Author's Chapter Notes:

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? And who cares, anyway?


You know, when you are in charge of twelve toddlers, the last thing you want to hear is the fire alarm going off.

So of course, it was going off now. Hoping to contain the flame before it became serious and I had to try to evacuate my charges (I could think of no task more challenging and time consuming—time that, frankly, I wouldn't have if the building was burning to the ground) I followed the thick trail of black smoke which led me straight to our makeshift kitchen.

I found Shadow Android to be already in the process of putting out the fire, which was more than acceptable since it was apparent that he was the one who had started it in the first place. (He later defended himself by claiming that the spaghetti box said nothing about needing water.)

As he doused the last of the flaming pasta with a fire extinguisher, he noticed that I was staring at him. He threw the extinguisher aside and brushed his hands off.

"Dinner's ready," he said matter of factly.

"You can't feed them that!" Robo Knuckles told him, as the kids wandered into the kitchen one by one to see what was being destroyed and whether or not they could help.

Shadow Android looked at his culinary creation, which consisted of pitch black spaghetti noodles covered with thick white foam, and deduced that for once, Robo Knuckles had made a valid point.

Shadow Android shrugged and said, "Looks like we're having baloney sandwiches," he conceded.

Robo Knuckles leaned close and whispered something in Shadow Android's ear.

"Without bread," Shadow Android added.

Luckily for us, the thought of eating raw baloney for dinner (If we don't cook it, we can't ruin it) was the neatest thing ever to happen in the history of forever and the rest of time as far as the children were concerned.

So baloney, Cheetos, and baby carrots consisted of the dinner meal. Everyone ate it like good little children except Tails, who for some unknown reason, refused to touch the carrots.

"Eat your carrots, Tails, they're good for you," I told him, as I cleaned up some Juicy Juice that Espio dropped.

"No, I no want it," Tails said sweetly, defying me.

"You'd better eat it," I warned. "There are hundreds of malnourished children in other countries who would love to eat your carrots."

Behind me, Sonic's eyes widened and he shoved about six Cheetoes in his mouth, just in case those hungry children might have a taste for puffy cheese snacks.

Tails, however, just sat there, staring at his carrots, the wheels of his little toddler mind churning rapidly. Finally, he stood up and handed me his plate of uneaten carrots.

"Starvy chillins can have dese," he told me gravelly. "I no want dem." Then, having accomplished this act of charity, he turned and went back to where he was building his toy jet plane.

Hmm…that hadn't worked quite like I had intended. I sighed and put Tails' carrots back in the cooling unit—he could eat them for breakfast tomorrow morning.

After dinner, I looked at the clock and decided to allow the children to remain awake for another half an hour before proclaiming it bedtime. During this time, I allowed myself to be persuaded to join the Chaotix in a game of hide-and-seek.

Did you know that Charmy was capable opening the oven door, crawling inside, and shutting the door behind him? I saw him do it. Twice. Great, there's another fun new worry to experience. And after I had witnessed Shadow Android's culinary skills at work only minutes before, too.

Anyway, back to the hide-and-seek game. Vector was by far the easiest to find. He always hid behind the door. Always. And whenever I would call, "Where has Vector hidden?" he would stick his head out, look straight into my optics sensors, point in some random direction, and yell, "I went dat way!" and duck behind the door again.

He's cute; he couldn't understand how I could find him so fast.

I still don't know where Espio went; he disappeared when I became It and stayed that way until bedtime.

Bedtime was infinitely easier than last night. The children were obviously worn out from playing all day, and most were asleep almost before their heads hit the pillows. The rest of them (meaning Sonic) fell asleep within a few minutes of being put to bed.

Shadow Android, Robo Knuckles, and I all retired to our recharging chambers for an extremely needed recharge.

Something is not right.

I cannot explain why I had regained consciousness before my recharging was complete, but I had, and somehow, I knew something was wrong.

I cannot explain the feeling any more than I can explain my sudden awakening; I just knew somehow. I believed that organics referred to it as a 'gut feeling'. I do not believe that I posses 'guts,' at least, certainly not in organic terms, but I was, apparently, capable of feeling with whatever it is androids use for guts.

I stepped out of my recharging chamber and put my sensors on full alert, trying to pinpoint any disturbance.

