One day on Little Planet, a young Amy Rose was taking a cautious walk through a tropical forest just outside of Palmtree Panic. The warm sunlight shone down on her through the leaves of palm trees, and the slightly overgrown grass below her purple sneakers was still wet with morning dew.
Ever since Dr Eggman, and his new creation, Metal Sonic, had attacked, Amy had been very nervous, and a bit scared exploring Little Planet, even though Sonic had successfully driven them away. While she was excited at first to post up on Little Planet for a month and help to care for Flickies, while Sonic and his new friend Tails destroyed the remaining badniks, she had always felt that some other evil presence was still there.
Or, at least, that was what she could interpret from her tarot card readings.


As Amy stepped into a clearing, she looked around at the beautiful flowers that surrounded her. Just as she was about to pick one of them, though, she heard a twig snap behind her, and she froze, standing completely still. After a few seconds, Amy slowly turned around. To her relief, though, it was just a Pocky. It seemed to be nibbling on something, tilting its head as it looked up at Amy.
Amy happily picked the small Pocky up, cradling it in her arms.
"You don't know how happy I am to see you!" She said, nervously laughing.
As she set the Pocky down on the ground once more, Amy said to it,
"Make sure to stay away from Metallic Madness. Or Stardust Speedway... Or Wacky Workbench..."
She sighed.
"Just... Stay here, okay little guy?" She asked, leaning down to pat it on the head.
The Pocky nodded, as if understanding every word that Amy had said, and it hopped off into the forest once again.


Amy continued her walk with a spark of newfound confidence. Though she would have been scared, as she heard the sound of rapid footsteps, and palm leaves being ripped up, growing gradually closer, she knew exactly what the source of it was.
Sonic The Hedgehog, cheerful as anything, burst out from behind a large, green plant and skidded to a stop in front of Amy. 
"Hey! How's it going?" He asked her, shaking any bits of leaves from his quills.
"I've been alright." Amy said, "What have you been up to?"
"Tails and I have been getting rid of badniks in Quartz Quadrant today!" said Sonic.
"Oh, that must be tough!" Amy exclaimed, "Are you sure you don't need my help? Maybe you could let Tails help out some Flickies for a change?"
"No can do!" Sonic said, shaking his head, "Your hammer may be useful, but Tails can fly! And that's super helpful in a place like Quartz Quadrant."
"Aww..." Amy sighed.
"Uh... Well... We have a lot left! Maybe you could help with clearing out, um..." Sonic said, trying to figure out what the most appropriate place for Amy to help would be.
"Can I visit Stardust Speedway with you guys?" Amy suggested, "I've heard it's really pretty there!"
"Hmm... If you're only going for sightseeing," Sonic said, "Then you can just visit it yourself once we're done!"
"You're missing the point..." Amy muttered.
Sonic looked around for a moment, before saying,
"Alright, Amy! I gotta juice, but I'm sure I'll run into you again soon!"
Sonic wound up for a spin dash, and rolled away, leaving Amy on her own.




Amy made her way back to her pink tent, passing by a small wooden sign saying "Amy's Campsite", which she had made herself. Her pink, heart-patterned tent stood in another quiet clearing, surrounded by patches of flowers, and a narrow path up to her tent had only just begun to appear, after all the times she had walked along it. She had a light green folding chair set up outside, alongside a matching folding table. It was clear that Amy had tried her hardest to make her camping spot her "home away from home".


Amy smiled calmly as she entered her tent, retrieving her clipboard and sparkly pink gel-pen. She sat down on her chair to write.
"Hmm... That was another Pocky..." She muttered as she wrote down another tally-mark.
"I'm really not used to doing stuff like this!" Amy said to herself, swinging her legs in boredom. "I didn't anticipate how much free time I would have out here. I should have brought more comic books..."
She glanced over at the small stack of comics that sat next to her sleeping bag inside her tent. 
"I could probably act out that entire first issue from memory if I wanted to!" She laughed.
Amy grabbed a spare piece of paper from her tent, and put it on her clipboard. She drew the outlines of comic panels with her gel-pen.
"I COULD always make my own comics..." She said, "But nothing interesting happens here! I have no inspiration!"
She placed her clipboard back inside her tent, and began pacing around outside.
"I wish I could help Sonic and Tails..." Amy said to herself, "I feel like I get left out of everything."


