Hey, all! Sorry for the long wait, I've been a bit lazy lately. Not to mention I was going through a tiny writer's block! But that's over with now and I can write again!

Now to reply to me one serious reviewer—Red Sonic: First of all, thanks a bunch for the good review! And secondly, I agree. Eggman is the worst name for an enemy since King Koopa (at least they changed that!). The reason I included it in this fic? Well, Eggman, although pitifully fake sounding, sounds more real for a last name than Robotnik! However, the name 'Robotnik' will be coming into play soon enough! I can't stand Eggman for too long!

Chapter 4: Change Happens

Summer sighed heavily and tapped her foot on the ground in a bored manner. Beside her Miles still rested, snoring softly. Her shoulder had long since become numb and it was starting to get on her nerves. As much as she sympathized with Miles, she was nearly ready to throw him off!

"Where is Eddie…?" She muttered to herself. "When he gets back, I'll kill him!" Sighing she looked up into the sky and resisted the urge to scream in frustration.

"What's going on…?" She whispered quietly to herself as that day's events began catching up to her. The day had started so perfectly—the last day of school. She was ready for a summer full of fun things! From sleeping in to possibly a camp later that summer, her summer was going to be long, lazy, and luxurious!

Then that attack came! It ruined everything! Her summer was destroyed! How could this happen? How could her summer be… "What am I talking about…?" She wondered, stopping her thoughts. "How could I be thinking about my summer when so many people are dead? When Miles is an orphan? When we all might be orphans…?" She wiped away some tears that threatened to spill and gave a shaky sigh. It was too much… all too much. How many times had she nearly been killed that day? Once? Twice? A dozen times? Too many to count? She didn't even know anymore.

This time she didn't try to stop the deluge of tears from flowing. She let herself cry. "Crying always helps." Her mom always said. And maybe that statement was far from true, it did make her feel a little better in this case. But the problem was that after she started, she couldn't stop.

Tears kept rolling down her cheeks and soon her chest heaved and her crying turning into sobbing. Her sniffles turned to wails. Maybe someone, a robot even, would hear, but she no longer cared. She was numb to everything but the pain inside.

"S-Summer?" She heard a voice whisper from beside her and she forced herself to quell the weeping for now. "Are you okay?"

She looked at Miles and sighed heavily. "No… no, I'm not, but…" She laughed harshly. "I'm so stupid…"

"No, you're not!"

"You just lost your dad and I'm crying! I'm complaining when so many people have much more to complain about! I'm so—" Miles grabbed her shoulders and shook her violently. Summer winced because of her broken wrist.

"Stop it!" He yelled, fighting to keep his own tears from falling. "Just please… stop!" Summer stopped immediately, stunned at Miles' outburst.

"I'm sorry…" She said quietly when she felt she could trust her voice. Miles looked forward solemnly.

"Don't be… You have plenty of reason to complain!" He got up and started pacing. "I mean… we all do! This isn't fair! This isn't supposed to happen!" It was him who started crying this time. His pace slowed until he was standing still with his hands at his sides and he face pointed to the ground.

Summer could see salty tears fall through the air and splatter on the dirt and grass below his feet, and she got up and hugged him tightly, being careful about her wrist, letting him cry into her shoulder. "Shh… It'll be all right. Everything will be all right."

Miles looked up at her wiping his tear-stained eyes. "Will it?" He asked in a voice that showed much doubt. Although she felt like she was lying in everyway and form, Summer nodded slowly. But the truth was she didn't have the slightest clue…

Eddie came to more than an hour later. Rubbing his head, he groaned loudly. "What a dream…" He waited for his vision to clear and when it did, his eyes widened. He was still in the middle of the forest. "Okay… so maybe our town really was destroyed…"

He got up slowly and brushed himself off. Looking at his arms and legs, he was pleased to find that he was normal height and was human. "Now, that must have been a dream! I must have hit a tree branch or something and knocked myself out…"

The sound of water behind him made him grin wildly and whip around to see the brook. Running to it, he cupped his hand and drew out some water. Slowly at first, but then by burying his face in his hands until the water was gone, he drank. And he kept drinking until his thirst was finally quenched.

