S. Chensu: Hello peeps. It seems that many people liked the author's note courtesy of 'Random R us' so we'll be doing some more anytime soon.

Luff: To help us in the next Random author's note, we're requesting that when you review, you can give us a little profile of you (made up or whatever) and you can be involved. We need the following:

Name

Personality (not looks necessarily. Are you a Gollum? A Donald Duck? A Sonic? A Boo-Bah? An Angry Beaver? A Teletubbie? A Kirby? Ok, this is getting ridiculous...)

Quotes (From films, books, games or whatever. Try not to make them too long)

And any ideas you have for randomness!

S. Chensu: We could turn this into our own fanfiction! Just like in my other story!

Luff: NO! Not long author's notes!

S. Chensu: Hehe! Anyway, reviewer replies!

the funk master- Glad you like the chapter and yes, it's the shortest one so far! And there's nothing wrong with Eggman... Cough What did you get from Random R us?

RichaCo- We think you're the only one who has. We think most of the information has been given but there'll be some more stuff in a Sonic and Shadow episode, not sure which one though.

Dragon Master Naya- We know, isn't randomness great?

Lewa Nuva- We're sorry for the lack of action, it should have some more soon. And if you think it's starting to get a bit boring, you might not want to bother with this story for a little while. See it works like this for the next few episodes: Tails, Sonic and Shadow, Marie, Sonic and Shadow, Rouge, Eggman. Then the group meet up again. That is when there's lots of action. So sorry... And sorry about not putting in Amy but yeah, we explained so... We are trying to write but we have been working on this story for a year, coming up with all the ideas and the last episode will be worth it, we hope. And plus we have other stories. Chen knows for a fact she has four other stories on the go and Luff has three stories. It's awful isn't it when you can't get the balance in chapters right. For instance, Chen has just done a chapter of one of her other stories and it's 40 pages long. But anyway... Nice to know you want to use our story, tell us when it's all done, if you do it and we'll look at it. If you do use our story though, please make sure that it has our names on it somewhere. Thankies for the support!

????- We haven't updated because Chen's the only one who really knows what's going on at the moment! And /Yugi/ (mostly Yami though), the tomb robber says hi and lots of love and kisses! You can be so hurtful sometimes; Kury doesn't think you deserve any wild passionate sex tonight!

Luff: Yes, the episode is late as usual (yes, we know by at least a week) but oh well. Chen's been having some problems with her new laptop.

S. Chensu: Yes, it's got Windows XP but it doesn't have Microsoft Word, only a Microsoft Works processor thing. And so when I tried to put a file from my laptop onto the computer, it screwed up the format completely. I managed to save it as a Word document but it's in something like HTML and has swapped bits round and put lines in between every character. If anyone knows how to solve this without me having to manually get rid of the spaces myself, please tell me in a review.

Luff: Now she's finished boring you with her computer problems, I'd like to point out we don't own anything in this apart from the usual stuff.

S. Chensu. Yeah.

Episode twenty-six: Bath time voyages

Tails walked through the palm trees, pausing to wipe the sweat off his face. He looked back to the desert, only to find that it was no more, replaced by a swirling blackness making vague shapes, morphing from one thing to the next.

I wonder what happened to that person... Tails thought as he continued forward in the Tornado, noticing it slow down slow down slightly. Maybe it was the humidity of the place getting into the mechanics but it shouldn't be affecting it so much, it was made not to rust.

The palm trees soon petered out, replaced by a grassy bank leading down to a sparkling river, soundless apart from the running of water over stones. There didn't appear to be any major dangers, until he suddenly felt himself falling forward. He screamed as he landed on the ground, staring upwards at the clear blue sky and it took him several moments to realise a yellow and blue object was floating into the air: the Tornado.

"What? No, don't go!" He wasn't quite sure why he had yelled this out, it was clear the machine wasn't alive...yet it had managed to force him out. It ignored him, continuing to move upwards as it grew smaller and smaller and smaller...

Then it was gone. Not a speck of it remained. Tails had lost his only connection to the real world, now he was alone in a place that was beyond his scientific understanding and logical thinking. None of this should have been possible, how many different ecosystems had he seen squashed together, making one big mess? And that wasn't the only mess, everything had been changed, unbalancing Tails' psyche. And now he had to work out what to do next.

