Chapter 1

Amy sighed as she flopped down on her couch. She was tired from unpacking groceries, so she decided to rest for a little while before heading out to her picnic with Cream.

"I think a nap will do nicely." She said to herself.

She got settled and quickly drifted off to a deep sleep. Little did she know, she would be asleep longer than expected.

---

"So what you're saying," Espio said in the hospital after Amy had been brought in. "Is that Amy almost got beaten to death with her own hammer?"

"That's what it looked like." Cream sobbed. "She was running late for our picnic, so I went to her house to check on her. When I got there," Cream stopped and covered her face with her hands, crying hysterically.

Cheese patted her on the shoulder sympathetically, a sad expression on his little face.

"Hm." Espio turned back to the rest of the Chaotix team. "Who would want to hurt Amy?"

"Beats me." Vector shrugged. "I thought she got along OK with everyone."

"Maybe it was Eggman." Charmy hovered in the air nervously. "He could be trying to mess with Sonic's head." He poked his own head with his index fingers.

"No," Espio said thoughtfully, staring at the ground with his hand on his chin. "Eggman would hold her prisoner, not try to kill her."

"We better get to work boys." Vector headed to the door and the other two followed. "This case is going to be a tough one."

Cream waved goodbye as Vector, Espio, and Charmy left to get started on finding Amy's attacker. She sat down on one of the waiting room chairs.

"Chao, chao!" Cheese circled around Cream's head.

"Don't worry Cheese," Cream pulled him from the air and held him comfortingly. "I'm sure Amy will be OK."

Sonic and Knuckles walked out of Amy's room. Cream stood and hurried over to them.

"Is she going to be alright?" Cream asked, tears in her eyes.

"The doctor said she's in a coma." Sonic sighed. "He's not sure when she'll wake up."

"That's terrible." Cream sobbed. "What do we do?"

"We find the guy that did this and pound him into sandwich spread!" Knuckles declared, pounding his hand with his fist. "That's what we do!"

"The Chaotix detectives are working on finding him now." Cream said. "I hope they find him soon."

"Yeah, me too Cream." Sonic patted her on the shoulder. "Me too."

---

Meanwhile, the Chaotix had arrived at Amy's house and begun investigating the scene.

Espio walked over to the couch. The piece of furniture looked pretty much normal except for a few bloodstains and Amy's trademark hammer lying beside it. Espio picked the hammer up and put it in a plastic bag.

"Did you get anything Espio?" Vector asked the purple chameleon.

"Just Amy's hammer." Espio replied.

"I'm going to see if there are fingerprints on it or anything."

"There wouldn't be fingerprints on it. Everybody wears gloves," Charmy pointed out.

"That's why I added the 'or anything' part." Espio said. "Have you found anything else?"

"Nope," Charmy floated around the room with a magnifying glass. "I got nothing."

"I'm not seein much either Espio." Vector said, inspecting the room. "This place is clean."

Espio sighed. "This guy is smart. But we have to be smarter. They had to leave something behind."

"But where?" Vector shrugged.

Charmy descended from the ceiling and they watched as Espio paced back and forth in front of the blood-stained sofa.

"Amy was out buying groceries." He said. "The attacker could have snuck in then and hidden somewhere."

Espio looked around for a good hiding spot that would have a clear view. To the right he noticed a small closet with the door ajar.

"There." He walked over and inspected the door, then looked inside. He noticed something on the floor and looked closer. "Crumbs." He said. "Charmy."

Charmy flew over and scooped up the evidence into a small envelope.

"Is that it?" Vector asked.

"It looks like it." Espio said, retreating from the closet.

"Well," Vector sighed. "Let's hope it leads us somewhere."

---

Eggman sat in front of his computer control panel, pondering how to defeat Sonic once and for all.

"Why won't that little pest just die?" Eggman wondered aloud, exasperated.

He rubbed his temples and scrolled through his selection of murderous robots, trying to figure out which one could finally finish off the resilient blue hedgehog.

