There will come a time when you are weak.

There will come a time when you will cry.

When that time comes, you are more than welcome in my arms.

-Amy Rose.

Knuckles collapsed to the ground after what had seemed to be half an eternity of strange, swirling brightness... it had been the single most memorable thing in his entire life, time-traveling.

It had been as if he was surrounded with swirling lights of every color and no color at all. It was dark, and at the same time terribly bright. Loud, but silent. It was all very confusing and had left the echidna rather dazed. He looked down to the clock on the time machine. Yep, exactly as it was supposed to be. The exact second of the exact day of the blast. He looked around, not surprised as he saw the world frozen in time around him. Dewdrops hovered in mid-air, birds stayed suspended in the sky, clouds stood absolutely still... (BLARG! Okay I know I'm going against every law of physics/time ever made but I'm too lazy to think of anything so just leave me alone!) He looked to his left, through the dense jungle, and saw the gleaming shell of eggman's base. The sight of it sent a shiver through his spine- this was supposed to be rubble. He briefly had to remind himself he had gone back in time to five days ago. Knuckles started walking towards the base, but it was somewhat odd considering how stiff the grass felt beneath his feet. Nonetheless, the red echidna kept going, and eventually made his way inside the base.

He walked through the barren halls, trying to remember where Amy was, when he took a turn- and ended up starring strait down the barrel of a series E gun-arm. Knuckles shouted in surprise and went into a battle stance, but froze when he realized that the robot was frozen in place- frozen in time, more like it. Knuckles chuckled nervously and sidestepped it, continuing down the hall.

He made a left turn and began to enter a long, metallic hallway, when he saw something red and gleaming at the end. Curious, he ran to the end of the tunnel, and stopped before the red surface. It gave of a hot, bright aura, and was somewhat round, protruding outwards like a wall into the hallway. Knuckles gently poked it, but gave a yelp and pulled back his finger. That was hot! He stared at it, dumbfounded, and then realized-

"It's the explosion!" He exclaimed, staring at it. He poked it again, (ow!) just to be sure, and then decided he could follow it to where Amy was.

Knuckles kept walking, and finally arrived at his destination, the solid steel door that Fliara had described as where she had found Sonic. He took a deep breath, knowing that Amy was on the other side, and lifted up the gate.

It was surprisingly easy, he had expected it to be quite heavier, but it moved slowly. This didn't concern the red echidna, and he sighed in relief when the door finally slowed to a halt, suspended off the ground a good five feet or so. Knuckles easily slipped under it, but froze at the site before him.

Once again he was staring down the gun barrels of many of eggman's robots, and at first he jumped, but what was even more surprising was the faint glow of the explosion a few meters off. He swallowed nervously, feeling the heat on his face. He wondered, for a second, why Tails had to cut it so close- but the fox had argued that- 'to make as little difference as possible' - would be the best way to conserve the space- time- continuum. The echidna tuned around, and stared down at Amy Rose, a little startled by what he saw.

She lay on the ground, multiple bullets buried into her arm and two on her legs- Knuckles gasped and starred back and forth between the robots and the hedgehog. Amy must have been shot many times before the blast went off- the robots had simply outnumbered her. Knuckles took a closer look at her wounds and thanked god when he found none that were fatal, he knew he had to make this quick, so he picked up Amy, slung her over his shoulder and looked to the time-travel device on his wrist. He looked upon the many buttons and displays, at first confused, trying to remember which one Tails had told him to push at this point. Suddenly, remembering, he found the necessary green button and pushed it, firming his grip on Amy just to be safe and bracing as the machine once again made it's trademark hum and sent the two into a mess of swirling lights and noise.

Knuckles had to smile.

Hold on, Sonic. Amy's coming for you.

Sonic's eyes fluttered open as he was slowly released from the oppressive tranquilizers that had been forced into his bloodstream. For a second, the release from the horrid nightmares was a relief but it was quickly mauled by the bitter reality that had been waiting for him while he slept; Amy was gone. There were no warm arms to comfort him at the end of these dreams. There was nothing but a white room, a hard bed and the consistent pain of his weakened limbs. His muscles ached merely from the stress of keeping himself alive. The pain had nearly drowned out all memories of Amy; sleeping in her arms, listening to her heartbeat, pressing his muzzle into her fur... without those memories, Sonic found that his own sanity was slipping through his fingers.

He closed his eyes, preferring the nightmares to the pain, but his attempts at sleep were interrupted when he heard a familiar voice from behind him.

"Good morning, Sonic." Said Mr. Phillips, digging through his pocket in search of something. "...Did you sleep well?" He asked. Sonic stared up at him. Was that some sort of joke? He shook his head weakly, and stared up at the psychiatrist in bitter disbelief. Phillips pushed his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose, and stared down at the hedgehog as he took out a white-colored key, and unlocked the restraining cuffs around Sonic's wrists and ankles. He then helped the hedgehog stand upright, and slowly but steadily make his way over to the door. Sonic, confused, stared up at the psychiatrist, and struggled to keep up, even if it partially hurt. Mr. Phillips opened the door, and helped Sonic into what appeared to be a wheelchair. Sonic was horrified; of course he already knew what had happened to him but this didn't blur the knife-edge of reality. He starred up at the doctor with misty eyes, still not understanding and trying to get the message that this hurt. He was the fastest thing alive; he didn't need a wheelchair! ...Or that's what Sonic would have liked to think. He fought back tears and frustration, and stared up at the psychiatrist, confused. Mr. Phillips began to explain.

"I thought you might like to go outside. You need to get some exercise if you want to get any stronger, and it is quite stuffy in here..." He explained. Sonic's eyes lit up.The thought of sunshineand the soft carress of grass sounded very appealing.Mr. Phillips was about to say something else, but suddenly someone burst into the hallway, and ran over to the two. Sonic stared up at this new person, startled, and was also surprised when the doctor appeared behind him as well.

"Hello, Mr. Phillips." He said, gesturing to the strange, new person. "This is the representative of the institution that Sonic is going to. He was released to them five minutes ago, and, he's here to pick the patient up."

20 minutes later, Tails and shadow stood at the entrance to the museum, looking back and forth between the clock and each other in disbelief. Shadow glared at the fox, and demanded:

"Where is he, Tails?"

"I don't know!" The fox claimed, shaking his head and pacing. "He should be here, right now! He should be here, Amy should be here!" The fox was nearly hysterical, and Shadow wasn't too happy either.

"What do you mean you don't know? You invented that thing; you know how it works! What could have gone wrong?"

"I don't know!" The young kitsune shouted, shaking his head and sitting down. "They should be here... right now... " Shadow stared down at the fox in disbelief, and then his gaze turned into a harsh glare.

"You lost them." Shadow growled. "First Amy. Then Sonic. Now Knuckles... " The black hedgehog said. "Who's next, then, bud? Cream? Espio?"

"I am not the cause of their death!"

"So you admit it! Knuckles is dead!"

"I NEVER SAID THAT!" Tails yelled. "I- ...I don't know... but... they aren't dead... they just aren't..." Tails moped, resting his head in his hands.

"Then where are they?"

"Tails, where are they?"

Indeed. Knuckles and Amy are missing. Sonic is no longer issued to the care of Mr. Phillips. Amy is injured! Figure out what happens by tuning in next week! (or just send me a lot of REALLY pathetic reviewsbegging me to tell you.)