There are just some people destined to have a crappy life. Amnesia, fighting, kidnapping, torture, possession…

I used to say "Always be positive." But now, I'm finding it harder and harder to keep that mentality.

Chapter One: Sweet

It was cold. So very cold.

I wanted to know why all I had ever felt was this mind-numbing frosty darkness. And in it, nothing ever came to answer my questions.

But eventually, I began to feel warmth…

--

I opened my eyes slowly and blearily. I could see a ceiling above me. There was no need to say it was a welcome change from pitch black.

Beside me, a small cat-like robot stared blankly. I asked him the first question that came to mind. "Who are you?" I was curious as to who was kind enough to wake me from such a horrible nightmare.

"…" It 'said', and I pushed on it, though it was surprisingly heavy in my weakened state, so it made no difference. Looking closely, I saw a serial number or something engraved on the right arm.

"DAIN-MR25-8363-L46T-21817-VF8L… is that your name?" I asked, reading it to him. The machine's bright eyes sparkled, then dimmed a bit.

"Prossessing…" It commented, making me sigh. I wasn't sure what had made me expect it to be intelligent, but something in my gut was telling me he wasn't just a dumb machine.

"Excuse me?" I asked. "But… do you know who I am?" The robot's eyes sprang back to life, and it tilted its head in confusion.

"Authenticating… new master recognized as 'Sorbet'." It said, making it my turn to be confused.

Struggling to sit up, I looked at him. "Sorbet? My name is Sorbet?"

He gave a large metallic smile. "Sorbet! Sorbet!"

I laughed. He seemed funny. "Okay, so I'm Sorbet. I think I'll call you… Dain. How about that?" I asked, and he nodded.

"Registering… Dain! Got it!" He grabbed my arm. "Sorbet! Sorbet! Let's explore!" I followed him – it could be fun.

We left the bedroom, entering a larger area with a kitchen attached. Um… this was a family room, wasn't it? I wondered why my head was so clouded on what everything was called. It could be related to why I couldn't even remember who I was, but I couldn't be sure.

"Dain? What do you call it when someone can't remember anything?" The robot paused, thinking for a second.

"Am…ne…sia?" He said tentatively, not feeling sure. I guess his memory is as bad as mine. But the word felt familiar, like that was really it, so I smiled at him.

"Thanks! So, I have amnesia… Dain, do you know who I am?" The robot gave me another smile.

"Sorbet! Sorbet!"

I already knew that, thanks. "So… what are you doing here, Dain?" He scratched his head, then walked forward a little.

"Dain doesn't know! Explore! Explore!" I followed the robot out a door, and we ended up in the forest. Outside the house, trees sprang up everywhere, a few bright rays of sunshine shining through to brighten up the area.

Something about me said that it was morning, but I wasn't really sure how I could tell.

"Sorbet! Let's look around here! We might find something interesting!" Soon after 'exploring' with him, the robot became bored at not finding anything, however, and he began to try and play games with me like 'tag' and 'follow the leader'.

It became annoying trying to explain to him that I had no idea what they were, as every time I asked what the rules were, he said "Silly! Everyone knows how to play Tag!" …or whatever game it was he tried.

Eventually, I began to feel hungry, so we headed back to the house so I could get something to eat. I had no idea where the lone building was in the middle of the forest, but luckily Dain was able to lead me there.

My mind told me that the food would be in the room I recognized as a kitchen, and after looking in various odd places, I finally found some in a cold box.

Instantly recoiling from the unwelcome sensation, Dain got something out of it and closed the door to the box. I knew it from that moment – I hated the cold. It reminded me of that airless, pitch-black place I had been trapped in for so long.

Dain came to me with a bowl of warm soup – how that could have been made from such a freezing thing, I'll never know. Though, eating the soup made me feel a lot better… and I officially decided that Dain would be the one to get food from now on.

He eventually dragged me back out into the forest for more 'exploring' though, after not finding anything for awhile, it quickly dissolved into games which I almost always lost. But they were still fun anyway.

For over a week, life was nothing but this routine, until one day, during our 'exploring' we heard a loud, continuous stream of strange noises. "Sorbet! Explore! Come on, let's go!" Dain called, racing towards the source of the sound.

"Wait up! Daaiin!" I called after him, drawing out his name in order to catch his full attention. It worked, and he slowed down enough for me to catch up. "Okay, we'll go explore today. But we have to get home before nightfall, got it?"

"Night! Gave it!"

Sorbet shook her head. "It's 'got' it." Over the many days that I had known Dain I had noticed his habit of mistaking words for others, or messing up their pronunciation. It wasn't really annoying, but I corrected him anyway, hoping that he would eventually stop.

"Got! Got it! Explore!" I could already tell that it would be a long day… my senses told me this was nothing but trouble, but I couldn't afford not to know what it was.

