"This place as creepy as ever." I said dully as I scanned over the huge fortress overlooking the sea. I had infiltrated this place thousands of times, but had never had the time to look at the overwhelming fortress that now stood before me.
Within the steel doors, machines idly sat around. Like caught in the middle of a horror film, they seemed to silently watch, waiting. Broken parts and pieces thrown bluntly across the floor. Traces of Sonic seemed imminent everywhere, and I felt sick. Places where he stood, seemed almost perfectly noted in my brain. It was like watching his ghost as it roamed these halls.

Definitely creepy.

A machine part crackled beneath my feet, and I was startled from the sound and forced back to reality. This was only Eggman's abandoned fortress. He was locked up far away, and there was no one left to operate the machines. They were like corpses spread throughout a building, waiting to become zombies.

It took some time to get to the back of the fortress. Through slim halls, broken entries, and shallow rooms, I had realized how deserted and lonely this place felt. The main room was as giant as one would suspect. The alluring red door stood out against the white walls that covered the entire fortress. It was beautiful carved with ornate dips and curves, but still held a feeling of time long past. The small computer monitor outside the door beeped wildly, as it hinted for the need of a code. I slid slid my fingers over the keyboard, pressing the letters gently against the touch screen and watched them appear on the screen. Once the word 'maria' had been put into the system, the giant red light disappeared and was followed by a bright green light with a loud buzz of in the background.

I pulled open the heavy door and slid inside the safe walls of the main room. Dust seemed collected everywhere as computers hummed and vibrated. Thousands of machines seemed crammed into one little working space with only a small gap between a few of the machines to indicate where to walk. Within the center of the machines, I found what I felt was the mother computer. Typing in the code I had received from Eggman, I watched as the computer greeted me with a sour tone followed by an Eggman smiley face before the computer logged me in. Thousands of files were shown across the desktop, hiding the background image from being seen at all.

I took me a minute to locate the bolded 'me' file, but I was able to find it. I clicked on the file and waited as several documents and pictures appeared. I clicked on the first picture and found it to be one of the trees from the forest. It had 'me' carved into it, just as I had seen. Each photo that followed was of a different location with the same carving pattern of strange designs and then the 'me'. I clicked on the first document and began to read:

'They keep appearing. The 'ME' Symbol is everywhere now. It was at first only a package with a small note of the two letters, but now it is carved everywhere within my fortress. I can't seem to get away from it. That stupid hedgehog asked about it as he shut down my fortress. Taken away by the police, I refused to tell him.

'That stupid hedgehog came to visit me again today. The doctors here are trying to change me, as if I will ever bend. He asked about the symbols again. I decided that instead of facing it, I would just have him stop them for me. I told him all I know. I told him about the civilization, about the strange reaction to the chaos emeralds, and the injection. I showed him the injection trace on my leg. It seems I don't have much time left. I can't move my leg at all, anymore. I have begun to grow tired and numb. I told him that the 'me' have made their move, and have begun their selecting process. He said he didn't believe me, and left.'

'It was only a few hours ago that Sonic returned. He began going off about something that happened. He was speaking rather quickly, so I couldn't fully understand what he was trying to tell me, but apparently he had seen them. They had showed their face to him, and he had lived. He began going off about the chemical injection in my leg. He showed me a piece of paper where it had familiar names and unfamiliar names written across it. He said it was a list of people who were candidates. I just remember seeing my name and seeing that irritation pink hedgehog: Amy's, name. He continued to say he had to stop it before something worse happened. There was a strange reaction going around his arm. It was like seeing flashes of light glowing off from around his arm. I tried to ask him what it was, but he never gave me a chance to say anything. He quickly left, just as he always does.

'Sonic has disappeared. I overheard it from one of the guards after that infuriating little fox and bunny left. They talked about how Amy had shut herself off from the rest of the world to mourn over his disappearance. I know where he is, and I know who has him. It is infuriating to think that this stupid project of the government is actually working.'

'The 'me' know I am here. They want me to be here. Everything and anything that happens, they know before anyone else. They play a role in people's fates without anyone realizing it. Things that don't seem natural are probably due to them. They hid in our shadows and watch us, studying us. They know how we react, and they know what we will do in every possible situation. I was only caught and I am only changing because the 'me' have decided this is what will be. We can't fight the 'me'. They will destroy everything, and for the first time, I find myself hoping that Sonic will come back.'

"From within the cell." I noted as that was the title of the document. The g.u.n must have allowed him to write this and send it to his computer for reference.

It was insightful, but still very vague. If I wanted to understand just what exactly he was talking about, I would have to ask him. I made sure to print off a few copies before leaving the room. The sound of my boots coming down against the hallway was the only sound for a very long time. When I was in the middle of the fortress, I decided to take a different route than the one I had taken before, because Sonic's ghost seemed to be haunting me. Loud beeping and humming of computers startled me as I was about to walk past a certain door.

There was another keyboard lock, but above it had the word 'project' scratched in the flesh of the wall. Out of curiosity, I typed the word into the system and was allowed access to the room. The automatic door screeched open and I was greeted by a simple walkway with thousands of capsules on both sides. Within each capsule held what appeared to be an android of Shadow, someone who I thought was long gone.

"He crashed to Earth." I whispered remembering being on top of the Space colony ARK. Although, he had been there when we fought metal Sonic on Eggman's air fleet.

The door slammed close behind me, and I screamed. Expecting to find some sort of 'me', I pulled out my piko hammer and waited to strike. Turning around anxiously throughout the room, I waited for someone to come, but no one ever did. The door did not open, though. As I tried to yank it open all I was given was a loud beeping noise. Was this a trick? All the lights switched off and the room became completely black, before a shuttering light not too far from where I stood flickered on.

"What are you doing here?" A dark voice asked as it was all too familiar.

"Eggman told me to come." I said swallowing anxiously, a nervous habit I had developed.

"Why would he send someone here?" the person asked in confusion. "You're lying."
"I'm not lying." I said calmly as I had to breathe deeply through my nose and out my mouth to keep from shaking. "He gave me the passwords. He is in the g.u.n. safety house, and he asked me to look at some of his files."

"Who are you?" the person asked as they seemed to appear beside me, but were hidden by shadows that surrounded us.

"I'm Amy Rose." I said stepping forward and into the single light as it pierced my eyes. Squinting I tried to look around in the darkness for the person, but I could not find them. "I know who you are."

"How can you know me when I don't know you?" they asked as he finally stepped into the light.

"I know you, because you helped Sonic stop the ARK. You supposedly died, Shadow."