Chapter Two

Cream

Clackity clack! Clang clang! "Stop!" CRRRRRRASH! I couldn't help but giggle. A red head popped out of the huge pile of mechanics caused by the clog Amy started just then. "So you think this is FUNNY!" He roared. The supervision robot rose out and aimed a shot at me. I was racing like mad to the door. "You might as well do something USEFUL!" He roared after me. "Go on oil duty with Tails."

Oil duty was one of the worst chores ever. You see, Eggman would not settle for any oil but his own recipe. So we had to mix up new batches on duty. His measurements and ingredients were extremely complicated, and everything had to be just right, or it wouldn't work the way it was supposed to, so nearly every batch turned out wrong. In addition, Eggman's burner used huge flames to work, which meant that the room was so stuffy that when you left a hot summer day where you sweat immediately seemed pleasantly cool in comparison. It was a horrible torturous chore.

I was given the job of stirring at the right places and pouring and turning the heat up or down depending on the spot in the recipe. Around about the sixth batch, we were relaxing a bit. I asked Tails if there was anything he missed about his old life. He shrugged, "Plenty!" he said. "Building things, going on adventures, hanging with Sonic, Flying…" "Wait," I interrupted, "You can't fly?" "No," Tails said, "I would have flown over the wall if I could." I was shocked. After a while, I softly whispered, "I can't fly anymore, either." We leaned against each other for a time. I had never really thought of Tails as a close friend. But now, I don't know what I would have done without him.

Suddenly the door snapped open. We both gasped in surprise. Standing in the doorway was Eggman's most powerful creation- Metal Sonic himself! He was holding one of the supervision robots by what would have been the scruff of the neck if he had one. "This lazy robot needs more oil," Said M.S., throwing the robot at us. Tails and I both grabbed for a bottle at the same time, and we and the bottle ended up on the floor. Metal groaned. "Must I do everything myself?" He reached for a bottle and poured some down the robot's throat. The robot gave a huge shudder, and then finally looked at the clock. "Funny. She should be back by now." The SR model leaned back with a sigh. "Who should be back?" I asked, trembling a little. "Amy. She went to weed the northwest corner…" "Northwest!" I cried. Me and Tails were out the door in an instant.

If we hadn't been so rushed, we might have noticed the oil bottle was just as full as before.

And we also would have seen Metal Sonic press a button and whisper, "They fell for it. Go now, M.K."

Sonic

I had not heard about it like Cream and Tails had, or how Charmy did, although I'm not sure about Charmy because he never said how he heard it, I heard because I was sent outside for three apples and two mobim fruit (Purple spherical fruit) for a pie and that was outside.

As I stepped out, two faces watched me. But they were neither workers nor robots. They were the statues at the front gate. The sculptures faced towards the Slave Quarters, but oddly enough, they had little in common besides the fact they were both hedgehogs. One was looking up to the sky, had both hands clasped together as though saying a prayer, his eyes open and watchful, and the whole body tense. The other, however, had its head bowed, its eyes closed, its body completely relaxed, and one hand curled around a stone scroll and the other hand open as though it once held something.

Then my ears twitched, for distinctly there was a girl's voice, very faint, calling, "Help! Hel…" It dropped off to three more voices, the first light and airy, the second young and familiar, and the third fast and busy.

"Help!" "Help!" "Help!" I ran over, shocked to see Cream, Tails, and Charmy near a hole. In the northwest corner.

Tails stood up when he saw me. "Sonic!" he cried. "I'm glad you're here! Amy fell down this hole and we, well, don't know what to do."

I cocked my head. "Why doesn't one of you just fly down?" I asked.

Tails didn't seem to know the answer to that question. Maybe he was trying to figure why he didn't think of that.

After a while, Cream stood up too, with a look of longing in her eyes. "We… can't…"

Charmy, who had stood up too, with a similar look in his eyes, but fainter. "Well?" he asked me. "Don't you think we'd be long gone if we could still fly?" There was the slightest bit of fury in his tone. Then, as though suddenly ashamed, he looked away and bent down again.

"Guys?" I heard.

I spun around to find myself face to face with Knuckles. Without a word, Knuckles bent down and called to Amy, "Hey, I hear there's a Chaos Emerald down there if you want to try and find it."

"W-well, I don't-"

"Okay," the echidna replied, as though she said yes, "Sonic, you get some matches. Tails, get some water. Cream, find a blanket, and Charmy, you-" he was out of ideas. "Find some other necessity! NOW!" The last word was so loud, we scattered instantly.

Amy

The ground was cold and hard. After a while, Knuckles handed down a blanket wrapped messily around some items bundled together. It slipped from my hands and everything scattered. Sighing, I leaned over to pick the equipment up. There was a packet of matches, a few feet of rope, a canteen of water, a small tin of hard biscuits, and a flashlight. As I gathered the objects in a much neater bundle than before, I wondered why Knuckles was taking charge all of a sudden. He normally was a lot quieter. Ah well, better find the Chaos Emerald.

For a while, the cave was pleasantly warm. Then cold breezes started to blow. Finally, if it wasn't for my determination, I would probably have turned back, it was so cold. At last I was so tired I stopped to light a fire and rest a bit. I heard a low rumble, and the earth shook for a brief second. When it stopped, I decided to keep going. As I walked, I wondered for a minute why Sonic and the others were suddenly afraid of Knuckles, but I pushed the thought out of my mind. There were more important things to think about.