Chapter four

It was late by the time Sonic arrived back at his shack. After dropping Dave off at his mothers house Sonic had stopped by Amy's. Unfortunately the lights were all out when he had arrived. She must have gotten an early night. Sonic had been tempted to wake her and tell her all about his boys day with Tail and Dave's freak out but it could all wait until morning. Sonic had to admit that he was pretty beat to after his late night yesterday and all that had happened during his boys day.

As the blue hedgehog lay down in his hammock Sonic felt his eyes grow heavy. He stretched his aching muscles and let go of all of the days stresses.

X x x x

It was dark. He felt an icy wind blowing against his quills. Sonic looked down and saw sand at his feet. He could hear the oceans waves behind him. It was a familiar and calming. But there was something off. A smell in the air. A choking, burning smell which hit the back of Sonics throat and made him cough. There was something else. The smell of spilled motor oil. Sonic looked up and his eyes widened in shock and horror at the scene in front of him. At his feet Orbot and Cubot lay broken beyond repair. The light in their eyes had died and their bodies were strewn across the sand. There were other robots there, all in as bad a shape as Eggmans henchmen. Their oil leaked out into the sand turning it as black as the moonlit sky above them.

'There must have been some battle here.' Sonic thought to himself as he stepped cautiously between the broken, twisted metal of what appeared to be Eggmans entire fleet. As Sonic searched the carnage his eyes fell upon the doctor himself. With a yelp of shock Sonic ran forwards towards his old foe. Eggman was laying on the ground next to the smoldering remains of the Eggmobile. The doctors eyes were open and glassy. He was staring past Sonic, burning flames reflected in his pupils. Eggman was not breathing and clearly dead.

Sonic was almost sick with shock. He knew, no matter how heated his rivalry with the doctor Sonic would never be capable of this. He turned away from the horrifying sight to search the beach for the culprit and fell to his knees as his legs buckled from underneath him. This time he really was sick.

A few feet away from the stricken body of Doctor Eggman were Sonics friends. Tails and Sticks were resting under the bloody and battered body of Knuckles. The large red echidna had clearly tried to shield his friends from whatever had attacked them. Sonic let out a heart wrenching sob which shook his whole body as he reached out and grabbed Tails hand.

"I'm so sorry little bro." He cried. "Who did this to you?"

A sudden pang of terror filled Sonic as he realized two things. The first being that Amy had not been with the others and the second being where he was stood. It had finally dawned on him why this beach had felt so familiar and comforting to him. He looked up towards the fire burning ahead of him. Amy's house was ablaze. Sonic sped forwards but was sent flying back by a sharp electrical current. He hit the ground painfully hard and looked back up towards the house. Stood on the porch, framed by the flames pouring from Amy's doorway stood a large, yellow hedgehog. The hedgehog king had risen again.

The Monstrous mummy held a small shrieking bundle in his arms. At his feet Amy lay unmoving in a simple white dress. Her stomach was swollen from a recent birth. The hedgehog king kicked her body aside as he stepped away from the burning building. Now that she had provided him an heir the king had no more use for the pink hedgehog. She was dead to. Sonic struggled to his feet as the king bore down on him. The yellow hedgehogs eyes burned bright. They were the last thing Sonic saw.

x

He awoke screaming and covered in sweat. The hammock tangled itself around his legs as he tried to escape and get to his feet. As he tumbled from his bed Sonic slammed face first onto the floor and lay in the fetal position for a few moments. Whilst hedgehog cradled his knees Sonic felt a cold like he had never known pass over him and began to shiver on the floor. It took a few moments for the thought that it was just a dream to process. Even so the fear Sonic had felt lingered on. A sudden beeping noise made the already shaking hedgehog jump. He looked down at his communicator. It was Knuckles. Sonic felt panicked again. Had the dream been a prophecy. When his red friend spoke it seemed to confirm his worst fears.

"Sonic. We need you hear now." Knuckles boomed urgently.

"Where are you?" Sonic demanded.

"The mayors office. Its under attack."

Sonic breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at his communicator again.

"It's 6am!" Sonic replied. "A bit early for Egghead."

"Not Eggman." Knuckles replied. Sonic could hear screaming villagers in the background. "It's Sticks…"

Sonic didn't waste any more time asking questions. He sped to the village where he found Knuckles and Tails ushering villagers out of harms way whilst Amy tried to coax Sticks down from the clock tower. The small badger was throwing large lumps of masonry down from her vantage point over the square.

"What happened?" Sonic asked Amy as he skidded to her side. After the terror of his nightmare he had been tempted to embrace her but in front of all of these witnesses he fought to keep his cool.

