Author's note: I just conferred with Nail Strafer about what's a plot and what isn't. Turns out I needn't have worried. Next chapter!
Chapter 5: A Nasty Surprise (wow, didn't begin with M that time!)
"Let's go through this one more time, from the beginning," Cream requested. "I'm still not sure I understand."
It was almost noon at Emerald Town. Sonic, Tails, and Cream had left Central City and returned to Tails' lab to plan their next course of action. They were sitting at a folding table Tails had set up in the middle of the room.
"All right," Tails agreed. "We've figured out that last night, Amy bought the ruby necklace depicted in the ad here (he pointed at the newspaper sheet as he spoke) and was on her way back home when the rain picked up."
"Amy took shelter in the nearest building," Sonic explained, "and it turned out to be this lab. You can still see her muddy footsteps as she came in. What she didn't know was that Rouge was following her."
"Rouge and Amy got into a fight," Tails added. "There are still signs of a tussle around the room, like the way that wall over there is scratched a bit. Rouge knocked Amy out somehow and decided to take her back to the club to frisk her for the necklace."
"What was the quickest way back?" Sonic picked up his cue. "It was Tails' tele-transporter, and there was a clipboard on the table over there explaining how to use it. You can see that it was dropped there somewhat hurriedly; it's lying in a crooked position."
"Looking over the clipboard, Rouge set up the tele-transporter to take both of them back to the club. The problem was, she'd overlooked the warning noted at the bottom, which warned against two or more passengers using the tele-transporter at once," Tails clarified.
"Because if they did," Sonic finished, "a bug in the tele-transporter could cause them to be fused into one. And that's exactly what happened, if that witness's description is believable. Well, that's the summary. Understand now, Cream?"
Cream thought about it for a moment. "Okay, I think I understand now. Wow, you two are like detectives. I guess we should find Amy or Rouge or whatever she is now."
"Now you're catching on," Tails cheered. "Let's ask Knuckles if he's seen anyone."
The decision made, Sonic and Cream began to leave the lab. Tails tried to follow, but he'd accidentally set up the folding table on top of his twin tails. When he tried to get up, the table tipped over with a resounding CRASH!
"Don't worry about it," Sonic assured his best friend. "You can take care of it after we return. Come on, let's go."
"I don't understand why you came to me," Knuckles interjected. "I mean, I know you need someone to talk to, but I really don't know much about this fusion stuff. Why me, of all people?"
Rosebat sighed. "I really don't know. I guess my Rouge side was tempted by the Master Emerald, and I was kind of drawn here."
"Looks like you've got some self-control now," Knuckles commented. "I wish I could control myself like that. The slightest thing ticks me off, and I want to punch someone's head off."
Before Rosebat could respond, a yell pierced the air. "Sonic! Cream! Look, it's Amy and Rouge!"
Knuckles stood up. "Tails? Sonic? What are they doing here?"
Blue, yellow and pastel orange gathered around Knuckles and Rosebat. "Gee," Sonic commented upon examining Rosebat, "I didn't picture you this way when I heard that guard's description of you. I thought your face would be a little more white."
"That must be pretty awkward, being fused like that," Cream added.
"It was at first," Rosebat explained, "but after a while I got used to it. Sometimes I conflict with myself, though."
Tails folded his arms. "Well, you need to come back to the lab with us, Amy or Rouge or whoever I'm speaking to right now. I think I can get you fixed. It should only take a-"
BOOM! A small tennis-ball-looking thing flew into the air and landed right in the middle of the crowd of five (or six, depending on how you count Rosebat). Knuckles picked it up and examined it.
"What is it?" Sonic asked.
Tails gasped. "Knuckles! Put it down! That's a-"
Interrupted once again, Tails was helpless to stop the capsule as it suddenly let loose a cloud of sleeping gas. Knuckles fainted, followed by Sonic and Cream. Tails was the fourth to fall, having recognized the thing too late.
"Not… again…" Rosebat moaned, being the last one down.
After everyone was down, a robot approached the group and examined them to make sure they were all down. "All five subjects are out of commission," the robot radioed to its master. "Your orders, Dr. Eggman?"
"Bring all of them back to the base," the response came. "And make sure the hybrid is placed in the examination chamber!"
So there IS a plot. Stay tuned to find out what happens to our protagonists!