After running for a few minutes, we burst out of the trees. Suddenly, I wasn't in a forest anymore.

"People! Look at all the people!" Dain shouted, and I froze up in shock. There was too many of them to even try and count. Something pulled at my insides, and I held my head.

"So this is what a city is like..." I whispered. There were huge buildings everywhere, and both humans and anthros hurried around busily. I could also see a lot of machines that carried them around. It was so different from my forest.

--Que Flashback--

"This is the city, Sorbet. There are more people living here than in any place you've been before. However, you must not enter it. With all those people, most of them will not be as nice as we are. I don't think you're old enough to be able to tell the difference between someone who's nice and one who's trying to lure you into a trap." The hawk said. Looking up at him, a younger me smiled.

"Don't worry. I'll become stronger."

--End Flashback--

"Umm... Dain? I think we should leave..." I began, but he was already gone.

"You! You! What's that?"

"It's an Extreme Gear. You didn't even know that?" The bird replied, frowning at him.

"No! Nope! Your face looks funny!" I cringed. The robot really had no manners. "What's that thing? On your mouth!" He wiped a wing across his beak and no crumbs or anything came off.

"It's yellow! What's that?" He was really stating to lose his patience with the kid, but if there was something on his beak, he should do something about it.

I walked up, trying to explain it to him. "Dain, that's a beak. Birds have them... I think." The robot's eyes lit up.

"Beak? Bird? Like Rash! You're like Rash!" The bird looked shocked, and he frowned at him.

"You know Rash?"

"Dain doesn't know! I think he's a bird like you!" The cat said excitedly. "I'm left, huh?"

Sighing, I corrected him. "It's 'right'."

"Right! Wrong! Left! I don't know!" I rubbed my temples in frustration. He was a bit too

childish, especially for a robot.

"What's going on?" I turned to see a black hedgehog approach us.

The bird smiled at her before explaining the situation. "These cats are acting stupid, but one of them seems to know about Rash the Hawk. He's that guy who escaped from prison in a really bizarre way."

I paused for a moment, confused… before I realized that Dain was wearing one of his outfits. The robot had a few perfectly fitting fur suits that he had apparently brought to the house in a suitcase from somewhere.

When worn, he became completely indistinguishable from a normal cat… unless you felt the metal underneath, of course. He really liked wearing them, as if he wanted to seem like your everyday anthro.

I had already gotten used to this behavior, so it was easy for me to forget he was wearing one. Though it was good that he was - as I looked around at all those going by, there were mostly humans, with some anthros thrown in, but I didn't see a single robot, so he would have really stood out.

"Ah... I see. Rash... I haven't heard of him. I am Chaos the hedgehog. And you guys might be?" I wanted to say that it was a silly name, but considering that mine was apparently Sorbet, I had no right to talk.

"I'm-" I started, but I heard the hawk do the same thing, and we both stopped.

Dain suddenly cut in. "Hedgehogs look silly!" I quickly covered his mouth and smiled apologetically.

"Sorry about that... he just tends to shout whatever comes to his mind. I'm Sorbet, and the rude one's Dain." I told her, and then the haw started his intro.

Glide nodded. "I'm Glide. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get going." He said, and ran off, still holding the Extreme Gear.

It made no sense. He was fine with talking with just me and Dain, but when this hedgehog appeared, he fled? Did he not want to be seen by too many people or something?

Chaos grinned. "That's quite alright. I've heard worse remarks. Nice to meet you." she said. The hedgehog then crossed her arms and asked, "So, why are you here?"

I was kinda confused. Why? I suppose I had never asked myself that. I just… was. "I... don't really know. I woke up in a house in the forest not too far from here without my memory. It was only once I arrived here that I even knew this was called a city."

Dain shook me off of him and smiled. "Exploring! Hawk! Hedgehog!" He summarized.

"That's Hedgehog Dain. Not edgehog." Chaos corrected him. Wait… he said it wrong? I couldn't possibly have missed it, could I? No… she had to have just heard it wrong

"I see. I can't remember my past either." She told me.

I smiled at her. "Well, I guess we're more a like than I thought, then, huh?" Dain tried to copy my smile, but it looked a little strange on him.

"Same! Hey! Do you know Sorbet?" I gave him a light push, but he was too heavy for it to effect him.

"It's not the time for that. Besides if she knew me, would she have said something before now?" I reasoned. Dain frowned at this.

"I gust..." "Guess." I quickly corrected. I wouldn't let another mistake get by me.

"Sure!"

Chaos shook her head, and I wondered if it was a show of annoyance at our behavior before she finally spoke. "Nope... ever heard of a man called Ivo Robotnik?" she asked.

Dain instantly began to dig through his data, coming up with a lot of things, but none of them really important in the end. Eventually, he came to data logs of a cloning project on Shadow the Hedgehog.