Eggman was so wrapped up in his problem that he didn't hear the muted sound of crushing metal outside the thick door, or the door sliding open.

---

Sonic came to a dead stop after a good long run and took a deep breath of fresh air.

"Sonic!"

Sonic turned to see Tails and Knuckles running towards him.

"Sonic," Tails panted. "We've been looking for you."

"What is it?" Sonic asked. "Is it Amy?"

"No," Tails shook his head. "It's Eggman."

"He's dead." Knuckles said.

"Eggman is dead?"

"Yeah, he was stabbed." Tails said. "They found him in his lab, and outside the door they found Decoe and Bocoe, all smashed up."

"Wow," Sonic crossed his arms. "That's a bummer. Wait a minute, what happened to Bokkun?"

"He was fine." Knuckles said. "They found him blubbering in a closet."

"Well did he see who did it?" Sonic asked.

"No," Knuckles answered. "He heard Decoe and Bocoe being attacked and ran."

"That's a bigger bummer." Sonic sighed. "Do you think it's the same guy who attacked Amy?"

Tails shrugged. "It might be. We can't know for sure, but it's an awfully big coincidence that there were two attacks in one day."

"There's no such thing as a coincidence Tails," Knuckles said. "I say it's definitely the same guy."

"Well, whoever he is, he's pretty quick if he can attack two people in one day." Sonic said. "Especially since Eggman is, or was a few miles from Amy's house."

"Yeah." Tails agreed.

"It could be Shadow," Knuckles said.

"Nah, Shads isn't that slow," Sonic pointed out. "Amy was attacked in the morning and Eggman in the evening."

"Man, we're getting nowhere." Knuckles whined.

---

"Why does detective work have to be so boring?" Charmy yawned.

"Put a sock in it Charmy and help us search Eggman's place." Vector snapped.

"Jeez, you don't have to be so rude about it boss." Charmy said as he hovered over to Vector.

Vector ignored the hyperactive bee. "Have you found anything yet Espio?" He asked.

"Not yet," Espio replied, still looking over what used to be Decoe and Bocoe, but were now piles of smashed gray and yellow coloured metal. Poor guys.

"I have a question." Charmy said. "If somebody knew they could kill Dr. Psycho so easily in the first place, why didn't they do it before?"

"Beats me." Vector replied. Then he noticed something on the floor. Hair. He took a small baggie and put the hair in.

"Did you find something?" Espio asked, walking over to his team.

"Yeah," Charmy said. "Hair!"

"It could very well be Eggman's." Espio said.

"Yeah, but it might be our killer's." Vector said. "Let's take it to the agency, I think we should quit for tonight."

"Right." Espio agreed, and they headed for the door.

---

Knuckles returned to Angel Island after saying goodbye to his friends. He laid back on the stairs of the altar to the Master Emerald and got ready to go to sleep.

He closed his purple eyes. 'I had a long day.' He thought after he realized how tired he was.

He was just about asleep when he heard some bushes rustling. He bolted upright.

"Who's there?!" He yelled to the bush. "Show yourself!"

The bush rustled again, then Knuckles heard a clicking sound.

"Oh crap," Knuckles breathed. He knew that sound all too well thanks to Shadow; somebody had cocked a gun.

Knuckles immediately began to run as fast as his little echidna legs could take him. He heard a shot from behind him and he tried to run faster. He could hear his attacker running after him.

'I never thought I'd think this, but right now I wish I was like Sonic.' He though, wishing for the blue blur's super speed.

There was another shot, and Knuckles felt a sharp pain in his back. He yelled out but tried to keep running. Unfortunately the pain was too much and he fell to the ground with a thud. He heard his attacker walking up to him, and it was all he could do to keep his eyes open. Feet appeared in front of Knuckles' face. He couldn't see what the shoes looked like, and before he could look up to see their face, the figure walked away.

'He must have thought I was dead.' Knuckles' thought, relieved. 'Dear lord, what do I do now?' He suddenly realized. 'I can't call for help, he'll hear me. But if I stay here like this I'll die for sure.'

Then, he drifted into unconsciousness.