Chapter 1

It was a bright sunny morning in Station Square.  In her apartment, Amy Rose had just finished doing her hair and was about to grab her purse, when she heard someone knocking on her door.  “Just a minute!” she called as she rushed over to the door.  She opened it but was surprised to see no one there.  She poked her head out into the hallway but didn’t see anyone so she shrugged, closed the door and turned to go get her purse only to come face to face with…

“Hey Ames,” Sonic said, giving her a quick peck on the cheek.  “Sonic, you scared me!” she scolded him, trying her best to look angry even though she wasn’t.  “Can’t a guy surprise his girlfriend?” he asked teasingly. “Besides, I’ve got flowers,” he added brandishing a bouquet of pink roses.  Amy smiled, unable to keep up the angry act.  “Aw, Sonic you shouldn’t have, but I’m glad you did anyway,” she said taking the flowers and putting them in a vase.

“So you ready to go?” Sonic asked.  “Actually I was almost on my way over to make sure you didn’t sleep in like you usually do,” she said.   “Are you kidding?  Tails would personally strangle me with his tails if I missed the big event; he’s been reminding me about it all week!”  Amy giggled, “Then let’s get going or we’re going to be late anyways,” she said dragging him out the door.

“So who besides us will be there?” Amy asked as they walked down the street.  “Well let’s see,” Sonic said, “This was mostly Tails’ idea so he’ll be there.  Knux hired the Chaotix to guard the Master Emerald so he could be there.  Tails said Cream would be there.  As for everyone else, I think Rouge and the rest of team dark were on some sort of mission and Big’s on a fishing trip so they couldn’t make it.”  

“Wow, not very many of us will be there huh?” Amy said.

“Nope, but that’s why Tails is showing us around today instead of next week at the grand opening. this way we can get a good look around without being hounded by reporters the whole way.  Remember what happened after ARK?”  

“Yeah,” Amy answered, remembering.  Right after they had returned to Earth after the ARK incident, they’d been practically mobbed by reporters.  It had been so bad that it had allowed Dr. Robotnik to slip away in the confusion without anyone noticing.

“Uh oh,” Sonic said taking a glance ahead, “Looks like we’re later than we thought, everyone else is
already waiting for us.”  It was true.  Standing near the entrance to the ferry were none other than Tails, Knuckles, Cream and her chao Cheese.

“It’s about time you two got here!” Knuckles called, “What happened, Sonic sleep in again?”

“For your information, Dread head, I decided to pick up some flowers for Amy.  Besides, it’s not like we missed the ferry or anything.”

“He’s right Knuckles, they’re right on time,” Tails agreed, “Well now that everyone’s here we can  get going.”

“I can’t wait,” Cream said, “I still can’t believe you turned the Egg Carrier into a museum!”

“Yeah I thought it had sunk by now,” Amy said.

“Guess, it is possible for ol’ Eggy to build something that lasts,” laughed Sonic.

“We gonna stand here all day or are we gonna actually go see it?” Knuckles complained.

“Right, we better get going,” Tails said, “Oh, be careful once we get there, not everything’s been
completed yet so there’s still a few work crews doing some finishing touches.”  And with that everyone followed Tails aboard the ferry and headed out to the Egg Carrier.  

The ferry ride out to the Egg Carrier was short, but it gave Tails time to explain what they’d been
doing to the ship over the last few months.  “I was actually quite surprised that it was still mostly in working order, even after all that time in the water the ship’s main power was still working.  Well after we made sure the ship would stay afloat, we tracked down stuff from our old adventures.  There wasn’t much, mostly old robots of Eggman’s that we were able to rebuild for display, some old newspaper articles and a bunch of photos, but we did turn up a few really good exhibits.  I won’t go into detail because that would spoil the surprise,” he grinned.

“What surprise?  The newspapers have been going into detail about this for weeks!” Knuckles said from the back of the ferry.

“Knuckles!” “Shut up dred head!”, “That was mean!” shouted Amy, Sonic and Cream respectively.  

“Chao!” Cheese shouted angrily.

Meanwhile another boat was approaching the Egg Carrier with two figures aboard; both dressed as
part of one of the work crews.  One was tall and rather large while the other was about Sonic’s height.   “You remember the plan right?” the tall one asked.  “Yes doctor,” answered the other in a metallic sounding voice. “Good.  Stick to it and I’ll have my creation back from that pathetic fox before they know what hits them!”