Personal Log of Prof. Gerald Robotnik, #893, 1937 hours:

I have uncovered a most interesting specimen from the warehouse. I believe it to be some sort of puppet or robot made by an ancient people. At first, I didn't think anything of it, but when I was experimenting on "Chaos Emeralds," it began to move. This suggests the possibility that even the ancient civilizations could harness the power of the "Chaos Emeralds." When I was researching various papers related to the "Chaos Emeralds" and this robot, I discovered that there was a possibility that this robot was something incredible. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but this robot may be the cause of the destruction of the Fourth Great Civilization. I'm not sure I believe it just yet, though.

Sector Four, the long-term hold for organic experiments, was strictly off limits to every one of the few youngsters aboard the Space Colony ARK. Many of the creatures, while contained, still poised a great threat of destruction. One experiment had gotten loose and went on a rampage during an exam, in fact, and the guards on duty had yet to live that down.

And so, naturally, Sector Four was Maria's absolute favorite place to explore.

"Shadow! Keep up, or the monster's gonna eat you!" Maria hissed delightedly, searching over her shoulder with her flashlight. Shadow was sniffing a roll-away cart that was currently empty. He quickly glanced up and scurried to her side.

There was no real monster, of course. Neither of them had seen one of the creatures outside of its tank in person, but it was fun to pretend that there was something out there, just out of sight, stalking them. It was thrilling, and a bit scary too. Maria couldn't keep the smile off her face.

"Not 'Dow," Shadow squeaked.

"Oh no?" Maria challenged happily. She shined her light into a tank to their left. In the sharply contrasting light and dark dappling caused by the thick foliage within, the pair could only barely make out the form of something large and slimy slowly slithering away. "Not even Kaa?"

"No," he said decisively.

"And why not?"

Shadow mimed swallowing and patting his throat. "Ow."

"Ah, right again, you are," she sighed dramatically. "I suppose you shall have to protect me, shalln't you? No one would dare try to take a bite out of you."

He whistled in agreement. He could understand a lot more than he could say.

Most of the tanks and cages were empty of creatures, but all but three at least had plants growing in them. The hedgehog liked to sniff or nibble the leaves, and the Overlander girl would absentmindedly stroke them as they wandered past, whispering terrifying stories of cobras and tigers, mostly reiterations of what she had heard from Bethany. She did have her own tale, though, and it was her favorite to tell.

It was about a dragon, which lived-

"-Rightin this very containment unit."

Shadow gasped loudly, recognizing his cue. He opened his eyes as wide as they would go, achieving a comical expression of theatrical terror.

Maria nodded her head and patted the reinforced glass, a world-weary traveler who had experienced too much horror to ever be shaken again. Her audience, already forgetting why he had contorted his face so, began exploring the openness of his mouth with his raspberry tongue.

"I know, I know. Tis terrifying. It is a fearsome dragon: powerful, and which could never be slain, yet is bound by mechanical parts to never stray far from its lair." She emphasized "lair" with wiggling, claw-like fingers. Shadow sat heavily on the ground, facing both her and the tank and making a disinterested "bluh" sound as he landed.

"This is no ordinary dragon, though. It was the creation of a good wizard, who made it to be his magical assistant. But the wizard had never made a dragon before, and made a lot of mistakes. So his friends helped him give it magical metal parts, that way it would work even better than before!" She paused. "Except it didn't help. The dragon was craaaaaazy in the brain! So it gobbled up everyone in the kingdom and got a big ole tummy-ache and died. The end."

She bowed, and Shadow clapped enthusiastically. It ended differently every time, but he sure didn't mind. He was just glad that this version was so short.

"Thank you, thank you, you're too kind, really," she said airily. "Came up with that ending right on the spot."

Her hedgehog friend jumped to his feet and grabbed two of her fingers tightly. His stomach was beginning to growl, meaning that lunch would be served within the hour, and he would get half of her sandwich if he had to fight three immortal dragons to get to it.

"Yeah yeah, I know," Maria grumbled. She picked him up in one arm, which was no easy task now that he was almost half her size. "Say goodbye to Mr. Dragon."

He waved at the enormous lizard behind barrier. Maria smiled at it. It never moved, and might as well be dead, as far as she knew. It just laid there, glazed blue eyes peeping lifelessly from its armored, centipede-like head.

She was pretty sure he was nice, even though she usually concluded her stories with his death. He was a good listener.