A small noise was my reward for my efforts, but it certainly was not like any noise I had ever experienced. It sounded almost like a cross between a Chao's mournful whimper and a coyote's chilling howl. But whatever it was, it was coming from…

…From the children's rest area!

I instantly powered my rocket boosters on full blast and flew to the room at my top speed. What on earth was going on? What was that sound? And whatever it was, was it a threat to the toddlers?

I blasted into the room and looked around, taking a brief head-count of the sleeping children.

Amy, Cream, Vector, Tails, Big, Charmy, Rouge…

No! Five of them were missing! How was that possible? Had they gotten up and started wandering around, the security alarm would have gone off and woke us up. The same would have happened if some stranger had come inside.

Now that I was here, I saw that the sound, or part of it, at least, came from Shadow's pet, Maria. She was cuddling his empty blanket and giving off mournful whimpers. She knew he was gone.

Looking around, I froze as I saw what was making the other part of the sound. Zombie.

The transformation I had seen him undertake the other day, had in fact, not been a figment of my imagination. He had changed again, and was moving with a catlike grace that defied description, especially given the slow, sluggish way that Zombie normally used.

His now crimson red body was reflecting the moonlight, and he was looking in odd places all across the room, periodically throwing his head back and giving that bone-chilling howl.

Somehow, I knew that he was searching for Sonic.

All this had happened in a timeframe of no more than thirty seconds, at the end of which my robotic brain had calculated all the evidence and had presented me with a logical explanation.

Fact: The children did not simply wake up and wander off. If they had, Sonic and Shadow would most certainly have taken their pets with them.

Fact: Since they didn't wander off, then it was logical to assume someone had taken them.

Fact: That person would have to know how to deactivate the security measures, or they would have gone off and alerted us to his or her presence.

Fact: This person knew the children were here, and had already determined which ones he wanted: The strongest five, Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles, Espio and Silver.

Fact: Only one person fit all requirements listed. My creator, Dr. Eggman.

I heard a strange sound, nearly as frightening as the one Zombie was currently making, and it took me a moment to realize that I was creating it. I stopped and went back to the recharging chambers, intent on awakening my fellow androids and checking the security monitors to see if my theory was correct.

I entered the chambers and yanked Robo Knuckles and Shadow Android out of their units.

Shadow Android powered on and glared at me. "What is your problem?" he spat.

"Five are missing."

Their expressions changed from annoyed to concerned. "Are you sure?" Shadow Android asked.

I nodded. "They are gone. Someone took them while we were recharging."

Robo Knuckles blinked. "But who could get past the security…" He stopped as it became apparent to him just who was capable of such a feat.

"He wouldn't," Shadow Android said, sounding unsure of that fact.

"There is only one way to find out," I told him. He nodded, and we all headed to the security monitors. Eggman, if it had been him, could turn off the alarms, but the monitors were always on duty.

Robo Knuckles jumped as another howl split the night air. "What is that?!" he shrieked.

"Zombie," I replied simply, as I opened the door to the security room and started to rewind the tapes. "Now, we shall see who did this."

We watched the tapes for a while, and sure enough, Eggman came through in his hover craft, and we watched him pick up the five toddlers and leave.

Afterwards, we watched Zombie wake up, look around for Sonic, and transform into Were-Zombie (I can think of no other thing to call it) and start howling. That was probably what woke me up.

Robo Knuckles stared at Zombie and asked, "Are you sure it's a good idea to keep…that thing…around our children?"

Our children? I had never even considered thinking of them like that. Our children…

"Whatever Zombie is, he is not our main concern," Shadow Android said, all business. "Our question is: What do we do now? Do we dare defy our Master's wishes in order to protect the little ones, or stay here and hope Master will return them to us safely?"

Robo Knuckles nodded. "You're right; Zombie can wait." He turned to me and asked, "What's the plan, Metal Sonic?"

I ran the question through my central processors and straightened up. "Robo Knuckles, you stay here and guard the children that still remain. And while you're at it, hack into Gerald Robotnik's files and find out what the heck Zombie is and whether he needs to be dealt with. Shadow Android, come with me." I powered up my rocket boosters and Shadow Android did the same. "Let's go get our children back."