These are the ages of the characters at the start of this story:

Sonic – 21

Shadow – Appears to be about 21

Amy – 18

Tails – 14

Knuckles – 22

Rouge – 24

This particular story is set in Mobius.

A world where multiple animals grew intelligent at the same time. Including a few thousand humans. The population on this planet being distributed fairly evenly among the many species.

Note that, unless specified, a chapter will be in a general point of view. Also I need to say this; Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are property of their respective owners.

I'd also like to point out that, for this story, the last time they all saw each other along with Robotnick was in the new gen "Sonic the Hedgehog" The 'sonic heroes' group slowly falling apart and finally breaking up some time in 2009.

Without further adieu; let's get this story started!

Prologue: The Beginning of the End

It was quarter to nine on the 20th of December 2012.

Today was a warm for a day of winter. The sky was overcast, keeping the warmth in, while the sun occasionally shone through rare gaps almost like the sun was attempting to keep the temperature up on the surface of the planet Mobius. The wind blew gently while the final leaves fell off an old lone oak tree standing nearby; causing them to flutter while they fell like they were anticipating something. The sound of a stream could be heard nearby while it trickled back towards the sea.

All of a sudden a blue blur shot by, disrupting the peace and disturbing the area. The blur was none other than the famous Sonic the Hedgehog whom had decided to go out on his normal morning jog, completely and blissfully unaware of the abnormal, strange and life changing events that would soon occur.

Sonic did not look much different despite it being a few years since the hero had last been seen saving the world. The few things that had changed were the fact that his quills had grown an inch or two and the fact that he himself had grown about four extra inches. This made him taller than average for a Mobian. Sonic had also taken up to wearing clothes now. Sporting some faded blue denim jeans with a white T-shirt exclaiming 'Fastest thing alive' with a cartoon 2D picture of himself in a spin ball imitating the letter 'a' on the word fastest. His trainers were the same as they had always been.

The blue blur slowly came to a stop to take in the scenery. He had ran this route a million times and yet there was never any sentient person on the route. Yet today there was a young human man simply standing there nearby him.

Sonic carefully jogged up to the human male to make sure he didn't startle him with his speed. Sonic got closer and realised it was a young man whom seemed to be aged round 21. He was wearing dark blue denim jeans, dark grey top with a white skull imprinted on it. Although standing out the most was not his clothes but it was his facial expression. He looked like a guy with something really heavy was weighing on his mind.

The male turned his head to face Sonic, and mumbled something under his breath just out of Sonic's earshot. Sonic just assumed that the man has recognised him for the great Sonic the Hedgehog. While Sonic continued to approach the man he announces "Hey! Why're you all the way out here?" In his usual loud 'heroic' tone.

The strange man replied with a surprisingly odd, yet cheery voice. "Oh nothing really, just looking round the country. Check out the scenery a bit and that. I'm sure you understand that? I enjoy camping outside, it's fun." He smiled at Sonic in a reassuring way.

Sonic thought, Why would a random guy want to be looking round somewhere so far out and so far away from any human civilisation when there is no transport near by or any way of getting here besides walking? Completely baffled, Sonic asked curiously "How did you get all the way out here? There's no transport or humans for miles. Are you with anyone?"

"Oh I walked and ran out here." The man told him merrily, yet he seemed to be hiding something that Sonic couldn't put his finger on. Sonic then looked down and noticed a sword lying on the ground, in a large clump of tall grass tall enough to cover a child, next to the man. He was about to say something about it, but then decided to avoid mentioning it.

"Ran? From where? Where do you live?" Sonic questioned. Confused and bewildered as to how a normal human could have ran all the way out here by himself.

"Live? I do not live anywhere specific, the world is my home... I guess I'm a bit of a hermit." He laughed to himself before he stopped smiling and gave Sonic an analytical look, and then he frowned.

"Right, well, you want any help getting to any towns nearby?" Sonic asked kindly with his worried tone. "I can give you a 'lift' so to speak and take you there with ease!" Going back to his usual half cocky attitude. The man frowned slightly more and looked at Sonic with slight irritation.

"No, I'll be okay Sonic. You just go on with your morning run. Don't worry about me at all. I have things to do." His frown evaporated and smile came back while he turned away and started to walk off.

"Okay then, erm... well, I'll see you about I suppose." Sonic turned back round and started running off.

Sonic turned back to look slowly after he had gone a fair distance from the man, however he could not see the man anywhere. Assuming that he must have lain down in the patch of tall grass that was near him Sonic carried on running.

After running for several minutes he started thinking about how odd the man had been. Why was he like that? And what was he hiding? I don't get humans... He looked depressed when you just looked at him, and yet when you spoke to him he seemed cheery, absolutely fine.

After a few hours of running Sonic concluded his run by returning to station square, and within it, his home, a place that had been given to him from the mayor of the town after all of his achievements for the world and its people. This made him feel a slight tinge of sadness, reminding him of the good old days when Robotnik was fighting them. His thoughts made him glance over to the invite that he had, there was a party at 8 that night held by Rouge. He wasn't sure why she was trying to get all of the old gang together but either way he needed to go see her. Talking to Shadow was a good step towards finding where all the Chaos Emeralds were and making sure they were in good hands.

Sonic cooked himself dinner quickly before he jumped on his sofa and grabbed the remote scrolling through channels trying to find something good on he found a documentary on Angel island and watched it while he ate. Before he knew it he had finished eating and he continued to watch the documentary with genuine interest, yet, before he knew it he had fallen to sleep.

Waking up with a start he looked at the time Five past eight. Ah, that's not so bad... Wait a second... He paused, thinking. Suddenly his mouth dropped open. "I need to be at a party!" He exclaimed to the lounge before he ran into his room in a blur and was back out again before you could say 'party'. He was wearing a fairly 'formal yet cool' looking white shirt with light blue buttons all the way down the middle. The shirt also had very thin lines of the same blue running from top to bottom each one an inch apart. For trousers Sonic was wearing light blue 'smart' jeans that almost matched the colour of the buttons and were not faded. He was wearing completely white versions of his normal trainers.

Sonic ran off out his house, almost forgetting to lock it behind him, rushing up the street at speeds that would have been illegal had he been driving a car. He arrived outside the bar/restaurant and looked down at the piece of paper he happened to have picked up. It read "Come to my Christmas party because I won't be in town for Christmas, love Rouge" there was two large X's at the end of the sentence. He turned over the card to read 'The Ice Cube, 203 W. Ave, Station Square' Looking up, Sonic saw in big bold letters 'The Ice Cube' Sonic breathed in deeply and let out a sigh.

"Guess I'm in the right place then!" Sonic walked up to the club and proceeded to enter. Only to be stopped by an Echidna bouncer that came out of nowhere. He was a blue Echidna with purple eyes and he had a rather angry look on his face, he looked like all he wanted to do was hit someone.

"Sorry, bar's closed for private hire today." The bouncer stressed, speaking in a matter of fact tone. "Got an invite?" He looked at Sonic doubtfully, expecting him to turn away and walk away or maybe expecting him to try and fight back. He looked like he was itching for a scrap.

Sonic simply held up the invite for the bouncer to see. The Echidna looked at it carefully from a distance, and then urged Sonic to come closer. Sonic walked up to him so he could easily pass the invite to the bouncer and the bouncer half snatched it and looked at it carefully like it was a fake. A look of slight surprise came over his face. "Fine, in you go." He stepped aside to allow Sonic passage, not wanting the bouncer to change his mind, Sonic quickly made his way inside the club to be met with the sound of ear drum breaking music making it impossible to hear himself think.

