{Ohh... Where am I?} thought the violet hedgehog as she opened her eyes to an
unfamiliar ceiling. There was nothing special about it, though it was very
different from the ceilings of her treehouse. She knew she was lying on a
bed of some kind, but it definitely wasn't hers. Samie tried to sit up, but
it hurt a bit.
"Girl okay?"
"What?"
A huge purple ball of fur came into view, towering over her. At first she didn't know what to think, but then it leaned over, and she saw concern in its slitted yellow eyes. "Girl okay?" repeated the cat.
"Y-Yeah, I'll be fine." She smiled, with a hint of nervousness.
"Dat's good," it said, in a tone of voice you'd swear it was using on purpose, and walked off.
-------------------------------
Espio smiled warmly. "I can't tell you what a relief it is to see you again, Tails."
"It's Miles," corrected the vulpine hero, "and the feeling's mutual." The two friends laughed and slapped each other on the back. Then Miles scratched his head, saying, "I hate to break up the moment so soon, but... you gotta tell me everything that's happened."
The wise ninja's face hardened. "Of course." He gestured to the table in the middle of the room they stood in, which was obviously a kitchen, equipped with all the modern conveniences. Miles wondered if they actually worked. "Well, as you know, we had you take Amy to a safe place. We would've had you take Cream too, but we couldn't find her at the time. I know you wanted to stay and fight for—"
"—I know," interrupted Miles. "But after a while, I saw the wisdom in that decision. This challenge was way over my head. And the fact that Amy was sick only pushed your case."
"Yes... But it seems that 'morning sickness' was a bit more than we thought, if I'm right?"
"You never miss a trick, do you?" Miles smirked. "Yes, that's her daughter all right. She's all that's left of those two..."
Espio stared at the table in a moment of silence, then cleared his throat. "After you left, Charmy, Vector and I did our best to fend off Eggman. He seemed invincible, and it was all we could do to use teamwork to stay alive. We had some backup from Shadow and Rouge, but it wasn't enough."
"What about the others?"
"Well, we found Cream and Big eventually, but they weren't much more help than you or Amy could've been, so we hid them, as well. As for Omega, nobody knew, not even Shadow. I had just about given up hope...
"But one day, we were approached by members of a secret government organization, one with whom I think you're quite familiar with..."
Miles made a face. "G.U.N."
"The same."
"The same guys who caused us so much trouble during the ARK incident. They were the ones who shut the station down in the first place, and whose robots we had to fight every step of the way. They even arrested Sonic, for crying out loud!"
"True, but this time they had things straight. During the ARK incident, they'd somehow managed to get a hold of the specific data of Project Shadow. If I had to guess, I'd say Rouge swiped it before we left."
The fox nodded thoughtfully. "Okay... but what does that have to do with anything?"
"After ARK, G.U.N. spent their time studying Dr. Gerald's discoveries. When they came to us, they claimed they could take everything they had learned, *and improve it.*"
"Create a more powerful ultimate life form!? That's impossible! Gerald was a genius!"
"That's what I thought too, but at that point, we had nothing to lose and everything to gain from going along with their plans. Building the lifeform's DNA from scratch would take too long, so they wanted to take a sample from Shadow to modify. Their computers simulated, however, that the modifications would prove unstable, and they'd need an additional tissue donor to balance it out."
"So they needed DNA from another hedgehog? But Sonic was gone, and you obviously didn't find where Amy was. What'd you end up doing?"
"They had no choice but to run tests to see if any other species would work. Obviously, humans wouldn't cut it, since they're so different, so it would have to be one of us."
"Tell me they found someone."
"You'll never guess who."
"Just tell me!"
"Rouge."
"What? How?"
"We don't know. We didn't have time to figure out why it worked, we just knew that there was a chance that her bat DNA was compatible, so we went with it. Unfortunately, around that time, Eggman was growing frustrated with us. We were continually getting in his way, and he'd stopped his attacks. The last thing we heard him say was that he was going to get even more powerful."
"He was going after the Master Emerald."
"Precisely what we figured. The trouble was, Rouge was still getting a sample extracted from her. Some of us reasoned that Eggman might be luring us away so he could attack the military compound, and others argued that he couldn't possibly have found out about our plan. In the end, Shadow chose to go alone to Angel Island. Charmy insisted on going with, since he was the only active flyer we had. He said that without him, Shadow would never be able to get up there." Espio looked away. "That was the last we ever saw of them."
"You can't just give up on them!" Miles cried, standing up. "I mean, just look at me! I was gone for fifteen years! Don't try to tell me you never thought *I* was dead!"
"At least you had a reason for staying hidden!" shouted the chameleon in reply. He wasn't angry with Miles, but he sensed that some part of him was still young, immature Tails, whose faith in his friends was unwavering. Espio knew that if it hadn't been for that faith, the fox never would've tried to find the rest of them, but even so, he had to accept this truth. "I know how much you looked up to them, Miles, but face it. It was a fool's errand. Knuckles, Charmy, and Shadow are GONE."
Miles sank slowly back into his chair. How could this happen? How could the Ultimate Life Form be dead, along with two more of his friends? How could anyone hope to beat Eggman now...
A sniff was heard from the doorway, and the two turned to see Samie with tears in her eyes. {She's been standing there the whole time,} Miles realized. Samie ran toward her uncle and buried her face in his arms. Miles just stood there, holding her, staring off into space. "Don't you worry, Samie," he said. "We'll find a way... we've *got* to find a way."
