The following is a work of fan fiction by Joshua D. Tarwater and is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS.*
*SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS retains full rights over the Sonic the Hedgehog™ intellectual property and can terminate or take control of this work at any time.

~EPISODE OF AMNESIA ISLAND 05~

         ★To many, ‘nature’ is simply the natural world, a place safe from the chaos of everyday life in modern society. A place of tranquility and a place to find peace and reset oneself. And to a degree this is true, that nature can be a place of peace and tranquility, especially when one is surrounded by the miracle of life. However, like society, life itself is a force that brings chaos and turmoil. For as peaceful as nature can seem it can be violent and uproarious, even tearing itself apart. The conflict for survival is ever going and not all that partakes in the circle of life do so kindly and with care for its fellow life.

Tunnels and caverns with walls of sand
Fashioned by coral deep below the surface
Grottos left unknown to most
Hidden sanctuaries of aquatic life
Tiny pools and crashing waterfalls
A land below coast and tide
Home to a colony of giant crabs
A colony stampeding

         “This is not the adventure I was expecting to find today!” the pink hedgehog girl, Rosy the Rascal shouted as she ran as fast as she could just ahead of the stampede. If she could run faster than sound like Tempest could, it would have been a trivial matter to escape the angry crustaceans, but as she was, she was no faster than most people. “Ooh~! I never thought following a fish stealing crab would lead to this!”

         Though she was no faster than most, she still had great reflexes implying she had quite a number of adventures even before waking with no memory of them on Amnesia Island. And she had little trouble putting them to use as the stampede caught up to her and should have left her trampled.

         “Sorry!” Rosy apologized with a playful wave as she jumped up and landed safely atop one of the crabs. It looked at her in surprise and she offered it a toothy grin and playful wave before jumping to the back of another crab that trampled the first.

“You guys are awful!” Rosy chastised the crabs as she hopped and skipped her way backwards along the stampede. “Stealing mine and Nana’s fish and trampling each other just because I found you all!

         “Hee-hee. Maybe I shouldn’t have given Mote the slip though. I hope she hasn’t been pulled into this mess too.”

         Fortunately for Rosy, she had not managed to drag the fairy into her current spat of trouble. Unfortunately for Tempest that meant that he had to deal with the pushy fairy back in the lighthouse well above the tunnels Rosy was running for her life in.

         “I don’t know anything about saving the world,” Tempest began as he eyed Mote flitting about in the air above his head. “I just came looking for a girl named Rosy. Nana sent me.”

         “The old hen?” Mote asked and eyed Tempest disappointed. “ I suppose that makes sense seeing as you were asleep in her abode. But finding Rosy and saving the world go hand in hand!”

         “I don’t get it,” Tempest verbalized his growing confusion while the crystals growing from his body steadily glowed purple providing a visual reference to it. “Is she in trouble?”

         “Knowing her, yes, but that’s hardly what I mean. I mean, even if she is in trouble the Rings will keep her safe. There are enough safe points that they will whisk her away to, should she get in too much trouble. But if I don’t find her, I won’t be able to find the Thief and save the world.”

         “You’re really not making a lot of sense,” Tempest shook his head and began wandering around within the dark lighthouse. “I mean, if the world needs saved, I don’t think asking an amnesiac for help is the best idea. I don’t know a thing about myself, and I can’t see how I can help you any. I can help you find Rosy though since we’re both looking for her.”

         “You really know nothing?” Mote asked as she chased Tempest about the lighthouse. “Even having been forgotten by the Rings, Rosy still remembered Sonic the Hedgehog, and he remembered her. It’s why she’s even able to be in the world right now!

         “Hm? Is something the matter?”

         Tempest was looking at Mote with a look of complete bafflement. Within his glowing purple crystals, sparks of purple lighting arced about, and it was obvious that something was wrong.

         “That name…?”

         “Name?” Mote asked growing befuddled herself. “Do you mean Sonic the Hedgehog?”

