*Rachel's POV*

Rachel woke up a rather short time later, feeling as if she was waking up from a normal, natural bout of sleep, rather than the effects of an anesthetic administered to her by an evil man by the name of Eggman Nega.

See, she even remembered the name! She remembered the man's name, appearance, and the way he grabbed her by the hand and took her to his airship, which flew a substantial distance before she was forced to black out.

She was currently in an empty place. It was walled by complete, silver steel, and only had a single silver cabinet and a door... one of those doors that appeared to be not only locked, but sealed air-tight.

There was, however, a single window, which presented the captivating view of what seemed like the same, snow-blanketed forest of trees as the one she knew as her home.

She only got one look out of it before she heard the door creak open. Imagination flashed in her eyes... well, the darker side of her imagination. She imagined this guy being the one who kidnapped her and held her hostage only to bring her life to an end... before she recalled that she was here because he wanted her help to take over the world.

Yes, it was Dr. Eggman Nega that had opened the door, and was staring at her with a triumphant smile plastered on his face. But rather than a sleek blade, or a jam-packed gun, he held a needle with an empty syringe.

"Amazing you've roused so quickly," Eggman Nega marveled. "All I need from you today is a quick blood sample. It's the easiest bodily fluid I believe I'll be able to get from you, and there's not much I can do with saliva with my equipment. I should be able to sift through your DNA and see whether you have any special powers, so if you've got anything in that respect to hide from me, it's got nowhere else to hide."

Taking one more look at her surroundings, Rachel realized that the lack of mentally stimulating anything in this room had to be addressed.

"Doctor," she very kindly asked. "What do you need me to do?"

As Eggman Nega broke Rachel's skin with the needle and withdrew some blood, he answered "Nothing quite yet, my dear. If I want the world under my control... I need a plan first." He withdrew the needle and dug into his pocket for a clean tissue, then pressed it against Rachel's "wound."

"And once you have a plan," Rachel followed up. "You'll alert me of it."

"Yes," Eggman Nega answered simply, standing up and walking to the door. "...I dearly appreciate your cooperation, Miss Rachel."

"I don't necessarily appreciate what you're doing," Rachel sighed. "But trying to scramble out of your grasp would be futile."

"Mm, clever, clever girl," Eggman Nega nodded, walking out, very tightly shutting the door behind him.

In reality, Rachel only wished she had the power to break out of his grasp. But all there really was to grab was the realization that she had been kidnapped and forced by the side of an evil mastermind. As the afternoon sun disappeared above the ceiling of the place, she wondered how disappointed Eggman Nega would be when he found that her blood was a complete waste. Her intelligence was all she had to succeed. Sonic and Shadow could run as fast as sound, but a gopher could beat her in a footrace. Other than the pizzazz she had locked within herself, there was really nothing to make her stand out... let alone attractive. She had felt downright abominable until Shadow had given her that poem.

Shadow... she could picture him rescuing her from this mess. He and Sonic were really the only true friends she had.

At the time.

*?'s POV*

He had simply gone out for a walk. A walk was all he needed to soothe his soul at the very moment. His life was perfect, but sometimes, the nature dancing calmly in the breeze made him feel as if something he had been missing had just been found.

Looking away from the snow-covered nature, he set eyes on something built in and around the trees. It just barely didn't touch the ground. One would need a meter-high staircase to get into even the bottommost entrance... which he couldn't find. A silvery steel building.

Why did it feel so familiar? He could almost remember this being the stage for a bitter rivalry.

Just as soon as he remembered what this place was all about, he looked up to a single window on the highest level, and instantly knew something was wrong when he caught sight of a familiar girl, looking forlornly out of it. The sadness in her eyes told him that she clearly missed the outside. She had to have been forced to be here. He knew who this girl was, too.

He immediately went to action.

*Rachel's POV*

The darkness was very vague, making the evergreen trees turn from evergreen to black, while the snow remained pearl white.

Feeling fatigue begin to overcome her, Rachel yawned and tried her best to curl up on the cold, hard floor. Well, the chill of the surface was so relaxing that she sprawled out a little more, but her head still only had her hands to gain comfort from.

Right as she closed her eyes, she could hear just a tiny creak, then a muffled "thud" coming from the entryway. She figured it was just Eggman Nega coming in to check on her and the room, perhaps to gather something from the cabinet, which she learned only held food, water, and scientific supplies.