Amy looked worried as she stared up at her best friend who was now ripping tiles from the roof.

"I don't know." Amy said desperately. "I got a call from the mayors office that she was here and I came down to find her like this. Sonic, nothing I'm saying makes any difference. She keeps ranting about the government spying on her."

"It's not THAT out of the ordinary for her." Sonic pointed out.

Amy shook her head. "She's never been like this before." The pink hedgehog moaned desperately. "Look at her eyes. There's something really wrong with her."

Sonic looked up. He could just about make out the badgers face in the pale dawns light. She looked feral. Her teeth were bared and her muzzle wrinkled but it was her eyes that worried Sonic the most. They put him in mind of Daves the night before. As Sticks glared down at them Tails and Knuckles ran over.

"Any plans?" Sonic asked Tails as he dodged a roof tile.

The fox nodded. "Yep but she's not going to like it."

He pressed some buttons on his communicator. Suddenly a small blue object flashed into the square.

"Oh good." Sonic said Joylessly. "You've booted Dash up."

The blue robodog shot past them all and up into the air. Once level with Sticks the robot opened its mouth. There was a flash as something shot from inside the robot. Sticks hand jumped to her neck and she pulled out a small dart. She stared at it for a moment before she started to sway.

"Catch her!" Amy yelled.

Knuckles darted forwards as Sticks slid sideways from the roof of the building and tumbled to the ground below. He caught her just in time.

The others gathered around and looked down at their unconscious friend. Sonic could see tears forming in Amy's eyes. As surreptitiously as he could he stroked the back of her hand. The others didn't seem to notice.

"Just like Dave." Tails said to Sonic.

Knuckles and Amy looked quizzically at the hedgehog and the fox. "We'll explain at Tails lab." Sonic said firmly, aware that a crowd was beginning to form.

They all nodded. Dash trailed behind them as the group headed back to the workshop.

Once there it was quickly decided it would be best if Sticks remained in the cage. Although Dave had come around perfectly reasonable last night once the boys had roused him, Sticks had a reputation for being somewhat of a loose cannon. Tails ran the usual test on her whilst Sonic filled the others in on last nights events.

Once he was finished the blue blur turned to the fox.

"Any ideas?" Sonic quizzed Tails as the boy genius mixed solutions in vials and inputted some data onto his computer. Tails shrugged awkwardly.

"I'm thinking maybe its some sort of nerve gas." He speculated. "Something made Dave convinced he could see snakes yesterday, something he's clearly afraid of. We all know Sticks biggest fear is government surveillance invading her privacy."

"So somethings making us see our worst fears?" Knuckles asked nervously. Tails nodded.

The echidnas eyes widened. "Ballerinas." He whispered to himself. He blushed as caught the others staring at him.

"How do they walk on their toes?!" The echidna demanded. Amy was shaking her head.

Sonic thought back to his own worst fear. His dream last night. But it had just been a dream though hadn't it? He reasoned. Sonic had not been convinced that it was real. Not like Sticks and Dave anyway.

"But what's the point in it all? Amy demanded, snapping Sonic out of his thoughts. "Why make them afraid and just leave them?"

Tails looked uncomfortable. "I'm not certain." He said but take a look at this. The fox fired up a computer readout which held a comparison of Dave and Sticks hormones, brain activity and heart rates. Fortunately Sonic didn't need to be a scientist to decipher it. The readout clearly said normal next to every test ran. He shrugged and looked back to Tails who sighed.

"Don't you think it's odd?" The fox asked. "Dave and Sticks were clearly terrified out of their minds but there was no adrenaline. When we're frightened our bodies go into flight or flight mode and produce adrenaline. The brain tells the body to focus on gross motor control and ignore fine motor skills. There was no sign of an increased heart rate, no change in brain activity. It's like something had sucked the fear out of them."

The others shifted uncomfortably.

"So we're thinking Eggman?" Amy said eventually.

"I don't think so." Sonic mused. "Tails and I caught him mid scheme yesterday. I doubt he'd have had time to put this together so quickly."

"It's still worth checking out." Tails supplied. "Maybe it's best if Amy stays here for when Sticks comes to. She's more likely to calm down and listen to Amy. And Knuckles in case she turns violent."

"You can keep Knucks safe from the ballerinas." Sonic muttered as an aside to Amy. She snickered into her hand.

"Okay fox boy." Sonic beamed at Tails. "Lets get moving."

Tails smiled back. "Alright. Come on Dash."

"Of course." Sonic muttered bitterly. " We wouldn't want to forget Dash."

As they left Sonic wondered if there was some way he could 'accidentally' destroy the wretched robot while they were battling with Egghead.