As Amy circled her tent, she spotted a scrap of paper on the ground. Picking it up, she read it aloud to herself.
"Please visit Tidal Tempest. I need your help with something." She whispered.
She glanced at it, confused, but excited. 
"Someone... Wants my help?" She said, "Well, it's the least I can do!"
As Amy cheerfully marched out of the clearing, she stopped herself.
"Now that I think about it, this seems a bit suspicious." She muttered, "Though I doubt it's Dr Eggman who's behind this, there could be someone else out to get me! But what if this person's perfectly innocent, and they're in a whole heap of trouble?"
Amy sighed, before shrugging.
"I just guess I'll have to take my chances!" She said confidently, heading into her tent once more to grab her backpack.
She took out her Piko Piko Hammer, and began walking towards Tidal Tempest.




Stationed near the ocean, Tidal Tempest was a large and beautiful building, half above the water and half below. Its shimmering blue-and-purple pillars of stone and metal towered over little Amy Rose, and the archway she entered the area through was triple her height. Every wall, pillar and archway housed plants within glowing glass containers. The sound of rushing waterfalls created a sort of white noise that blocked out any other sounds. 
"I wonder why the person wanted me to come here?" Amy whispered to herself, barely audible. 
The young hedgehog did not mind being there, though. It gave her a chance to visit an area that she usually wouldn't, and after Sonic and Tails had cleared all of the badniks from it, it was perfectly safe for her to explore.
As she admired her surroundings, Amy saw a shadow out of the corner of her eye. Though, when she turned to her right in order to see it better, the shadow seemed to move somewhere else. Amy pulled out her hammer again.
"Uh... Whoever or whatever you are, come out and face me! I-I'm ready!" She shouted, hopefully loud enough to be heard.
"Oh, come on! So much for a dramatic introduction!" Someone shouted from around a corner.
"What?" Amy yelled.
"Meet me outside!" The person yelled.


Outside, Amy waited for the mysterious person to follow her out. Finally, she appeared.
Standing just a bit taller than Amy herself, the person was clearly a bear. She had light brown fur with spiky hair, and was wearing a red t-shirt with a graphic of a star on the front, dark blue shorts, and red sneakers with white leg-warmers.


"Sorry, sorry!" She laughed. "I was going to stay standing outside, but I got bored."
"It's no problem!" Said Amy, "What's your name?"
"Dot The Grizzly! Yours?"
"Amy Rose." Said Amy.
The two shook hands.
"Oh, are you friends with Sonic?" Dot asked.
"Yeah. But right now, though? I'm sure he doesn't want anything to do with me." Amy said sadly.
"Oh, don't worry about him!" Said Dot.
"Really? He's doing something much more important than I am." Amy said.
"I'm sure he is!" Dot said, "But you gotta find something important that YOU can do!"
"Hmm... You're right." Amy said.
Dot leaned against one of the blue pillars awkwardly.
"So... Can you help me with something important...?" She asked.
"What is it?" Amy asked.
"Let's walk and talk!" Dot said, pointing towards a large leaf.
She then pulled this leaf upwards, uncovering a dark pathway surrounded by glowing mushrooms. The two girls began to walk along it.


"Alright, so, do you know much about Metal Sonic?" Dot asked Amy.
"Not... Not much." Amy said, "I know that he really doesn't like me or Sonic, but that's about it."
Dot laughed. "So that's a no!" She said.
"Why do you ask?" Inquired Amy.
"Well, the thing is," Dot said, "I think I've seen him around recently."
"That can't be!" Amy exclaimed, "Sonic made sure that hunk of junk wouldn't come anywhere near Little Planet again!"
"So I've heard! When I saw him I couldn't believe it!" Dot said, "But then I got to theorising. What if Eggman had made another one?"
"Maybe..." Amy said, "Dot, do you know the word for when... Oh, I don't know... When engineer people make early versions of their machines and stuff?"
"Prototypes?" Dot asked. Amy nodded. "Yeah, I thought about that, too. He looked a bit weird, so it could be possible."
"If there's another Metal Sonic running around, then I've gotta help you stop him!" Amy said, full of determination.
Dot grinned, giving Amy a thumbs-up.
"Thanks!"


