Chapter Six

Amy

It had been a long day, and I was finishing it up with some Kitchen Duty. I had just pulled some hot rolls out of the oven when Sonic came in. "Hello!" I called cheerfully. Sonic sighed and plopped onto a chair. "All day," he panted, "All day, and I still haven't found Tails, Cream OR Charmy. They all just vanished." I patted his shoulder. "Here, have a roll, Eggman won't notice. You deserve it." As I handed him the treat, tears filled my eyes and I had to look away. I couldn't stay here.

The passage way had not stopped where I found the Chaos Emerald. It had gone on.

I had to see where it led.

Knuckles

I was still stuck in my room. I always saw Sonic out there when I looked out my window, but I could never talk to him, never communicate, and never tell him that it wasn't ME who attacked Amy. It was maddening. And there Sonic was, blaming me for everything. Oh, how I missed guarding the Master Emerald! So much time to myself, and when someone stole it, nobody said I did it; they just want me to get it back. Then I would have a fun adventure and be back to watching butterflies and rabbits play. Oh, those WERE the good old days. Sonic! Look my way! Quick! Oh boy, he's looking right here…

Great, now my double is distracting him. So close to freedom, THIS close! ARG! I HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!

Tails

I had been cornered by Metal Sonic up against a wall of ice. An icy sea was nearby. "Wh-wh-what do you want?" I asked timidly. "Eggman is too slow. We want to conquer the world ourselves. And part of it is to make you all one of us." With that, I jumped into the pond. It was freezing! But I swam ahead as fast as I could. Suddenly, I noticed a ladder. I grabbed on quickly and climbed. A laser beam shot over my shoulder. Just before I reached the hole in the ceiling, the ladder crumbled. I clung to some ice jutting out of the wall, but I couldn't hold on forever. I was already slipping! Then I heard someone call down to me. "Tails?"

It was Charmy and Cream. Cream was holding on to Charmy and Charmy was reaching for me, but their human chain wasn't quite long enough. I was slipping farther…

"Quick!" "What the?" "Grab my hand!" After I was safely up the hole and we moved a rock in front of it, I was still shocked, and so apparently were Cream and Charmy.

"Espio's alive?"

Sonic

For some weird reason, I couldn't sleep. This was strange; I generally was so exhausted I fall asleep right away. In my sleeplessness, I thought of something weird: We hadn't needed to eat anything since we arrived at Slave Quarters. I looked out the window. To my surprise I saw a laser gun shooting blue light. It swiveled around, seeming to try to paint the house blue. When it shone on me I felt very weak and sleepy…