"Come on," muttered Tails, typing rather intensely onto his workshop's computer console, "what's hiding up there…?"
He wiped a bead of sweat off his brow as he sat back in his chair to take a small break. When it came to technology, the young two-tailed fox was a prodigy, and there was no machine or system he couldn't crack.
At least, that was until now. This new system was proving quite the challenge - one that he had been racking his brain over for a few hours straight.
Knock knock knock!
Thankfully, he wasn't without help. He swivelled his chair around and jogged to the door, opening it to reveal a pink hedgehog girl, wearing a red dress and matching knee-high boots.
"Hiya, Tails!" She grinned.
"Thanks for coming, Amy," the fox smiled and stood aside for her.
Amy obliged and entered the workshop, and revealed someone else behind her - a cream-furred rabbit girl, just two years younger than Tails, wearing an orange dress with a blue ribbon. Hovering at her side was a blue Chao wearing a smart red bowtie.
Tails blinked, not expecting to see the two of them as well. "Oh, hi Cream."
"Hello, Tails," she said with a polite bow of her head, "I hope you don't mind that Cheese and I came along."
"Chao-chao!" The Chao chirped in greeting.
"Oh no, not at all," the fox grinned, "I just wasn't expecting you too, is all. C'mon in."
"Thank you," the rabbit smiled and walked inside, halting to wipe her shoes on the mat. Cheese fluttered in behind her.
"Yeah, I kinda let her tag along," Amy admitted, rubbing behind her neck as the workshop owner shut the door, "she overheard the message and practically begged to help with… whatever it is you need help with. Hope that's alright."
"Oh yeah, it's cool," the fox grinned and hopped back onto his chair, "in fact, it'll really help that there's two of you!"
"Chao." Cheese muttered, a look of disapproval on his round face.
Tails rolled his eyes and corrected himself. "Three of you."
The Chao grinned triumphantly.
"So what's the big issue, Tails?" Amy asked, sitting on one of the chairs in the workshop. Cream daintily sat down on another, Cheese on her shoulder.
"I'll start at the beginning," Tails typed on his computer, and brought some schematics onto the large screen. They depicted some kind of flying camera device. "I have a few of these little Scout Drones flying around Angel Island, to keep an eye on the-"
"Wait, hang on a sec," Amy held up a hand, a playful smirk on her face, "you're spying on Knuckles?"
"Huh?" Tails blinked, cocking an eyebrow. "N-no, I use them to-"
"You shouldn't invade Mr. Knuckles' privacy like that, Tails," chided Cream, as if she were giving a lecture to a misbehaving child, "how would you feel if he did that to you?"
"Chao-chao," Cheese added, crossing his stubby arms.
"Cream, no," Tails sighed, shaking his head, "you've got it all wrong, I'm-"
"You caught him doing anything embarrassing?" Amy asked with a snicker. "Does he talk in his sleep?"
Cream giggled, and decided to get in on the fun. "Does he style his hair when he's bored?"
"Does he babytalk the Master Emerald when he polishes it?"
"Does he smell the flowers?"
"Does he pick his nose?"
"I'M NOT SPYING ON KNUCKLES!" Cried Tails, who just wanted to get the conversation back on track.
"Sorry Tails, sorry," Amy smirked, "we're just messing around."
Cream's tittering had also settled down. "Yes, we meant nothing by it. And we know Mr. Knuckles never picks his nose. He could never fit his glove into it anyway." The rabbit smiled innocently.
Tails tried to keep a serious face, but the mental image of the echidna constantly slapping himself in the nose got a snicker out of him. He shook his head and restored his serious tone. "Anyway, as I was gonna say, I use these Scouter Drones to patrol the perimeter of Angel Island, so I can let Knuckles know ahead of time if anyone comes near."
"Nifty," said Amy with a nod, "so what's the problem?"
Tails brought up another window, which showed nothing but static and played garbled audio. "This. Something's cutting off the live feed."
"Maybe it got shot down?"
"Unlikely. The Drones have a cloaking device, and a really durable shell. It'd take some heavy fire to take one down, and with how tiny they are, they should be impossible to shoot. Plus, it's still playing audio, so I've got a connection… it's just being blocked somehow."
"Goodness!" gasped Cream, putting a hand to her mouth. "Can you fix it, Tails?"
"I've been trying for a few hours now," Tails sighed, and brought up the window for the program he used to crack software. Green numbers flickered across the black screen. "But whoever wrote this code must be a genius hacker. I haven't made any headway yet!"
"Don't give up," urged Amy, gently ruffling the fox's head-fur, "a smartypants like you can't be kept out of a computer system for long!"