"Now to make it back to camp and show this to Summer and Miles! Maybe move the camp closer to here!" He started walking through the forest, but soon found that none of the nearby trees had any kind of marks on them. He remembered running away from the rabbit and not marking any trees while doing so, but that was just a dream… right?

Yes, it had to have been. But if it was, how did he end up at the brook? Shaking his head, Eddie pushed those thoughts out of his mind. He had more serious things to worry about, like how he was lost in a forest that stretched on for miles and miles.

"Maybe if I follow the stream…" He wondered aloud while sitting down on a fallen tree. "But I would never get back to Summer that way…" He sighed heavily and buried his head in his hands. "What am I supposed to do…?"

As if an answer to his question, a loud shriek, one that Eddie recognized, echoed throughout the forest. His head shot up and he looked in the direction of the scream. "That's Summer!" And with a shot, he ran as fast as he could through the forest in the direction of her. In his distraction, he hardly even noticed the itching feeling as blue quills began, once again, growing out of his skin.

Tree... Tree... Shrub. Tree. Tree. Tree. Tree-tree-tree-tree-tree. Eddie noticed that everything was a blur soon enough. Trees flew by so fast that he couldn't even pick out individual ones. Yet regardless of that, he knew exactly where he was going. When there was a tree coming up that was in his way, he moved with ease out of the way. He zigged and zagged with speed that shouldn't have been possible. But it felt natural. He felt at home with the high speeds. It felt like he had unlocked something vital to his existence. And that feeling alone was what kept him running, not even noticing that he had shrunk again and was the strange creature he had been in his 'dream'…

Summer finally stopped screaming and settled for stumbling back with her hand over her open mouth. She stared at the strange creature with orange fur and two fox-like tails. It stood up on two legs and stared at himself in what looked like fear and confusion.

"What's going on?!" The creature cried in a voice very familiar to Summer. He was still staring at his body in horror. He didn't know what had happened! One second he was hugging Summer and crying into her shoulder and the next he was itching all over! When he had finally looked at his arms, he found them covered in the same orange fur! And soon he had started shrinking! And he had tails! He had gained two tails!

"M-Miles…?" Summer asked tentatively, taking an experimental step forward. The creature looked at her.

"What's happening to me, Summer?!" Hearing his voice once more, Summer's eyes widened.

"Dear God! You are Miles!" But before she could say anything, a blue blur of speed erupted from some shrubs at the end of the clearing and slammed straight into Miles.

"Stay away from her, you freak of nature!" The blur cried as he and Miles rolled across the ground. That voice Summer recognized. A voice that she had heard nearly every day for so long. But before she could reply, the blue creature let loose a string of curses, jumping back.

"I changed again!" He cried as he stared at his blue body.

"Eddie?!" Summer cried, causing him to look at her.

"Eddie?!" Miles repeated in confusion from his spot where Eddie had left him. Eddie looked at Miles in bewilderment.

"Miles…?" His eyes widened and he rushed, a blue blur once again, to his side, and helped him up. "Dude, I'm sorry! I had no idea!" Miles brushed himself off and smiled.

"It's no—" He stopped suddenly, staring straight at Summer. Eddie followed his gaze and cursed. And suddenly, Summer felt much more smaller than before. In a matter of seconds, she was about the same height as Eddie and Miles…

Clothes draped over her arms and legs. Shoes were loose and nearly slipping off.

"W-what's going on?!" She screamed as her knees buckled. Soon noticed that her shirt was a lot tighter than before, forcing her to struggle with breathing. Something from the back was pushing it tighter and tighter until there was a loud RIP and from the shirt exploded sharp, yellow quills.

Her face elongated, just as Eddie's had, but her snout was a little different. While Eddie's was more rounded, Summer's was more edgy and her nose was a sharp cone instead of Eddie's oval-shaped nose. Strange, yellow dreadlocks made of quills hung down over her face, along with her normal auburn hair. Her eyes grew to an impossible size and yellow fur covered her entire body, unlike Eddie who had a patch of tan fur on her abdomen and chest. The transformation was completed when a tail, angled twice to make it almost look like a lightning bolt, shot out from, coincidentally, her tailbone.