He looked round the club to see that it was a lot bigger on the inside than the outside. The bar was fairly large and there was a great variety of drinks on the back shelf. Including some none alcoholic drinks. He then saw a pink Hedgehog heading towards him. Instinctively he threw up his arms to protect himself from the imminent hug tackle that was sure to come after a few years of not seeing him. He waited there, braced. Then he managed to barely hear a voice over the music. "I can not hear you!" He shouted at her, finally moving his hands down.

"I'm not going to attack you!" Amy was barely audible over the music even though she was obviously yelling as loud as she could. "I would like to catch up though!" She looked much more womanly with the five years of no Robotnik attacking and must have developed a lot with the past two years he hadn't been anywhere near her to see her properly. Amy's quills fell down to her breasts, her breasts were now almost as large as Rouge's, though not quite there, her form was very slender. She had wide hips. The perfect hourglass figure so many girls would kill for. She was wearing a black tank top and some deep blue jeans. All in all after all these years she ironically looked extremely attractive to the single hedgehog and just when it looked like she had gotten over him. He sighed heavily with irritation.

"Where we going?" Sonic bellowed over the music, hoping Amy would hear. Instead of talking Amy just gestured towards one booth in the place with a smile. Sonic was fairly certain he could see a somewhat familiar fox in there. "Okay! Lead the way!" He yelled again so he could be heard and seeing that she had already started walking, Sonic followed.

Entering the booth with Amy he noticed the music was much quieter in here, actually making it possible to hear everyone over the music whilst they were just talking loudly. Spotting that it was indeed Tails, the only person he had seen in the last five years constantly, he sat next to him. "Bit loud in here." Sonic announced. Tails just nodded his head quickly, sipping on a can of something. Just when Sonic was about to comment he realised it was just a can of Relentless and not anything alcoholic.

He looked at Tails and studied his clothing. A light yellow shirt that went well with his shirt and still looked manly. With black trousers on his legs, his feet were not visible, looking at his face he realised just how much Tails had changed over the years. His voice had deepened to a pitch midway between Knuckle's and Sonic's voices, though it did squeak occasionally because he was somewhere in that stage of puberty, he had grown to be only two or three inches smaller than Sonic. Also most notably; Tails' tails had grown to almost twice their previous length. Giving him a place in the official book of world records amongst all his technical and mathematical achievements including working out the pattern in pi.

"Hello Sonic" A loud but seductive tone came across. He could recognise that voice any time. Looking round quickly getting ready to say something he paused almost gaping at Rouges looks. Her body had become even more feminine, if that were possible, her breasts larger and her hips wider. So much for Amy 'rivalling' Rouge. She was wearing a beautiful black dress that fully showed off her cleavage making her look like she was fully proud of it. Looking down he noticed with slight surprise that the dress only came midway between her hips and knees showing off as much of her legs as possible. With mid length heals that were black with a pink heart on the top. "My face is up here big boy." The seductive tone came across again. Sonic quickly looked up to her face. Blushing slightly.

"Hey Rouge, how you been?" Sonic blinked while he watched her, waiting for an answer to his question while she quickly looked him over.

"Not bad I must say. Seems like almost everyone I invited is here. Just two to go." Rouge said to the blue hedgehog; looking at him curiously. Sonic guessed it must have been that, with his change in appearance over the years, he looked a fair bit different. Just as the Blue Blur was about to ask a question, Rouge start talking again and, he was stopped. "Just Shadow and Cream to go now." This amusingly answered the blue Hedgehog's unasked question.

Sonic pondered this for a moment, surprised that Cream had not come with Tails. "Hey mate. Thought you'd be coming with Cream?" Sonic turned to Tails questioning him. Tails looked at Sonic slightly flustered.

"Why would I come with her? She can make it by herself right?" He spoke very quickly. Obviously both hyperactive and trying to cover something up. Sonic looked at him knowingly while Tails' muzzle turned slightly red before turning back to Rouge.

"I must admit I am surprised though. Cream is the sort of person I expect to always be on time for things!" Speaking loudly over the now quieter music. "So how many people did you invite and where they all sitting?" Sonic questioned. Looking round to notice that there was only the four of them in the booth.

Rouge looked back glancing outside of the booth too, judging by Sonic's assumptions, the bar. "Well Knuxiie is at the bar drinking his merry heart away already. Big is in a booth by himself for some reason playing with his frog, Amy and Tails, in here with us. Sally, Bunnie and Julie-Su went in another booth together. Though they don't want to be disturbed, catching up I presume. Finally we have the Chaotix team, or most of them anyway, Vector, Espio, Charmy and Mighty in the final booth, they're happy to talk to anyone, but of course no one can hear each other over the music." Rouge exclaimed smiling completely happy with herself.

"Looks like almost all the crew's here! Know when Shadow's heading in? I'd like to talk to him about something." Sonic announced. Thinking about how he needed to know if he himself possessed any of the Chaos Emeralds thinking of the Dark Blue Emerald stuffed in his quills. Noticing Amy staring into space he decided that this best be his last question to Rouge.

"No. To be honest with you I have no idea! Though we have a GUN mission tomorrow just before I leave with Knuxiie. So maybe he decided to give it a miss? Nothing to do but wait and see I suppose." With that Rouge left the room to tend to her other guests. Apparently pointing a waiter in our direction because a man appeared inside a few seconds after she left.

"Hello welcome to the Ice Cube. Would anyone like to order drinks?" The waiter spoke in a friendly tone. Smiling at all the customers when Sonic quickly realised he had no idea what to have when a very feminine voice spoke out.

"I'll have a large house red wine and another Relentless for my two tailed fox friend here please!" Sounding very cheery like Amy always had done. Sonic gazed at her for a few seconds before realising he was doing it. Looking up, and seeing the waiter looking at him expectantly; Sonic ordered a pint of Stella and the waiter went off to fetch their orders. "Sooo... Sonic. How have you been?! It's been about 3 years since I saw you last! God you look different! Took up to wearing clothes I see. I always said you should!" She winked playfully causing Sonic's heart to flutter slightly.

"Well Amy. If I'm honest. Nothing! Since Egghead disappeared I've had barely anything to do except save random cats from trees, and boring little small things like that." Sonic let out a loud sigh. Obviously letting off that he missed the 'good old days' with a hint of sadness on his face. "How about you? Been up to anything interesting? You've changed a lot too!" Sonic smiled at Amy gently.

"Well there's so much to tell! I was going around with Rouge yesterday, and I've found out that there are so many shoes sh..." Sonic, being a typical guy, started zoning out at the word shoes and just looked at and blinked at Amy; occasionally nodding at her when she seemed to pause so his mind could just wandered his happy place where everything was fast like he loved it. After ten minutes of thinking about running and all the places he had been the waiter walked back in carrying a tray. Sonic immediately came back to earth. "...And that's how I got my hands on some of the rarest shoes in the world! Only five pairs ever made you know!" She smiled her head off at Sonic. Thinking he listened to her every word. Noticing the waiter next to her she let out a soft "Ah!" when he started placing the drinks on the table.

"That was a most interesting story Amy. Thank you for sharing that with me." Sonic smiled at Amy and picked up the beer after thanking the waiter. Taking a long deep drink of it he put it back down and smiled at Amy again whilst she was sipping at her wine. After Amy had finished sipping she placed the wine back down.

"Thank you for listening Sonic, most people normally don't!" Amy looking slightly down while she said it but instantly picking up again as if she was never upset. "So then, what do you think of this place? Been here before? I came before when I met Rouge." Amy asked out of no where. Sonic looked round the booth. The large booth having a red leather 'sofa' that covered three sides of the table and two chairs on the end without. They didn't actually take up that much of the room! The doors leading to the main area were wooden with 'steamed' windows, preventing any onlookers from seeing inside if both doors would be closed. A deep sea blue ceiling met his eyes when he looked up, slowly tracing his eyes down he saw a stripy wall paper sporting a blue and red theme. Surprisingly the types of red and blue went well. Looking at the carpet it was a red colour but it had small 'flame' looking patterns on it in multiple shades of red and some orange. After taking it all in Sonic actually realised that it was a very nice room.

