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shadamyheadcanons · 2 years

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Headcanon #277

This is an extended version of Headcanon #227.

Cross-posted on AO3.

Remember when Sonic got locked up on Prison Island in SA2? This is the explanation for it in the English dub...

...but in Japanese, it’s this:

No idea why they got rid of that in English. It’s so Sonic.

Amy bit her nails and shifted in her seat aboard the space shuttle, feeling her heart pound as a robotic voice counted down over the intercom.

TEN...NINE...EIGHT...SEVEN....

That golem was awfully big, but if there’s anyone who can handle it, it’s Sonic! He’ll make it in time...

SIX...FIVE...FOUR...

...right?

Tails pressed a few more buttons on the control panel and hopped into the seat across from Amy, and Knuckles clambered into the seat next to her. All three of them watched the open door on the side of the shuttle.

THREE...TWO...ONE...SHUTTLE LIFTOFF!

Amy heaved a huge sigh of relief when she heard the unmistakable sound of Sonic’s rapid footsteps on the metal platform leading into the shuttle, barely audible over the roar of the rockets. Within a second, he’d swung the door shut, skidded to a stop in the cabin, and leapt into the seat next to Tails. He buckled his harness in the nick of time and met their relieved expressions with a brilliant grin as the shuttle started its ascent.

“You guys weren’t actually worried about me, were you?”

“Of course we were! I was worried sick!” Amy scolded, shouting to make herself heard over the rockets. Tails fidgeted and nodded in agreement.

Knuckles crossed his arms and smiled wryly, clearly not as concerned. “Had to wait until the last second, didn’t you? I thought I’d have to go back out and save you.”

Sonic shrugged off their concerns. “Nah, I could take him. Just got off to a rocky start.” He snickered. Knuckles rolled his eyes good-naturedly, and Amy couldn’t help but giggle.

It wasn’t long before the rocket boosters detached, dropping the volume level considerably. Amy sighed in relief. Finally able to hear herself think, she started up a proper conversation. “When are we supposed to get there, Tails?”

“It’ll only be about an hour! We’ll be leaving the atmosphere soon!” Tails piped up, clearly excited.

Amy perked up, happy she wouldn’t be stuck in the shuttle for hours on end. She counted the time on her fingers. “So that’ll give us a little over two hours to stop Eggman before the cannon can fire again.”

“No problem! We can deal with him in half that time,” Sonic bragged. Amy’s heart warmed at his confidence.

Tails jumped back to the previous topic, apparently unwilling to abandon the shuttle discussion so soon. “At first I thought it was just a normal rocket. I saw a documentary on the Discovery shuttle not too long ago, and this looks just like it!” His tails waved excitedly. “You can tell it apart by the materials used on the fuselage!”

Amy grinned. She’d always found Tails’ enthusiasm for technology to be contagious and kind of cute. Sonic was used to Tails’ fixation and didn’t mind humoring him, so he lounged back in his seat to let Tails excitedly explain the unexpectedly comfortable interior that allowed them to sit normally instead of lying back like in most shuttle cockpits.

Knuckles, on the other hand, had no patience for such things. He held a hand to his forehead, closed his eyes, and sighed.

Sonic caught the look. A mischievous smirk spread across his face, and he turned to Tails when his rant started to wind down. “Hey, Tails, how are we supposed to walk on that station, anyway?”

Amy caught on. “Yeah! Won’t the lack of gravity be a problem?”

Tails’ eyes brightened further. “That’s a great question, Amy! I did some research on the ARK’s design a few years back, and the science behind it is fascinating!”

Knuckles hid a quiet groan behind his gloves. He lowered his hands to level Sonic with a heated glare. Sonic just shrugged innocently. Amy held in her giggles as best as she could while Tails happily infodumped about space and artificial gravity. Knuckles turned his grumpy scowl her way, but his frown turned milder as he squinted at her quills. He reached over and plucked something out of them. “What’s this?” he asked, interrupting Tails without hesitation.

Tails pouted. After a moment, Amy’s eyes widened. “Oh! That must be a quill from that black hedgehog I met!”

“‘Black hedgehog’?” Knuckles and Tails chorused.

“Yeah,” Amy said, nodding. “I ran into him on Prison Island. He must have left just before you got there, Tails.”

“Be glad you missed him,” Sonic cut in, crossing his arms. “What a piece of work.”

Amy tilted her head, confused. “What are you talking about?”

Sonic side-eyed her. “Uh, my impostor? The fake hedgehog? He’s a jerk!”

“What? No way! He seemed nice to me,” Amy insisted, side-eyeing him right back.

“Oh, come on. He attacked me!”

“Why? What’d you do?”

Tails and Knuckles exchanged looks of confusion. Sonic gawked.

“Well...the first time, I guess I just ran at him because he had that Chaos Emerald, but--”

“Why did he need a Chaos Emerald?” Amy interrupted.

