Chaos: Next chapter! A changing theme; sorta funny then serious. Hmm. Right, well, anyway...you know the drill!

Flower: 125 REVIEWS!! 28 DIFFERENT REVIEWERS!! This story has officially broken the Maze-of-Memories review record! w00t! Thanks, everyone! (hugs to all)

Ladymecha- Ooh! Hi! I wondered where you'd gone. Glad to know you're still reading! Thankyou!

Sipp - (anime fall) Tails/Mighty? EEW!!! Ugh, getitout getitout! Never! Never, I tell you! Anyway...(sweatdrop)...RK/Mighty - NOT pairing. (twitch twitch) - part coming in, say, two chapters. Possibly next one.

Spawn of 84 - What do you mean 'keep up the...good?...work' That is worrying...

Mitsuka - More fanart? PARTY!!! (bounces)

Kirbs - I am reviewing your stories! Aren't I? (scratches head) Well, err, if I'm not, I'll try to. I get busy sometimes...

Tarem - Oh, er...yes, Sonic will be fine...(cough cough). Don't kill me, ok?!

NM - We-ell, he's alive. For now. But, come on, you know there's over thirty chapters, I think. How could I write that much if I killed Sonic?

chaolovin' - Thanks! You helped me break the record! (bounces) And you didn't have to flame my Yu-gi-oh fic...(droops) Sequel of Maze of Memories is as good as dead right now...it all exploded over a MAJOR plothole...(sigh)

SD - Heh heh. Nice name! 'Flaming Rose'. You should write a story about a tournament where they have team names like thus. That'd be interesting!

el - Amy/Knuckles? Romance?! God, no! They're like, polar opposites! Knuckles would shred her! Amy would annoy him to death! Besides, Amy loves Sonic...(sweatdrop)...

Kai the Tiger - Hi! Can I call you Kai? I like that. 'Kai'. You know, Kaijou means 'of the sea'?Anyway, err, sorry...I like being uber-evil! Cliffies are the best! At least my stories have happy-ish endings...mostly...(grin)

parslie - Hi! New reviewer! Yay! I'm glad you like and...here's the update! Heh.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Tails was lost. He turned to Mighty and shrugged.

Since the alarms had gone off they had run madly through the base, trying to evade the passing robots. They had only run into one, which surprised Tails but had run on past, ignoring them. Then the alarms had stopped.

Something was wrong, Tails could feel it, and it sent shivers up his spine.

"I'm sure the map says to go right..." he said, passing it to the armadillo. Mighty frowned at the crumpled paper, and replied,

"It does say tha-...hey, wait, shouldn't that writing be THIS way up?" Tails looked over his shoulder and groaned.

"You mean I've been holding it upside-down? No way!" Mighty grinned and replied,

"Nah, you were probably holding it the right way up first time, then changed it after you dropped it."

"I did not drop it! That robot surprised me, that's all!"

"Oh, yeah, right. You were scared, admit it, kid."

"I wasn't! I was just...surprised..." Tails trailed off, knowing he was losing the argument. "Yeah, well, my name is Tails, ok?" Then he pouted and went into a sulk.

Mighty chuckled, and said, "Nobody wins an argument against Mighty Armadillo. Remember that, kid."

"Tails."

"Whatever, fox-boy."

"TAILS!"

Then they both laughed, covering the tension of the situation, and the fact that they were lost in the middle of a big base full of robots. Mighty suddenly looked up, and said,

"Hey! We're back in front of the control room!"

"No way! Well, now we know where we are..."

Mighty grinned, and replied, "So get reading that map, ki- Tails. Hmm...Kitails. I like it."

Tails whacked him on the mid-shell with the map. "You're lucky you're taller than me, or I'd hit you in the face..." he muttered.

Then a groan from the far-right corridor distracted them both.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Sonic had half-seen Rouge, bending over him, and couldn't understand it when she disappeared. Alarms blared overhead. The pain was blotting out all rational thoughts; she had to be working with Eggman, he decided.

Eggman! That creep would probably kill him if he found him sitting against the wall here. He had to get out, somehow. He attempted to move, and only tipped over sideways, landing on the metal floor with a thud that knocked his breath away in a blaze of agony and made him pass out.

When he finally came to he was on his side, and the alarms had stopped; it could have been minutes, seconds, anything. At least Eggman hadn't got him...Eggman! He had to get out...no matter what. He pushed himself up onto his hands, aware that his legs weren't working, and one eye was blurred where the glassy covering had been smashed again.

Every movement was agony, but he didn't have enough breath to make a sound. He knew he was hurt...badly. He sank the claws on his left hand into the floor, using them to pull himself along an inch, then tried to use his right hand, found that the claws had been pulled away.

Progress was painfully slow, as only his left hand could pull him along, right hand sliding uselessly on the metal when he tried to use it. He had to have lost a lot of blood; he could smell it, taste it, and he cou-

Taste it?

He gingerly raised his right hand to touch his jaw, and it burned. That meant that...half the metal on his face had been ripped away. He could speak properly again! He began pulling himself along again with more hope...

Metal Sonic had saved him, he had pulled some of the metal away...perhaps he could get the rest off easily now. If he survived.

...for the robot had also all but killed him. No, he HAD to survive. He wanted to tell Tails he was sorry for forgetting everything, for hurting him. He wanted to do all that stuff he would talk about, but hadn't had time for. He wanted to...wanted to...

Energy spent, he sank to the floor, light-headed. His vision was blurred in both eyes, and he summoned the strength to groan at the pain the cold metal made against his skin, before going completely limp.

The metal floor was ok now, it cooled him. He was burning all over, shut his eye against it, the other red pupil switching off. It burned more. Then sounds buffeted his ears. He was so tired...yet something told him to listen, because it could be really important...it might be the last thing he heard...

It'd better not be Robuttnik laughing his head off, Sonic thought dimly, he's wasted enough of my time. Time...how he wished he had more of it. He wondered vaguely about some kind of Chaos Control, then realised he was getting distracted.

He strained his ears.

"-nic! ...Sonic! ...oh, Sonic...please don't be dead yet...Sonic..." It was...Tails. He shuddered and opened his normal eye under the shattered cover. It was hard to see...large spikes of the smashed glass stuck across his vision, blurring it.

His electronic eye no longer came on.

He could make out Tails, kneeling beside him, and...someone else, behind him. Tails had seen him looking, and was speaking again, tears streaming down his face.

"Sonic, it'll be ok...I'll...I'll get some help...just hold on...please..."

Summoning all his last reserves of strength, he nodded slightly. And everything went dark.