I was going towards the building but I can't see it any more. He looked up the mountains but could only see grey and white.

Snap.

Tails jumped when he heard the noise, only to be faced by a blurry figure that pushed him backwards. He stumbled, falling down the bank and landing in the river. He was just glad he could swim as he kicked himself to the surface of the water, gulping in the air when he reached it. Then he saw it: a boat sitting in the middle of the river completely still, despite the lack of ropes. Ignoring this problem for the moment, he swam over to it and hauled himself up, allowing him to look at it properly.

It wasn't anything special, just your average fishing boat that you could spend a lazy afternoon in the sunshine in. But it was different to most boats as it soon proved when it started sailing down the river.

"Wait, I don't want to be in here!" Tails yelled as he was thrown onto a seat. He sat up properly and stared in amazement at the person sitting at the front, glistening in the light. You couldn't make out and distinct features but it had long flowing hair, which moved in the gentle breeze. He blinked and they disappeared. Shrugging his shoulders, Tails allowed himself to be carried down the river, giving him time to ponder over everything that happened recently.

I'm pretty sure that person wasn't the same one as before... But even if that's true, I /still/ don't know who they are. I'm pretty sure the one I just saw was a girl and I get the feeling I know her from somewhere but it's probably me just wanting something familiar here. Tails sighed as he lay down on the bench, staring up at the sky. I wonder where the Tornado is; I don't really want to try and have to re build it. I spent a lot of time on it and it's proved really useful in the past.

The voice fell silent as Tails continued to lie back on the boat, failing to notice the rocking and the increase in outside noise. Until he was violently thrown onto the bottom of the boat, knocking his head hard on the wood. He sat up quickly and glanced over the edge of the boat, only to gasp in horror at the sight he saw.

The trees on either side of the river were rapidly disappearing and being replaced by muddy grass, lining the water, which unlike before was now cloudy and dirty. It seethed and bubbled underneath him, like a creature was trying to break through. He followed the water and saw something that panicked him greatly: the river falling away into nothingness, no longer supported by mud and rocks.

"St!" But it was too late, before he could fly away to safety, the ground fell away along with the boat and he tumbled down the waterfall.

He crashed into the water, sinking, sinking down into the deep abyss, unable to stop himself. The light grew fainter and he reached upwards, desperate to hold onto his conscious. He couldn't close his eyes; he had to save Sonic and Shadow. He needed to talk to Knuckles and Rouge. He wanted to see Eggman... He longed to hold Marie.

Tails gasped for air as he surfaced, spluttering and coughing to get the water out of his lungs. When he finally had the chance to look around, he found that he was now floating in a lake, and in the distance all around him he could see trees lining the shores. He turned to see the waterfall plunging down behind him, but he was now a surprising distance away from it.

What am I going to do? He thought as he swam towards one edge of the lake, but saw that this was obviously not going to get him very far as the shore only seemed to be getting further away.

"Hello?! Can anybody hear me?!" Tails yelled, panic over taking him as he floundered uselessly in the water. "HELP!!" He looked up and gasped as he saw someone flying over him, wings beating elegantly above them. They flew down in circles until they were hovering just above him, but before they had the chance to talk a thunderous roar was heard from behind Tails. "ARGH!" Tails yelled as he felt something claw at his back, before being pulled back into the water by the thing that Tails could only assume was some sort of monster.

Tails struggled as hard as he could as he fought the beast away, kicking and punching at what he thought might resemble its head. He recoiled as he saw the monster flash red in front of him, before it exploded everywhere. How...? What's going on? Shaking his head, Tails swam back up to the surface. He drew in a deep breath, and gasped in horror when he saw what now surrounded him: monsters. Hundreds upon thousands of the most hideous creatures you could ever think possible, all staring at him with blood red angry eyes.

"Uhh...help?" Tails said meekly, before screaming and swimming away as fast as he could. This was proved to pretty pointless though, as he soon found that the monsters were soon catching up with him; and then he found himself completely surrounded by them.

"Tails!" Tails looked up and saw that the winged person was once again flying over him, and was signalling for him to dive down.

"But I'll drown!"