"I must say it's very nice! Why do you ask Amy?" Sonic questioned. Taking one last look round the room before looking at her once again. Meeting her gaze and staring into her beautiful Emerald green eyes that were so full of life and vitality. She looked at him playfully until he looked away, then replied to his question.

"Rouge is sort of thinking about buying the place!" She looked at him merrily. Pleased with her snippet of knowledge. Sonic looked at her quite shocked trying to work out where she would get the money for that. Maybe she really was going on a treasure hunt with Knuckles...

"That sounds cool Ames! Good business investment for her to make!" Sonic smiled to himself. Hoping that this would mean the end of Rouges professional thief 'career' smirking further. Amy looked at him happily. A large smile coming over her face. "Let's go out to the bar area and order more drinks." Staring at his empty beer glass. He could have sworn he never finished it.

"Okay!" Exclaimed Amy happily. Finishing the remainder of her wine before she stood up to go the bar. Tails following closely behind acting wobbly yet hyperactive. Assuming Tails 'borrowed' some of his beer. Sonic didn't bother saying anything.

When he got out the booth he was met by loud music again. Back to not being able to think he thought. The chuckled over his accidental pun.

Spotting Knuckles he went and sat next to him. His quills had grown to be far longer than they used to be. By at least three inches. Wearing the same sort of thing that Tails was except red instead of yellow. He was an inch taller but besides that it was same old Knuckles.

Sonic went up to him, seeing that he had 5 shot glasses lying in front of him. "Yo Sonic!" He gestured to the seat next to him and prompted the fox barmaid that he wanted a bottle of vodka. "Ever done vodka shots before Sonic, Amy?" Knuckles announced. Using three of his old shot glasses he poured three new ones. Sonic and Amy both shook their heads in unison. "Hehe, this'll be fun. Okay, well, you have to do is down it when I say go. We carry on drinking doing it until everyone but one person gives up. Things like throwing up and passing out count as a forfeit!" He winked at them both. Sonic and Amy looked at each other in unison. Shrugged. Laughed. And then turned their attention back to Knuckles whom was holding them both a shot glass each looking merry. "Okay on my count, three, two, one. Go!"

A long time had passed since the beginning of the shots competition and Knuckles had to run to the toilets to throw up 2 shots ago. When he returned looking all pleased with himself for god knows why, he poured out two more for Sonic and Amy and they both downed them instantly, almost falling off their chairs from the sheer speed they did it at. Tails had wandered off to hang out with the Chaotix crew at the same time as Knuckles toilet break. Both Amy and Sonic sat back up straight. Sonic looking only slightly worse than Amy. "I'm going to win Ames!" He forced out all merry, barely able to string the sentence together. Amy just looked at him and smirked knowingly. Looking to Knuckles, whom had already finished pouring their next shot, she picked up her glass.

"Okay on my count this time!" Knuckles scolded them both. Sonic laughed and Amy giggled. "Three... Two... One. Go!" Knuckles almost bellowed, falling off his chair in the effort. By the time he got back up Amy and Sonic were having a stare down. "Okay guys. Last one. I'm almost out!" He announced shaking the second bottle of vodka. Pouring the remains out Sonic and Amy picked up the glasses. Downing them before Knuckles said anything more. The burning sensation of the alcohol going down their through no longer affecting them at all.

Just when Sonic finished his shot, he slipped and fell off the chair backwards hitting his head. The extreme amount of alcohol and hit to the head knocking him out for a grand total of five seconds. When he got up all he could hear was Knuckles shouting "And I declare this Miss Rose the winner!" Sonic just scowled at the both of them. Checking he watch, he noticed that it was already pushing on eleven.

Suddenly the doors of the club opened, leaving a shadowy figure standing there. When he walked into the light it was none other than Shadow the Hedgehog. Amazingly, despite his immortality, he seemed older. The same height as Sonic and the same styled quills as he had before but longer. Sonic noticed that his red stripes had dulled to a much darker blood red. He wore a black shirt with black jeans and his usual trainers. Strolling in he walked up to the bar and ordered a double whiskey.

Sonic walked up to Shadow with the intention to ask him about the Chaos Emeralds but the alcohol took over. "Shadow you're my best friend." Shadow raised his eyebrow at him. Completely bewildered. Rouge then came up to Shadow.

"Glad you could finally make it. Though you weren't going to come!" Rouge exclaimed to her work partner.

"I had some." He paused to think of a word. "Errands, I had to run." Shadow looked at her slightly sad face. "I shall try and be prompt next time. When you arrange another... Event." Turning round to his now served drink. Sonic chuckled. Same old Shadow.

Drink taking over again, he started smiling so widely it looked painful. "Shadow you're my best friend!" The onyx and crimson Hedgehog turned just his head from the bar to look at Sonic with an annoyed look on his face. "Give us an 'ug!" Sonic said in a drunken 'I love you my friend' manner before he flung his arms out knocking something off the bar. Sonic made his way to Shadow when he received a heavy punch in the face.

"Anyone else tries that. I'll be leaving." He sat down to his drink again. Sonic vision gradually went black while he slowly passed out from the second blow to the head due to the alcohol.

Sonic woke with a start feeling dazed, confused and incredibly drunk. His vision faded black for a second from sitting up too fast he could hear two concerned voices "Wuz goin un?" His speech slurring like crazy. Looking over he saw Amy and Tails talking out of earshot.

"Finally! You're up! You had us worried! Party finished a half hour ago, it's half one!" Amy told him, Sonic sat there blankly wondering where the time went. He stood up and walked over to the almost shut bar. Amy and Tails in toe making sure he was okay.

"One half pint before leaving mate!" The red Fox looked at him. Pondered if it was a good idea. Finally decided a half would be okay she passed it to him after pouring it out the tap. He quickly swigged it down and paid his thanks. Glad that Rouge was paying all charges and feeling irritated he had missed out on the cake. Turning round. He saw Amy was still there behind him. Tails was just going out the exit.

Amy shook her head at him and rolled her eyes. "So then. What am I going to do with you?" She said gently. Sonic then realised the music was gone. "Come on, I'll walk you home." She smiled at him. He drearily walked along; still a bit groggy from his recent 'nap.' Looking at Amy he saw that she didn't look that badly drunk. He made a mental note to ask her how she managed to do that. Amy grabbed Sonic's arm and supported him. Exiting the club they both began the long journey to Sonic's house after Sonic muttered where he lived.

Sonic decided to get his question out again "Whut hapnd?" Trying to recall anything after the drinking battle.

"Shadow knocked you out for trying to hug him. Gave us quite the scare! We put you up on one of the sofas at the side since you weren't bleeding and seemed to be breathing just fine." Amy exclaimed. Sonic just nodded meekly with red cheeks and they walked the journey in silence. Sonic too drunk to think about anything specific.

When they walked down his drive Amy asked for Sonic's keys. Sonic, being stubborn attempted to put the key in the door himself. After several failed attempts however, he gave in. "Thank you!" She exclaimed. Sonic just smiled weakly. She helped him in and let him go once in the living room. Sonic almost fell but Amy grabbed him again just in time. The blue Hedgehog muttered something incoherent with something that sounded like somewhat colourful language at the end. Helping him to his bed, she helped him remove his shirt and proceeded to take of his jeans. The blue hedgehog protested. "Sonic. You used to run round naked three years ago. Remember?" Sonic stopped protesting and let her take off the jeans. Amy noticed a large bulge in the middle of the boxers. "Erm... Sonic?" She giggled slightly. He looked down and blushed. Then just laid down again.