Tails couldn't help but go warm in the cheeks from the compliment. "Well, here's hoping. Anyway, the reason I called you here."
The fox hopped off his chair and walked over to his work desk, and put a hand on an orange box with a keypad on it. "I found this old safe while looking through a junkyard for scrap metal."
"A junkyard?" Amy smirked. "Well that's one thing to call Eggman's place." That got a good giggle out of Cream.
"I know, right?" The fox snickered. "Anyway, I modded this baby to be absolutely indestructible and completely uncrackable. The only way to open it is through a number code written down in here." He tapped his temple with a grin.
"Absolutely indestructible, ya say?" Asked Amy, standing up and reaching behind her to pull out her infamous Piko Piko Hammer. "Mind if I test that theory?"
Tails smirked and lifted the box, setting it on the floor and taking a few paces back. "Knock yourself out."
Cream hopped off her seat and approached as well, giving Amy plenty of room.
The hedgehog smirked and raised the colourful mallet over her head, bringing it down right on top of the safe with a BANG!
She lifted it away and looked at the safe. Hers, Cream's and Cheese's eyes widened as they saw that there wasn't even the smallest dent!
"Wow, you weren't kidding," she muttered, holding the Hammer over her shoulder, "I haven't seen many things that my Piko Piko Hammer hasn't at least put a dent into!"
Tails puffed out his chest with a triumphant smirk. "Not even Sonic's unwashed socks can melt through this thing."
That comment got him some quizzical looks from the girls, and even the Chao. He blinked and darted his eyes once he realised what he'd said. "I… performed some very thorough tests…"
An awkward pause hung in the air for what felt like an eternity, before Cream decided to ask what was on both hers and Amy's mind. "Why do you have Mr. Sonic's dirty-"
"AAAAANYWAY," Tails quickly interjected with a nervous smile, and practically leapt to his computer desk to grab a tablet device, "what I want you guys to do is to go out and find as many Chaos Emeralds as you can."
Amy tilted her head. "Whaddya need them for?"
The fox's heartbeat started to slow, now that the awkward moment had passed. "Well, since I can't see what's happening on Angel Island, and we haven't heard from Eggman in a while, I get a feeling something bad might be going down. So we'd better get the Chaos Emeralds gathered together and into my extra-secure safe, where no one but me can get to them. Y'know, just in case."
"But, isn't Dr. Eggman not causing trouble a good thing?" Cream pointed out.
"And why ask us to get the Emeralds?" Amy asked, then added with a dreamy look, "My darling Sonic could get them together in the time it takes to make toast."
"Sonic's still on his vacation in Adabat," Tails explained, "and I promised him that I'd only call if it was a dire emergency. I'll get in touch with him once I can find out if Knuckles is really in trouble."
"Oh yeah, right," Amy nodded, and a wide smile crossed her face, "I wish he would've asked me to come along. Adabat is so tropical and romantic…"
Tails and Cream just exchanged strange looks, which turned into smirks as Amy began losing herself in a daydream of relaxing on a beach with the blue hedgehog.
"Okay, Amy," he spoke up to get her attention, and handed her the tablet, "this tablet detects strong readings of Chaos energy. It'll lead you right to the emeralds. I'd go myself but I'm gonna see if I can get my Drones working. If not, I'll take the Tornado up to Angel Island and have a look for myself."
Amy nodded as Cream and Cheese stood next to her, and the three saluted their foxy friend. "Consider those Emeralds ours, Tails."
"You can count on Team Rose!" Cream added with a determined smile.
"Chao!" Cheese finished, mimicking his young friend's look.
"I wouldn't have asked you guys if I didn't think you could," Tails grinned, and hopped back onto his computer chair to type on the keyboard some more, "it says one of them is nearby, somewhere in Central City. Good luck!"
Amy grinned and made for the door. "Let's go, Cream!"
"Coming! Bye, Tails!" Chirped the little rabbit, jogging after the pink hedgehog, Cheese in tow. "I hope the Emeralds won't be too troublesome to find. Mother told me to not get scuffed up too badly."
"Relax, finding the Emeralds is always a snap," Amy assured her young friend, clicking her fingers for emphasis while exiting the workshop, "this won't be any different, right?"
"Right!" Cream agreed, then tilted her head with a quizzical frown, her lopped ears drooping to one side. "Um… why do you think Tails has Mr. Sonic's dirty laundry?"
Amy shuddered. "The less we think of it, the better."
Cream bit her lip. "I agree." Even Cheese looked rather disturbed.