They were disturbing. Apparently, the person who had created Dain had taken living hedgehogs, and mutated them into copies of Shadow. All the while making observations on them like some kind of cooking experiment. 'Day 3: I tried to bake that kind of cake again. It turned out a little lumpy, but I'll just throw it away and try again!'

If this kind of person was responsible for Dain, did that mean my past was tied to him as well? Suddenly, I began to think that I never wanted to remember.

Chaos frowned, "No... that didn't help. But... Shadow... I've heard of him..." This was it! A clue! Even if I didn't want to remember, I would have to face it one day or another.

"You know this 'Shadow'? Can you take me to them? They might know something about who I am, since they're mentioned in Dain's memory." I asked. Even if I was related to this mad scientist, it would be better to know so that I could avoid them than to find out too late.

The black hedgehog shook her head. "Can't. He disappeared a long time ago from Robotnik's place. Besides, I have no idea where Shadow the Hedgehog is now."

I sighed. Great. Just great.

"Sorbet! Chaos! Make Shadow find us!" Dain suggested. That actually was a really good idea. After all, why look hopelessly when we could draw him to us?

Chaos looked confused, "Well how do we do that? I've got no idea how I bring another hedgehog here."

Okay, even I knew what you would do to lure someone. "You knew Shadow, right? Is there something he likes, or something he'd want?" All you had to do from there was simple - make it known that you had gotten a hold of said thing, though it helped if you actually obtained it first.

Chaos sighed, "I only knew him because he was at the same place that I was at... I don't know what he likes or anything. But if he left a long time ago, chances are that he's looking for a girlfriend or something." she shrugged as she began pacing.

Crap… well, kidnapping was out of the question. "Plan number 2!" Dain shouted. "Do you know if he has a Chaos Emerald? Due to the Logs, he can use a 'Chaos Emerald'. So he should have at least one. Something's telling me if both us and him have a Chaos Emerald, we can use it to track him!"

My first thought was that it seemed that it was an awful specific hunch, but so long as it worked, it was fine by me.

Chaos shook her head. "I don't have one… but my counterpart does and I'm sure it'd be easy to track her down and get it."

I didn't recognize that word. "Counterpart?"

"We don't need another, do we? Isn't one enough?" Dain asked, but I ignored him for the moment.

"Yes. I'm a clone so therefore I need a counterpart. Her name is Flare and she is a white hedgehog. She has a chaos emerald." Chaos explained. I still didn't quite get it, though, and so I asked again.

"So you're a clone... of Flare. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't clones supposed to be the same?" I asked, before turning to Dain. "And just what do you mean, another Chaos Emerald?"

My idiotic partner smiled. "I'm not sure what a Chaos Emerald is, but my data says that one is contained in my chest! So we already have a Chaos Emerald!"

Shouldn't you say something like that earlier?!

Chaos sighed, "That's the stereotype guess of clone. I can change my appearance so I chose this one that way I would not be confused with anyone else." She grinned, "Nice. Shall I look for my counterpart and see if she will give me her chaos emerald?"

"No need! No need! I'll just take it while she's not looking!" Dain said proudly. "Like Sorbet's favorite ball! ...woops!"

That robot would have been so dead if he had actual skin for me to tear into. Instead I settled for growling at him in a menacing way. Or at least, what I hoped was menacing.

Chaos raised an eyebrow, "Um... Dain, you're going to have a horrible time with that. She's the adopted daughter of Knuckles the Echidna and she is very protective over her belongings... trust me, I know." Statements like that wouldn't stop Dain. I knew that already. Especially since neither of us had any idea who this 'Knuckles' person was.\

"Dain's sneaky! And better than any Ecknada! I'll just use my Chaos Emerald to warp it away!" I had to admit, it sounded like a good idea... though just asking would be preferred. I also wasn't sure if these emeralds could be used for warping, but since Dain was sure, it probably was.

"Um, we could ask first..." I suggested, and he nodded. So long as he could hear my, Dain wouldn't refuse a suggestion or command. Of course, he was often out of earshot due to his tendency to run ahead.

Chaos shook her head, "She has amnesia, and before she met anyone outside of Angel Island, well... she doesn't trust people. It's safer and easier if we take it from her. And it's pronounced Echinda... not Ecknada."

Dain's face was similar to a little kid who had just learned something new. "Wow! I didn't know Amnesia was so common! You, Sorbet, other you, Me... There sure are a lot of us!"

"It is kinda strange that I've only met other people with amnesia... unless that Hawk didn't." I put in, and turned to Dain… who was already ten yards ahead. I don't get how he moves that fast.

The robot was waving his arms at me, trying to get me to follow. "Hurry up! I don't know where to go!" He shouted.

Idiot.