Eric had stepped back into the main room after examining the broken door again. He couldn't get mad over it since Sonic just got here. The aformentioned blue hog nearly balled up again upon seeing him, but Amy managed to keep him calm.

"There's no need to be afraid, Eric is our friend!" She said as she placed her hands on his shoulders.

Sonic remained still, keeping his mouth shut as he was still leery of the human not wanting him to talk.

"It's okay Amy, these things will take time." Eric chuckled. "Oh, I've got the bath ready upstairs, so whenever you can, we'll deal with the smell."

Bath? Now there was an unfamilliar word to Sonic. He raised a brow inquisitively at Amy and repeated it. "Bath?"

Amy looked back at him with a sheepish grin then at Eric with a look of worry. "Uoldshay eway elltay imhay?"

Eric blinked and thought for a second as the blue hedgehog sputtered to repeat what he just heard. "Uuuuuhhhhhhmmmmmm... let's just go up there and we'll figure out from there."

She nodded and stood up off the couch, taking Sonic's hand. "Don't worry about a thing, we're just... going to make you smell better!"

He shifted his eyes between her and Eric as they both smiled at him... almost uncomfortably so. Yes he told her to smile, but now it was getting creepy.

"Please?"

Sonic looked at the hand she was holding, then scooted forward off the sofa cautiosly, standing up strait on his legs again. Feeling that slick floor underneath his feet again made him nervous enough, and not knowing what awaited him upstairs didn't help matters. Still he kept up with Amy as she guided him out of the room, taking him back out to the main hall where the main stairs were. Going up wasn't as much of a task as he was worried it would be, just had to watch where his feet went. There was a much narrower and longer hallway to the right here and a number of doors. She guided him to the second closest door, as he began sniffing. He could make out the moisture in the air, which meant... water.

Sonic stopped dead in his tracks, prompting Amy to halt as well when she realized she was now pulling on his arm.

She looked back at him. "What's wrong?"

"No," he shook his head rapidly, "don't get wet! Don't like water! No water!"

Amy gulped and looked back at Eric, who had followed them this far. He made an open armed gesture to silently hint at what to do. She smiled and put both her arms around Sonic again in a loose hug.

"It's okay, the water won't hurt you, I won't let it."

He untensed a bit at feeling her closeness again, but he still didn't want to move. He had bad memories about water. Ivo always was angry whenever he had to clean him, usually doing so with a heavy sprayer with no regard to whether or not Sonic could breathe through it all. He almost felt like he may have died each time. There was no way he wanted to go through that again.

Amy tugged at him again, trying to coax him further. "Come on, you can trust me!"

Sonic shook his head again and began backing up. "Water... will kill me."

He was forced to stop as he bumped into the human, whereupon his spines straitened out. Eric could practically sense this coming and managed to keep from getting pricked, but what he hadn't anticipated was how quickly Sonic could move at a moments' notice. Amy barely had time to blink as Sonic spun around and practically disappeared in a gust of wind that knocked both her and Eric off their feet. There was another cry of pain before they could even sit up, followed by another gust of wind, then a loud crash. Amy stared in wonderment at her human companion, who returned the same look, as the remained utterly dumbfounded at what just happened.
They both got up and ran to the stairs, stopping as they looked down to see a great big dent in the wall at the bottom. Eric's jaw may have dropped off his face if it wasn't securely attached. Amy was more worried about Sonic as she skipped down the steps as quickly as possible to follow the trail. At the bottom she looked back and forth to figure out where Sonic had gone from here, and noticed that one of the sofas in the main room was toppled over. She heard him wimpering as she ran in, and soon found him on the other side of the couch curled up with his hands over his left leg.

"S-Sonic? What in the world did you-"

"Hurt!" he cried out, "Run too fast, no way turning, hit things hard!"

Amy dropped to her knees at his side, less concerned with what he'd done to anything else and more about his own sake. "How bad is it? Can I see?"

Sonic curled up tighter, balling up on himself again as tears rolled down his cheeks. It was a pitiful sight... one that Amy was quickly getting tired of dealing with. Guy had barely been here more than an hour, and already she was sick of his behaviour. Still, she cared about him and had no intention of giving up this quickly.

'Suck it up, girl,' she thought, 'he's in a new world, and it scares him. He needs love, comfort, and guidance!'

She took a deep breath and knelt over to gather him up in her arms. His spines relaxed enough that they wouldn't hurt her, though it was still an odd thing to get her arms around. She tried picking him up, but this ball was a dense one and she was not quite as strong as Eric was. Thankfully Sonic was unwinding in her arms, spreading his mass out enough for her to get a better lift.

He looked at her nervously as she strained to stand up with him. "W-w-w-wha... what you doing?"

"You keep hurting yourself," Amy grunted, "So I'm gonna make sure you don't do so again."

She got turned around slowly, one step at a time, just in time for Eric to catch up and see the damage.

"How in the world did... all this just happen?!" He stammered, looking back and forth between the upturned couch and the busted wall.

Sonic just about curled up again and Amy sighed. "Can you worry about that later? He hurt himself again!"

Eric groaned and brought a hand to his forehead. "Yeah, okay. I guess I better call old Chuck in, see if he can make a house call."

Amy nodded. "Okay, I'll try to get him cleaned up in the mean time."

"After all that, you still think you can?"

She looked at the blue mess of a hog in her hands, who turned his head away in shame, then back at Eric and nodded. "He'll smell like a blueberry patch by the time I'm done with him!"

It was a bit of a process, but Amy managed to make her way back to the stairs, not being bothered with the wall damage. Getting up the stairs took a bit longer, but she perserveered. Sonic remained quiet the whole time, feeling bad now for having caused so much trouble. As they aproached the same door from before his spines stood out again and he wrapped his arms around her tightly, nearly making the girl topple.

