Tails knew something had been wrong for days. Cheese, an inseparable aspect of Cream's life, had been missing from Cream's side since the pair had taken a walk several days ago. Tails wondered, if Cheese wasn't by Cream's side, then where were they? More importantly, why wasn't Cream devastated from the prolonged separation? He remembered Cream smiling and cheerfully waving goodbye to him before leaving, and Cheese had followed suit. Only an hour after she'd left, Cream came back. Despite passing through Tails' workshop on her way to her room, she neglected to give so much as a cursory glance over at Tails. Tails had noticed her apathy towards him and the other Sonic Team members, and it left a gnawing feeling in him that refused to subside. He'd grown desperate to diagnose the problem, so he stealthily watched Cream when she was nearby. Only, this aberration lacked any physical changes. The sole indicator of her affliction was an attitude change. He knew his own limits when it came to shadowing someone, so he enlisted Rouge's help for today. Though her track record was morally hazy at best, and rather unsuccessful, she was the best person Tails could ask to help him. Tails knew that Cream would go for another walk at noon, as she was wont to do, and he prepared today by calling upon Rouge to shadow her. If something or someone was to blame for Cream's sharp change in attitude, Tails was sure it would be evident during the walk. After all, it was only after Cream had returned from a walk that Tails noticed she lost herself.
It was Noon, time for Cream to go for another walk. Tails looked up to see her walking through his workshop.
"Hey Cream, off on another walk?"
Cream left the workshop without so much as looking in Tails' direction. Once Cream had left the shop, Tails radioed Rouge to let her know her target was on the move.
Perched atop the roof of Tails workshop, Rouge followed Cream's trail until she could no longer see Cream and was required to change positions. Intermittently radioing the details of Cream's trail to Tails, Rouge followed her target until Cream stopped along the side of a rock wall obscured by moss. Cream bent over and lifted up the moss, revealing a weathered red button, which she proceeded to press. The wall groaned and creaked as a hidden doorway opened, allowing Cream to enter. After Cream was safely out of earshot and the door had sealed shut, Rouge relayed what she'd witnessed to Tails as she made her way back.
"Tails, I don't know what she is doing, but I just saw her enter a secret chamber in the forest"
"What? Cream's just a kid, why would she be exploring secret chambers? I'll mark the time you called me so I can figure out how long she spends in there. You stay back there, I need you to watch out for when Cream leaves. We might have a better idea of how we can check out that place if we know how long Cream stays there"
"We? Breaking and entering wasn't part of the contract."
"Don't you think that hidden forest areas might have hidden treasure?"
"That or a curse. I'll stand by out here for Cream, but I'm not going in there. If whatever's in there messed with Cream's mind, just think what they'd do to someone as gorgeous as me!"
Suddenly a loud noise came out of the forest and shook the ground beneath Rouge.
"Ok, maybe I will go check it out" relayed a shaken Rouge
Rouge walked up to the button and pressed it. Wincing at the noise of the door, She crept through the dark tunnel that opened. She reminded herself that she needed to be especially careful now. If there was anything nearby the door on the inside, then they'd certainly have heard it open.
Rouge whispered to herself "Why couldn't someone have oiled the secret door in the forest?"
She looked around at her surroundings: a hallway to the left and a metal door ahead of her.
"Well, I've never been one to shy away from the left hand path..." decided Rouge.
With her mind made up, Rouge poked her head around the corner, noting a right turn at the end of the hallway and nothing else. Satisfied with the lack of any threats, she proceeded to the end of the hallway. She paused at what sounded like speaking coming from ahead. Silently, she pressed herself against the side of the wall and peeked around the corner. On the other side was a round room with various pieces of chemistry equipment filled with a myriad of fluids, a control station off to the side, and an operating table flanked by many of the devices found in an operating room. On a shelf in the side of the room lay Cheese, mewling in a cast-iron cage. In the center stood Dr. Eggman, working on modifying a handheld electrical device. Cream stood unmoving, expressionless next to him. Eggman turned around holding a device that, to the best Rouge could determine, was a GameGear with a satellite dish coming out of the top. Grinning with satisfaction, Eggman began his monologue:
"At last! My latest and greatest invention, and I actually mean it this time, is almost complete! With a bit more work, I'll be able to control the minds of that pesky blue hedgehog and all his friends. I've already been able to do it once with that Rabbit, but soon I'll have them all at my bidding! Then no one will be able to stop me, and I won't be forced to spend more resources to have more robots built, Isn't it glorious!?"