"Is becuz I is little tipfsy. Nrmly hapfens" He said grinning, his eyelids started to droop when he started falling to sleep.

"Sonic!" Amy shouted gently. Waking the hedgehog back up. "I'll lock the door from the outside and post the key back through. See you soon I hope!" She smiled at him. Maybe I should give her another chance to be my friend. She doesn't seem at all obsessive anymore. He thought drearily. Upon hearing the door close and the keys posted through he realised he didn't thank her. He supposed he could tomorrow. Quickly taking off his boxers he slipped under his quilt and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Quarter past nine on the 21st of December 2012.

When Sonic woke up he woke with a start and, looking at his clock, noticed that it was later than when he normally awoke. Luckily for him the noises from outside, from late Christmas shoppers, had disturbed him preventing him from sleeping in too long yet he still felt exhausted despite his extra sleep. He opened his eyes fully and was met by a searing pain in his head, about time the hang over kicked in. Suddenly realising he was naked he quickly spun round to check he hadn't done anything he had regretted. Seeing no one next to him he shrugged it off and put it down to one of those rare times he wasn't too drunk to take off his own clothes. "Wow. Should not have had so much... Erm... I can't even remember what I drank..." He murmured to himself hands busy holding his aching head.

He slowly sat up while the aching continued. Looking round his room groggily he spotted his clothes on the floor. Blinking twice slowly he started to stand up quickly just to immediately fall backwards back onto the bed because of dark spots appearing in his vision. "Stupid damn head rush." Sonic muttered to himself. Slowly prying himself off the bed this time, Sonic succeeded in getting to his feet. "Stupid low blood pressure." He muttered again before he turned his head to try and locate his dark blue dressing gown, almost immediately Sonic noticed it hung up on the back his door. Walking over slowly to his door he picked up his dressing gown and put it on, tying up the front, before he walked out the room and down the hall.

Looking to the left and right he remembered that the house had two spare rooms not to mention the study on the upstairs. Trying to work out why he would need so much room he headed down the stairs. Once he arrived to the bottom of the stairs he looked across the living room that the stairs went down into. He sighed before he walked into the room and looked through the arch that led to the kitchen, slowly, he headed towards the kitchen. Always having thought that a fry up is the best hangover cure he scouted the kitchen for where his fridge was, vision and memory still woozy from the pain, he located it after a few minutes of fumbling round.

Popping in and out of cupboards like a man on a mission he managed to find everything that he needed. Now all he had to do was cook it... He sighed again before getting to work and, making sure that the meat was cooked the right amount of time to prevent food poisoning, he went to the nearby upper cupboard to fetch himself a plate, the sink catching his eye, forcing him to notice his plate from last night.

"That really needs washing." He muttered aloud to no one in particular; mentally scolding himself for forgetting to do it last night. Walking back to the stove after several minutes he noticed everything was cooked and, after he switched the oven off, started dishing up his delicious smelling and looking meal onto his plate. Taking it over to the table he grabbed a knife and fork out of the drawer on the way before placing the plate upon it and sitting down to eat slower than usual due to the presence of the hangover.

After Sonic had finally finished his breakfast he found that he felt a bit better, as he thought he would. He had grabbed some milk to drink with the full English because he was feeling too lazy to put the kettle on. His headache had all but faded, but he still didn't feel at one hundred percent. He slowly took the plate to the sink and put it on the side next to the other plate from last night. Quickly having a massive stretch, he prepared himself to get washing up while he reached for the tap.

Suddenly Sonic's phone started to ring; he shot to it before the phone could even ring for the second chime and picked it up putting it to his ear. "Hey, Sonic here!" The rest of his hangover mysteriously evaporating as he spoke loudly and happily down the phone.

"Hey Sonic." Tails voice came up on the other end of the line, it sounded oddly shaky, for some reason he was talking quickly. "It-t seems like Eggman has decided to make a reappearance and is up to something again! I-I think you should come down here when you can and take a look at the evidence that I've managed to gather!"

"Okay Tails I'll be right over." Sonic paused for a second and then spoke again. "Tails, are you okay buddy?" There was a short pause on the other end of the phone. Sonic started to think his friend had hung up before he could ask.

"Yeah fine Sonic, just a bit bothered by the things Eggman seems to be doing." Sonic could hear the anger and compassion in his voice now. Though still mystified at how it could be worse than it ever was before.

"Okay bud! I'll be right over, don't do anything stupid!" Sonic put down the phone walking to the door, wondering why his friend sounded so panicked and just what Eggman could be doing that's so bad but pushed it out his mind, and started to run.

With Tails

"There, I did it exactly how you asked, now please, do not hurt Cream!" Tails pleaded to her capturer, metaphorically capturing Tails because he could now control Tails' every move through fear for her safety. Tails looked ragged, like he had been through a lot of re-occurring stress in the past few hours and hadn't had much sleep that night.

"Not to worry Tails your little bunny friend is fine, I shall now release her as promised, now carry out the plan and that way no one will get hurt or at least your other friend, Amy, wont." Doctor Robotnik spoke manically, adding his stereotypical evil laugh on the end. "Sonic will not escape this one. My evil plans are at their zenith. They shall not be beaten!"

"I know that no matter the plan you have, any amazing robots you've built, and whatever terrible things you have done to the world. Sonic will find a way past it and he will stop you." Tails said defiantly. A look of determination and belief on his face.

"Shut up you two tailed freak." Robotnik shouted at Tails, clearly enraged by Tails' words. Robotnik calmed himself. "Sonic will not escape this you have my word. Just go with the plan and you shall see. Remember that I can hear everything done and said in that workshop thanks to those things I made you install. One wrong move or word and I shall kill Amy!" Robotnik calmly stated as he smirked evilly. "Make sure Sonic sees those photos I gave you, it'll just make him want to come to me, encouraging my plan."

When there was suddenly there was a knock on the door and the video conversation with Dr. Robotnik stopped. "Hey Tails let me in!" Tails could hear Sonic shouting from behind the door. Tails walked up to the door and opened it. Sonic took one look at Tails and realised how much he had changed, now looking just like a teenager and like a Goth, wearing a black top with a red skull on it with fire in the eyes and some black skinny jeans. When Sonic normally came round Tails was in his engineering gear. "Tell me then, what's Robotnik up to and when is he doing it?" Sonic asked.

Tails looked at Sonic blankly for few seconds trying to think of how to put his unwilling lies. "Come in Sonic, there's some stuff I need to show you regarding Dr. Eggman and things we believe he may be up to." Tails said quickly, faster than normal, though Sonic did not notice because of his usual fast paced nature. Also not noticing the 'we' instead of the 'I' when Tails spoke. Bringing Sonic up to the computer screen he brought up two pictures. One of them was of a picture of Amy being carried away by a robot bearing Robotnik symbol. The other was of Shadow killing an adult human male. "Amy was kidnapped last night. Probably on the way back from the party!" Tails pulled a sad face; his voice still sounding panicked mystifying Sonic. "Whereas Shadow, well I have no idea when he did it, but Eggman's somehow recruited him again and he's been killing!"

"So Eggman's decided he's going to kidnap Amy yet again?" Sonic spoke in disbelief. "And he's got Shadow back on his side?" Sonic felt extremely guilty, he could faintly remember last night now, but one thing he remembered for sure was the fact that Amy came and walked him home because he was too drunk and had hit his head. It was his fault she was taken.

