Chaos: (RANT ALERT) I would like to take this moment to issue an official apology to each and every one of my faithful reviewers. (If there are any of you remaining) As you have most probably noticed, I haven't updated this story for several months – only now do I look back, stare in shock, and start kicking myself. Who do I think I am? I should have sorted this out long ago. I shouldn't have posted it before it was finished, when the ending was doubtful. Perhaps I got carried away. Then the updates gradually became fewer and fewer, did I care? Not really; it just gave me more time to write the end. Or so I thought. I didn't write a word of this story in the last three months, and then I thought it would be acceptable to suggest an ending bang in the middle of the action? What was I thinking! None of you deserve that, and so I say here and now; I am sorry. I grovel, I beg, I cry for forgiveness. As for the story itself, I've walked up to that writer's block, stomped on it repeatedly, booted it into a corner, and deleted the last five pages of so-called Silver Lining. I will finish it, I will work properly to get it finished, and I will not accept the trashy drivel that I half-heartedly spewed beforehand, in the hope of reviews. I sicken myself. Who the hell do I think I am? Just because my story has over 200 reviews, does that mean I can neglect it and begin the awful cycle of useless chapters designed to prolong the story as long as possible? No! No more! This. Story. Will. Be. Finished. I declare this here and now; never let me forget it again.
I thank you for reading this rant, and for holding out this long for the next chapter. I'm only sorry, once again, that I can't offer anything better for this particular update. Can anything redeem this story now? I guess only time will tell.
Enjoy!
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
At that moment, Sonic wasn't at the main hospital. He had been taken to a different one; it was nearer, but smaller. He was lying unresponsively in a hospital bed, complete with oxygen mask and a drip, and swathed in bandages.
Outside the room, a doctor was talking to his rescuer. "We gave him a blood transfusion," he said, "You were lucky; we had a sample of the right type. He should be ok, but there is something else."
The female rabbit nodded concernedly, and he continued, "We couldn't remove the metal covering him; it seems that there were some kind of probes protruding from it inside, especially around the head area. That's why his wounds are so bad; because the metal was ripped away forcibly, the probes tore through. If we remove the metal now it would probably kill him, and certainly give him brain damage. Already we don't know what his mental state will be like. He may never wake up."
"It's fascinating, actually. It's almost as if the wires were replacing the nerve endings...I've only heard about this kind of thing once before, on the E-series robots by Doctor Robotnik; they had an animal in the centre, or something...but I'm not a scientist. I don't really know."
The rabbit nodded solemnly, and then asked, "But his condition isn't critical any more?" The doctor smiled grimly.
"Not dangerous, but questionable. Oh, by the way, do you know who he is? We can't tell at this stage, and we'd like to contact any relatives. I understand you're not related?"
"No, I'm...just a good friend. I wouldn't worry; his friends are sure to be here soon."
The doctor frowned, but nodded and walked off. The rabbit sighed in relief, and walked in to the bedside. She patted his hand and whispered, "You'll be fine."
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Next day, Station Square Hospital
"What do you mean, 'he's not here'?" Knuckles' voice was quiet, but underlying tension gave it away. He sounded dangerous; it was his third day without sleep, and annoying him was NOT a good idea. The doctor backed away uneasily, not meeting his burning gaze.
"I'm sorry, sir. We've no hedgehogs in the hospital, let alone Sonic. Nobody's seen him for weeks." Knuckles turned his back, mind racing. If only Tails was awake! He knew only that the fox had been brought in during the night. Brought in! And no hedgehog with him either.
He growled and strode back into the waiting room, throwing the receptionist a death-glare in case she had messed up the records. Hmm... maybe Tails was awake now? He sighed and banged through a set of double-doors, longing to be back on his island. The Chaotix had better be doing a good job.
He rubbed his stinging eyes, trying to stay awake.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Angel Island
Vector frowned, spreading out his cards. He drummed his fingers on the Master Emerald thoughtfully, creating a low clinking. Then he turned to Mighty, opposite him, and casually asked,
"Got any threes?"
The armadillo grinned, and replied, "Go fish." Vector scowled and drew a card from the deck in the middle of the Emerald; sure, it was super-powerful, but he had to admit that it made a good card-table.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Amy was reading a love novel by the bed when Knuckles stomped in. She looked up briefly, nodded at him, and then went back to her book. The echidna ground his teeth together and looked at Tails.
He nearly fell over in shock.
Tails was sitting up in bed, looking at Amy with an amused expression in one eye. The other was hidden beneath a bandage that wound around his head and over a sizable bump.
