Chapter 4

Cream looked around. She was standing in the partially constructed city that replaced Station Square, and she was a 15 year old rabbit again. Then she noticed some Eggrobos, and went over to see what was going on.

She ran over, though tried to keep hidden, and gasped when she saw her mother being led up to a guillotine. She ran forward and pushed her way through the Eggrobos. Strangely, none of them noticed her. She could nothing but watch the first time, and she would sooner slice off her own ears before she'd let it happen again.

As she made her way through, she saw it exactly as she remembered it. Her mother being forced to her knees, and her neck being locked into the guillotine.

"Cream, wherever you are…I love you." she heard her mother said, and was past the front line when she saw the blade start to drop.

"MOM, NOOOOOOOO!" she screamed.

---

Cream awoke in a cold sweat. She was back in the base, and back into her 21 year old body. She sat up in the bed, and saw Tails was sleeping in the bed next to her, Sonic was viewing the camera station, and Shadow was still at the computer. Her eyes started to well up with tears, as she thought of her mother.

"No," she thought, as she attempted to hold her tears back. "I'm not going to cry. I won't cry."

Then she felt weight on the bed, and turned to see that Sonic has gone over to sit on the bed next to her. He put a hand around her shoulders as he asked, "You okay?"

Cream shook her head, as she looked up at him, tears starting to fall down her face. She brought her arms around him and cried in his shoulder. Sonic just held her, since he guessed she could use the comfort.

"How would you feel…if you watched your mother die?" she asked him.

Sonic looked down, not knowing how to answer. He never knew his parents, since they disappeared when he was young. He was fast from birth, and already knew what was safe to eat. So he was able to survive on his own, with some help from the animals where he lived. Eggman started to turn his animal friends into robots when he was thirteen, and the rest was history.

"I never knew my parents, so I can't answer that," he finally said, looking back up at her.

---

Unknown to the two of them, Tails wasn't as asleep as they previously thought. He was laying on the bed, eyes open, watching and listening to the two of them talk. His heart started to ache, as he saw that Cream may not love him as much as he loved her.

Then Shadow cursed and slammed a fist into the brick wall next to him, as one of Eggman's symbols flashed on the screen. That happens when Eggman's anti-hacking systems manage to kick him out of the restricted portion of the Eggnet. Sonic looked his way, then stood up.

"Shadow, maybe you should get some sleep. You've been at that for a good 12 hours or so," he said.

"We need to get as much info as we can. That way, we can be sure that we get you back to your own time, and possibly stop this dark future," Shadow replied.

"You probably found a lot already. It's enough for me to work with," Tails suddenly said, getting out of bed. "Now, get some rest. Even ultimate lifeforms need their sleep."

Reluctantly, Shadow stood and laid down in the bed that Tails recently vacated, turning away from the others and bringing the covers over himself. Tails then turned to Sonic and Cream. They had their arms off each other, and Cream's eyes were red from crying.

"Sonic, did you see anything when you were checking the cameras?" Tails asked.

Sonic was about to say no, when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He turned to see a robot on the screen, flanked by two larger robots. But what caught his attention was what the robot seemed to be carrying.

"Isn't that a Chaos Emerald?" Sonic asked, as the three of them gathered around the screen.

"It looks like it. Eggman has managed to collect four of the emeralds. He moves them constantly, all four at different locations, to keep us from taking them. But he's never this careless about moving them. This smells like a trap," Tails said.

"Then lets walk right into it," Sonic said with a smile. He adjusted the view to see where he was heading, then continued, "It seems like he's heading towards some kind of detention cell."

"Perfect place for a trap," Tails said. "They capture and detain us in one swift motion. But you're right, Sonic. Even though this is a trap, we can't pass up the opportunity for another Emerald."

"How many emeralds do you have, anyway?" Sonic asked.

Tails gave an answer by walking over to the safe and unlocking it. Inside, Sonic saw the green and red Emeralds. They just sat there, emitting a slight glow from being in close proximity to each other.

"We have these two, Eggman has four, and Knuckles has the yellow emerald with him," Tails explained.

Sonic nodded, and as Tails locked the safe again, he stood up. Not one for waiting around, he was already at the door before Tails could finish locking up. Sonic opened the door, raced down the sewer, as Tails gave him directions to the detention cell. They came out of the sewers as near to the detention cells as they could, then ducked behind a nearby dumpster.

The building in front of them was a three story brick building, with all the windows having bars over them. The door leading inside had bars as well, with one Eggrobo on each side. It didn't look like it had been cleaned at all since being built.

"The robot must have went inside," Tails said. "Now remember, we're only here for the emerald. Don't try to free any of the prisoners here, since that may set off alarms, and lower our chances of getting out."

Sonic and Cream both nodded, and they used Cream's flight ability to get to the roof unnoticed and slipped in the ventilation shaft. They crawled quietly until the vent split in three different directions.

"We'll have to split up," Tails said, pulling out three small communicators.

The communicates attached to the ear, and had a small mic and speaker, so you could both talk and listen. Tails handed one to Sonic and Cream, before attaching one to his ear.

"If you manage to grab the emerald, contact the rest of us, and we'll hightail it out of here," Tails told them.

They silently went their separate ways. Tails went to the right, Cream to the left, and Sonic straight ahead.

---
Sonic soon got to the end of his shaft. He looked down into the hallway, and waited for some guards to pass by before dropping down. The place inside was cleaner than the outside, with walls and floors polished to a shine. He raced through, trying to find where an emerald would be, while getting a look at some of the characters there.

One was a tan hawk-like character, with large muscles, long yellow hair and big black eyes. Around his waist, he wore a belt with a large brown star on the center of it, had a large silver band around his head, and wore shorts that made him look like a wrestler

Another cell contained a young teenage girl that looked about seventeen. She had pink hair and really long ponytails that were almost touching the ground. She wore goggles on her head, a long shirt, tight black pants, and really high boots.

In a third cell, There was a guy who looked like a superhero of sorts. He had a red helmet with a white V on it, and had a red spandex suit on, with white gloves, boots, and a scarf that went down his back.

Sonic turned away, not wanting to look at them, feeling a bit guilty for not helping them. But he knew Tails was right. The less attention they attracted, the better.

Then he heard a voice call his name. The last voice he expected to hear, but he wasn't complaining. He followed the voice to a nearby cell, and found that he recognized the voice correctly.

Her dress was somewhat beat up, but still covered the important parts. Her fur, however, was so dirty that you could barely tell that the original color was pink, and she was obviously ten years older, making her 27. But there was no way Sonic could make a mistake.

It was definitely Amy.

To be continued...