Instead of drifting off completely, she was jolted awake by a hastened "Psst."

Opening her eyes, she caught sight of... him. It wasn't Eggman Nega, positively. Nor was it Sonic or Shadow.

She was looking at the golden eyes of the acquaintance she had shook hands with yesterday. His gloves were alight with a cyan-colored circle design.

Silver.

"Hey," he whispered. "Don't you worry. I'm going to get you out of here, alright?"

Rachel did nothing more than give a quick nod before carefully standing up.

"Just follow me," Silver whispered.

So Rachel did so, looking to the doorway to realize that it had been... detached and set off to the side? But how?!

Not taking her eyes off of Silver, she quietly followed him through one or two winding hallways before catching sight of another door. Was this really the way out?

Silver slowly reached out for the doorknob... when "Hey!" came from behind them.

They both turned around to see Eggman Nega, in stereotypical blue and white pajamas. He definitely looked a lot better in his usual outfit...

"...Well, what do we have here?" he asked irritatedly. "Silver! Ha... I knew I'd run into you again somehow. I just wouldn't have preferred it being you trying to run off with my newest ally!"

He reached out to try and grab Rachel. Rachel stepped back... and Silver stepped between her and Eggman Nega, his arms out in a stance that clearly showed that he would not let Nega get his grubby hands on her again.

Was this where it all began? Rachel was certainly flattered, but she passed it off as simply that.

"Look," Eggman Nega stated. "It's almost 10 o'clock at night. We're all really tired. Just step aside, and there won't be any trouble."

At that, all Silver had to do was put his hand out to cast some sort of... magic? Nah, didn't look like magic. It was some sort of force, whatever it was. Whatever it was, it surrounded Eggman Nega with an aura and seemed to leave him completely frozen to the spot.

Then, Silver used this same power to throw Eggman Nega powerfully against the wall. Rachel almost cringed; that dude's back had to be shattered. Thrown out, at the very least.

When Silver lowered his hand and ceased the power, Eggman Nega sort of keeled over on the floor, moaning in pain for a few seconds. Rachel could only watch him in amazement. Intelligent... definitely. Old-bodied... definitely.

Before she knew it, she felt Silver grab a hold of her hand and have her run out of the building and deeper into the forest with him.

As soon as they ran a pretty long distance, she immediately caught sight of her home. It stuck out in a unique, holidayish way.

"I live right over here," Rachel informed him, pointing to the cabin.

In front of the cabin was where they stopped, catching their breath and looking all around, making sure that Eggman Nega, or any type of trace of him, was nowhere in sight.

"Thank you," Rachel said gratefully. "I really can't thank you enough for getting me out of there. I wasn't sure what to do!"

"Don't mention it," Silver nodded. "Really, all I want in return is to know that you're safe."

"I'll probably holler if I get into any more trouble with that guy," Rachel assured him. "I know who he is now, and all."

"Great," said Silver, suddenly getting that cyan-colored aura around him... and rising into the air.

"I'll see you around, I guess!" Rachel smiled.

"Yeah," Silver replied, flying away. "See you around!"

After giving one final wave, Rachel went inside, throwing her coat and shoes off and flopping onto her bed.

However, getting to sleep that night was something else. In the past, she had had annoying rushes of awkward memories that she had sworn to put behind her replaying in her head, keeping her awake. This was the same thing... but different.

She had only seen the guy twice in her entire life. Perhaps, second time's the charm. Visions upon visions of what she had just seen replayed in her head. The way he could levitate into the air and basically take off into the skies. His voice, softly whispering for her to awaken and follow him. The way he had... stood up for her like that...

He amazed her.

Author's note: I apologize if this isn't at its best. Due to mostly unfortunate circumstances, I wrote this at 2 in the morning, plagued with fatigue. Utter. Fatigue. Anyway, I have 2 questions for you guys this week! #1 pertains to this fanfic. #2 refers to that one I mention too much that will be written in the near future.

Question #1: What shippings do you want to come to fruition in this story? Most importantly, what are your thoughts on Silvaze?

Question #2: I will be writing that "Sonic in Organ Trail" fanfiction. Which 4 Sonic characters could you see battling through a zombie apocalypse? (Do NOT mistake this for an OC request. If I ever need OCs for anything, I will request them personally.)