Author's Chapter Notes:

I still do not own the Sonic franchise. I still do own Maria, Zombie, and the personalities of the robots. Robo Knuckles is starting to warm his way into your heart, yes? Or at least making you all wonder why you thought he was a deadly machine...


While the ice cream was good for restoring order, the order it brought did not last forever. In fact, it did not last for fifteen minutes.

As soon as one of the little ones finished their ice cream scoop, they were up and as rowdy as ever. Right now, Amy, Cream, and Rouge had found some wrenches and screwdrivers that Eggman had left lying around and were pretending the tools were dolls. Vector, Knuckles, Charmy, and Espio were playing hide-and-seek. Apparently they believed the power conduits was a suitable hiding place. Luckily, Shadow Android found them and committed himself to keeping an eye on the four at all times during the game, unless one decided to use the area again and got vaporized.

Shadow and Maria were playing a game of peek-a-boo, and Sonic was…that can't be good.

Sonic was off looking through failed bio-experiments that Eggman had brought back from the ARK. The scientist had thought he could use one or more to take over the world. It hadn't worked, mostly because they were too aggressive or wouldn't take orders. So Eggman had stored them away in a forgotten corner.

Aggressive experiments should not be around baby hedgehogs, or I'm a pile of scrap.

I flew over to the hedgehog, who had dug himself a little hole and was squealing with joy. "Wooky dis!" he called eagerly. "I findy me a fwend, betterer dan Shadow's stupi one." And he held out a glass vile to me.

Robo Knuckles, noticing us and wondering what was going on, came over and took the vile out of Sonic's hands. "What'cha got there little buddy?" he asked, peering intently into the glass tube.

Suddenly, a…thing…appeared, pressing itself against the glass and sucking on it in a way that reminded me of a lamprey in an aquarium tank.

That it had, at one time, been a type of Chao was obvious. What kind, however, was debatable. It had the halo of a Hero Chao, the sharp teeth of a Dark Chao, and the body of a Neutral Chao. Perhaps Professor Robotnik had endeavored to put the best characteristics of all three Chao breeds into one, but for what purpose was beyond my abilities to comprehend. I was unable to ascertain just what he had turned the Chao into, as well.

Robo Knuckles, however, had a good theory. "It's a Zombie Chao!" he shrieked, dropping the jar instinctively. It fell to the ground and shattered, releasing the…Zombie Chao…into the world.

Now that Robo Knuckles had identified it, it became apparent that the Chao, did, indeed have many characteristics of a zombie. It was a sickly pale white color, with bloodshot yellow eyes, and it walked in a slow, shuffling manner. Its wings were jagged and appeared to be sharp, like knives, and it drooled slightly, its tongue hanging out of it's mouth.

Sonic took one look at the thing and determined it to be the greatest singular creature on God's green earth.

"Ombie!" he said, clapping his hands. Apparently, he had deduced that Zombie was the thing's name, rather than a description of its…uniqueness.

Before I could stop him, Sonic rushed over to Zombie the Chao, grabbed him, and hugged him. "I wuv you, Ombie," the toddler gushed.

Zombie looked at Sonic and gave him a wide, toothy grin, his tongue still hanging out. "Chaaaaaooooo," he told the toddler.

Good night, he even sounds like a zombie. I was not completely at ease with the thing, but Zombie did seemed to be attached to Sonic, and wasn't trying to feast on the toddler's fuzzy blue flesh, so if the boy wanted it for a pet, then I had no objections.

Still, I would keep an eye on the thing. There had to be a reason it was stored away with aggressive and dangerous bio-weapons. Although it was possible that Gerald Robotnik threw it away because it was useless.

Sonic waddled off with his pet, holding the Chao with one arm, so that his neck and hands were sticking out above it, and the rest of Zombie was dangling underneath it. It seemed, however, that Zombie had no objections to being carted off in such a manner, and actually appeared to enjoy it.

