Undesirable Truth, Part 4

It took me a little while to calm down. As I was drying my eyes, Sonic handed me his handkerchief.

"If you're ready, we can get going?" He offered.

I accepted his offer and we started walking toward his home. It was a long but easy walk as the sun slowly started to rise over the horizon. Everything grew brighter and friendlier as the sun rose higher and higher. I found myself smiling again. By mid-morning we arrived at a little hut by the beach. The yellow and blue paint on the walls was faded and cracking but the place looked very cozy. Before we could reach the house, a yellow fox ran out and rushed toward us.

"Sonic!" He called, "I knew you'd be back soon!"

He tackled Sonic with a hug and it seemed as though he wouldn't be letting go any time soon.

"Where were you?" The boy asked.

"Heh, well, I ran into a little trouble with Eggman. But Cat saved me!" Sonic motioned to me and sent me a quick wink.

I would have hardly called our escape anything like me saving him, in my eyes it was the other way around. But the fox kit seemed very interested. I bashfully averted my eyes. And tried to reply.

"Well, I wouldn't exactly…"

"Oh yeah!" Sonic interrupted, "And she even carried me all the way here!"

"What!? No!"

The boy laughed, "How did you lose enough weight for that to happen?"

"Hey! Just because you can't handle lifting me of the ground doesn't mean everyone else has the same problem!"

"Sure." The young one rolled his eyes with a smirk.

Who was this sassy child? And when could I adopt him?

"My name is Tails, by the way." He said.

Finally, I had his name!

"Tails," I said, "you and me, we're best friends now."

Tails shrugged, "Alright."

Sonic laughed, "That was easy."

After they led me inside, I took a seat in their tiny kitchen while Sonic filled Tails in on the time they had spent apart. That included me guarding Sonic as a prisoner and our 'grand' escape from Eggman and Metal Sonic. Thankfully he kept out the part about my past. Tails nodded as he listened, his little face shown his focus on retaining all details. As Tails was filling Sonic in on what he had missed, my eyes drifted around admiring their house. The bright yellow tiles on the kitchen counter, the light wooden cabinets, the pale gray linoleum flooring, and the pastel blue walls throughout the house. Beyond the kitchen was a little living room with a heavily worn out couch with an overabundance of pillows, a just as worn hammock and a small tv set from the 90's. I did notice a few other smaller contraptions and tools around the place but I assumed they were just common place items that I had no memory of. It all looked so cozy.

Sunlight was pouring into the kitchen from the window behind me, bathing the whole room in warm light and heating my back in the process. It all felt so safe and relaxing that I nearly fell asleep with my face on the table top. Tails seemed to notice my drowsiness.

"Oh, hey! Are you tired?" He asked.

Sonic stretched his back and chuckled at my posture.

"I'm pretty beat too. It's time for a nap."

I hadn't really slept in a bed in years, all I had was a temporary cot back at Eggman's base. Imagine my surprise when Sonic insisted that he give me his bed to rest. I wanted to refuse but he just went along with his suggestion anyway and started sleeping in the hammock in the living room. Try as I might to persuade him, he just turned over and pretended to already be asleep. I looked to Tails for guidance.

"Just take the bed." He said with a shrug.

I hadn't even seen a bed in so long. Had I been well rested, I probably would've taken much more opposition to accepting this much hospitality and to the amount of little blue spines and hairs all over the blankets that were left unmade. No wonder he offered, he probably didn't want to sleep in this either. Against my better judgement, I pretended not to notice any of it as I uncomfortably settled in. As I did so, my eyes closed all on their own. One of the last things I noticed before my mind started drifting was how much the sheets smelled like him and that maybe the bed wasn't as cushy as I had expected. However, this didn't stop me from falling asleep within the next two seconds.

By the time I had woken up it was late in the afternoon. My eyelids felt heavy and my mind groggy as I forced myself to sit up and out of my resting place. From the living room, I could hear Sonic and Tails in the middle of a conversation:

"Maybe it's not so good an idea that she meets Amy…" Sonic said.

