Everything Changes (A Sonic Boom Fanfic)

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

"I know I have something purple," Amy muttered as she tossed dress after dress onto the hammock by her closet. "Purple was all the rage a couple of years ago."

Kay sat quietly on the couch a few paces away, watching Amy in confused interest and wondering why purple always seemed to come back around to her. It was the color she'd worn the first time she was a hedgehog, it was the color she'd ended up wearing during most of her time with the Turtles, and now her fellow female seemed to think it was the color that would best complement her copper brown fur. It was curious, but she decided to just roll with it.

"So, Amy," Kay said at last as another couple of dresses found their way to the hammock, "tell me more about you and your friends. What do you all do?"

"Oh, mostly we're just normal villagers," Amy replied absentmindedly. "But once a day Eggman will come visit from his island with whatever robot destructors he's chosen for the day and we take them out. It's usually pretty quick and painless. Nothing to it, really. Aha!" With a flourish, the pink hedgehog twirled around and held up a purple and silver dress that looked like it would fit Kay exactly. "I knew it! Here, come try it on."

The next couple of moments were a blur as Amy tossed the dress to Kay and then shoved her behind the wooden tri-fold room divider set up beside her closet. Kay took a moment to inspect the clothes she was wearing – pants and a slightly ragged top – before taking in the subtle beauty of the dress that had been given to her. She frowned. Kay wasn't really a dress person, but for the sake of rolling with things, she decided to give it a go.

"Just out of curiosity, do I have to wear a dress?" Kay asked.

From the other side of the tri-fold Amy replied, "Of course! Every Mobian female wears dresses." There was a brief pause. "Are you from somewhere where girls wear pants?"

"I don't know," Kay replied. In another couple of moments she was changed, and she glanced down at herself. The dress fit comfortably enough, but it felt foreign to her. The skirt ended just above her knees, and the sleeves were short and off-shoulder. It was mostly a bright violet, but there was silver trim at the hem of the skirt and along the waistline as a faux-belt, almost.

Kay shook her head. This was weird.

"Come on, let me see!" Amy said. Kay took a breath and stepped back out into the open. Amy's eyes brightened when she saw her and she clasped her hands together. "Oh, it's perfect! I knew purple was your color!" Then she stepped back and put a hand to her chin. "Hmm...it's missing something, though. Wait! I know." She disappeared into her closet once again, then reemerged holding up something black as well as purple boots that matched the dress exactly. She handed them to Kay. "Here. These go with the dress. It'll bring the whole look together."

Kay fussed with the black material for a moment before Amy finally showed her how it worked, and as she slipped it on she tried to divert the conversation back to where it had begun. "So Eggman attacks once a day? On the clock?"

"Most of the time he'll attack in the late morning or early afternoon. Every now and again he'll be extra devious and come at night or work his way into our political system to pull strings legally. He's a complicated villain."

Sounds nothing like the Eggman I know, Kay thought. At last she was able to adjust the fabric and then slide the boots on, and she posed for Amy, who was grinning from ear to ear. "Yes! Now that's more like it. You look more like a native Bygone Islander already!"

Kay didn't understand the point of the legging-type material she now wore, but she had to admit it helped bring the look together. The material went from her knees to her ankles, and when the boots were on they fit quite nicely and held it in place very well. They were almost like leg-warmers, but more stylish, and certainly not meant for warming anything. It was already warm enough down here by the beach.

It was unlike anything she'd ever worn before, but if it was the Mobian style, she'd give it a try. "Thanks for the dress, Amy."

"Oh, don't mention it!" Amy beamed. She moved back over to the hammock and began putting the discarded dresses back in their places. Kay helped.

"What about you and your friends? What do you do when Eggman isn't around?"

"Oh, we do all sorts of things together, but we're not together all the time. We have other friends in the village, too."

"Oh?"

"Sure! Tails has a lady friend named Zoe that he sees quite often. Knuckles has a good friend named Mike. Sticks..." She paused. "Well, I'm not entirely sure what Sticks does when she's not with us."

This was not the first time Kay had heard that name, but she didn't recognize it at all. "Who is Sticks?"

"Oh, I'm sure you'll meet her soon enough. She's a jungle badger who helps us fight Eggman."

Kay blinked. "Okay." Deciding that for the moment it might be odd to continue asking questions about Amy and her friends, she tried a different topic. "Do you guys ever travel beyond the island?"

"Not if we can help it. We like it here," Amy replied.

"Even Sonic?"

"Of course. He loves the island. He doesn't really like to leave, unless he's going to Eggman's island to fight him or something."

Sonic doesn't like to leave the island? Kay could hardly believe it. The Sonic I remember would have gone crazy in a place like this. Not enough room to run.

"Well...are there any continents nearby?"

"The closest one is east of here, about three days' travel by boat."

"Does it have a name?"

"Not that I know of."

First the village doesn't have a name, and now the nearest continent doesn't? Kay asked, "Is there any way I can learn about the nearby geography and whatnot?"

"I'm sure the public library would have some books with maps." Amy put the last dress away, closed the closet door, and wiped her brow. "I could show you, if you want."

Kay knew that if the rest of Mobius was as messed up as what she'd seen so far here on the island, she'd have a lot of learning to do in the next few days. Everything she thought she knew had been thrown out the window after the Dark Gaia incident. All of her knowledge was of a world completely different from this one. And she didn't want to keep playing the amnesiac forever.

So with this in mind, she nodded to Amy. "I'd love to visit the library."