Cream replied in a completely emotionless voice "Affirmative master".
Rouge immediately turned away and hugged the wall tensely. She then pulled out the radio and contacted Tails.
"T...Tails, what's going on with Cream is far worse than you think" whispered Rouge.
"What is going on?" replied a noticeably anxious Tails.
"Dr. Eggman is behind everything, he put Cream under mind control! He must have lured her in by kidnapping her chao"
"Seriously? That's low, even for Eggman."
He's planning to take control of everyone, that includes you, me, Sonic, Shadow and everyone else and turn us into his personal army."
Tails tensed up and replied "This is really bad"
"Luckily, the device is incomplete and he is still working on it. I was thinking, if you can get everyone else to come find me, we can all take him on at once and stop him from completing the device, but you need to be quick about it, we're losing time"
"Got it, we'll be there in ten minutes"
Ten minutes later, Tails had arrived at the secret entrance where Rouge was waiting outside. Tails had brought Sonic, Knuckles, Amy and Shadow with him. Sonic began to speak
"I think Eggman took that whole 'Get inside the mind of your enemy' line a bit too far"
Rouge replied "Well we better get in there before he decides to take that line even further"
Knuckles pounded his fists together and spoke, "Looks like we're in position, and my fists are hungry! Let's go!"
Shadow asked "What should we expect once we head inside"
"Aside from some empty halls and an overweight evil 'genius', not much." answered Rouge "Just follow me and I'll take the lead"
They all went inside and followed the same path as before. In a single-file line, they all hugged the wall outside of the laboratory where Eggman was standing.
Rouge motioned for the group to hold position while she explained the situation.
"Through this door is where Eggman had Cheese captive and Cream as his zombie. I didn't see any defenses, but we still need to be careful. Do any of you have an attack plan?"
"How about we all rush him at once, I'd be down with that" offered Knuckles
The other five hissed "No!" in unison
"Well I don't hear any better suggestions from you guys" replied Knuckles
Shadow shook his head in disappointment and commented "I knew none of you would be able to take on the Doctor without my help, so while you were bickering amongst each other, I came up with a plan. Two pairs of us go to Eggman's sides, while the remaining pair comes from the middle, allowing themselves to get noticed and act surprised. When Eggman goes after the pair he sees, then the other two jump him"
Amy quickly responded "I volunteer me and Sonic to be a pair! We can go from the middle and it won't look suspicious if it's just the two of us"
Sonic rolled his eyes and asked "Are you sure there isn't some ulterior motive for you to have me and you be a pair?"
"Of course not! Frankly, I'm offended you asked"
"Yeah, dick move Sonic" commented Knuckles.
Sonic pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. "FIne, but if I'm getting paired with Amy, then I want Knuckles and Rouge to be another pair"
They are soon interrupted by another one of Eggman's monologues
"Ah finally, only one more component to my device and then I shall begin my latest conquest to take over the world. With Sonic and his team under my control, not only will nobody be able to stop me, but my greatest threats will become my greatest assets."
Tails stated "Alright here's our chance, let's get ready to attack"
The teams assumed their positions, leaving only Sonic and Amy to prepare for their part. Once they made sure the other pairs were in place, they ran into the room making sure their footsteps were heard. Eggman turned at the sound of footsteps quickly approaching him.
"Ah, Sonic and Amy, what a pleasant surprise! I've been performing some fascinating experiments with our mutual acquaintance Cream. Would you care for a more….hands-on example?"
Sonic shouted back "Eggman! What's going on here, and why'd you kidnap Cream!?"
"Kidnap? Why, Cream's here on her own terms. As you can clearly see, I'm not doing anything right now, am I?"
"Quit playing games Eggman, we know something's up! How else would you explain that overly large pet carrier over there that's full of claw marks?"
"Oh that? Why I'm just storing it for a friend"
"Friend? We know you don't have any friends that you didn't make yourself, in fact, many of those don't even like you, Egghead"
"Jeez, and you guys call me the bad guy."
As Eggman and Sonic continued arguing, the other pairs continued sneaking closer to Cream and Eggman.
"...and that, Sonic, is why I'll always be the greatest genius of this world
"So, you're implying that there isn't a single smart person in existence?"
"Yes, I mean, hey! I'll show you how smart I truly am!"