"Why not?" Tails asked.

"Well- I mean- you know how she gets…"

I decided to step in and ask what all the fuss was about.

"How does she get?" I asked.

"Amy's craaaazy about him." Tails cleared up.

"It's not like that! It's just- "

"Oh! You have a girlfriend~?" I teased.

"She's not my girlfriend!"

"Yeah, that means she's definitely your girlfriend! Don't worry, I'll keep my distance from now on!"

"Now hold on just a sec!"

"Friendship with Sonic has ended, now Tails is my new best friend! Right, Tails?"

"Mm-hm!" Tails replied.

Sonic face-palmed then glared at Tails between his fingers, "Traitor…"

Much to Sonic's hesitation, it was agreed that Amy should visit. The vote was two against one anyway. But before Tails could call her to invite her over, Sonic caught sight of one of his shed spines in my fur and plucked it out to inspect it.

"If Amy sees one of these on you, she'll whack me into next week. We probably both reek of eggbase anyway. So, before we call her over, we gotta clean up."

"Oh, thank chaos!" Tails snarked and held his nose, "I was trying my hardest not to say anything."

Sonic squinted his eyes at the young fox, "Hey! You gotta clean up too! I don't remember saying anything about leaving your inventions all over the house when I was gone."

Tails groaned and went to pick up all the little contraptions that I was now glad to know were not household items that I never knew about.

Sonic went and showered first as I helped Tails clean up the house. He showed me what all his inventions did and I was quite impressed. He even tricked out a Roomba to clean the walls. When Sonic came back, he handed me a clean towel and a new bar of soap and said,

"Okay, it's all yours! I'll try to find you some clean clothes to borrow while you're in there."

"Um, how long?" I asked with borrowed towel and soap in hand.

"...'how long' what?" Sonic asked.

"Am I allowed to use the water?"

"As… long as you want?"

"Really?"

"Um, yeah! Were you really not allowed to use the water back in that base?"

"I was only allowed five minutes…"

"Wow… let me guess, the water was cold too, huh?"

I nodded.

Sonic inhaled deeply and set his hands on my shoulders.

"Tell you what, take as long as you want. You can even use up all of the hot water. I owe you this one."

I almost cried.

In the shower, the water was so scalding it stung my skin underneath my fur but it was such a good burn. I didn't even care if my skin was melting off because at least all my worries were melting off with it. I stood there letting the water hit my back for about 15 minutes before I remembered what I was actually in there for. As I washed up, I thought back on the old showers I used to take. In five minutes, I used to rush to lather soap and water all over before rinsing it off with what could only be described as ice water. But this, this was heaven. My thoughts kept drifting to my days back in the base, when Sonic was first introduced into my life. I saw him as a responsibility and a chance to make the doctor proud of me or at least appreciative of my efforts.

At first, we knew each other as enemies and yet, he spoke to me as though we were peers. When he snarked, I snarked back. I actually looked forward to our conversations because that was the only time during the day that I could unload all of my sass. And the more I did that, the more he seemed to like my company as well. When it came time for me to interrogate him, we were already on a first name basis. That first interrogation, I was very nervous to speak to him in the same room, all our previous conversations were either through bars or intercom. When I entered the room, I remember having to rush right back out because Eggman, no matter how genius he thinks he is, forgot to put a shower in Sonic's cell.

Poor Sonic had been in that room for two weeks without anything for hygiene, and it took me an extra week of repeated complaining to finally get a response. The end result was a big metal wash basin and a bar of soap. Nothing else. I was appalled but we made due, I fashioned some old blueprints and a wire frame to work as a screen. I knew Eggman would be angry, and he was, but I stood my ground and stipulated that even though Sonic was prisoner, he was still entitled to privacy in regards to his basic hygienic needs. Now I look back on those days with a chuckle at how I would try to hurry him and how he'd tease me with loud humming and whistling. In the end, I worked hard to get him the basic necessities he needed and I treated him with respect. I suppose that's what Sonic meant when he said he owed me this shower…

