Yay! Shmee loves metal, she does. Anywho, yes, the dance has turned into an evil government lead, evil doctor interfered with plan! W00t! But,we shall see couplings,so again, if you don't like couplings and dances, when the chapter says 'Do not Read' DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT READ IT! Any who, I'll move on to our Newbie's group, our main group (Sonic and budds,) and then our metal espio cream group next chappie, and so on and so fourth.

Now, Enjoy!

Espio's Point of view

I awoke to find myself in a large bed with a cream-coloured canopy hanging above me. I flinched and rapidly sat up. Looking around, I began to calm down. This must've been the guest room of Cream's house. I flung my legs over the side of the bed and took a good look at me. Other than a few bruised along my arm, I looked perfectly fine. Well, good enough considering I had a building dropped on me. Just then, an older rabbit pushed her way inside the room, she was holding a simple cup of green tea. She smiled as she spotted me sitting up and set the tea down on the table. I eyed it ravenously.

"Help yourself Espio, it's yours anyway." She smiled as I reached to take the tea. Only when I'd had the first few sips of the liquid did I speak.

"I must thank your daughter." I said. Vanilla smiled and nodded.

"Yes, she called me saying you needed help. You were only at the hospital for a day or so before you were sent home with us." She frowned suddenly. "She seems to be making a lot of 'Discoveries' too much for her own good, Espio. I'm beginning to worry."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, she stumbled on something on the beach, our personal Mechanic is fixing it up, but it's making me nervous. The robot she found doesn't look like it was made to be friendly." I looked at her in a puzzled way. I had to see this for myself. Sensing that I needed to be alone for a while, she came up with an excuse to leave. "I guess I'd better go and do the dishes now." She said distractedly as she took the tea that I'd polished off. I smiled warmly and nodded

"Thank you."

"Oh it's no trouble Dearie" She said, then exited the room. I took a breath in and decided to test out my legs. Using the bed for support, I slowly stood up on my shaky legs. They hurt and were sore, but I could walk well enough. I paced around the room, thinking about breaking into a run, but I tripped at the thought

"Okay, so I won't be running for a while." He said, and he set out to find the robot Vanilla was talking about.

"Is he fixed yet Mr. Swanson?" I heard Cream ask politely. I began to follow her voice and the voice of the mechanic, which was low and jolly.

"Yup, it took a while, but all we need to do is turn him back online." I quickened my pace. The voices seemed to come from a room up ahead. I heard a clank, and then I spun into the room, only to recognize the figure standing emotionlessly with a human fiddling around in his back panels.

"No!" I cried, but I was too late. The robot's redeyes flashed as he lifted his head. Looking around before fixing his eyes on me.

"Espio."

"Metal." We greeted each other with venom. But he merely continued to study the room. I eyed him suspiciously.

"How did you find Metal Sonic, Cream?" I asked, seeing that Metal was not going to try anything while I was here. Cream skipped over to me and hugged me tightly

"Thank gosh your okay, Espio. Oh, and I found Metal Sonic when I was on a walk with Cheese on the beach." She said, smiling and pointing to Metal. "He was all rusty and broken, but Mr. Swanson helped me fix him!" I frowned as I realized Metal had moved closer to us.

"Yes. Lord Robotnik discarded me after telling me that he'd found a better robot. Waking up here is all I remember." He said in his monotone voice. Then he smiled at Cream. Or at least, it looked like a smile.

"And before you, Espio, friend of my rival, I will swear on my power that As long as I remain alive, I shall never let Robotnik's minions harm the Rabbit. For she was able to overlook where I was built and gave me a second chance." He said formally, before glaring back at me. "But I am afraid, that as I was programmed to, I will never like you or Sonic or his friends." I nodded in understanding; I wouldn't rather have it any other way. The robot with his creepy eyes and claws was not my Idea of a friend anyway. Suddenly, Cream spoke up

"Oh, Mr. Espio, we got invited to a dance!"

"What?"

Quarma looked around, his eyes wide and alert. He kept his ears flared and his senses heightened. He was lurking in the shadows of an alley to escape the bat and catch his breath. He flicked an ear at the sound of a mouse running away from him. He frowned at it before he was tackled out of the alley, being pinned down by the large back bat. He snarled, revealing his fangs and hissing

"Loser." He spat venomously. Quarma frowned and hissed back, about to counter the tackle, but a long gray snake wrapped around the bat's torso and lifted him into the air.

