"~Doctor, some of them are making their way inside but I have the ones called Shadow and Knuckles thoroughly distracted~" Metal not missing what they had done and warned Eggman over his personal com link.

"~Good. Make sure those two are kept distracted. I'll deal with the other two...~" He grinned evilly. They had no idea what they had coming..

"Grrrrrr..." A purr like growl was heard.

"There there my pet...dinner will be served soon..."


Chris and Tails ran through the metal hallways trying to find a way out. "Tails are you sure you know where we are?"

"Of course...okay maybe not..."

The kid rubs his head. "Want to go left?"

"I guess we have no better choice.." The two head down the hall way in said direction. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, except the lack of robot. Which Tails figured most of them were out defending the base, so the fox didn't give it much thought.

The same thing crossed Chris's mind.."Kinda empty isn't it?..."

"Shadow and Knuckles must be keeping them occupied."

"Yeah...I hope they're doing okay out there..."

"Me too."

"Then again we are talking about Shadow and Knux here.."

"Heh. That is true."

"But still...to quiet..for Eggman at least.."

Tails glances around with a tiny sigh. "He's gotta have something going on."

"So I guess we should just keep on our toes.." Chris stopped. "Wait...do you hear that?"

Tails' ears perked up, "...hear what?"

"Yeah actually...what is that?"

~Thunklunk Thunklunk Thunklunk~

"I don't know...but it's definitely coming this way!"

"We gotta find somewhere to hide." Chris swung his head back and forth, trying to find such a place.

Tails nodded, "There should be a supply closet around here somewhere." He whisper quickly, pointing.

"Lets go then!" They pryed open the door and dashed inside. The metallic thumping slowly draws closer...They both held their breath, waiting .

~Thunklunk Thunklunk Thunklunk~

"It sounds huge..." Tails muttered.

A huge robot totters in by. It's metal hinges and joints creaking and clacking. Tails and Charis hold their breaths. ...The bot stops...Then scratches it's head and continues walking

"Good it left." Tails said quietly

"But...what was it doing here by itself?"

"Looking for us?"

"Hopefully not. Because in that case then they know we're here.."

"Well let's not worry about it and get moving." So back on their mission the two went.

"Okay so we should be close to the main lab.."

They went on until they came to a larger metal door. Unfortunately there was a keypad next to it. "Can we hack this?"

"Yes it's the same basic one as the door outside."

"Shouldn't have any trouble with it.."

Tails takes a moment and works on hacking the door. It beeps and clanks open.

"We're almost there."

"And this will finally be over."


Back outside the confines of the base, Knuckles and Shadow were dealing with the metal hoard.

"How's it going on your end Knuckles?"

"These moving trash cans aren't putting up that tough of a fight!"

"Though they do outnumber us five to one. So we still must be wary."

"Oh wary shmary...we're burying them!"

Shadow smirks. "I bet I got more then you."

Knuckles grins, "I'll let you keep that as a confidence boost."

"Or you don't want to admit I'm right."

"Hhhmmmm maybe.."

*Surrender!* Another robot attempted to attach but was quickly destroyed by a Chaos Spear.

"There I'll admit that was a good shot." The echidna quipped.

"One to your 2'oclock."

Knuckles turned to look and just managed to dodge the oncoming bot's blow. "Okay now that was way too close!" After an other few minutes of demolishing the bots they seemed to stop coming

"Think that all for now?"

"We're probably breaking them faster then he can make them and that's a good thing.."

"So lets use the advantage and catch up with Tails"


"How much are we getting paid to swing this joint?"

"I'm boooooooored!"

There was a sniffle followed by a whimper.

"When do you think they'll be back!?"

"IF they come back!"

"WWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Amy burst into tears and Cream ran out of the kitchen and to her side.

"Wh-wh-what i-if th-th-they do-d-d-don-n-n't co-ome b-a-ack!? Wh-wh-wha-at i-if th-the-y d-do-n't m-ma-ake it!?" Amy tried to speak between sobs.

Not even Cream (happy, calm, and optimistic as she was) could steady her voice, "Oh, p-please don't cry, M-Miss Amy! I-I'm s-sure that they will ALL come back s-safely," Cream put an arm around the pink, distressed hedgehog and painfully held back the tears that began to sting her eyes, "A-and I'm sure that Mr. Sonic-."

She was cut off by a deafening scream.

"SSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICCCCC!"


"Amy?"

The blue hedgehog looked around in the blackness that surrounded him.

He was sure that he had heard a scream. A familiar cry out to his name.

"AMY WHERE ARE YOU!?"

"HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAA!"

The shrill laugh sent chills up the hedgehog's spine and beads of sweat began to form on his forehead.

"Do you ACTUALLY believe that she can hear you!?"

The hedgehog felt his face grow hot. He hated being stuck where not a single soul could reach him. He hated being stuck where he could not reach out. He hated being taunted like this. He hated watching himself do things that he himself would never do.

He hated the fact that this was all his fault.

"Hahahaaa... You're pathetic."

The calm and collective way in which he had said this made Sonic feel defeated.

Sonic's closed fists slowly undid themselves and all at once his body went cold and numb.

"Call out to your precious friend ALL YOU LIKE, but it WON'T change a thing!"

And with that, Sonic was engulfed in the darkness once again.


"WOW! Who knew that Old Egghead had SO MANY robots!?"

Knuckles gave a hard uppercut to the robot he was struggling with.

"Yea. Seems sort of..."

"Odd? Suspicious?"

"Yes."

"Well... Let's hurry this up the-!"

"LOOK OUT!"

Knuckles spun around to find Shadow blocking the path between him and a killer robot...

With a giant sword...

Through his chest.

"SHADOW!"

"Nng! I-I'll be... fine..."

Shadow turned his palm and aimed a chaos spear at the robot's head while still skewered on the sword. He dropped to the ground the instant sparks flew from the robot's neck.

Knuckles ran over to the kneeling hedgehog.

"SHADOW!"

Shadow shook as his palm began to glow green.

"Moron. Don't you remember?"

The wound faded completely, "The powers of chaos can heal any wound."

Knuckles looked stunned, "Oh... Yea..." He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, "But how do YOU know that?"

Shadow blushed a little, "Tikal. She's a-uh sort of... friend of mine." He didn't want to explain to Knuckles how she reminded him of Maria. How she seemed like a sister to him (in a friendly way). How she always brightened his day and how she always seemed to make him feel happier and more alive.

Shadow's palm began to glow again, "She was the one who taught me how to utilize my powers to their fullest potential..." He then flashed a serious, but cocky smile to Knuckles and tried to mimick Sonic's sassy and snarky demeanor, "But of course I AM the ULTIMATE LIFEFORM SOOOOOOO!"

Knuckles couldn't help but laugh... and neither could Shadow. The two had just fought what seemed like a million powerful robots and were bruised and sore. And with everything that was going on, it felt good to just let go and laugh for once.

"Don't let anyone know how I just acted."

"Promise."


HUGE thank you to NikkiE-K for helping me!

I asked for a editor and she stepped up to the plate and wow did she deliver. I wrote with InvaderNextis about half and then I replace the rest with Nikki's work. Then edited it so it would fit better into the story. You won't believe how much text she wrote. Enough for several chapter.

And Nikki agreed to work with me on more projects.

Please as always send in any ideas you may have. They really do help me out. And if anyone drew art for this, let me know. I'd love to see it.