Upon finishing my shower and drying off, I found some clean clothes hanging on the outside door knob of the bathroom door. Just as Sonic had promised. These new clothes were baggy on me which was a drastic change from my uniform, that was no surprise considering how much taller Sonic was than me. The clothes consisted of a plain white t-shirt and a pair of cargo pants. The fabric that the shirt was made of was much softer, lighter and easier to move in than my uniform. I hypothesized that this shirt went unworn for quite some time since there were stubborn wrinkles in it from being folded in a drawer. The cargo pants were a bit of a challenge to put on, they were too big to sit at my waist like I wanted and instead rested loosely on my hips. I made a mental note to ask Sonic for a belt to borrow if he had one. After putting on the new clothes, I took a look in the mirror and was surprised to see how plain looking I was. My eyes got used to seeing the bright blue and yellow furs of my friends but mine was such a muddy brown all over. There was nothing remarkable about me. If I wasn't careful, my friends could easily lose me in a crowd of three people.

When I stepped out in the living room to meet the bright smiles of my friends, all my insecurities melted away. At least a small brown nobody like me could find accepting friends like them. And so far, that's all that mattered. There was also a new person in the room, a pink hedgehog who seemed very attached to Sonic. He introduced us.

"Cat, this is Amy. Amy this is Cat."

Amy did not seem keen to meet me at first, no doubt here to scope out her potential rival in hopes of defending her territory. This was soon cleared up.

"Oh, she's so pretty~!" I remarked with a smirk at Sonic, "No wonder she's your girlfriend!"

"Please don't say the 'G' word!" Sonic groaned.

Amy's eyes seemed to light up after that.

"Finally, someone with sense!" she exclaimed and took me aside to get better acquainted.

It didn't take long for Amy to sweep me up in a shopping trip to help me find clothes that actually fit. Her generosity rivaled Sonic's and it nearly beat his out as we went from shop to shop looking for items that suited my size. Not that Amy was on the sidelines that whole time, she found a few things for herself as well. I was amazed at all the small shops, the variety of people walking around, and all items available for purchase. When I was hidden away, I never thought there would be so much color and liveliness in the world. Everything was so bright and happy. When I looked at all the shop fronts and the clothes on display, I was met with a crippling sensory overload. I hoped Amy wouldn't notice though my face must have tipped her off.

"Why don't we take a break for a little bit?" Amy suggested.

"N-no! It's okay! I can-! I mean…" I took a breath and returned her glance. Back in the eggbase, I had to fight for my tasks. If it was obvious that I couldn't do it or if I struggled with it for too long, I'd get stuck with an easier but unpleasant job instead. I had to remind myself that I wasn't there anymore.

"Thanks Amy, it's just really hard to pick one thing." I admitted.

She seemed to understand.

"How about I show you my favorite place? Then we'll try to find your style and work from there?"

"My…style?" The thought of an individual look for myself was exciting but also daunting.

As we were heading to the shop, we caught the eyes of a couple passers-by. Thankfully Amy was quick to give them a glare to let them know we were off limits. Perhaps I wasn't so plain-Jane after all.

In the shop, there were a large amount of dresses on sale. I didn't take much interest in them, I liked pants better. They were easier to work in. Of course, that brought up the question if I was going to work at all in this new life I was making for myself. I tried to push that out of my mind, now was not the time to think about that. I gravitated toward the pants rack in the back while Amy busied herself with the dresses. I picked up a pair of black pants that vaguely reminded me of the old ones I used to wear. The fabric was of much better quality and somehow it made me angry that even in this small shop they had much better materials than what I was given for all of my remembered life. Before I could dwell on that longer my eyes drifted toward a light blue button-down short sleeved shirt. I couldn't get it in my hands soon enough!

One thing led to another and I had a whole arm full of shirts just like it. Amy looked over and started to laugh.

"So that's what you like! Here, let me help you pick out some things to match."

By the end, I had a pair of navy-blue slacks, a belt to hold them up, black heels, that button-down shirt that I liked so much and a little vest to match my pants. I looked swanky and I liked it! Amy was apprehensive about my self-fashioned outfit but she did admit it was cute. On our way home I determined that I needed to repay Amy's kindness any way I could as soon as I was able.

