Sonic jumped as he heard Sally scream from somewhere in the house. He looked at where she has sleeping and saw the covers pushed back. He immediately feared the worst and went to go get Knuckles.
When he entered Knuckles' room, both him and Julie-Su were fast asleep. He ran over to Knuckles and shook him by the shoulders.
"Knuckles, wake up!" Knuckles groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes.
"What happened," he said drowsily.
"Sally's gone and I heard her scream from somewhere in the house."
"Okay, slow down," Knuckles said as he stood up, "Just lead me to where you heard the 'scream'."
Sonic burst out the door, Knuckles trying to keep up behind him. Sonic ran in the direction of the sound he had heard, and it led him to the library. He kicked the door in violently. No one was there. He ran in shouting, "All right, Zachary! Get your pale butt out here! Where's Sally?" Knuckles walked in and looked around.
"As I thought," he said, "Nothing." Just as he spoke this Zachary came into view, almost appearing out of nowhere.
"Where's Sally," Sonic demanded an answer.
"I assure you, she's right near here," Zachary replied.
"Then you do have her," Knuckles said perplexed.
Zachary nodded, "Yes, but…"
"But what," Sonic blurted.
Zachary smirked, "Let's just say that she's not in the best of conditions right now. Down for the count one might say."
Sonic was enraged as hot tears began to flow from his eyes. "You mean…"
Zachary smiled evilly and nodded.
"You bastard!!" Sonic lunged at Zachary. Zachary made no movements, but instead raised his arm and pointed it in Sonics direction. Sonic immediately floated into the air, going wherever Zachary pointed his hand.
Zachary laughed as he threw Sonic around playfully. Soon he became bored, and in one throwing motion of his arm, threw Sonic right into the wall.
Sonic stood up dazed from his head slamming into the wall.
"Just like your kind," Zachary said, "Inferior." He was just about to attack Sonic when suddenly he stopped. Sonic looked on as he froze, and then collapsed onto the ground. Knuckles had jumped behind him and knocked him unconscious in one blow.
"Thanks," Sonic said, "I owe you one."
"Nah, I've been wanting to do that," he laughed, "Now, come on, let's look around." They looked around until they spotted a wooden staircase leading into a basement. They walked down it and found Zachary's laboratory. It was small, containing only a few different beakers of fluids that glistened in the light protruding from a single window in the far corner of the room. On the opposite wall there were three large, green cylinders, one of which contained a figure not clearly seen through the thick glass. Sonic turned to look through the more laboratory-looking section, while Knuckles tried to decipher who, or what, was in the cylinder. He walked to the middle first, which contained a body, which was just slightly smaller in stature than his.
"There's got to be some kind of clue here that'll tell us where Sally is," Sonic thought out loud as he sifted through the papers that laid on the table. Each one contained drawings and sketches of some peculiar device. He tossed them aside and continued searching.
Knuckles was peering into the cylinder containing the larger figure, again trying to decipher what it was that was hidden. As he brushed off the frost on the outside of the container, he stepped back in surprise as he saw what was inside.
"Um, Sonic, you might want to see this," he said, still a bit shaken from the surprise.
Sonic turned around, "What is it, Rad Red?"
"I think I just found Sally."