“How should I know?” Sonic grumbled, irritated.

“So you just assumed he was up to no good?” Amy asked, clearly unimpressed.

Sonic choked. “He stole it! Of course he was up to no good. And I’m the one who got blamed for it!”

“If we needed a Chaos Emerald to save the world and it was being held at the federal reserve bank, would you just give up on it?”

Sonic opened his mouth, then stopped and narrowed his eyes at her. She smirked. Not to be deterred, Sonic moved on.

“That’s not all. After I got out of prison, I ran into him on the island, and he attacked me!”

“Why’d he do that?” Tails asked.

“I called him out for the faker he was, and then he had the nerve to call me the faker, and then he attacked me!”

The other three were silent for a moment. Tails opened his mouth to reply, but Knuckles shook his head, silently warning him not to get involved.

Amy had no such reservations. “Are you sure that’s exactly what happened?”

Sonic opened his mouth, then paused. He averted his eyes. “Well...I guess we kind of argued and attacked at the same time...but it was still definitely his fault!” he tacked on hastily.

Amy crossed her arms. “Sooo...let me get this straight. You just met this guy. All you know is that he needed a Chaos Emerald--maybe for something important! Then, other people happened to mistake him for you, so you called him a faker and picked a fight with him?”

She was tapping her foot rapidly. Sonic pouted. Knuckles and Tails glanced between the two of them with wide eyes, wisely staying out of it.

Instead of acknowledging her statement, Sonic narrowed his eyes. “Why are you defending him so much, anyway? He’s been nothing but rude so far.”

“He was nice to me!”

“Pfft! Shadow, being nice?! No way!”

Amy’s eyes lit up. “’Shadow’...so that’s his name!” She thought back. “It suits him. He seemed so mysterious...”

“Hang on.” Amy focused back on Sonic just in time to see a smug smirk spread across his face. “Now I know what’s going on! You like him, don’t you~?” he sang teasingly.

Amy gasped, indignant, while the others laughed. “I--of course I don’t! I barely know him!”

“Oh, yeah, sure,” Sonic replied, still grinning smugly. “You think I don’t know an Amy crush when I see one?”

“He is kind of the expert,” Tails pointed out. Amy choked on her words, unable to argue with that.

“Hmm...” Everyone turned to Knuckles at his inquisitive noise. He was examining the black quill in his hand. “How’d this end up in your quills anyway? What were you two doing?”

Amy balked and snatched the black quill out of Knuckles’ hand. Sonic snickered. “Yeah, Amy, what were you two doing? Were you cuddling~?” he asked, his voice turning sickeningly sweet.

“N-NO!” The other three flinched at her sudden shout. Sonic smirked, and she puffed out her cheeks. “It was an accident! I thought he was you, so I ran up and hugged him.”

Sonic’s smirk faded into something disgruntled and disbelieving. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Even you?! He doesn’t look that much like me. We’re different colors!”

“Y-you weren’t there!” Amy stuttered out. “The sun was in my eyes, and his back was turned!” She pouted. “I was just so excited to see you. I was really worried about you, Sonic!”

Sonic crossed his arms and grumbled something incoherent.

Tails shrugged one shoulder. “She’s not exactly the only one, Sonic. The entire military confused you two,” he pointed out. “The footage on satellite TV was pretty grainy, and it was nighttime. I wasn’t sure myself. I only came to Prison Island because I couldn’t picture you doing those things.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Sonic allowed. He stayed quiet, seemingly mulling it over, but then his eyes widened. “Hang on! Amy, are you okay? He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

Amy gasped and held a hand over her heart. “Aww, Sonic, you do care!” He rolled his eyes. She brushed off his lukewarm response. “You don’t need to worry, though. He didn’t hurt me. I pulled away on my own.”

He uncrossed his arms and squinted at her. “Really? Nothing? He didn’t shove you away or anything?”

“Nope! He even smiled at me a little when he turned around.” She gazed down at the quill cradled in her hands. “I basically sneak-attacked him and clung onto him, but all he did was wait around and then smile at me once I let go.” She looked up with a determined expression. “That’s how I know he’s a good person. He was so gentle! He can’t be a bad person if he was that kind to me!”

Tails and Knuckles made skeptical noises, and Sonic snorted. “Amy, you’re too kind for your own good.”

She clasped her hands under her chin. “You mean it?!”

“Ugh.” He dropped his head in exasperation.

Knuckles laughed briefly. “If he was that nice to you and you thought he was Sonic, I’m surprised you let go of him at all.”

Amy crossed her arms and looked away. “I did figure out it wasn’t Sonic eventually. After all, he didn’t try to push me off or run away from me.” Sonic averted his eyes, almost looking guilty, and Knuckles and Tails sucked in air through their teeth awkwardly. Amy moved on. “He didn’t feel like Sonic, either. His chest was nice and soft, and he smelled really nice!” She sighed at the memory.