"Bat boy needs to chill, he does." Shmeeko said as she pulled the bat with her tails and giving Quarma a chance to get up. The large bat snarled and twisted around, breaking free of Shmeeko's Tail and leaping towards her. But he stopped in his tracks when the other bat spoke

"Migro, calm down." She said rolling her eyes and guiding the bigger bat away. Shmeeko skipped after the pair, and Quarma looked uneasy as he followed.

"Quarma, Quarma! ANSWER ME YOU WORTHLESS FELINE!" A voice buzzed in his ear. Quarma flinched, reaching up and holding a hand to his left ear. The black bat, Migro, turned to eye him coldly.

"Quarma, you're incredibly close to the source of power I'd told you about. You're right in front of it!" Black flashed before my eyes as the bat tore at my ear, ripping the speaker out and a bit of fur for fun too.

"Go figure" He said into the communicator. The doctor gasped

"Migro? I though you'd been eliminated!" He said. Migro shook his head

"You're new minions found me." He hissed while glaring at Quarma. The feline glared back.

"Ah, so you've met Quarma and Shmeeko, quite an interesting pair they make. Anyway, the three of you have a new mission. You see, the government is forcing Sonic and friends to go to a formal dance. You three are to infiltrate the dance and set detonators around the structure. Escape alive and you will receive your reward." Quarma felt odd as Migro ginned, showing off his pearl-white fangs in excitement. What did Eggman offer the strange bat? Eggman continued. "I've forged an invitation for each of you, they will allow you to get into the building and pass all rooms freely." He paused, as if working up the courage to say something. "And Shmeeko?" He asked. Shmeeko snatched the earpiece with her tail and spoke up gleefully

"Yes?"

"You're to operate the explosives. I believe you are the most experienced when it comes to detonators."

The cheer that came from Shmeeko nearly broke the communicator.

Shadow's Point of View

I had to admit, I was getting rather annoyed with the other hedgehog. She giggled behind my back, trading secrets and sharing stories with the child, who seemed to have warmed up to her. Niomie was following in back. I couldn't care less about what she did, she was mostly quiet, making a witty comment every once in a while, but nothing more. I couldn't begin to describe to myself how great full I was when Amy finally dragged us to her apartment and announced that she was just going to get something, and then they could go see if they could find the others. Strangely enough, I offered to come with her.

"Why Shadow?"

"I have a feeling you'll take forever to find what you're looking for." I said coldly. I ignored the glare I received from the hedgehog. The wait in the elevator seemed like forever. Who lived on the 19th floor? Most of the time, Amy just babbled. I wasn't listening, but she called my name a few times, so I decided to listen.

"Shadow…Shadow…Are you even listening to me?"

"No."

"Uh, Shadow, sometimes you're such a pain." The elevator door opened up and the pair walked out. Amy took out a pair of keys with a Teddy bear clipped onto them. I rolled my eyes and followed more slowly into her extremely…pink…apartment. I leaned against a wall beside the door as she shuffled through the mail on the floor. She looked at one letter with interest and stuffed it in her coat pocket. Before running through her house. I took time to notice all the pictures of Sonic and Amy on the wall. I smirked

"What're you smirking at?" The girl hedgehog challenged, poking her head out of the kitchen

"You and the Faker." I replied coldly. "You must really like him." Amy looked away, and I swear a look of anger, not embarrassment or affection was on her face.

"Not anymore." This provoked my interest. I actually looked at the hedgehog as I spoke.

"Hmm…And you hate him, Why?" Amy looked away. And continued to fiddle in the kitchen. Finally she emerged with a red scarf and faded pink mittens. She'd actually decided to answer.

"He ignores my opinions and calls me a burden. He constantly snaps at me. When he vanished, I began to realize how much better I felt without him around…Now that he's back, I really don't care." These facts provoked my interest as she fiddled for her keys in her pockets. Sonic had vanished? For how long, and why? I kept my mouth shut. The hedgehog was silent for a while, until she giggled and grinned "Whoops, forgot my keys in my room." The way she laughed, she was so forgetful.

Just like Maria…

I shook my head and frowned. As Amy reappeared with her keys, she stepped outside. I took another look at the pink apartment before following her out. As she locked the door, I said something I really didn't mean, or want to, say.

"You deserve better." She looked at me as if I'd just confessed to murdering Sonic.

"What?" I shut up; it wasn't like me to speak out of the blue like that. I scolded myself. She looked at me in a puzzled manner as we re-entered the elevator "Its okay Shadow, what did you mean by that?" I said nothing, so she gave up trying to get me to talk. I swallowed nervously.

Could I be softening up to Amy?