Of Sand And Of Subtlety

The Basis Of Blame

  "Amy‽" Shadow, Tails and I exclaimed as we rushed to the collapsed sand castle.

  Tails got down on his knees and started digging at the monstrous pile. "We've gotta get her out, fast! Start digging at different parts, guys!"

  Shadow and I split up to create a triangle, all three of us sifting through the sand and occasionally calling out to Amy. After about a minute, Shadow resorted to carefully spin dashing, moving in and out of the mound and spreading it across the beach.

  Once the entire thing had been leveled, revealing only a glue-covered TV and some wooden boards, we all stepped back in confusion.

  "So..." I twitched an ear. "She's not even here?"

  "How is that even possible?" Tails paced through the 'rubble'.

  Shadow joined him, then stopped in front of some slightly elevated wood. "Suspicious."

  "What?" Tails and I both looked at him.

  "It's all so suspicious." Shadow crossed his arms.

  "It was all purposeful?" I questioned, and Shadow nodded.

  "I thought maybe something was up when Knuckles went down, but Amy just made it obvious." Shadow paused as he kicked away the wood in front of him, revealing a hole in the ground. "It was all rigged."

  "Rigged?" Tails bent down over the hole and looked in. "Isn't this the... cellar?"

  "Yep." Shadow nodded. "And it's the perfect escape route."

  "Woah woah woah." I broke in. "You're saying Amy left through a closed cellar?"

  "I never said Amy," Shadow started to climb down. "But yes, that's what I'm saying."

  Tails suddenly narrowed his eyes at the black hedgehog. "Wait a minute. Amy's not the suspicious one... you are!"

  Shadow stopped lowering himself and rested an elbow on the lip of the hole, waiting for Tails to gather his thoughts.

  "Wh-why, you can teleport!" Tails scrambled. "You could've teleported Amy out of the castle before it collapsed! Or even afterwards, depending on your motives."

  Shadow chuckled slightly. "I thought you had half a brain, Tails. If I teleported to save Amy, I would've been crushed too. As for the second part," he dropped down into the cellar, his voice still echoing up to us. "You and I both know I can't teleport into mass."

  "He's right, Tails." I agreed. "Besides, what would Shadow have to gain from kidnapping Amy?"

  "I sure don't know." Tails scratched his head as Shadow resurfaced and started walking away, towards the sand dunes.

  "What's over there?" I asked as he stopped next to some beach grass.

  "A hole that connects to the cellar." Shadow said matter-of-factly.

  Tails flew over to look. "Why- how-"

  "Unless this is just a diversion, I'd say Amy escaped through here to escape the blame." Shadow explained. "It would only make sense that she was involved with Sonic's disappearance."

  I shook my head. "Now you're just being paranoid, Shadow. Amy's crazy for Sonic, but not crazy enough to try and hurt him..." I paused. "Right?"

  "She can be a bit..." Tails struggled to find the right word. "Passionate."

  Shadow shrugged and crossed his arms again as he and Tails walked back to the castle site. "I've stated my case."

  "But wait." Tails started pacing. "If you say the castle was rigged... didn't you make most of it?"

  "It wouldn't have been as great as it was without me." Shadow nodded. "But Amy decided, seemingly on a whim, to help us in our construction. She also spent a suspiciously long time near that cellar door."

  "It's too bad that camera was knocked down." I sighed. "That would've made things a lot simpler."

  "Hold on." Tails mumbled. "How was that camera knocked down?"

  "Should I look through the footage again?" I suggested.

  Tails agreed and the three of us went to the lifeguard seat. I fast-forwarded to where the camera tumbled to the sand, then went back and pressed play, turning the volume up to make sure we got every aspect of the moment.

  The faint voice of Amy was heard through the wind and seagulls, then Knuckles' voice a lot louder, saying something about a jump scare. With a metallic sound, an object hit the screen and the camera fell, covering the lens with sand.

  Shadow bent down and felt around the ground, then pulled a crushed, black can out of the sand. He flattened it and held it up for us to see, then rolled his eyes as it was revealed to be a can of Black Bull.

  "Before you say anything, it wasn't me. I gave my can to Knuckles."

  I sighed and frowned. "Why did Knuckles knock down my camera?"

  "Maybe he-" Tails started to pace, but his foot slipped down into a small hole I hadn't noticed earlier. Shadow had quick reflexes, and caught him just before he went down.

  "How did that get there?" Tails yelped as he stood up straight, backing away from the small pit.

  Shadow leaned up against the lifeguard seat. "Knuckles was digging it earlier today. It goes pretty deep."

  "But why would he be digging a hole?" I mumbled to myself. "It's too bad we can't ask him, since he went to," I glared at Tails. "Rescue your boat!"

  Tails glared back at me. "O-oh yeah? Well, you just randomly set up a bunch of cameras! Then you left!"

  "It was a fluke call!" I countered. "And look! I came back, didn't I? Unlike Sonic. We're not really sure what happened to him, right? Who says he's not behind all this?"

  "Why don't we just go look for more clues, then?" Tails stormed off towards where Sonic had last been 'seen'.

  "Come on, Shadow." I growled and stomped after the fox.

  "What was that little upstart thinking, trying to blame me? I just wanted a relaxing beach day and now look what happened."

  Suddenly a wave of exhaustion swept over me. "Oh great, and now the sun's getting to me.."

  I grabbed the bottle of sunscreen as we passed and slathered some on my ears and nose.

  "Maybe I'll take a nap while I tan... after we find more clues, of course."

  Tails was searching the ground carefully when Shadow and I joined him. He held up a hand to keep us from walking over a certain area of sand he was examining. Shadow crouched down as well, but I couldn't muster the energy to lower myself.

  "What would you say these things are, Shadow?" I heard Tails ask as he pointed to the sand.

  My vision was blurring, so I could only slightly make out what they were looking at. Scattered along the ground were small bits of something, maybe plastic?

  "This big piece looks like Amy's surfboard." Shadow uncovered a large chunk.

  "That's it!" Tails exclaimed as he jumped up. "This could be the missing piece! Now I just need the footage to look back on while I find out who did this."

  His words sounded far away and I found I couldn't move my feet to follow as Tails and Shadow ran back towards camp.

  "Help-" I managed to whisper as I fell backwards and closed my eyes.

  Just before I thought I would hit the ground, I felt someone catch me, then I lost all sense of my surroundings.