As the two walked down the dimly-lit path, they casually talked about their hobbies and interests. 


"It's weird that we've never run into each other before, Dot!" Amy said.
"My house is actually pretty far from your tent, so I'm not sure that we would've." Dot said.
"I see. I take it that's where we're heading right now?" Amy asked.
"Yep!" Dot said, "To tell you the truth, I've been working on making my house look super cool, but I haven't had any visitors before. D'you mind if I show you around?"
"Not at all!" Amy said, smiling.


The two ended up at Dot's house. Standing behind it were the tall blue cliffs of Collision Chaos, and thin green vines grew upwards, showing off their bright pink flowers. More regular, forest-y trees stood in a circle, with only the occasional palm tree amidst them. Neatly organised vegetable gardens were arranged over to the left side, and a few fruit trees were on the right. 
In the middle of it all stood Dot's little house, which seemed very cobbled-together. While it looked sturdy, with nice wooden walls and a bright red roof, it seemed like Dot had begun to use signposts and discarded machinery as decorations. Amy didn't mind; she thought this looked cute, even.


"After you!" Dot said, holding the door open for Amy. 


Inside, the lights on the ceiling cast a soft yellow glow. Colourful chairs made of more bits and pieces of different machines surrounded a circular table. Dot's small bunk-bed stood in one of the corners, and a comically-small kitchen area was squeezed into another. Clutter covered almost every surface; scraps of coloured paper and drawings were spread all over the table, plushies almost covered Dot's bed, spilling out onto the floor, and the kitchen sink was filled with unwashed dishes.


"Sorry about the mess!" said Dot, "So, here's my kitchen, bed, bathroom, and the table I use for working on my evil schemes..." She laughed.
Dot walked around, pointing at all of the stuff she found cool, and making jokes. Once she was done, her and Amy sat down at the table.


"How many times have you seen this Metal Sonic around recently?" Amy asked.
"Twice, I think," said Dot, "But I think I've heard him a few more times. Oh, that reminds me!"
Dot pulled out a few pieces of paper from the pile on the table. On them were rough drawings of the weird Metal Sonic.
"I drew these up from what I could remember of him." Said Dot. She pointed to various spots on her drawings, saying, "He actually did look pretty different. No blue paint, weird bornze-coloured metal, more quills... And I swear he had another eye there, in the middle of his forehead."
"That's really strange..." Amy remarked, "That prototype idea we had might be true!"
Amy suddenly stood up, crossing her arms.
"But first," She said, "I'll have to see him for myself!"




"Amy, I have to warn you," Dot whispered as the two of them made their way deeper into the forest, "I'm not sure if this is a good idea... Haha..."
"Neither am I," Amy whispered, "but if this weird Metal Sonic prototype is causing mayhem out there, then we should at least investigate!"
"You... You're right!" Dot whispered, "Let's do this."


The pair of them walked around the forest for quite a while, visiting all of the spots that Dot had heard or seen the Metal Sonic prototype at, and then some. It was already getting dark, and it seemed like they were getting nowhere.


"How about we head back to my house?" Dot asked. "I can make you some cookies to take back to your tent, if you'd like!"
"No! We have to find him!" Said Amy.
"Please? We can keep looking tomorrow," Dot said, "I'm tired."
Amy sighed, turning to face Dot.
"Fine." She said reluctantly.
And the two tiredly walked back to Dot's house, the sky growing increasingly darker, until the forest was almost entirely pitch-black, and they had no way of knowing which way to go.


"Amy, I think we need to stop here," Dot said sleepily, "I forgot how far we've walked today!"
Amy, somehow still focused on the task at hand, said, "That's a bad idea."
"Why's that?" Dot asked.
Amy blinked at Dot, but ended up laughing at her.
"Let's just focus on--"
Amy heard another twig snap. 
A chilling thought hit her.
"Dot. We have to leave." She whispered.
"Wh--"
"Now." Amy whispered, grabbing Dot's hand, and trying to pull her away.