She saw Eddie's mouth drop and Miles stumbled back some. And Summer did the thing any normal person would do in a situation like this—she screamed loudly and promptly fainted…

Eddie paced around the clearing, distraught about Summer. Meanwhile, Miles simply ignored him, admiring his twin tails.

"How could this happen…?" Eddie whispered while running his hand through his quills. "How could I turn into a hedgehog…?"

"How do you know you're a hedgehog?" Miles asked, looking away from his tails and up at him.

"I…" Eddie frowned. How did he know…? "I don't know… I just do. Something inside of me just knows that's what I am…" Miles looked back to his tails and smirked.

"I'm a fox. Quite a strange fox though… Who ever heard of one with two tails?" Eddie simply shrugged and sat down heavily.

"This is all too crazy…"

"I dunno… I think it's kinda cool!" Miles said. "I mean… did you see the speed you were—" Summer groaned from near Eddie and immediately, the blue hedgehog was at her side.

She opened her eyes and the first thing she saw were Eddie's newly-turned green eyes. With a yelp, she scrambled back, eyes wide. "Get away from me, you… you… freak!"

Eddie winced visibly and moved towards her some, holding his hands out in a peaceful gesture. "Summer, it's me! It's Eddie!"

She replied with a stern, "You're not Eddie! You can't be Eddie!"

"Come on! Remember what happened? We all changed into these creatures! We—" He was cut off by a ear piercing scream emitted from Summer. She had apparently noticed her yellow features again.

"Shut up!" Eddie hissed. "Do you want Eggman's entire army coming this way?" Summer kept on screaming and with a sigh, Eddie jumped, wrestled her to the ground, and covered her mouth tightly.

"Now listen!" He said, his voice rising. "I know you're scared! So am I! But whatever happened has happened and we can't change it! And if you keep screaming, we'll all be dead within an hour!"

Lightning flashed and thunder crashed, a sure sign of the upcoming storm.

Miles inched forward and stood beside Eddie, who was still clamping Summer's mouth shut. She was still screaming, but it was very muffled.

"Remember what happened, Summer? It's me, Miles! Remember how I changed? And then Eddie came rushing in and tackled me?" Summer stopped screaming and some recognition shown in her eyes as she began remembering.

"And then you changed! Can you remember that?" Eddie asked, loosening his hand from her mouth, but not taking it away completely. Summer slowly nodded. "Will you scream if I take my hand away?" She shook her head vigorously and Eddie took his hand away and got off her.

Summer got up slowly and stared at Eddie with curious eyes. Her piercing gaze soon caused him to blush slightly and look away.

"What happened, Eddie? Why'd this happen?" She asked, fear in her voice.

Eddie forced his eyes to meet hers once more and replied with a shaky, "I don't know, Summer. I really don't know…" Their eyes stayed locked on each other's eyes for a few more seconds before a loud THWACKING sound shifted their attention to Miles.

His two tails with spinning with amazing speed, creating two swirls of orange fur. They whirled side-by-side, spinning in a way that, although they'd enter each other's spin area, they would never hit each other.

"Wow!" Miles cried as the tails 'thwacked' faster and faster until it was more of a constant buzz.

"What in the…?" Eddie wondered aloud, but before he could say anymore, Miles suddenly began scooting back across the clearing, his tails propelling him along the dirt and grass.

"Whoa! Help, Eddie!" Miles cried as he began picking up speed and moved along the ground towards the oncoming tree line.

Immediately, Eddie shot to his feet and ran after Miles with a blistering pace. It seemed that there was no acceleration time for him. One moment, he stood still, and the next, he was speeding along at a far faster speed than humanly possible.

The teenager grabbed Miles' feet and held tight, but soon found his feet skidding along the ground as well. "Stop spinning your tails, Miles!" He cried as he tried to gain some traction.