The next day, Sonic invited me to look around town. Amy and Tails joined us and I was introduced to a lot of Sonic's friends. There was Silver who was from the future and Blaze who was a princess from another dimension? I couldn't tell if Sonic was joking or not when he told me that. But there was also, Vector and his friends Espio and Charmy, they ran a detective agency. Something that interested me a great deal, I thought that maybe I could work for them if they were hiring. There was also Rouge who ran a night club who actually did offer me a job, but considering the atmosphere of the whole night club scene I was more than hesitant to take her up on that offer. She mentioned someone named Shadow whom I was also supposed to meet but he was "away on a job". I suppose he didn't work for Rouge. I met Big the cat, who wasn't much for talking but he seemed really nice.

By midafternoon I was exhausted from meeting so many people so we went back to Sonic's place to rest but there was someone there waiting for us. It was Sonic's friend Knuckles. Needless to say, this 'friend' Knuckles did not take a very keen liking to me. Somehow, he found out about where I had come from and was here to scare me off.

"How can you be sure she isn't a double agent working for Eggman?" He questioned, eyeing me suspiciously.

Sonic, to my ire, was not taking this seriously.

"It's cuz she's so small! Nothing this tiny could be evil! Right, Tiny?" He said and used the top of my head as an armrest just to prove his point.

I was not amused.

"Tiny or not! I don't trust her! Are you sure she didn't just brainwash you into thinking she's harmless?" The red one exclaimed. He leaned in so he could get a close look at my face. He was a very intimidating echidna. "Just admit who you are and I'll let you walk away."

By then I was furious, how dare this person question my friendship with Sonic as if I'm only here for my own gains! But what was I here for? And no matter how much I hated it, this guy had a point. Who was I? I was the interloper here. The one out of place in search for a new one, but how could I find my new place in the world if I wasn't sure who I was? I needed some time to think.

"I'll let you know who I am as soon as she shows up, bud." I walked away toward the beach to clear my head. I suppose he was just asking all these questions to determine my worth but I just couldn't handle it that day. The past events that led me here were still raw and I needed some more time to create the emotional space I needed in order to explore them for answers. Maybe in looking back I would find myself.

I sat on the beach and watched the waves roll up and fall backward over and over. I didn't like the beach. It was too messy, but it was at least calming to watch at a distance. My mind mulled over the question of who I was over and over but the answer "a failed experiment" just didn't satisfy. I knew there was more to me than my past and where I came from. But trying to find the image I had of myself was even more discouraging. All that came up was that plain little cat in the mirror. The one who'd be lost forever if you took your eyes off her just once. I knew what I liked and what I didn't like, but that wasn't enough to determine a personality. I looked up at the sky, there were seagulls flying overhead and playing with each other. What would it take for me to be that care free?

Sonic walked over and took a seat next to me in the sand. He was humming something. I didn't pay much mind to him, I just watched the seagulls dive at the water and fly back up.

"Don't let that knucklehead get you down. He's just a stubborn poor judge of character. But he'll come around." He said.

"You sure? He seems pretty dead-set on hating me."

"Just give him the stink-eye and he'll leave you alone, he's afraid of girls anyway. But if he keeps bothering you just leave him to me, I'll set him straight." He sent a keen grin my way.

The next breeze that swept at us left behind a couple drops of rain on our foreheads. There was a storm coming.

"Let's go inside." Sonic offered. "I can send Knuckles home and we can have a jam session without him."

"I like the sound of that."

Sonic led me back inside the house after telling Knuckles to leave and sat at a small piano set against the wall. He stretched out his fingers before playing a happy tune.

"I didn't know you played." I said.

"You never asked." he said with a smile and continued to play before saying, "I know you're worried and stuff, but so long as you've got a positive attitude, you'll be okay."

"I know… I just wish I remembered more that's all. I don't even know who I was. How do I even move on from that?"

Sonic shrugged, "You just do. One day at a time."