"No, please! Not water! I no want to die!"

Amy rolled her eyes. "Oh please, I told you the water won't hurt!"

Sonic whimpered and burried his face in her chest, once again causing her to blush. "No... it always hurt, and not to get air... I die with no air."

Amy was lost for words. Between the broken manner in which he spoke, and where he had his face, it was a bit hard to think. No one had ever been as close to her before as this guy was now... it made her feel odd.

"Uuuuhhhhhmmmmm... It's not going to be that deep! You'll be able to breathe just fine!"

He still didn't ease up, but this was embarassing and she wanted to get this over with so she moved on through the door. Sonic clung tighter, practically squeezing the air out of her own lungs.

"S-Sonic, let up or [i]I[/i] won't be able to breathe!"

His ears perked and he quickly released her, giving her a moment to gasp and get her bearings back. "Sorry, I not want you to die..."

She smiled weakly at him. "It's okay, just don't do that again. Anyway, here it is."

Sonic turned his head, a small glimpse of the salmon pink tile the room was covered in before laying eyes on a similar colored basin with the dreaded clear fluid within. Had he been on his feet he might have jumped, instead he shrieked and clung to Amy tightly again, this time trying to ball up around her. It was too much this time, Amy lost her balance and fell strait over... into the tub with a splash!

The next few moments were a blurr as Sonic released her and flailed to get his head above water. He swung his arms and legs around wildly as something pushed him away. He cried out for it to stop, kicking and swinging at whatever was around him... until he realized he wasn't choking. He stopped moving and opened his eyes, blinking for a moment to get a grasp of where he was. Sitting up, he found himself on the floor just next to the tub. Amy herself was now sitting inside it, completely soaked and looking over the edge at him with an annoyed look on her face.

"This is gonna be a long day, isn't it?"

-----

"Hello, I'd like to speak to mister Thorndyke if he's not too busy. I'll hold."

Eric paced back and forth in front of the ruined wall as he spoke into the handset, waiting for an answer from his friend.

"Chuck? It's me! Eric, ya old coot! Oh, I'm good... more or less. No, it's not about Amy. I found another one today and brought him home. A pet shop on the park square. I know, it's a ridiculous practice. You ever thought about talking with Nelson about stopping it? What about Linsey? Clueless, eh? Well I'd love to introduce them some time, but it may take a while to get this guy adapted. Yeah, that's why I called actually. He's being a problem child as it were. Well it's been little more than an hour and  already I'm gonna need a new front door and a wall patched. I'm also a bit worried he might have broken his leg. That's just what I had in mind! Thanks Chuck, you're a life saver! Okay, seeya then!"

He put the phone down and let out a sigh of releif. Now that that was taken care of, all that was left was getting Sonic cleaned up. Judging by the noise he heard earlier, that task sounded like it may take awhile. A bit scared of what mess he was about to encounter this time, Eric proceeded up the stairs slowly. Thankfully there was nothing wrong once he reached the hall. The bathroom door was closed and nothing immediately seemed amis.

Eric took a deep breath and knocked on the door. "How's it going in there?"

Amy had managed to switch places with Sonic with little fuss after he saw it wasn't going to drown him. She didn't have the time or inclination to dry off or change her clothes yet, so she just took off her gloves and socks and let her spines out. Sonic had been good so far in terms of letting her scrub him down, but she was leery of going anywhere too personal. Now she was about to use the last of her favorite shampoo on him... the blueberry scented stuff.

She looked up to the door from her place next to the tub. "Fine, just fine!"

Sonic looked back at her with a nervous glance. "Just fine?" He repeated, questioningly.

"Should I see?" Eric asked.

Amy glanced around the room. It wasn't too wet now that she had layed down a couple of large towels. "Yeah, I guess."

The door came open and Eric poked his head around the side. He paused to take in the condition of things then sighed. "Well, not too bad."

He opened the door fully and stepped in, causing Sonic to shift away.

Amy groaned. "Sonic, there's no need to be afraid of mister Eric! He saved you from that terrible man for cripes sake!"

"Saved..." He echoed quietly, staring down into the water.

"Yes, thanks to him you won't have to live like that ever again!"

"Yes." Sonic repeated again, raising a hand to rub his right shoulder.

Eric raised a brow curiously, then remembered something. "Oh, how's his leg?"

Amy looked up thoughtfully then looked at her blue friend. "Well, I scrubbed both of them down and he didn't squirm much."

Sonic looked back at her again and tried to state another word he was barely able to remember. "I very re-relis-resilun... uh, reselint?"

"Resilient?" Eric asked.

He nodded. "Yes, I very resilient."

"Well you better be, given what you did to the wall. Speaking of, how [i]did[/i] you do that?"

"Yeah, what was that?" Amy added as she poured some shampoo into her hand. "You said you ran fast. How did you do that?"

Sonic shrugged. "Always can run fast. How my name is Sonic."

Eric scratched his head, and Amy shrugged. "Maybe Chuck can figure it out?"

"Oh Yeah, he'll be over in less than an hour, so if you can finish up here I'll go looking for some clothes for this guy."

"Not my clothes!" Amy shouted as he turned to leave.

"No, I have a few other old things he could try out." Eric smiled and closed the door behind him.

Not sure what to think, Amy let it go and turned her attention back to Sonic, whereupon she began to rub that blue goop in her hands onto his spiny head.

Sonic lowered his ears and let out a low growl. "I not like this..."

"Remember what I said: don't struggle and it won't last long. Think you can deal with that?"

He sighed as her fingers were practically grinding against his skull. "That what master Ivo always say..."