Chapter One
Sonic
The bell rang for wake up call. I sighed and got out of bed.
My room was like all the others in the "Slave Quarters", at least as far as I knew. Bed, Dresser, Night Stand, No Door, A window, A lamp, A warp portal for leaving the room.
I stood on the warp portal, and while I waited for it to work I ran my hand over my spikes to get ready for inspection. When I arrived in the main room I headed to the inspection bench.
Charmy
I rolled out of bed and glanced at the clock. Late again! I jumped on the warp portal and raced to the bench. Luckily the inspection robot was late too. I took my place next to Cream and hastily made some last minute adjustments. Cream's eyes were red, like always. As always happens when the robot is late, we started talking with whoever was next to us. Since I was at the end of the bench, Cream was the only one to talk to, so I did. "Been crying about your mom again?" I asked Cream.
"*Sniff* Yeah. I miss her so *Sob* much." She said, wiping tears from her eyes.
"I know how you feel." I said sympathetically.
"No you don't!" She snapped, turning away.
I was angry now. "Yes I do!" I snapped back. She had said that every time I mentioned her mom. I really did know how she felt.
You see, Mighty and Vector had been guarding the chaos rings when we went to help Sonic. As a result, Eggman had failed to capture them. But then one day Espio was sent to weed an area in the northwest corner of the slave quarters yard… and never returned. So now I was the only Chaotix member here. I understood Cream's problem well. Very well.
Tails
I looked anxiously at the door. There is something about inspection that always makes me feel jittery. I was the only one who wasn't talking. I just hoped I passed. I wasn't sure what happened when you didn't pass inspection, and I wasn't going to find out.
The main room was mostly empty, except for the long wooden bench we sat on for inspection, and all of our warp portals lined up along the wall with labels on them, and one with none. So what made it the main room? Because it was the one with all the doors.
Every door that existed in the house was in the main room. The one to the kitchen, the storerooms, the machine repair room, the assembly line, the one leading outside- even more! There weren't any labels like there were with the warp portals. You had to learn them all yourself.
The door creaked open. Again I desperately tried to flatten those three stray hairs that the inspection robot always comments on. The robot rolled down the line. The robot was basically an Egg Pawn with wheels, since once Sonic got mad and broke his legs, and oddly enough, Eggman never bothered to repair it. This was strange, just as strange as the fact that Eggman wasn't conquering any new places, but broken robots always managed to find their way to the repair room. The robot made comments as it passed, which wasn't unusual, but then he went back to Knuckles. He stared at Knuckles for a long time. Finally he said, "Does not pass. Come with me" He grabbed Knuckles and shoved him out the door. Then he turned back to us. "Everyone except Tails on assembly line duty. Tails on Oil duty." With that, he left.
Knuckles
I was being dragged along at an amazingly fast pace. Don't robots get tired? I don't know, but this one sure didn't. I must say-with some discomfort- that I was a little tense as we headed toward a big building. What happens when you don't pass inspection? I was about to find out.
Of all the many doors on the building, the robot had to choose the shortest. Just like him. He could fit though it. He is short enough. He shouldn't have to worry about an echidna who's taller than him!
After a bit a squeezing, I found myself in a tiny room. I mean, the ceiling was tall enough, but there was only enough room for me and the Egg Pawn. The robot grabbed my hand and pressed it on a glowing green panel in one corner of the room. What kind of device is this? I thought. When the light turned red, the robot let go. "What-" I began, but I found myself being dragged along again, through the tiny door, and back to Slave Quarters.
It only occurred to me later that there was nothing particularly wrong with me during inspection.
Amy
"Hurry up!" Sonic called from further along on the line.
"I'm trying!" I yelled back, snapping pieces together. I didn't get his problem. I had to do my work and Knuckles work, so of course I would be going slower.
Assembly line duty was basically putting robot parts together. Everyone had a different job. Today my job was adding the arms. Knuckles was in charge of the legs. I had to do both. Suddenly the door snapped open with a crack. Knuckles took his place between me and Charmy. At last!
After a couple minutes, however, the loudspeaker blared, "Amy Rose, please report for weeding duty at once." I looked at Knuckles, who was daydreaming, and smiled. "Good luck!" I called out, and ran off. "Hey!" he cried. I looked back to see a huge pile of robot parts in the space between Knuckles and Sonic with a robot waving his arms at them.
Weeding only happened every once and a while. It was just getting rid of weeds. The robot at the door, though, told me to weed the northwest corner, and that changed it from a simple chore into a nightmare. That corner had never been weeded since last month. I walked slowly toward the edge.
The northwest corner.
Espio's corner.
I was completely tense as I picked the first few weeds. But after a while, I relaxed. Maybe I had nothing to fear. That was when it happened.
The ground rocked right under my feet. I fell on my knees and tried furiously to grab something, anything, but in vain. With one last shudder, the ground crumbled. My head was in a whirl of fright and anger. Then I landed on something sharp- and blacked out.