The next day, Sonic woke me extremely early and insisted that I join him on an adventure to one of Eggman's abandoned bases. I turned over and tried to go back to sleep.

"Come on! It'll be fun! It might even cheer you up a little." He coaxed.

I grunted in response.

"Come oooooooooon! Wake up!" He took my blanket away.

I sat up and tried to snatch it back with one eye open but he was too quick.

"Ugh! Why are you going anyway?" I asked.

"We found some faint chaos energy readings from there and I wanna check it out!"

"We just escape two days ago! The last thing I want is to go back to a place like that."

"It's abandoned! It'll be different, I promise!"

I curled up to try sleeping without my blanket.

Sonic sighed, "What if I invited Amy to come?"

I sat up immediately, "Let's go!"

We set off on our adventure in no time, Amy was meeting us there and I was excited for my first adventure. That is until I saw a certain red echidna waiting with Amy. I halted.

"Why is he here?" I asked in a hushed tone.

"He's tagging along." Sonic replied casually.

"And why is that?"

"I thought an adventure would smooth things over between you two."

"You invited him?"

"Don't be so hard-headed, it'll be fine! An adventure will be all he needs to see you're a friend just- "

"Why is she coming?" Knuckles bellowed and pointed to me.

Sonic was about to make some sort of peaceable answer but I was faster with my reply.

"That's none of your business!"

Knuckles was caught off guard and stammered, "I-! What-! You-! You shouldn't be here! You'll just lead us into a trap!"

"Oh yeah? Well maybe I will! Just for you! Just cuz you said so!"

"Oh! I'll show you a trap!" He lifted his fist but I didn't flinch.

"Bring it, tough guy!"

"That's enough! Both of you!" Amy scolded, "I don't want to hear anymore or I'll send you home!"

"She started it…" Knuckles muttered and turned away to pout.

I huffed and turned away as well.

The abandoned base was in an underground cave. As we started to travel inside and into the dark, I could hear Amy sarcastically whisper to Sonic.

"Great idea bringing them both along…"

Sonic tisked, "Shame on me for trying to have them get along, I guess."

When we reached the entrance, which was shut, Sonic turned to me and asked.

"Any way to get in?"

I inspected the door. It looked familiar but the power seemed to be off. Many of the doors in Eggman's bases were never locked with deadbolts or bars but were actually forced shut with hydraulics. If the power was ever off then the pressure to keep the doors tightly closed went away.

"Just force it open." I shrugged.

"Tsh, that's it?" Knuckles remarked, "You guys should've just asked me. I got this!"

He held onto the door from the bottom and started lifting, the task proved harder than he had anticipated. He glared back at me.

"Force it open, huh?"

"Well yeah, genius! Except it opens from the side not the bottom!"

He grunted and started pulling the door open from the side as Sonic snickered away. The task of opening the door wasn't as easy as the concept, but Knuckles made quick work of creating an opening. We all filed in one by one with Sonic at the front, Amy following behind him and Knuckles in the back.

The air inside the facility was heavy and dusty, there were numerous large vats of clear boiling liquid but there wasn't any heat in the room. It was actually rather chilly. Knuckles warned us to stay together to avoid easily getting lost, I ignored his warning and immediately climbed one of the two metal stair cases that lead up to an observation deck. With the emergency lights on, I could see that the water tanks below me were left uncovered at the top and were indeed filled with water. But even though it was all boiling, there wasn't any steam rising. I had seen this liquid before.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" Knuckles exclaimed and started charging over.

I straightened my back and fixed a glare on him, I was ready for another argument.

"Didn't you hear me? I said we need to stick together!"

"Aw, were you worried about me?" I teased and batted my eyelashes.

"You-!" He stopped himself and turned away with a grunt, his cheeks were all red. Sonic was right, Knuckles wasn't very comfortable around girls.

"Are you shy?"

"I'm not shy!"

"You love birds done?" Sonic commented, "I thought we were here to find a chaos emerald."

Both Knuckles and I cut our eyes toward him with grimaces, but we canned the dispute for now and followed his lead deeper into the labs.