"Wooky dis, Shadow," Sonic called proudly, holding Zombie up in full view. "Mine is better 'in yours."

Shadow looked over Zombie critically. "Is not," he said, cuddling with Maria. "Mawia is better. She is bew-di-ful. Yours is ugy."

Sonic frowned, looking over Zombie again, putting the pale-colored Chao up to his face. Zombie grinned and licked Sonic's face. Sonic squealed with glee and pulled him back.

"Ombie is bestest," Sonic said matter-of-factly. "He givies me good kissies."

"So?" Shadow rebutted. "Mawia gives me good huggies."

That ended the conversation as the two went separate ways, each convinced that their pet was better than the other's.

I shook my head and continued trying to pinpoint my charges. There was Big…and Robo Knuckles, who was hopping up and down on one leg, holding another.

I sighed and flew over to the two. "What happened?"

"I came over to say hello, and he beat me with a metal pipe!" Robo Knuckles squealed.

I looked over to Big the Cat, who was completely ignoring us, waving a long, thin metal pipe back and forth.

"Big?" The toddler looked up at me with wide, innocent eyes. "What are you doing?"

"Fishy," Big explained.

"Did you hit Robo Knuckles with that pipe?" I continued my interrogation.

Big looked at the pipe and shook his head. "No pip. Fishy po."

I wondered if I could be upgraded so I could roll my optics sensors. "Fine. Did you hit Robo Knuckles with your fishing pole?"

Big nodded. "He comeys and getted back of me while I is back swing," he explained.

"You see, Robo Knuckles," I said, "It's your fault. You got behind him on the backswing."

I walked away, listening to Robo Knuckles stuttering, "But…but...but…" over and over.

Now, where is Tails?

I heard a small sound, like a small wrench being hit on a metal object, and followed it to its source.

My optics widened considerably. "Oh, no…" I gasped. "Tails, what did you do!?"

The toddler looked up amongst a pile of loose metal parts that used to be an extremely expensive and delicate piece of our security measures. A small wrench was in his hand, further condemning him of his guilt.

"I fixy it," Tails said proudly.

"It wasn't broken!" I shrieked. "It was expensive and fully functional!"

Tails cocked his head to the side. "I fixy it bestest," he explained.

"You tore it to pieces! How is that fixing it?"

Tails looked at his pile of metal with a thoughtful look on his face. Then his eyes lit up and he picked up a piece of metal that was apart from the pile and set it gently on top of it. "Dere!" he said proudly. "Is perfect now."

"Out! You're not supposed to be here! And it's not perfect at all! It was perfect before you got your grubby little paws on it!"

"Oh." Tails reached up and knocked the top piece of metal off. "All better," he said.

I was wondering how to get Tails out of this room without causing further damage to the equipment inside it, when Shadow Android rushed into the room frantically.

"Metal Sonic!" he cried with urgency. "Come quickly! Silver's having trouble breathing!"

Tails' mechanical prowess was instantly forgotten as I activated my rocket boosters and raced to the living area, where I found Robo Knuckles sitting in front of Silver the Hedgehog, who was heaving with ragged, gasping breaths.

"What do we do?" Robo Knuckles asked, in panic.

I instantly started looking through hospital medical files for anything on Silver the Hedgehog, hoping one would have an answer.

I found one, and I gasped. "He is allergic to dairy products!" I said aloud. The ice cream! We might have well have fed him poison! "Quickly, Robo Knuckles, go to Master's medical bay and find some epinephrine! Hurry, there is not much time!"

Robo Knuckles raced off to Eggman's medical center and soon returned with the aforementioned medicine, which I promptly administered to Silver to counteract his allergic reaction.

Slowly, Silver's breathing returned to normal, and I allowed myself to relax slightly.

I did, however, look through medical files of the rest of my charges, in case they, too, had medical problems that would need to be addressed. Ignorance nearly killed one of the children; it would not happen again.