Suddenly, three bright yellow lights flickered into view in front of them. They were dim at first, but grew brighter very quickly. The lights were the eyes of the Metal Sonic prototype, bending and reflecting off of his reflective bronze face and body. A long line of bolts ran down his metallic face.
He looked almost exactly like Dot's drawings of him; with a similar body to the actual Metal Sonic, but a completely different head shape. 
And it was clear that he had seen Amy and Dot.
He dashed over to them, sharp metal claws outstretched. The duo dodged out of the way, hiding behind a small bush while the robot was recovering.
Amy felt that there was an air of uncertainty about him, most likely because Amy and Dot had no idea whether his abilities were in line with the final version of Metal Sonic.
"What do we do?" Amy muttered, out of breath.
"I'm not sure..." Whispered Dot, "Man, what abilities does Metal Sonic have?"
"It's clear that this thing isn't actually Metal Sonic, Dot!" Amy whispered.
"I know that." Dot said, "But don't you think they would have some similar abilities?"
"True." Amy said, "Well, I know that Metal Sonic has some sort of... Electric force-field... He's able to do a similar spin dash to Sonic, and he has a dash that burns anything in his path."
The second Amy finished her sentence, the edge of the bush they were hiding behind was singed completely, and the Metal Sonic prototype skidded to a halt in front of the two, a ring of charred grass surrounding him. 
Amy and Dot ran away from him as quickly as they could, with Amy raising her hammer and stepping forward, giving Dot a thumbs-up.
The Metal Sonic prototype spotted Amy, dashing towards her. In one swift motion, though, Amy's hammer hit him in the side of his shiny, metallic head, knocking him to the ground. 
Leaning over to look at his three flickering, yellow eyes, Dot said, "Right on target! Nice work."
Amy smiled, but was interrupted when the Metal Sonic prototype easily stood up once again.
"Time for act two? Bring it on!" Amy yelled.
But the robot did something neither of the girls could predict. He raised his arms up, and his three eyes began to glow brighter and brighter, until they lit up the entire clearing, tinting it bright yellow. Both Amy and Dot squeezed their eyes shut, covering their faces with their hands. When the bright light disappeared, though, the Metal Sonic prototype had left.


"What the heck was that?" Dot asked sleepily.
"Well, I'm getting sick of calling him 'the Metal Sonic prototype'," Amy said, "So what should we call him instead?"
"Hmm... Shiny Sonic!" Dot laughed.
"Not bad!" Amy said, "Well, Shiny Sonic, we're going to kick you off of Little Planet very soon!" She yelled.
"Can I have a nap first?" Dot asked.
"Of course," Amy said, giggling, “Oh, look! The glowing mushrooms are way brighter now! It’ll be super easy to find our way back!”
Amy and Dot parted ways, following trails of mushrooms back to their homes.


The next day, Tails went to visit Amy. As he flew into the clearing and closer to Amy’s tent, he noticed that she wasn’t outside. Tails nervously poked his head inside of Amy’s tent, where he saw her still happily asleep--snoring, even--in her sleeping bag. Tails laughed, which made Amy wake up.
“Wh-- Huh? Tails, why are you here so early?” She asked, rubbing her eyes. 
“It’s uh… It’s noon.” Tails said.
Amy picked up her orange alarm clock from beside her sleeping bag, staring at it in bewilderment. 
“Goodness me! It sure is!” She exclaimed, “Well, I did stay up pretty late last night.”
“Oh! If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly were you doing last night?” Tails asked.
“Hmm… Well, I made a new friend! And she asked me to help her with something.” Amy said.
“I see. Do you need me or Sonic’s help with it?” Tails offered.
“I… I think we’ll be just fine.” Amy said.
“Well, if you ever find yourself in a difficult situation, just know that Sonic and I are always around to help.” Said Tails.
“Thank you, Tails.” Amy said, smiling.
Tails went back outside, but before he flew away, he said, 
“I’ll talk to you later! And I’ll make sure not to tell Sonic that you snore!” 
“You better not!” Amy yelled out.