A lot of the hallways where just tunnels hewn from the earth and traveling through them sent chills down my spine. Whatever we were going to find at the end of this tunnel was not going to be a pleasant sight. Sonic and Amy where getting further ahead of me, I was being too cautious and it was slowing me down. Suddenly Knuckles grabbed my arm and yanked me back. Before I could shout at him a rock from the ceiling fell right where I was about to step! Then more rocks started falling, more, and more. We had to back up until it finally stopped. I was starting to panic.

"Cat! Knuckles! You guys okay?" Sonic called from the other side of the collapse.

"We're fine!" Knuckles replied.

"Good! Amy and I will find another way around. Meet us back at the entrance after you finish searching."

I swallowed hard. I was going to be alone with Knuckles for who knows how long. I could tell he didn't like the idea either, but no matter how strong he was it was a bad idea to just dig our way through the rubble.

With a tired sigh, he let go of my arm and started walking back to the main part of the lab. I followed behind quietly until he turned around and asked,

"Just why did you come along anyway, Tiny?"

"I'm not tiny! I just wanted an adventure for once…"

He snickered, "If you aren't Tiny, then I must be a whale!"

"Hey, you said it. Not me."

"I-! …wait a minute! You calling me a whale?"

I started to laugh and ran past him to round the corner, "You said it, not me!"

"Get back here!" He shouted as he chased me down.

I nearly lost him until that corner ended in a broken walkway over one of the water tanks. I couldn't stop in time and as a result I lost my balance and fell over the walkway and toward the water below. Knuckles was there just in time to catch my leg before I reached it.

"I gotcha!" He grunted then pulled me back up with almost no effort. "Not bad for a whale, huh?"

When he set me down, I took a sizeable step away from the edge.

"See what I mean about running off? We need to stick together from now on, got it?" He said.

I sheepishly nodded.

"Good," He breathed a sigh of relief and took a look around, "You know these bases better than I do, right? Where would all the important stuff be?"

I thought for a little while then said, "Well, I guess it would be in the control room. If Eggman ever visited his bases, that's where he'd spend most of his time."

Knuckles eyed me skeptically then said, "Lead the way."

My steps to the control room were very uneasy due to my little brush with death, I still didn't know what that liquid really was, or why it was so familiar but I couldn't shake the feeling it was very important to know. We reached the door and Knuckles punched his fist right through it. When he saw how wide my eyes went, he chuckled and said,

"Don't worry, I'd never use my full strength on you, Tiny."

I didn't appreciate the nickname for me but at least there was some endearment in it. Once he forced the hole open a little more, he let me slip inside first. This room was much darker that the others since there was only one emergency light running. There it was Eggman's desk, I knew it was nothing I should have been scared of but that voice in my head was telling me I shouldn't be here. Knuckles climbed in right behind me and saw the desk.

He walked right over and started opening drawers even after I tried to warn him not to. He didn't find anything but there was a computer built into the desk. I gingerly walked over to the desk and switched on the power. Even with the rest of the facility running on auxiliary power, this computer had a back-up battery.

"You think it's a good idea to start switching things on?" Knuckles asked.

"With the lab shut down like this, it should be safe."

"See if you can find any maps of this place."

"He never kept maps of his bases…"

"Tsk, figures… Blue prints?"

"Only on his traveling server, and I think that's disconnected."

"Traveling…? never mind. What's this base used for?"

I did some digging into the lab reports left on the computer's desktop, they were in-progress reports about the water in the tanks.

"This is about what's in those tanks out there…"

"So, it's not just boiling water…" Knuckles leaned in closer to read the report with me.

The report was about transferring chaos energy into water through some process of dilution, essentially Eggman was filling water with pure chaos energy with the use of a chaos emerald. The result was the water in the containers below. The water wasn't boiling from heat but from chaos energy itself. There was no chaos emerald here at all, the chaos energy readings were coming from the water. There were other files about him trying to discover uses for this water but Knuckles knew all he wanted to know.

