Kidnapped Mia, oh whatever will happen next for our young heroine?

What happened to me? What am I doing here? How did I get here-where's Seth? "Seth? Are you here? Seth?" My bo staff, where is it? When I try to run around the cell, my pelvis throbs and I drop to the cold floor. That's right, Seth hit me there, it hurts so much. I hear a door open and I immediately lay down and face the back wall. "…been resting for a while. Are you sure you didn't beat her up?" asks a woman whose voice I fail to recognize. The other person's voice, I know very well. "I found her like that."

"Perhaps she got into a scuffle with someone before you came. Lucky you, huh? She hasn't stirred much, she had better not be dead."

"I'm sorry about that other Chaos Emerald Professor-"

"No matter, three Chaos Emeralds is more than enough to power up the machine, don't worry! Aah, what would I do without you?" she asks fondly. "You come get me when she wakes up and we'll start testing." Her heels clacking against the floor echoes throughout the spacious cell and eventually I don't hear them. She knew me but I don't even recognize her voice, who was she? Everything's still so fuzzy-wait a minute, did I lose against Seth, is that why I'm here? I still have to bring him back, save him from the Darkness manipulating him to hate me, there's so much I have to do.

"I know you're awake," points out Don stolidly. I sit up and twist my body towards him. He must have been the one who brought me here but why? I got him the Chaos Emeralds and helped him out as best I could and I never told anyone about what happened to his poor friend Angelica, what reason does he have to keep me here? "Welcome to your prison."

"Don-wha? What happened to me?" I ask him slowly, climbing to my feet and almost tripping when I try to slump against the wall. My prison? What did I do now that made him put me in this huge cell? His reply puts butterflies in my stomach, "That's what I want to know, you were found in the middle of Redflower Park passed out."

"And you didn't see anyone else?"

"Nobody but you half-dead on the ground."

"Seth," I say to myself faintly, caressing the cut on my cheek. Don must have heard me because he lets out an annoyed grunt mixed with a snort. "You're still with that guy? How has he been since the last time I almost destroyed him?" asks Don with a sadistic chuckle. I quickly turn away to hide my burning face, getting the feeling Don would see it and laugh at me for still reaching out to him. I deserved to get laughed at, Seth nearly killed me and left me for dead, is that someone worth saving? Of course it is, he's still my best friend from Moonlight Town deep down in there, he's just confused and needs me to guide him in the right direction. I'm the light in his darkness, I'm supposed save him, not beat him up with my stick. "I can't be here, I have to go and save my friend," I say defiantly as I head towards the bars. "Please let me out."

"You mean Seth, the one who put you in that gruesome state? You consider someone like him to be your friend?"

"Of course, he needs me-"

"He has a funny way of showing you the same dedication."

"He's going through a lot right now, you don't know him the way I do." That makes Don face me, his face stern almost like how Seth's face looks when he's thinking really hard about something. I really miss him. "That's why I have to leave." I sneakily reach for my bo staff in my carry bag and grab nothing but air. "Where's my bo staff?" I urgently ask, storming around the very spacious cell and letting out loud, pained groans. "What happened to it?" I check the carry bag again but feel nothing.

"Whatever you're going on about, I didn't see." A piece of my heart shatters, that staff was so important to me. The bo staff was a gift from Master Shade and the evidence of my hard work training with him and Master Wisp. It contains the blood, sweat, and tears that fell on it when I trained hard, when I fought against Deidra, and when I cried about Seth and it's a constant reminder that he's coming for me. Would he still be coming after me after seeing how feeble I am? I lean on the wall and cover my eyes with my arm shamefully. Please let my staff come back to me, I need it so much. After taking in deep gulps and breaths, I can speak without bursting into tears. "Why am I here?" I ask slowly with a cracking voice. "Why did you bring me here?"

"The Professor wants to run some tests on you," he says as if it's no big deal. I dig my head deeper into my arm. "She needs you alive and healthy, the opposite of the state Seth put you in."

"Then I can leave?" I snivel pathetically.

"No we need you here until-"

"Until what?" I take my head from my arm and stagger towards Don, catching myself with the bars. "Until what?" He heads for the door on the far right, disregarding my question and the sliding door opens.

"Professor, she's awake," announces Don. Then a loud crash and clattering of objects follow and the woman's clacking high heels approach the door. It slide opens for her automatically and she giddily jogs in her heels to the cell, making weird, excited noises. "So this is the Mia I've heard so much about, Don raise the bars please," the chestnut haired woman in a lab coat grins at me. "Oh you don't look good, are you feeling sick?"

"Noo," I answer weakly while with the push of a button the bars are raised with a mechanical, droning noise. "I'm okay except for over here," I rub my pelvis area, invoking more pain from where Seth hit me. When I step down from the cell, I lose my footing and fall to the much colder floor. "Oh jeez, come on get up," she helps me get up as Don watches me struggle indifferently. How did he ever become friends with Angelica again? The woman in the lab coat wraps her arm around my waist and that's when I notice how tall she is-five feet and ten inches or more-towering over me. "Dr. Mulierovum has you, it's ok Mia."

"Dr. Muly-um, Mula-"

"Just call me Professor or Doctor, you're choice."

"Professor."

Don opens the door for the both of us by tapping on a few buttons by the door and I survey the lab. It looks just like the kind laboratory I expected except it's equipped with more machinery than an old-fashioned lab would have. There are robotic arms nailed to the wall and tons and tons of blueprints covering the floor. Professor turns pink seeing her workspace, her arm still tight around me. "Oh dear God, I'm sorry you have to see this mess. Hang on to me so you don't slip." But isn't she the one in high heels? She punctures holes in some of the papers scattered on the floor and there's the faint smell of coffee when I pass her unreasonably long, unkempt desk. "Ok Don, take her into the testing space."

"Yes Professor." When she lets me go, I almost stumble and slip into Don's grasp but I stop myself. Right now I can't have him hold me, not after what he said about Seth. "I'll be fine Don, thank you," I say gratefully despite aching in my lower regions. He gestures towards a sliding door and it automatically opens for me. I step in, seeing a giant orb in a white and grey tiled-room. "Step into the orb," orders Professor from corner speakers. I spot a large tinted screen which is probably where Don and the Professor are watching me. This is scary, I don't like knowing that there are people watching me but I have no way of seeing them. But I do as she says and climb into the glassy sphere. "Brace yourself Mia."

J.G.P.