be distracted. I’m almost at the top!” Charmy gasped, swinging erratically with all the effort he was putting into it. He really wasn’t, but neither Cream nor Tails decided to keep raining on his parade. He’d figure it out eventually. Maybe.

When she finally mustered up the courage to approach him— it was weird that she had to do something like that for Sonic of all people— he'd tensed. He tried to hide it behind quips and compliments, of course, but Amy knew him much better than that. She took his hand and gently lead him out of the building, her grip firm when Sonic's hand began to shake.

It was out in the cool night air that they found the missing fox, perched on top of the Resistance's roof, watching the twinkling stars. They joined him up there and eventually, Knuckles joined them too.

Even if very few words were exchanged between them, it was the first night where Amy truly felt at peace since the war began.

"Oh— my god?" Juniper gasps, gaping at the sight of her girlfriend. ..Who now has purple horns growing out of her head and matching scales littered across her shoulders and collarbone, trailing up her neck. "God, don't say that." Erin whines, dropping her head into her knees. "It's not helpful." "Sorry, sorry." The older girl apologizes, closing the bedroom door before crossing the room to where her girlfriend is curled up on her bed. "Does it hurt?" "No." Erin sighs, shaking her head and pulling out of her little ball to watch as the other sits next to her. "It's uncomfortable, but I'll get used to it." Juniper frowns and reaches a paw out to gently graze the biggest scale on the shoulder closest to her. "Do you know what's causing it? Is it the amulet?"

Seconds later, Prowler's soaked little body is raised out of the water. He's nestled safely in a scaled, mint green hand. The hedgehogs slow to a stop as they watch the rest of the pokémon emerge from the water, bodies tense in case they're in for a fight. They relax when the pokémon's head breeches the surface of the water, and Sonic can't help but smile at the familiar yellow eyes. "Vector!" Amy cheers, kneeling at the riverbank to reach out for Prowler. Sonic lets out a sigh as relief washes over him, digging into his pockets to find one of his potions as the shiny Feraligator swims over to them. Vector carefully sets the shivering Vulpix in the girl's outstretched arms before pulling himself out of the river, taking a few large steps away to shake off the water.