"Girl okay?"
"What?"
A huge purple ball of fur came into view, towering over her. At first she didn't know what to think, but then it leaned over, and she saw concern in its slitted yellow eyes. "Girl okay?" repeated the cat.
"Y-Yeah, I'll be fine." She smiled, with a hint of nervousness.
"Dat's good," it said, in a tone of voice you'd swear it was using on purpose, and walked off.
-------------------------------
Espio smiled warmly. "I can't tell you what a relief it is to see you again, Tails."
"It's Miles," corrected the vulpine hero, "and the feeling's mutual." The two friends laughed and slapped each other on the back. Then Miles scratched his head, saying, "I hate to break up the moment so soon, but... you gotta tell me everything that's happened."
The wise ninja's face hardened. "Of course." He gestured to the table in the middle of the room they stood in, which was obviously a kitchen, equipped with all the modern conveniences. Miles wondered if they actually worked. "Well, as you know, we had you take Amy to a safe place. We would've had you take Cream too, but we couldn't find her at the time. I know you wanted to stay and fight for—"
"—I know," interrupted Miles. "But after a while, I saw the wisdom in that decision. This challenge was way over my head. And the fact that Amy was sick only pushed your case."
"Yes... But it seems that 'morning sickness' was a bit more than we thought, if I'm right?"
"You never miss a trick, do you?" Miles smirked. "Yes, that's her daughter all right. She's all that's left of those two..."
Espio stared at the table in a moment of silence, then cleared his throat. "After you left, Charmy, Vector and I did our best to fend off Eggman. He seemed invincible, and it was all we could do to use teamwork to stay alive. We had some backup from Shadow and Rouge, but it wasn't enough."
"What about the others?"
"Well, we found Cream and Big eventually, but they weren't much more help than you or Amy could've been, so we hid them, as well. As for Omega, nobody knew, not even Shadow. I had just about given up hope...
"But one day, we were approached by members of a secret government organization, one with whom I think you're quite familiar with..."
Miles made a face. "G.U.N."
"The same."
"The same guys who caused us so much trouble during the ARK incident. They were the ones who shut the station down in the first place, and whose robots we had to fight every step of the way. They even arrested Sonic, for crying out loud!"
"True, but this time they had things straight. During the ARK incident, they'd somehow managed to get a hold of the specific data of Project Shadow. If I had to guess, I'd say Rouge swiped it before we left."
The fox nodded thoughtfully. "Okay... but what does that have to do with anything?"
"After ARK, G.U.N. spent their time studying Dr. Gerald's discoveries. When they came to us, they claimed they could take everything they had learned, *and improve it.*"
"Create a more powerful ultimate life form!? That's impossible! Gerald was a genius!"
"That's what I thought too, but at that point, we had nothing to lose and everything to gain from going along with their plans. Building the lifeform's DNA from scratch would take too long, so they wanted to take a sample from Shadow to modify. Their computers simulated, however, that the modifications would prove unstable, and they'd need an additional tissue donor to balance it out."
"So they needed DNA from another hedgehog? But Sonic was gone, and you obviously didn't find where Amy was. What'd you end up doing?"
"They had no choice but to run tests to see if any other species would work. Obviously, humans wouldn't cut it, since they're so different, so it would have to be one of us."
"Tell me they found someone."
"You'll never guess who."
"Just tell me!"
"Rouge."
"What? How?"
"We don't know. We didn't have time to figure out why it worked, we just knew that there was a chance that her bat DNA was compatible, so we went with it. Unfortunately, around that time, Eggman was growing frustrated with us. We were continually getting in his way, and he'd stopped his attacks. The last thing we heard him say was that he was going to get even more powerful."
"He was going after the Master Emerald."
"Precisely what we figured. The trouble was, Rouge was still getting a sample extracted from her. Some of us reasoned that Eggman might be luring us away so he could attack the military compound, and others argued that he couldn't possibly have found out about our plan. In the end, Shadow chose to go alone to Angel Island. Charmy insisted on going with, since he was the only active flyer we had. He said that without him, Shadow would never be able to get up there." Espio looked away. "That was the last we ever saw of them."
"You can't just give up on them!" Miles cried, standing up. "I mean, just look at me! I was gone for fifteen years! Don't try to tell me you never thought *I* was dead!"
"At least you had a reason for staying hidden!" shouted the chameleon in reply. He wasn't angry with Miles, but he sensed that some part of him was still young, immature Tails, whose faith in his friends was unwavering. Espio knew that if it hadn't been for that faith, the fox never would've tried to find the rest of them, but even so, he had to accept this truth. "I know how much you looked up to them, Miles, but face it. It was a fool's errand. Knuckles, Charmy, and Shadow are GONE."
Miles sank slowly back into his chair. How could this happen? How could the Ultimate Life Form be dead, along with two more of his friends? How could anyone hope to beat Eggman now...
A sniff was heard from the doorway, and the two turned to see Samie with tears in her eyes. {She's been standing there the whole time,} Miles realized. Samie ran toward her uncle and buried her face in his arms. Miles just stood there, holding her, staring off into space. "Don't you worry, Samie," he said. "We'll find a way... we've *got* to find a way."