"Yes Sonic, but not just her, a couple of humans have also disappeared and I suspect Eggman is behind their disappearances too. One is a woman, here's a picture." Tails brought up a picture of a relatively average looking female human with piercing blue eyes and long brown wavy hair.

Sonic studied the picture of the woman, he had never seen her before, and wondered why Eggman would want a woman whom looked so ordinary. Though she looked as if she was deep within her own mind and, when Sonic noticed, she was wearing an ornate gun on her hip. "So why does Eggman want her? She looks normal minus the fancy hand gun."

"Simply put; I think that he wants her because she is known to be the most accurate person with a gun in the world, even better than a computer targeting system. She can hit a bull's eye perfectly from a mile away with a normal handgun and sight." Tails looked at Sonic, making sure he took it all in and fully understood.

"Wow. Can you show me a picture of the male?" Tails pressed a few buttons on the portable keyboard he was holding in his hands. "And can you tell me what is is he wants with..." Sonic's sentence fell short when he looked at the picture of the guy, it was a bad picture because the man was clearly trying to avoid the camera, but he was certain that it was the guy that he saw yesterday morning. "Tails. I saw this man yesterday when I was out for my jog."

"But you could not have! He's been missing for a while, he hasn't been seen for longer than a moment for nine years in actual fact, where did you see him?" Tails questioned. Tails pulled up some documents onto the screen. "Facts say that he ran away during his thirteenth birthday. That he was a sword prodigy. Not one person could stand up to him, and he fought a lot of people, not even some of the most skilled of Mobians could beat him. The stronger his opponent was; the stronger he was forced to become, during battle most the time. He was never beaten in a match, though a few people whom never got to dual him believed they would have won when they duelled." Tails looked up at Sonic, so he nodded gently to say he was getting it all. "No one really knew where he went on his thirteenth birthday all that was took happened to be a very special sword his parents had made from him for his birthday and a note was left behind, saying 'I've gone to train, do not come looking for me, you will never find me.' Think how terrible that must have been for his parents!"

"I saw him on my morning run, somewhere smack bang in the middle of the country you know, the bit absolutely no one lives in for miles. The fool said that he had no home; I thought he was just your average hermit. Come to think of it, he had a sword with him. It was one of the most beautiful swords that I had ever seen." Speculated Sonic, deep in thought before he realised something. "But why would he lie when I could have helped him get away from Eggman!"

"I have no idea Sonic, but where you saw him would explain it though, because Sonic, that's near where Eggman's base is!" Tails exclaimed. Tails looked confused for no apparent reason. Sonic didn't notice though, he was too annoyed.

"Why does no one ever tell me when he moves his god damn base?! I need to be told, need to, so I can keep a good eye on him! He could have attacked me any time during the time I was talking to the guy!" Sonic half shouted, clearly irritated. He stood there glaring at Tails as though it was his fault.

"Calm down Sonic, you have not really been asked, so it did not really cross my mind to tell you; besides that I only recently found out! But Sonic, you really have to leave now, if the male managed to escape I doubt Eggman would let him go far, and when he is or was caught I bet he was punished for it!" He looked round, but Sonic had already gone, the workshop door slamming behind him because all that was left was a strong gust of inside wind. "Good luck Sonic, my friend." Tails spoke sadly with a small tear trickling down his face. "You'll need it." His voice was barely a whisper when it cracked in the middle. The young fox teen burst out crying however did so without making a sound, he locked his front door and went back inside to work on something to take his mind of things. Not believing quite so much as he let on. He had a bad feeling about it all.

Sonic set off running at an incredible blinding speed "I've got to get there quickly." Sonic shouted to himself, egging himself on to go faster. Quickly accelerating to his full speed. If that idiot Eggman has hurt any of them then he is going to pay. He thought darkly. Sonic ran faster than he ever had before towards the base where he knew his foe would be waiting for him.

"Okay Shadow, it's up ahead." Rouge was wearing her old gear from back in the day. Looking across to Shadow she announced something else "I think we she split up to look for the Emerald." Shadow nodded. He understood why she said it, they could easily cover a lot more ground that way and find the Chaos Emerald faster. The bat veered off to the left when Shadow ran up a vertical wall to stand on the top of a building.

"It's odd Rouge, I feel lighter than how I used to. Now I've found out about my past and everything." Shadow was standing on top of some old ruins that looked like they were close to collapsing; he was wearing combat print jeans with a top that also had combat printed on it.

"Yeah Shads, I understand. I'd hate to not know my past. I'm glad for you, I really am." Rouge sounded compassionate and happy while she spoke over their wrist communicators.

Shadow started running through the ruins looking round for the Chaos Emerald that was supposedly somewhere within the ruins. "I've told you many times not to call me that Rouge." He carried on running, flying past all of the various traps that always seemed to appear wherever the Emeralds were. "I still feel like I'm missing something though. I don't know what... I sort of can't believe I ended up working for GUN. But I suppose it was bound to happen, it suits me. Unfortunately."

"Yeah. I must admit I too was shocked when I heard that you were joining to be my partner." Rouge had a certain curiosity in her voice, the kind that wouldn't be picked up by normal ears. But an ultimate life form could hear it.

"Found something?" Shadow asked in response to the curious tone. She didn't reply. "I'll take that one as a yes then." Shadow said assertively.

There was silence.

"Rouge why aren't you replying?" Asked Shadow slightly worrying now, not that it showed on his face or in his tone. He stopped in front of a large stone door, the kind of stone door that you just know something valuable must be hidden behind. "Why do the Emeralds always get transported to places like these? It's just really odd." He questioned himself rhetorically. The door was one that looked typical to having a few million traps, spikes and various robots that just so happened to be there.

There had still been no reply. "Rouge?" Shadow asked trying one last attempt, considering going to go find her before going inside the door that so obviously led to the Emerald.

"Mwahahaha." Dr. Robotnik's voice was heard on the other side on the communicator.

"Doctor?" Shadow said confused. Then it dawned on him. "What have you done to Rouge?" His voice changing to hostility.

"Shadow, I have managed to capture your beloved GUN buddy. Come to my lair if you dare and see if you can rescue her." The line cut off the second the half-an-hour of evil maniacal crazy laughter had finished.

"Rouge got captured? Is not that the pink hedgehogs' job, I can not seem to recall her name... Damn, I'm going to have to go get her or I will not be able to complete my work for GUN." He stated as he turned to leave. Then he turned back. "Though, I should probably get this Emerald before the doctor finds out about it." He started charging up Chaos Energy in his hand. "Chaos Spear!" Breaking open the stone door with the destructive force. Looking inside he saw the green Chaos Emerald hovering slightly above an alter; he mumbled "Ah here it is, my favourite, but this seems too easy."

Shadow started to walk towards the altar the Chaos Emerald was hovering above. Surveying the room carefully, trying to seek out any traps laying in wake for any thieves, using all his senses to his fullest, he noticed none in the immediate area but continued to be wary. Shadow continuing to wonder why exactly when the Emeralds disappeared they always seemed to reappear into some form of temple or such. He carried on walking and suddenly heard a clicking noise, turning round to see what it was, and his shoulder met contact with some form of large spike flying at an incredible speed; sending him flying into the wall.

The spike had gone straight through his shoulder and had embedded itself into the wall behind, leaving him stuck, dangling by his right shoulder from the wall behind him. He pulled the spike out of his right shoulder with his left hand and fell down to the floor while a small amount of blood trickled out the wound; he went to run, but for some reason, he could not move his feet. Looking down, he realised that his feet were in some form of black sticky substance.

