AN: Sega owns these characters, not me.

Unknown to Eggman, Maria could hear everything he said. She didn't know how but she was able to hear him as if the glass weren't there at all. Quietly but quickly she tried to find a way out while he ranted to his robots. A small lump in throat began to well knowing she was nothing more than a failed experiment.

After two hallways, she found a fire exit. She opened it to see an ocean far beneath her. She heard an alarm.

I'll take my chances, She decided and leapt off.

She didn't know where she was; Maria sat up with a groan. She realized she was in a house, lying on a couch. Her nerves tensed. She had no idea where she was or how she got there.

"WAKEY WAKEY!" A boyish voice yelled scaring Maria. She covered her ears, and looked to see a bee.

"Shut. Up Charmy! Can't you see you scared the poor girl?" Explained a large crocodile fellow who walked in the living room.

Well Eggman didn't warn me about these guys being any danger, Maria observed.

"Espio get in here!" The crocodile demanded.

On cue, a purple chameleon appeared beside him.

"Don't do that," The crocodile huffed.

"Hello there miss. I'm Vector, this guy here is Espio and Charmy is the fella who found you washed up on the beach," Vector explained.

"I saved you! I saved you!" Charmy cheered hovering about the room.

The yellow hedgehog giggled.

"Well thank you very much. My name is Maria Robotnick."

"That's a cute name kiddo. But now ya gotta pay us for keeping you here overnight," Vector told her.

Maria looked at him in disbelief.

"But...I have nothing to pay you with."

"We can take payment by having you work around the house doing chores," He put his hands on his hips obviously standing his ground.

"But- Oh ok," Maria sighed. "Where do I start?"

"Hmm washing the dishes, cleaning the kitchen, clean all the windows, taking out the trash..."

After Vector sent her on her way to tidy up the place, he gathered his friends back in his office.

"Um Vector isn't she-"

"Shadow's friend, I'm not sure," Vector cut off the confused bee.

"She's a hedgehog, and she didn't mention anything about him," Espio perked up.

"Well boys, we've got to keep a watchful eye on this one. Shadow will kill us if anything happens to her - that is if she's his Maria," Vector concluded

A sudden crash was heard from the kitchen. The boys rushed to see what had happened. On the floor were broken pieces of a large ceramic plate with Maria on her knees trying to clean it up.

"I'm so sorry Vector. I-It slipped from my hands, you see there was this stubborn stain-"

Vector shook his head tsking her.

"You see little missy, that was one of the good serving plates. Since you have no money to repay us, I'm going to have to add cleaning the two bathrooms on your to-do list as punishment."

This is what I get for listening on their little conversation about Shadow. Maria thought bitterly.

The day slowly transitioned into the afternoon. Maria finally was finishing the second bathroom in an almost exhausted manner.

"Maria! Please baby-sit Charmy, he wants to go play outside," She heard Vector yell to her from some part of the house.

"Ok Vector!" Maria shouted back.

There hovering at the front door was a cheery Charmy.

"Oh Maria, we're gonna have so much fun! I'll show you some of my favorite flowers, and favorite places to visit!"

"Heh heh sounds like fun," Maria smiled and opened the door to the great outdoors.

"Come on! I know were to find some lilies!" Charmy flew ahead of her.

"Hey wait up!" Maria ran after him.

Before she knew it, Charmy had led her near the base of Knuckles' domain.

"Whoa what is this?" Maria asked.

"Oh that's just a place where the Master Emerald is kept. Don't go near there or Knuckles will make dinner out of you for staring at his precious emerald!" Charmy raised his voice at the last part as if to draw attention.

"I heard that!" Fumed a red echidna, glaring at Charmy who then stuck his tongue at him. Maria gasped, Knuckles was one of the dangerous ones that warned her about. Seeing his hostile attitude toward Charmy automatically set off her fear of him.

"Knuckles meet my friend Maria Robotnick!" Charmy pointed to the frightened girl.

Maria froze staring at the guardian.

"Um h-hi," She timidly greeted.

Knuckles looked at her strangely then looked at the Master Emerald.

Is this the one you brought back to life? He wondered and looked back at Maria. Then he leapt from his spot to get down to her level.

"Are you really Maria Robotnick? The very one who's Shadow's closest friend?" He asked.

"What? I am Maria but I want nothing to do w-with him. I don't know what you mean by me being his friend," She stammered.

This has got to be her, Knuckles thought.

"The Master Emerald told me you would be brought to life because Shadow wanted you here. But I guess you're no longer human in the process-"

"I-I-I just don't know what to believe in anymore," Maria babbled nervously. "First Eggman says people like you are dangerous, then he tries to get rid of me, and now you're saying I was once friends with one the most dangerous hedgehogs who ever lived?!"

"Yeah I know what you mean," Maria turned to see a blue hedgehog. "If looks could kill, anyone would be dead by now." He indicted with his thumb to the black hedgehog walking toward their small group.

She stared silently at those crimson eyes; she could feel the world closing in on her. Maria had fainted on the spot.