Eggman reached over to the table behind him and grabbed the device he had been working on. Just as he picked up the device, Tails told everyone to attack and reveal their presence. Leaping from the shadow, the other four members took up offensive stances.
Amy stood with her arms crossed and a smug grin on her face as she patronized Eggman "You didn't really think we'd come here by ourselves did you? We're not all Knuckles after all"
Taken aback, Knuckles turned to face Amy and responded "Hey, I'm on your side!"
"Give it up doctor, we won't allow you to take control of any more of us" stated Shadow
Eggman shrugged, "If I had finished this device, none of you would stand a chance against me!"
"Sorry Egghead, looks like this assignment is late!"
"Oh sure, like you'd know anything about getting an education. I bet you don't even know your subspecies"
"I'll show you subspecies!" snarled Sonic
Eggman tried to run to the other side of the room to press an alarm button, but tripped on an exposed extension cord and dropped the device. It hit the ground with a loud pop, forming cracks on the shell and screen. The worst had yet to come as Eggman unceremoniously landed on top of the already damaged device, crushing it. Energy started to build up around the broken device. The device began to emit a faint blue glow.
"What's going on" exclaimed Rouge
"No, the material used in the device was extremely unstable, now it's going to…"
Suddenly, beams of energy shot forth from the device and hit all eight of them at once, knocking them to the ground. Energy arced between various places in a sphere of energy, giving off a crackling hum. The glow grew brighter and larger with each passing moment, until the beams stopped as quickly as they'd started.
Slowly, everyone began to stand up and attempt to get a grasp of the situation. Something was different, and they could feel it. Then Rouge exclaimed:
"This game of tag is boring, i'm outta here"
"What just happened, I'm Amy Rose the ultimate life form, I should know"
Tails began walking heel-toe toward Amy "Let her go, that just means there's less competition for me, not that anyone could be better than perfection"
Eggman brushed the debris off himself and observed his fat body, stating "Woah, how did I let myself go like this? I gotta hit the gym so I can guard the master emerald from that fox boy"
Shadow patted himself down as if checking for something he misplaced. He then asked "Excuse me, but has anyone seen my hammer anywhere?"
Knuckles said "Now is not the time for that Shadow, we still need to find out…"
They heard a soft, high-pitched evil laugh come from somewhere in the room and they all looked around. Their eyes found their mark when they saw cream in the room standing on top of the operating table"
"You fools, even though I don't remember what the evil plan that you stopped was, you won't get away with stopping the next one"
"Dr. Cream, I knew it was you who put us in this confusion"
Sonic was cowering in the corner, holding his hands over his head and eyes "She's scary, make her go away!"
"Mwahahaha, Adieu my friends, until we meet again"
Cream pressed a button that opened up the ceiling, revealing the Egg Mobile. She jumped inside and rode it out of the laboratory.
Amy crossed her arms and shook her head in disappointment "Great going everyone, now the Doctor's escaped and we're no closer to catching her than before."
"Don't worry Amy, I'll be able to catch up to Cream. Fastest bat alive, remember?" declared Rouge as she extended her wings and prepared to take off. With a powerful leap, she flew up towards the opening Cream left out of. She paused when she reached the opening.
"Huh, I remember being faster than that...maybe I'm not a fast flyer. Well, I have legs for a reason, I'll just sprint away and…"
Rouge dashed towards where Cream was headed, but stopped short when she realized she didn't come close to matching the Egg mobile's speed. Gazing into the sky where Cream flew off to, she thought to herself
"What happened? Why can't I move quickly? I'll have to try and figure out what happened back there to make me lose my speed. Maybe it was one of Dr. Creams plans"
Rouge glided down to the others as they headed back to Knuckles' workshop.
Amy was waiting for Rouge when she came down.
"Well speed demon, I'm outta here. I've had enough of you and your team for today."
Tails chimed in "Me too. As much as I'm sure everyone loves my company, our interests don't always align, and you don't care nearly enough for precious gems. Why don't you come get me again when you're interested in becoming a little…hmmmmm…richer!"
Tails and Amy exited the lair, leaving the other 5 to plan their next moves.
Knuckles offered his idea to the grup, "Why don't we meet back up at my workshop? We'll get prepared for when we go after Cream, or she comes after us."
Rouge walked off towards the exit.
"You guys go ahead, I have to figure out what's going on first"
As they all left, Cheese let out a despaired sigh as they were still locked up in the cage