"What are we going to do?" Tails asked, walking down the tunnel back to the Mystic Ruins with Knuckles, Rouge, Hyacinth, and Leilani. "Shiaza, Sonic, Amy... they're all gone!"

"What's wrong with you guys?" a female voice asked from the other side of the tunnel. It was Claira, holding her new chao, Sundae.

"Whoa! How the hell did you get that thing out of the Chao Garden?!" Leilani exclaimed.

"Oh, Sundae? I got a Chao Permit," Claira replied, holding out a piece of paper for them to see. "Sundae's allowed outside of the gardens."

"Not fair..." Knuckles whined.

"Anyway, so what's wrong?"

"EVERYONE'S GOOOOOOOONE!" Knuckles cried out. Rouge smacked him.

"Where could they have all gone to...?" Tails asked himself. A lightbulb appeared over his head. "I've got it! It was Eg-"

Suddenly Rouge shoved him aside. "I know! It was probably Eggman!"

"Yeah, you're right! It has to be him!" Knuckles agreed, pointing to Hya, who raised an eyebrow. "I mean him!" Knuckles quickly corrected, pointing over at Eggman, who was standing about two feet in front of them.

"Whoops, wrong place... 'scuse me," Eggass said as he scurried off as fast as a fat man can scurry.

"Oh, no problem," Knuckles replied, waving goodbye.

"Shiaza, look!" Metal exclaimed as he pointed to the Egg Carrier. It was slowly sinking beneath the water.

"What the hell...?"

"Eggman! What's he doing now?!"

"Probably trying to make his ship 'mysteriously' disappear so he can have a hidden secret base underwater," Shiaza replied calmly. "Oh... shit."

"We've got to get there before it completely sinks," Metal told her. "We better hurry!"

"Uh, sure. Whatever!" Shiaza said as she grabbed Metal's hand and snapped her fingers, causing them to reappear on top of the Egg Carrier.

"Oh, yeah... forgot about that," Metal said sheepishly as they ran over to the entrance and jumped inside.

"Amy? Amy, can you hear me?"

"Huhnz... wha...?" Amy said as she opened her eyes and got up from her nap. She stared frantically at the ceiling. "Augh! The ceiling! It speaks to me!"

"Amy! It's me, Sonic... are you alright?"

"Wha...? Your name is Sonic too? Oh, great Sonic the Ceiling, help me!"

"AMY! I'm in the cell next to the cell next to your cell," Sonic told her.

"Oh... okay..." she replied wearily as she laid back down.

"Amy! We have to get out of here! How can you sleep at a time like this?!"

"Easy..." Amy said, half asleep. "You just lie down in the cell, close your eyes, and sleep..."

"AMY!"

"WHAT?!"

"SILENCE!" Evil Tikal yelled as she walked in. "Stupid hedgehogs... they never shut up..."

"What do you want?" Amy asked angrily, now fully awake.

"Like I've said before, it doesn't matter what I want. It's what Eggman wants."

"But why?" Sonic asked.

Evil Tikal sighed and sat down on the ledge across from the cells. She stared down at the floor, as if waiting for it to start explaining everything that was going on. She pulled out a remote and pressed a button, turning off all of the security cameras in the room.

"Eggman is going to kill us all... either we become his loyal slaves, or he kills us all..." the echidna began. "Currently, Shadow, Veira, and I have these small devices that he implanted in us... and if we become unfaithful to him or disobey him, like I'm doing now, then... then it's over... for good."

"So... you're not really evil, then..."

"Of course I'm evil! Just not like this..."

The three were silent for a while as Evil Tikal got up and started walking around nervously. Suddenly the door flung open, knocking Tikal down, and Eggass walked in.

"What's going on here?! The security cameras aren't on!" he yelled.

"Oh, well, you see..." Evil Tikal stammered as Amy bent down and quickly picked up the remote that had fallen.

"I tripped her," Sonic said. "I got so fed up with her tortures, I waited a while until I had the opportunity, and then I tripped her."

"And what does this have to do with the cameras?"

"Hey, can't a girl press random buttons on a remote that just happens to fall in front of her?" Amy asked.

"Fine, fine..." Eggman said, snatching the remote out of the hedgehog's hands and turning the cameras back on. He threw the remote as Evil Tikal before leaving. "You'd better be more careful, girl!"

Evil Tikal stared up at the two hedgehogs.

"...What?"

"What was that for?" she whispered.

"Well, we're not about to just sit back and let Eggass kill you," Sonic explained.

"That'd be horrible..." Amy added.

Evil Tikal glared at them and got back on her feet. She hastily turned towards the door and began to leave.

"I don't need your help," she said. "But... thanks."

"Dr. Eggman! You're going to pay for this!" someone yelled from inside of Eggman's ship. "The Chaotix has fallen apart because of you!"

"Metal, who is that...?" Shiaza whispered from behind a stack of crates.

"I don't know..." he replied. "But why is he here?"

"Shut up, you fool! The Chaotix would never have lasted anyway!" Dr. Eggman yelled from his egg ship thingy.

"You know we would've survived, and beaten you to the death! You were afraid, so you hired an assassin to defeat us for you."

"Ha! You were too weak for my secret weapon, weren't you?"

"The others may have been, but obviously I was stronger. Your 'weapon' disappeared in the middle of our fight. How pathetic is that, Doctor? You'll never defeat the spirit of the Chaotix. You may have gotten rid of my two comrades, but there's still me and Knuckles, and don't you forget it!"

"Knuckles?! He's no threat to me. The only thing standing in my way is you, Espio."