"I'll protect you. Go!" The figure swooped down at him; so he dived down to avoid it. He stayed under, his eyes squeezed tight shut. How long would he have to stay under? One minute... two minutes... three minutes went by. Tails was wondering why he hadn't drowned. Or maybe he had. Was he dead? Tails opened his eyes and found that he was alive, and he could see everything around far more accurately then he should have been able to.

What?! After a moment of studying his situation, Tails found that some sort of bubble surrounded his head. How did that happen? It must have been that person... He thought as he swam forwards, not really sure of where he should be going. He couldn't see any monsters for the moment, but was still cautious for their return.

Tails! Keep swimming! Tails stopped when he heard the voice in his head, and turned his head around just in time to see something flash past him. Go!! Tails decided he should do what the voice told him, so he continued onwards, not really sure whether he was going in the right direction. He could now hear things shooting past behind him, getting ever closer to him as he felt himself slowing down.

Tails could see some rocks appearing in front of him, so he swam down and continued his journey through them hoping that they would give him some sort of protection. He could now see the winged person swimming over his head, shooting out blue beams at the surrounding monsters that were now pressing in around him.

Tails! You must hurry! Now more determined, Tails put all of his effort into swimming as fast as he could, not slowing down once, even when his muscles began to burn with pain. He swam upwards as he saw the light growing brighter overhead, going faster and faster until he finally reached the surface, and gasped for breath as he surfaced.

Tails landed in a bay, tall white cliffs over towering it and finally glad of seeing some land; he swam over to the beach and hauled himself out. He looked up and saw the building at the top, the one he had been searching for! He ran up the stairs, desperate to find out why it was so important but was stopped by a pair of black wings.

"What? What's wrong now?" He yelled in frustration and the wings conceded, allowing him to continue forward. He stood at the bottom of the large, black marble steps and climbed slowly, wondering why he had been cautioned just now. Is there something bad?

At the top was a door and written on the door was a verse of some sort. Tails peered closer, running his fingers over the letters as he read it.

In marble walls as white as milk,

Lined with skin as soft as silk;

Within a fountain crystal clear,

A golden apple doth appear.

No doors there are to this stronghold --

Yet thieves break in and steal the gold.

What was that supposed to mean? He read over the verse again, trying to find some hidden but nothing appeared. He didn't know what to do now...

It's a riddle. You have to solve it. He heard from behind him and turning around, he saw the figure, invisible apart from the wings.

"A riddle? Oh I see!" Tails exclaimed and he read over it for the third time. "Something that is white? But it has something inside, something precious. Gold?" Tails tried to think of an object but came up with none. "If there isn't a door, it can't be a building. But people can get in, which means it can be broken..." He looked over the lines. "And the gold is something clear." Then it suddenly hit him, it was so obvious! "It's an egg!" Tails shouted and the words started to glow before disappearing.

The doors swung open inwards and Tails took a couple of steps forward before looking back to the figure. It seemed to nod its head and reassured, Tails continued forward until what appeared to be the hall, although it was too dark to tell properly. Yet there were torches on the wall, even if they were unlit. Something flashed in front of him, a glittering ball that bounced up and down but did little else. Tails reached out to it, feeling the warmth and he grabbed it, the light getting bigger until it covered him. And then he was gone.

S. Chensu: Yay, finished!

Luff: And it's even more crap than the others but at least it's done.

S. Chensu: Apologising again for the lateness, but the next few chapters will be late like this one is. All because of my AS Level exams. You see, I have 10 exams in the space of four days and I have to actually revise for them so until the 10th of June, there won't be any more chapters. But then I have four days off so I'll be writing lots.

Luff: If you're wondering why I'm not doing them it, it's because of ideas. I did most of the beginning as the ideas were mine but these level chapters are mostly Chen's ideas. And seeing as we're on them now, I'm not doing much as I don't know what's going to happen. And I don't want to go and change all of Chen's cool ideas.

S. Chensu: Sorry if you didn't understand that... But just remember, no more chapters until the 10th of June at least. There might be one but seeing as the next one is a Sonic and Shadow chapter, probably not as they're longer.

Luff: But please review and sorry for the long delay!

(S. Chensu: Ssh, Luff doesn't know about this bit but I thought you might like to know it's her birthday on Sunday and she's going to be 15! So from me, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! You can say happy birthday to her too in your reviews, it'll make her very happy!)