Suddenly a large humanoid figure of rocks started trundling towards him; he looked up at it when it took a massive swing at him. Massive fist heading towards his face he had to think fast. "Chaos Control!" He shouted, just managing to avoid the massive swing from the monster by a hairs breadth, teleporting himself right behind the monster, he quickly jumped on its back suddenly charging a large amount of energy "Chaos Barrage!" He shouted. Shooting a barrage of yellow Chaos Spears into the back of the monster in an attempt to destroy it, unfortunately, this kicked up a lot of smoke.

There was no movement so Shadow turned towards the alter and started to walk away towards the Emerald. Hearing a 'swooshing' noise he quickly ducked; just in time to avoid another clobbering. Shadow quickly spun round and did a back flip and surveyed the monster of stone. It was completely undamaged. This monster was not going to go down without a fight.

The stone golem reached over and grabbed Shadow with its over sized hand. Clenching its fist it crushed him hard as it could. Shadow tried to push the fist open, but it only grew tighter. He could feel the wound in his shoulder aching and oozing with blood. The fist was actually starting to win against Shadow so he started to get frustrated.

Shadow then knew that there was only one thing left that he could do to get rid of the monster, and because he was getting angrier and more frustrated from the delays by the second to being able to go and rescue his partner his fur started to turn into a red pelt.

Two words were heard while the monster disintegrated.

"Chaos! Blast!"

Shadow looked at the remains of the monster once he had fallen to the ground. He decided he should just be quick, and ran up to the Chaos Emerald full speed and grabbed it, pulling it away from the shrine. "Like taking candy from a baby!" He exclaimed. He tossed it into the air and caught it again. Quickly getting ready to leave.

But when he picked up the Emerald, suddenly, another door closed over the first broken one; and the ceiling started to fall towards him at an incredible rate, he looked up at the ceiling to notice that it was absolutely coated in deadly looking spikes; it rushed down, destroying everything high up while Shadow ran towards the exit, but the spikes were just barely scraping his head...

There was a green flash of light outside the door when a mighty crash was heard from within. Shadow looked up, exhausted, "Barely made it. A few more seconds and the ceiling would have crushed me." Taking a look at the Emerald, he was glad he had it since he had drained most his excess Chaos energy and didn't want to risk taking his restrictors off. "Good thing I used that last minute Chaos Control. Now I best go find and rescue Rouge." With that statement he raced off for Dr. Eggman's base. Knowing where it was because he was told by GUN he needed to do recon of the base the very next day.

Shadow ran through the main door and entered the base. He looked round, it looked just like every other one of Eggman's bases, metal everywhere of course. All of a sudden some robots started running towards him, they were just like the ones back when Solaris appeared. He dispatched of them quickly, using Chaos Control to warp in between them, getting them to shoot each other and not getting hit by any. "Still just as worthless as they've always been." He said when he finished the last one off with a quick Spear of Chaos Energy.

Suddenly something came through on his GUN transmitter. "Shadow! I've managed to escape from Eggman's base, I suggest you do the same, he has a trap set up for you! I don't know how he plans on doing it, but it can't be good!" Rouge exclaimed through it.

"Right Rouge, I'll move straight out." Shadow looked up from his transmitter and saw Sonic running in his general direction, thinking that though this was neither the time nor place, he decided he best not start anything. Then Sonic saw him and started running directly towards him with a very angry look on his face, his manner was very hostile. Shadow mentally put up his defences. Ready for a punch or kick. Though Sonic collided with him head on, sending Shadow flying backwards into one of the metal walls, a small spike cutting his back open slightly. Shadow fell to the ground, some blood trickling down his back, and the wound on his shoulders scab breaking, causing it to bleed again. Shadow gritting his teeth in pain before he realised he could no longer use his right arm. Lucky he was left handed, not to mention ambidextrous anyway. Where did this unprovoked attack come from? Shadow questioned in his thoughts. He got up ready to fight, but Sonic was already bearing down on him.

"Turning back to Eggman again? I thought you would know better by now you stupid idiot." Sonic said harshly. Shadow looked at him in disbelief. Before Shadow could throw up a word of protest his found a fist in his face, breaking his nose.

Right that does it. Shadow thought. I do not care what story the retard has got in his head, he is not getting away with that! Fresh blood trickled down Shadows face and over his lips before he hit Sonic square in the stomach with as much force as he could with his left arm, Sonic fell over backwards, winded and coughing up a little bit of blood. "If you thought you were going to get away with that then you are a fool, fake Hedgehog." Shouted Shadow when he started to kick Sonic in the back repeatedly, seeing red after having his nose broken. Sonic rolled over, and Shadow stamped on his arm with his full strength, hearing a loud crack and a scream made him smirk slightly, his old malicious ways seeping through. Looking at the way the arm had contorted he knew had definitely broken it.

Shadow stepped back and allowed Sonic to try and get up. Sonic slowly managed to crawl his way up, left arm broken, he was losing quite a lot of blood his vision was going hazy. While Sonic was getting up he picked up a heavy chunk of metal in the shape of a bar. Shadow did not notice this, until the piece of metal was flying at his head faster than he could avoid, there was a crack and everything went black for him when he fell to the floor. Sonic stood there, hoping he did not just kill Shadow because killing was not in his nature, looking at Shadows skull when he too fell and passed out, from a mixture of pain and blood loss.

Amy was locked up in a chair round the wrists and ankles preventing her from moving. She was still wearing the same thing as she had on the night previous. Except the tank top had many rips in it and the jeans had a tear on the left knee, showing a small cut behind it. The evidence of a struggle that had occurred recently was obvious. "Oi Egghead! Talk to me! Afraid to speak to something other than a robot!?" She taunted him as she always had in this situation, back in the day, trying to provoke him into making a stupid mistake of some kind or revealing information that might help Sonic. Dr Robotnik spun round on his chair. Looking straight into Amy's eyes, making it clear he wasn't about to be taunted like his old self.

"I am a bit preoccupied at the minute Miss Rose." He answered while he looked away from her and went back to work on whatever he was tinkering with.

"Huh? You must be doing something important to just ignore me like that, you never used to. Tell me what it is?" Amy asked, genuinely curious about something that could cause him such absolute concentration. The main reason however being because she knew Robotnik loved boasting and distracting him from anything he was working on was normally a good idea.

"It's none of your business Miss Rose." Amy was gob smacked. That was the first time that she had ever heard of Robotnik saying no to an offer of boasting and she had had plenty of opportunities. Alas, the one time she was actually interested, he wouldn't talk.

She decided to play her reverse psychology card. "Oh well that's fine, I didn't want to know anyway." She mentally crossed her fingers. If she could just distract him until Sonic got here it would all be okay. She could hear Robotnik on the other side muttering to himself. She just managed to catch some words to find out what he was talking about. He was asking himself whether he should tell her or not. Strange man. Amy thought.

Robotnik spun round again, this time with something in his hand. He kept it concealed when he walked up to her. For some reason, as Robotnik walked closer and closer to her, she began to feel ill. By the time he was standing just a meter away from her, she felt like she was going to throw up. "One day. I started trying to make a special device." Amy was caught off guard; she was expecting a slap or something violent but Robotnik was actually just explaining. "The device I was attempting to make… Was a device called Chaos Emerald tracker. By making one, I would be able to get all the Emeralds without fail." Amy was surprised. Tails said he attempted the same thing but that the Emeralds emit a strange signal which somehow blocked trackers from locking on any closer than a general area of a hundred or so miles. Robotnik sighed. "Alas, no matter how hard I tried I simply could not overcome the simple problem that was 'the Emerald cloak' and I failed time and time again." Amy blinked. She still felt terribly sick. Her vision was a little funny too. "But then, one day. After a year or two years or maybe even three of trying something came up. I had gotten myself a single blip on the radar and, although I doubted it would be a Chaos Emerald since they would all appear at once, I was irrevocably curious. So naturally I thought I best check it out. The blip was in an odd location far from human civilisation, in fact within a 50 mile radius there was no intelligent life at all. It was as if there was a sense of foreboding about the area." A robot had now brought Robotnik a chair to sit down on. When he sat a slight bit of black gleamed from his hand and when Amy saw it she felt a surge of sickness, throwing up slightly in her mouth, but not wanting Robotnik to stop she didn't say anything. She swallowed the bit of sick that came up.