"I don't know how yet! I'm new at this, you know!" Miles snapped back, a look of concentration on his face.

Summer watched with interest as these two struggled. Finally, Miles' tails stopped thwacking and Eddie flew backward, propelled by his own strength and momentum, falling on his butt.

Despite her situation, Summer burst out laughing, her quills shaking with every laugh. Her dreadlocks covered her eyes most of the time, but when they flew back at times, the other two could see that her eyes were clamped shut to prevent tears from flowing.

"Oh, now she laughs…" Eddie said softly. He then chuckled slightly. "It is kind of funny." His chuckles increased. "I mean, you were—" He was cut off by a laugh originating from his own mouth. "And then I—" He could no longer continue as spastic laughter erupted from his mouth and his quills mimicked Summer's. Miles started laughing soon after.

The nervous Sergeant of the United States Army walked down the halls of the fabled Pentagon nervously. He wasn't even supposed to be in this section of the Pentagon! The mysterious G.U.N. portion of the Pentagon, a section in the Army corner, was a recent addition to the Pentagon. The way it had been built was side by side to the Army sector, on the inside, making the Army section just look thicker than the rest. In reality, it was an entire section that few outside the men and women posted in the Pentagon knew about. Fewer even were even aloud to walk through the constantly guarded doors.

G.U.N. was devoted strictly to top-secret robotics technology. From AI controlled F-16s, to huge robots, both AI controlled and manned, with amazing firepower, G.U.N. handled it. No other country had what the USA now had. Although true artificial intelligence had yet to be accomplished, they were getting pretty darn close! Already their machines could monitor and learn by examination, however there were many things they couldn't do. They couldn't guess, make predictions, or anything of the like. This meant G.U.N.'s hopes of soon having an entire army of intelligent AI controlled robots was far off. But who knew when some random scientist would discover real AI. It was only a matter of time and money now.

This would be Sergeant Carter's first time walking through, and he was just doing a messenger job. The original messenger wasn't able to show up because of some bug going around and his authorities picked him in the heat of the moment. Normally, he would have jumped at the chance, but he was delivering terrible news. And since the old, surly Commanders of the joint forces were known to 'shoot the messenger', he was quite nervous.

And with every step down the unknown halls, his nervousness grew. Finally, he came to a room that had in bold lettering, "Brig. General Stryker" on it. He knocked lightly on the door.

"Come in!" A loud, but compassionate sounding voice said from behind the door. At once, Carter felt at ease. Nobody that nice sounding would be like the cruel commanders that so many talked about. So, at once, he entered through the door and walked purposely up to Stryker, making sure to square his corners and to keep his eyes straight ahead (standard drill movements).

"Sir, Staff Sergeant Carter reporting as ordered, sir!" Stryker motioned for him to continue. "Sir, I have a message from General Roberts, sir." He said, using his diaphragm to make his voice sound stronger and deeper.

"What is it? And lay off the 'sir sandwiches', we do things a little more lax around here. One 'sir' is plenty."

At this point, Carter relaxed slightly, but tried not to make it visible. But his relaxation was short-lived; for he remembered the news he was to deliver. "Sir, earlier today satellite photos captured a very large movement—an army—moving across some fields in Indiana. Just recently we received notice that this army laid waste to a city by the name of Mobius."

General Stryker's mouth was agape slightly and his eyes wide. "How in the…?" He paused, contemplating something. "Why are you here, soldier? What's happened isn't good, but why are you telling me this? Why not the Army or Air Force or even the Marines?" Quietly, Carter could hear General Stryker murmur, "God forbid."

He took a deep breath and continued. "Sir, our reconnaissance flybys confirm what our people monitoring the satellites suspected."

"And that would be…?"

"Robots, sir. The city was overtaken by robots."

And there you go folks! My next chapter probably will take a while to get posted. Anywhere from 2-3 weeks to a month. Sorry! But next Saturday, I'm heading out of town till the 31st of May. And it probably won't be until after that trip before I can even get started on the next chapter!

In the meantime, go read my other stories on my other name! They're long enough to handle you for at least a few days!

--Ben