"Time to tear this place down!" Knuckles said with determination. "Do you think there's an easy way to do it?"

"Well, that tunnel collapsed. So, it seems like caving this place in would be no problem. But we'd have to make sure we could get out of here before then. An explosion in the right spot would do it."

"Okay, where?"

"I don't know yet, but let me do some digging and I think I'll be able to figure something out. In the meantime, we need to let Sonic and Amy know about our plan."

"I can find them, you stay here and do what you need to do. I'll come back when they're ready."

"Got it!"

Knuckles climbed out of the hole he made in the door but took a moment to glance at me.

"Don't try anything funny!" He warned then went on his way.

I huffed and rolled my eyes and continued working away.

As I was searching through the computer's documents, a dialogue box opened on the screen: "Starting video call…"

It was him!

I panicked and tried to cancel the call and even switch off the computer but all the built-in computers in the labs were designed to take orders from him. Not even the power buttons switched off the computers without his say so.

It didn't take long for the video call to start.

"Who's poking around in my lab!? Cat!?" He leaned in closer toward the screen as though to get a better look at me, "Oh, thank goodness you're alright! I was so worried when you disappeared! I thought the worst!"

I felt all the color drain from my face in a white heat. Did I misunderstand and make the wrong decision?

I shook my head.

"You were worried about me? But you sent Metal after us! He almost killed me!" I retorted.

"I sent Metal to save you!"

"Metal tried to kill me!"

"Metal was trying to protect you. He didn't hurt you, did he?"

I looked down at my arm where Metal Sonic had grabbed me. There wasn't even a bruise.

"I suppose hiding behind the walls was your idea? It was very clever, just what I'd expect from you. I'm not sure what Sonic has told you but I promise not to hurt him if you would just come home."

Home? Is that what he called it?

"I… But that room, with the operating table..."

"What roo-"

"I was human once, wasn't I?"

"So you do know… I was afraid of this. But I suppose I've kept it a secret from you for too long. You were very sick when I took you in. I tried to cure you but the operation didn't exactly… work as planned. But I've finally figured out a way to change you back! Why don't you come home and we'll set this right?"

My head was spinning, was I just misunderstanding everything?

"No…!" I tried to convince myself, "no, I'm making a life here! I have friends and…"

"I know you think Sonic is your friend but he was only using you to escape. It's only a matter of time before he throws you away for someone else."

Had I really run off with someone who used me? I never did read the file that I gave Sonic. What if there was nothing in there and he was faking his sympathy all along? The very thought of it started to bring tears to my eyes. I shared so much of myself and was it really all a waste? I wanted Sonic to be here to speak out, to prove Eggman wrong, but the fact that he wasn't here hit me harder than it should have. I was completely alone.

"There now, don't cry. Just switch the power on in the lab and I'll come get you."

My hand hovered over the mouse, maybe 'home' was where I belonged after all?

Then I remembered.

"My name…"

"Er, what?"

"What was my name before all this? Did you ever write it down?"

He paused. I continued.

"And if you cared so much, why didn't you ever ask me how I felt? what I thought? Or what I needed? Why didn't you treat me as an equal or at least as someone worth your time? Why was I always alone? Where was your worry then, huh?"

"...You're not as stupid as I thought. Fine! I don't care! At least now I'm free from your constant blubbering! I may not be able to access everything in that lab but I can at least make leaving difficult for you!"

I heard the wiring of machines echo through the building.

"Good luck getting past that! Escape me once, shame on me. But I'd be an imbecile to let you slip through my fingers a second time!"

I looked back at the door, the clanking of metal feet hitting the ground was reverberating around the building. I returned my gaze to the computer screen, Eggman seemed very confident that this would stop me. I had had enough!

"Then count yourself the king of imbeciles!" I exclaimed. "I'm getting out of here alive and there's nothing you can do about it!" I hopped over the desk toward the door.

Knuckles was there waiting for me leaning against the wall, arms crossed with a pensive look on his face.

"Got here just in time to hear your little speech…"

"Y-yeah…?" I gulped.