"What is that in your hand?" Amy asked. Curious as to why he didn't show it right away.

"In good time, Miss Rose. In good time." Robotnik said almost cheerfully. Amy found that creepy, she had never heard him cheerful. "So where was I? Ah yes. There definitely was a foreboding in the area. All of my robots refused to cross into the radius, claiming that there was an error and the area didn't exist. So I was forced to go alone, in the only manually controlled thing I brought with me. My feet." Robotnik looked slightly irritated at the thought of it. "I started walking and after two hours I was exhausted, only covering about six miles within that time. I sat down for a moment, trying to think of a way to get there faster. It was then I spotted a stream, next to it stood a feral horse. Not just an ordinary horse but one of the most mighty majestic horses you shall ever see. I approached slowly careful not to startle the beast and while I approached him he looked at me, I expected him to up and bolt yet instead he lowered himself, allowing me to get on his back. I assumed that he lived in this area as it was peaceful and thanked the devil for his assistance." Robotnik looked slightly happier again now. He was back to that eerie unusually happiness. "I rode that horse for a little over an hour, since it was an incredibly fast horse with incredible stamina, when we approached the area of the blip I started to see a building, the building was completely made of steel looking much like one of my bases except for the fact that it was completely deserted. The horse slowed down and stopped about 50 meters short of the door and, despite my natural instinct that the horse wouldn't understand, I asked it to stay when I went in." Robotnik shifted in his chair. His robot nearby delivering a glass of water which he carefully took with his unoccupied hand.

"So what happened after that?" Amy asked. Ears perked, eyes forward. Now she was fully interested, with no need to feign it anymore, and nothing could deter her from hearing the story.

"Well." Robotnik took in a deep breath. "I spent a while navigating the destroyed corridors and eventually found a wrecked main computer room. There was a broken glass capsule in the middle with a smaller similar capsule connected to it. It looked like they were doing experiments on a Mobian with something, possibly a Chaos Emerald? I didn't know for sure, anyway, I tried to access the computer but no luck, no power at all… Luckily I had my trusty 'Egg-lectro charge' on me. Plugging it onto the computer some words came up as it powered on. It read 'Our mission has been compromised. We were found. He has found us and is now saving her, destroying everything we've built. The mission was a partial success however. Just before he came we managed to hide it away. With my dying breath I write this out to you. If you are a human, you will be able to take it.' It was dated December 21st 1964. Then suddenly a door opened beneath the keyboard. A small cupboard held this." He finally revealed what was in his hand. Holding it out in front of him it was a Chaos Emerald upon first glance. But it was pitch black. As if it was sucking in the very light round it. Amy threw up this time. Unable to control herself. Robotnik looked both amused and disgusted at the same time. A different robot quickly scuttled over to clean up the mess. "Yes it does have an unnerving effect." Robotnik looked at the onyx Emerald with distaste and glee at the same time. "I felt strange until I got used to it. Though I never was physically sick, women are indeed weak stomached. Anyway, to conclude my story, I rode home on the same horse who waited for me, shockingly. He stopped and let me off about a mile off the radius. I thanked the beast and walked back to my robots, and here I am… Experimenting away. It seems to be better at working on biological things rather than mechanical, it can be used like a Chaos Emerald but is weaker. It lets off a different radiation though. I'm going to do some odd experiments with it, outside of my field." Robotnik had finished.

In normal circumstances Amy would have been devastated that Robotnik had got his hands on something like that, but she would ensure Sonic would take it off him when he came and rescued her. "What experiments are yo-" Suddenly an alarm started, so loud Amy was forced to be quiet. Robotnik rushed to his computer, reading what had happened on the screen. "It's Sonic isn't it! He's rescuing me!" Amy started smiling despite the slight sickness that remained. To her surprise he started laughing.

"Finally I have done it!" Robotnik laughed like a maniac. "Take her to be locked up with the two humans!" He commanded a nearby robot.

"What's going on Eggman? Tell me now or you'll pay!" She shouted at him. Being carted out the room there was enough time for one last sentence. "You're such an ignorant dick!" The doors slammed shut behind her. Robotnik was unfazed as he smiled with wicked happiness.

"Sonic and Shadow fell right into my trap as anticipated, I feel a sense of accomplishment. I'm finally going to get rid of that bastard Sonic, and the only other person who could have took his place, Shadow. Now, with the abilities that I have managed to collect from the woman and input into my robots, and also what I managed to collect from the man. My robots will become unstoppable; even if Sonic and Shadow were still free they would have no chance of defeating them. Side note; as an evil genius I should really learn to stop talking to myself." Eggman looked back at the camera's that are focused on the room with the hedgehogs in and sees his robots collecting them. "Put them in the cell with the humans, and Amy. The one that's designed to completely isolate and prevent Chaos energy from escaping or doing damage to it." He ordered his robots. He sees the robots carrying them in the correct direction "Excellent." He said to himself.

"Argh, it's a load of crap being thrown in here!" Shouted Amy impatiently because she was now trapped inside a cell. Kicking the wall, before she grabbed her toe in pain her eyes watering. "That fat idiot Eggman should let us out or Sonic will be here to kick his ass!"

"Kicking the wall will not solve anything, you should be more concerned about what is inside the room, this poor man here looks like he might die." Said the woman, calm and mellow. She was dressed in combat print jeans with a grass green top on and a combat print jacket. She was kneeling beside a man on the floor.

"Oh yeah, I completely forgot about him." Coming over to the man, he looked as pale as death, wounds covering his body from when he had tried to escape; he had left a nice puddle of blood on the floor. "But what can I do to help?"

"I do not know just try and think of something." She said impatiently. "I've been trying for so long but all I can do is help with prolonging his life. Not save it." Amy sat there, she did not know what to do, but all she could think about was the Chaos Emerald in her hiding place nice and hidden away.

"I would use this Chaos Emerald, but I have no idea how to manipulate Chaos energies. I've tried many times, but to no success." Amy looked sad. "By the way, what's your name?"

"My name? My name is Anna, pleased to meet you. Now back onto the subject; if you are going to try and use Chaos energy to revive him please do it on the opposite side of the room to me, as I always end up getting really ill if I'm exposed to any Chaos energy, I do not know why." She said quickly, moving to the other side of the room. Getting as far away as possible as fast as possible.

Amy started to think, just maybe she would be able to do something, so she asked Anna to look away, and went to her clever hiding place, somewhere Dr Eggman would never think to look, even though she struggled and it hurt like hell to get it there, and it would probably hurt like hell to get it back out again, so was just about to pull it out when the door opened, she quickly removed her hand from where it was going.

It was then that Amy realised why the door had opened. They were dragging Sonic inside! She then noticed another being behind him. Shadow as well! Something big must be going on, if Eggman had caught both Sonic and Shadow, this could mean the end of the world as they knew it! Amy looked at Sonic and realised what a bad state he was in she gasped. Sonic's arm was broken and leaking blood, it also looked as if he might have some broken ribs, and he had some dried blood round his mouth. Then she looked at Shadow to see his face covered in blood from what looked like a broken nose and a cracked skull, also him leaving a blood trail behind him from some form of bleeding from his back and his shoulder. It was the worse she had ever seen either of them. The robots dumped the two hedgehogs in the room and proceeded to leave. "You bastards, what have you done to Shadow and Sonic!" She started running towards the robots. "You wankers, I hate you, you god damn robots!" The robot just grabbed her arm at her feeble attempt of an attack, and threw her back in the room, to find Anna catching her. "I will not forgive you!" She shouted as the doors closed behind the robots.

