If I Had A Hammer: The Amy Rose Story

"Never fear, Amy Rose is here!" - and with such sentiments are we introduced to the first stalker of gaming. Oh come on, like she can be referred to as anything else, for you see 'fear' is such a ambiguous word, put simply you should run for the hills - NOW!

Amy's back story is quickly told, so I might as well do that now then.

Amy was a very loving child, friendly to all and with a spark of life within her as strong as any known, yet she had from that age no real family to call her own. From the time she was very young Amy had to fend for herself, she lost contact with her parents who (back when Mobius was Mobius and not Earth) lived on another planet entirely and her uncle used to dress up and pretend to be Robin Hood. Anyway, the young pink hedgehog was minding her own business one day, when all of a sudden her fantasy claims of not just being Sonic's number one fan but of being Sonic's actual girlfriend came back to haunt her BIG time in the form of her would-be beau's emotionless mechanical doppelganger - Metal Sonic.

Capturing the impetuous she-hog, Metal Sonic and Sonic raced on the Stardust Speedway with the latter being victorious and defeating Eggman for yet another day.  Amy didn't really care that the world had been saved as it was this act of heroism which enabled her to actually meet her icon aboard... y'know... that Death Egg Moon Thing™. Post Sonic CD, these events would have a profound effect on Amy - possibly due to the sheer trauma, maybe because she was young and impressionable or simply because she was just plain off her rocker crazy; But whatever it was it had her rescue had the negative effect of turning the young pink hedgehog into a Sonic fanatic chasing him wherever he went with dreams he would eventually fall in love with her and marry her.

Amy would for the next few "years" work hard in her efforts to gain Sonic's love and approval, although this varied wildly from getting captured by Eggman, racing Sonic in a car, to simply trying to run Sonic down on foot. Time may pass, but Amy's love for Sonic stays strong and despite running, hiding, misinformation and several court injunctions Sonic has yet to shake her off.

All these activities had little effect on Sonic's feelings seemingly, but it did (somewhat conversely) help Amy develop into a very independent woman. Those long hours shopping, err, training I mean, have helped her develop physically, a good example being through her use of the boxercise fitness regime she has developed her strength to the point where by she can out muscle nearly any foe (or friend) if antagonised enough.

Amy somehow gained access to her weapon the Piko-Piko hammer; a large yellow and red hammer that is traditionally a squeaky toy, thus making a 'piko' noise - yeah, I know but apparently there is no such thing as 'squeak' in Japan. Amy's hammer though is far from squeaky; it's hard as rock and deadly in her hands. The sight of Amy + hammer sends fear down the spine of any rival. She is also one of the most peaceable of Sonic's friends, able to talk down previously dangerous enemies such as Shadow and E-102 Gamma; Perhaps part of her strong mothering instinct that protected Emerl in the early days of his life or continue to this day in the mentoring of young Cream.  Whatever the case she still, if she has one lingering fault, gets jealous as sin if any other female shows any sign of affection to Sonic.

Over the course of the last few years Amy's determination has seen her skills rise dramatically. Trying to emulate Sonic has increased her running speed and stamina, heck she can now do most EVERYTHING Sonic can - even the infamous spin dash, yet has this impressed him? No.

She did manage to get a date with him at Twinkle Park I suppose and has managed to gain some modicum of respect out of him and even once dressed so beautifully she left him speechless. However, to put it bluntly Amy's starting to get a bit more easily fed up with him; if he wants a girl that can keep up with him then why doesn't he look over his shoulder? She's already there! Tsk, boys(!)  She's not one to push around or kidnap anymore, she's off adventuring on her own when she loses Sonic and can easily hold her own in a fight with or without her hammer. Amy loves karaoke, hanging out with her girlie-girl-girl-friends and shoes, yet she's has only ever owned three outfits her entire life. No one even wants her to do her tarot cards anymore, although this is probably just as well as her deck is rather mixed up and she's lost her Nine of Swords card, which for some reason seems to have been replaced by a CD with some Nick Drake-esque music on it.

Since meeting with dimensional travellers Angelus and Alzari, Amy has become rather close to Angelus' snow tiger Frost and he in return is very protective of Amy.  Following the return of Metal Sonic and subsequent scarily easy defeat of the principal characters (Sonic, Shadow et al) Amy showed no fear and took up the fight.  Her hammer blow, though landed, did no damage whatsoever to the empowered Metal Sonic and the recoil of the connection actually shattered the hammerhead.  Blown backwards into Angelus and Alzari, Amy could only watch on as Frost defended them...  the cost was high and Frost was severely injured by Metal.

Saved by the timely intervention of Eggman, Amy withdrew into herself slightly, blaming herself for Frost's injuries by day and spooked by eerie dreams of Sonic being killed by a crystalline figure at night.  She soon got over this however and is once more her boisterous yet caring self but the conquering of your home can do things to a girl. There is a determination in her eyes not seen there before, she will never again allow her friends to be injured defending her. Amy will need to rise up to greater achievements before the world is liberated from Metal Sonic and the Robot Legion and she can get back to more important things...

Like getting Sonic to marry her.