Knuckles smiled and offered me his hand, "Looks like I had the wrong idea about you. Ready?"

I took his hand with a smile and we hightailed it for the exit. I looked behind me to see reserve robots following behind us. If we didn't do anything to blow up this base, then we would have come here for nothing. Then I remembered something.

"Hold on!" I slid to a stop and charged back.

"Where are you going?" Knuckles exclaimed.

"Help me get one of these bots in a tank!" I replied.

Knuckles didn't quite understand, but he followed my lead. I waited until one of the guards was standing on one of the observation decks over the tanks. It stood right next the broken section of walkway. With a smirk I charged into it and started pushing so it would fall into the tank. Knuckles caught on to the plan and joined in. As soon as it fell, we turned tail and run. With all the chaos energy in that water, any disturbance would cause a massive reaction.

I was right, as soon as we heard the splash there was an eruption, that spilled over to the next tank and the next until they were all going off. Knuckles and I out ran all of them. We were just about to reach the door.

"OUT OF THE WAY!" Knuckles shouted.

Sonic and Amy side-stepped just in time for Knuckles to burst right through the doors and pave the way for the rest of us. With all the chaos happening inside, the building was starting to shake and with that shaking the walls that once held strong were starting to cave in. We all ran as fast as we could from the cave and into the open air. The base was gone.

As we all took a break to recover and catch our breaths, Sonic paced a couple circles around us looking as cheerful as ever.

"Not bad for your first mission, huh?" He asked.

I stared back at my triumph and started to laugh. Knuckles glanced over at me and shook his head with a smile. I straightened up and punched Knuckles in the arm, it turned out he wasn't so bad after all. And I looked forward to seeing him again soon.

On the way home, I talked Sonic's ear off about everything that happened after we got separated. This was a day I would never forget. After having a warm relaxing shower and slipping into nice clean sheets now set up on the couch, I was ready for the most peaceful sleep I had ever had. The rain was gently pattering on the window as I drifted off to sleep.

. . .

On a rainy night, I was asleep until a bright light shined through my bedroom window. It shone long enough to wake me, as soon as I started to sit up a claw crashed through the window and reached for me. I was not quick enough to escape. I wasn't even awake enough to scream. Glass was everywhere, the cold rain soaked me and chilled me to the core as I was slowly being lifted out of my room and up into the headlights of the gigantic robot that held me.

Eggman sat in the pilot seat, laughing maniacally. I tried to push the claws around me to let go, but there was nothing I could do. I had the strongest hope that with all this noise, all this crazy activity, someone would see this and report it. That I would be saved. I knew that Sonic would stop my captor and that I would be free soon. I was almost excited about the rescue that I was so sure would come. I held onto that hope that whole way to Eggman's base, in the dark I shivered but kept a brave face. Even as I was lowered into the holding cell that would later hold Sonic.

"You're going to be very useful to me." He would say even as I said Sonic would stop him.

After a while on sitting in the dark and doing my best to stay warm, I started to doubt. I tried to remind myself I was being foolish for not staying strong. But when I saw the sun rise and realized just how much time I had waited to be rescued. My hopes shattered right then and there. I fought to free myself, I screamed and tried to run more fervently than I had before. All of it in vain. In the preparation room I was forced to exchange my pajamas for a uniform. Sick from crying, shaking from fear and broken from the realization that rescue was not on the way. I sat in that pale, cold room waiting for the event that would ruin my life. As the door slowly opened behind me, I had no more voice to scream and no more strength to fight as I was lifted and dragged away. I was strapped down to an operating table, needles pierced my skin, tubes were attached to my body. The most intense pain I had ever experienced washed over me. I lived in that blur of agony for a long time until I had completely forgotten everything.

I remembered waking up in the preparation room again, weak from the operation and my mind in a deep haze. I sat up and held my head in a pain that was a blunt stabbing ache. I was barely awake when Eggman stepped into the room, visibly disappointed but intrigued. As I looked up at the man I no longer recognized, he smiled and said, "You'll still be useful yet."

Thank you for read!

Part 5 will be posted next week around the same time :)