"Stop shouting, we need to do what we can in the time we have. Heal the man and then heal those two as quick as you can, go on!" Anna said. Rushing her along with what she was about to do.

"But I'm not even sure if I can do it." She spoke walking towards the man. Pulling the purple Chaos Emerald from its safe refuge, not entirely clean. The Emerald expanded again, going back to its full size. Amy hadn't even realised it had shrunk to fit where she had hid it. She kneeled besides him and held the Chaos Emerald with both hands. "I do not even know if you can heal someone with a Chaos Emerald." The stuff on the Chaos Emerald dripping on the man, each drop healing the surrounding area. Amy noticed this "Apparently it can." She said in surprise.

Anna put her hands on top of Amy's. "I believe in you, you can do it." Anna smiled at Amy, but only briefly. "Now do it."

"Chaos... Heal!" Amy exclaimed; and to her surprise the man was bathed in a warm yellow light. She saw that the wounds on the man started closing at a rapid rate. Amy smiled at Anna. "I did it!"

"Yeah, well done, now I'm going to the corner furthest away to sleep." Anna replied drearily, she looked as white as a sheet. Amy had forgotten about what Anna had said about the Chaos Emeralds, and looked at her worriedly.

Suddenly the man opened his eyes to see a pink female hedgehog kneeling over him with her eyes closed and a look of concentration on her face, he reached out with his hand and feels the warmth of her hand with his fingers and the cold of the Emerald with his hand, which felt a little damp. Amy looked at his hand and then at him and her cheeks grows a little red. "Looks like I was saved by an angel." He announced looking into her eyes, and smiling. Her cheeks growing redder from him complimenting her, she never got complimented by anyone. Then he moved his hand off hers and the Emerald, and he noticed that there is in fact something wet on his hand from the Emerald. "What's this?" He smelt it, Amy going redder and redder by the second, "That's one weird sent." He licked it off his hand to see what it tasted like "Tastes nice though." The man looked back at Amy to see that she was very red. "Why are you so red?" He asked her.

By this time Amy's face had gone redder than a tomato. "N-no Reason." She managed to stutter.

"Okayy..." He says in the slow 'you're weird' kind of way. "What is your name?"

"A-Amy, Amy Rose." Her face just getting even redder.

"Well Ms Rose, my name is Slayde, Slayde Demise." Slayde smiled again, a really warm smile. "Do not take my last name the wrong way though; I'm nicer than you think." He says while sitting up. His aches and pains from being beaten up from his attempted escape gone wrong. "Bloody hell, those guys are in a bit of a state are not they?" He exclaims, pointing at the two injured hedgehogs, Sonic and Shadow.

She looks at them with a look of dawning, snapping her out of her spell of embarrassment "Woops that reminds me! I need to go heal them too." She scurries over to go heal Shadow first as he has a head injury after wiping the Emerald in a discrete way that Slayde noticed, but didn't mention. "Chaos Heal!" Slayde watched as all of Shadow's wounds start closing up, his skull started to reform and blow out again, Slayde then realised that it was probably what it looked like when she was doing it to him, and she may have closed her eyes because it looked far too weird. After most of Shadows wounds had disappeared he opened his eyes and looked at Amy like he was trying to remember something. "Rose? What are you doing here?"

"Healing you silly, since there is no one else round who is going to do it." Amy said kindly, she had a really nice tone in her voice. Though she suddenly seemed to be a lot more tired than after she finished healing Slayde.

"How are you healing me? Since when could you use Chaos powers?" He sounded ungrateful as he pushed her arm aside but remained lying down.

"Since a few minutes ago Shadow, when I healed Slayde here." She said pointing at Slayde.

"Very well then." Shadow said closing his eyes again and frowning as if thinking of something long forgotten, looking bored and as if he simply wanted to lay there for a while longer. Amy took the hint and moved on to the remaining hedgehog, Sonic, sitting so that she was in the middle of the two, though oddly Sonic and Shadow were quite a distance away, and got ready and into position to heal him too.

"Chaos Heal!" His injuries began to disappear and his bone moved back into place, and with a loud crack! The bone seemed to move back into its proper position, fully healed.

He opened his eyes "Hey, fancy you being the one who saved me for once, eh Amy?" He got up looking at Shadow who had just looked at him.

"What is he doing here?!" They both exclaimed in unison. Pointing at each other "I hope you did not heal him too!" Both speaking the same things again. "Shut up." They both shouted.

"They're like twins." Slayde thought rolling his eyes and sweat dropping. He noticed Amy, looking scared standing between both of them right in the middle and also looking extremely tired from the healing she performed. They both charged at each other at the same time, both unaware that Amy was right in between them due to their anger, both swinging a fist at each other approaching the speed of sound.

Both were on the opposite sides of the room and then all of a sudden, without anyone else to call, Amy screamed "Slayde!" Suddenly there was a flash of green light and Slayde found himself right in front of her, her face right in front of his face as he was kneeling; holding both the fist of Shadow in one hand, and the fist of Sonic in the other. Suddenly there was a bright green light, emitting from the Chaos Emeralds that was digging into both his legs and both his arms, and from what seemed like one Emerald in both Sonic and Shadow's fur plus the one Amy was holding; it seemed they had the seven Chaos Emeralds right there in the room, and as time froze all of their bodies, colour scheme reversing on everything including Slayde's body. All he could see was Amy's face as his mind was left untouched by the time distortions that held their bodies.

"Eggman you lying bastard what happened?" Shouted Tails over his connection with Robotnik. "I thought we made a deal that you would let Amy go as soon as you were sure you had Sonic?"

"Well, there were complications." Robotnik sounded angry on the other end of the line. "We can not seem to open the doors to the cell that they are all in, and I have a feeling that all of the Emeralds are in there." Robotnik thinking about how clever he thought he was putting them in a Chaos proof cell.

"Well can not you just check? It is your cell after all, it's bound to have something weird in it like let's say, a security camera?" Tails replied cockily.

"A camera? A camera?! I wish there was a camera in there, that place was built to prevent any Chaos energy from leaking out you bloody fool, I could not afford to have a camera in there, it would be a way to break out!" Eggman replied heatedly. "The only way in and out is that really secure metal door that is virtually indestructible and impervious to any Chaos attack. It was meant as the only way out and in to ensure maximum security, after that man escaped I put the woman in there, and him back in once he was recaptured, I was about to put Rouge in there too, until she escaped and I have no idea where she went, but I still managed to put Amy in there once I was done with her."

"So how do you plan on opening the doors then?" Tails asked. Panicking, sad. Missing his best friend already.

"I do not know if they even will open, but I'm going to try my best to get in there, because I'm sure Sonic and Shadow will have at least a Chaos Emerald each, my idiot robots forgot to check first, and when they were just about to go in to see the controls froze. I believe that someone attempted to set off Chaos Control in there, and now the place is frozen including the doors."

"It's a fair theory, but what's saying if you manage to open the doors, what will happen to the Chaos control then? Will it break? Or spread, you have to think this through." Tails then started worrying about the whole word being sealed within some kind of 'Chaos control limbo.'

There was silence for a second, then Robotnik laughed his evil laugh. "Oh I am thinking Tails, and what you fail to realise is, with Sonic and Shadow out of the way, I'm free to take over the world!"