Sonic cocked his head. “Do I smell bad?”

She froze and started to fidget. “N-no! Of course not! You just...smell like you run a lot...?” She grinned sheepishly, and Knuckles tried to hide a laugh. Curious, Tails leaned toward Sonic and sniffed. He immediately leaned back and tried to hide his grimace. Sonic sniffed his own armpit, then shrugged obliviously.

To Amy’s relief, Tails shook off his distaste and changed the subject. “I still want to know how in the world you got to Prison Island in the first place.”

“Wait, didn’t you give her a ride?” Sonic asked.

Tails shook his head. “She actually beat me there.”

Amy nodded proudly. “I did my daily tarot reading this morning, and the cards told me I had a destined encounter with someone who needed my help!” She sighed dreamily. “With that description, I knew it had to be you, Sonic! I found out you were on Prison Island. It wasn’t too far, so Big brought me part of the way on his fishing boat, and when the waves got bad near the shore, Cream flew me the rest of the way. I told them to go back home afterward because I knew it wasn’t safe, and I was right!” She nodded with authority, then winked at Sonic. “You should be thanking me, you know. You really needed me today!”

Sonic wagged a finger. “Not quite.”

“What?! You were on an island that exploded!” Amy protested, clenching her hands into fists. Knuckles and Tails recoiled, but Sonic was unfazed.

“Not exactly. Didn’t I tell you I got caught on purpose?”

“You were still locked in a jail cell, Sonic. You definitely needed me!”

“Tails was there, too,” Sonic pointed out. “He was on his way to save me.”

Amy turned her glare on Tails. He winced and shook his head furiously. “Oh, no! Don’t drag me into this!”

Amy glared right back at Sonic. “My tarot cards are never wrong! Who would’ve needed my help more than you?”

Sonic thought for a moment, then chuckled. “What about your new boyfriend?” Amy cocked her head, then choked when she realized who Sonic meant. Sonic smirked once more. “He’s sweet on you, isn’t he? Maybe you’ll save him with the power of love!~”

“That’s...that’s not how it works! I don’t even know him!”

“Hmm...this sounds kind of familiar,” Knuckles said, sounding suspicious. “Hey Sonic, didn’t she act like this around you on the day you met?”

Sonic’s eyes lit up. “Oh, snap, you’re right!” Before Amy could argue, he started counting off the similarities on his fingers. “Let’s see...we’d never met, she said we were soulmates because her cards described a ‘destined encounter,’ she hugged me right off the bat and trusted me immediately...and then I had to fight a rampaging lookalike, Eggman was trying to destroy a whole planet--”

Amy suddenly gasped in realization, surprising the other three. “Oh, no! Shadow was on that island, and it blew up...” Her face paled in horror.

“Good riddance if you ask me,” Sonic mumbled. At Amy’s withering look, he shrugged. “I wouldn’t worry about it. He knew about the explosion, and he can teleport. He definitely got out of there.”

Amy sighed deeply. “Thank Chaos!” After a moment, her expression turned from concerned to impressed. “Shadow can teleport?! Wow...not even you can do that, Sonic! Maybe you could learn a thing or two from him,” she teased.

Irritation crossed Sonic’s face, but then he turned thoughtful, as if he were considering something.

Before anyone could ask, Knuckles chimed in again, much to Amy’s chagrin. “So Shadow can teleport himself while you can teleport objects by summoning them, you’re both hedgehogs, he actually likes it when you cling to him...maybe you two are soulmates!” He snickered, and Sonic and Tails joined in.

“Knuckles! Oh, you guys--!”

The teasing continued until Amy was red and flustered from embarrassment. It only abated in the last five minutes of the journey when Sonic and Knuckles started bickering about who should land the ship, even though Tails was clearly the best option for that. Amy sighed and examined the black quill in her hands.

I know there’s good in you. I just know it.

Aboard the space station they were approaching stood a conflicted black hedgehog. He frowned down at the pink quill in his hands.

I hope she made it out alright.

He shook his head.

No. It doesn’t matter. That planet needs to die, and she’s still going to be on it. This is no time for second-guessing.

His face turned pained.

But she seemed...so sweet...

Before he could dwell on it any longer, he heard a pair of high-heeled shoes echoing down the hall. He raised his hand, fully intending to toss the quill aside...but he hesitated. He gazed at it for a moment longer before tucking it back into his own quills where he’d found it, trying not to think about his conflicted feelings.

#shadamy #shadow the hedgehog #amy rose #sonic the hedgehog #hc #Knuckles the Echidna #Miles Tails Prower #sonamy #only one-sided though #i was doing a bunch of research on space shuttles and artificial gravity to try and get the details right #and then i realized i could just have tails do the thing #this is one of my favorite types of headcanons to write btw #little unseen between-scenes that Absolutely Happened and no one can convince me otherwise

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