Knuckles gaped at him, and then at Amy. Slowly he said,
"Hey, Amy. What're you doing?"
The pink hedgehog licked her finger and turned the page. "Hm?"
"What're you doing?" Knuckles asked loudly. She didn't look up, but murmured,
"Waiting for Tails to wake up."
Knuckles raised an eyebrow. Amy picked up the meaningful silence, and looked up. Without missing a beat she beamed at Tails and exclaimed, "Tails! You're awake!"
The fox smiled, casting a glance at Knuckles - he was used to the way Amy instantly adapted, but the echidna was not. Knuckles managed to recover himself and sat down next to Amy, silently shaking his head.
"So, Tails. What happened when you were flying back?" he asked, looking sideways at the pink hedgehog suspiciously.
Tails thought for a minute and lost his smile. "I ran out of fuel," he moaned, "When I was over the city. Then I crash-landed and… and… I don't remember anything after that. Concussion." He lightly tapped the bandage, and looked down apologetically. Knuckles sighed; they were back where they started.
"Well, is everyone ok? Is Sonic ok?" Tails suddenly asked. Knuckles looked into his eyes, bright with hope, and found he couldn't say anything. Finally he said,
"Everybody's... fine." Tails' eyes became worried.
"What about Sonic?" he insisted. Amy was looking at him too; they both wanted to know. He turned away, stared at the wall for a second, and then muttered,
"He's not here. He's not at this hospital."
Amy paled and Tails blinked disbelievingly. "But... but..." the fox stuttered quietly. Knuckles shook his head, still fixating his eyes on the light switch. Then he strode out of the room, unable to stand it any longer.
Tails stared after him, clinging to the edge of the blanket for comfort. "But he was right next to me in the plane," he said, blinking rapidly, "He was awake, but he said that... that... and then we crashed and... but I can't..." he shook his head, trying desperately to clear the fog in his mind.
Amy slowly edged out of the chair, grabbed her book and mumbled that she would be back in the afternoon. Then she bolted for the door, leaving Tails alone.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Cheese and Chocola were beginning to complain loudly; it had been hours since they had sat down to wait. Sonic lay on the bed, dead to the world, and Vanilla sighed. The chao needed to get home, and Sonic's friends needed to be called. She couldn't afford to wait any longer.
What had the doctor said? He might never wake up...
Slowly she stood, stretched, and headed for the door. Now she had to think about how exactly to tell this to his friends.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
As Knuckles walked up, Charmy waved and Espio called out, but he ignored them and strode up to the shrine. Mighty looked up from his position at the foot of the steps, then got up hastily.
"Oh, hi Knuckles. Didn't think you'd be back so...soon..." he trailed off uncertainly as the echidna stormed past him, face like thunder. Knuckles took the steps three at a time and walked up to the Emerald, ignoring Vector by its side.
Then he placed his hands on the smooth green surface and shut his eyes, breathing deeply. Vector scrambled away quickly to the others.
"What's gotten into him?"
"Dunno...I bet something's happened though."
"Hey, maybe we should go see?"
"Nah, it could be nothing. Maybe Rouge yelled at him!" they both sniggered; the subject was a constant amusement to all of the Chaotix.
"Well, let's stick around; he might tell us."
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
In Sonic's hospital the hedgehog lay almost as still as before.
Almost.
Somewhere beneath the surface, systems were rebooting, damage was being assessed, circuits reactivated. The electronic eye did not come on, the remaining robotized limbs didn't move, but the computer came to life again.
It was a simple system; designed to reroute thoughts and commands from the body within, picking up nerve impulses, converting and assessing them. And this particular system was even more simple than usual; robotization was incomplete at the very first and the control system was incredibly weak.
Slowly the computer became stronger - all of Robotnik's machines were learning systems, to a degree - and began to follow the base orders, trying to control the subject. Sonic's willpower was too strong at first, but now there was no resistance whatsoever.
However, this also brought another problem. Without orders, or the subject sending commands, the computer - Cinos - didn't know what to do. For a few moments it waited, scanning the base drives for some command.
Though all other orders had either been terminated or were useless, there was one that still stood - a base command in all robots, should they find themselves at standby. Return to base. Contact Master Robotnik. Scanners activated and the electronic eye flicked on, sensors travelling around the room.
It was not the base. The computer was satisfied, and began assessing how to complete the order. 62 of the subject's nerve endings were still rerouted, ready for commands.
A few seconds later, Sonic's robotized arm twitched.