         Tempest winced at the mention of the name, and he clenched his right hand into a fist tight enough to obscure his fingertips in the Darkness that comprised his arm.

         “Who is that?” Tempest asked as his breathing grew harsh and he clutched at his chest, the large crystal protruding from it getting in his way.

         “It’s surprising you don’t know,” Mote commented, as she watched Tempest. “Your reaction seems to imply that you must have known him before winding up here.

         “Yes, you really are the perfect candidate to be another of my vassals! Finding Sonic is a must for me. A task that should be made much easier due to his Ring Bond with Rosy.”

         “You’re not making any sense again, but Rosy has a bond with him? And she remembers him?”

         Tempest gritted his teeth and tried to control the emotions coursing through his head. Panic was setting in and he could not understand why. The red lightning appearing within his crystals however told him that Sonic had traumatized him in some way. “Is that why I don’t remember who I am?”

         “Now you’re holding a conversation without me,” Mote complained. “But I don’t have an answer to your question. I can hardly imagine Sonic traumatizing a boy such as yourself though. He’s a hero who has saved the world time after time again. Rosy’s utterly infatuated with him and daydreams all the time. I doubt she’s daydreaming now though or else I would have found her already.”

         “Right,” Tempest agreed as he leaned his back against a wall and fought to catch his breath. “I still have to find her. I guess I’ll be helping you for a bit at least.”

         “Yet, it’s you who looks like you could use some help,” Mote commented as she eyed Tempest. She could not contain her haughty air long however and immediately accepted. “But who am I to refuse help! Though I doubt we’ll find her in here. She already stormed out in quite the fit when she saw there was no fish inside despite seeing some on the wire.”

         “What? Someone is stealing your fish? I thought it was just Nana, Rosy, and me here.”

         “And obviously me,” Mote harrumphed at her exclusion. “Though I am far from a fish thief.”

         “What about that?” Tempest asked as he stepped into the room that housed the motor for the fishing machine and a large trough where the wire caught fish were dropped off.

         “That’s…,” Mote began as she flew in and laid eyes on a crab the size of a wolf standing in the opening for the wire with several fish in its claws. “That is a tremendously large crab!”

         While Mote was not wrong, the ones Rosy was running from far below easily dwarfed two passenger automobiles, making this one rather small in comparison. Regardless of its size however, it was a clear and obvious clue to what had likely happened to Rosy.

         “That girl, I’m certain she gave me the slip and chased after one of these thieves!”

         At the word thief, the crab scuttled out the window with a start. “No! It may not be the thief I’m after, but we can’t let it get away!”

         “Not a problem,” Tempest proclaimed with a confidence that defied his confusion.

         Leaping to the opening with his Sonic rivaling speed, the black hedgehog had no trouble spotting the crab. With the stretchiness of his right arm, he had no problem catching it either as it swelled in size and snatched the crab off the side of the lighthouse. “You’re not getting away that easily buddy!”

         “That’s astounding!” Mote gasped with awe.

         “It kind of is,” Tempest agreed, until his mouth fell open in shock as the crab he caught dropped its fish. Fish that were caught by one of the automobile sized ones that were harassing Rosy below. “Is that…?”

         “My word!” Mote exclaimed excitedly. “If these things have caught Rosy’s attention, then there is no doubt that she is in danger.”

         “Then we better get moving!” Tempest declared as he tossed the first crab to the ocean and cracked the shell of the larger one as he struck after curling into a tight ball. Yet another feat that astounded Mote.

         “How did you…?” Mote began as she stared at the massive crystal protruding from Tempest’s chest as he uncurled and watched the crab run with tears in its eyes.

         “How did I what?” Tempest asked looking back at Mote as he landed.

         “Never mind that!” Mote insisted as she raced past Tempest. “Follow that crab if we are to have any chance of finding Rosy!”

“I was already going to,” Tempest shrugged before taking off as well.