Desperate Hedgehogs

Desperate Hedgehogs is a fanfic by moi, RidersDX. This fanfic follows the lives of the four hedgehogs of the Sonic universe in the image above. Sonic, Shadow, Amy, and Silver the hedgehogs. All may be hedgehogs, but they all have very different personalities. The fanfic actually takes place FIVE YEARS after the events of Sonic Adventure 2. And everything past Sonic Adventure 2 is wiped out completely. No plot holes to screw things up, it's a fresh start.

But why is this called Desperate Hedgehogs? Um, the concept is actually similar to the TV show Desperate Housewives. Now before you all come at me with pitchforks, the only things really taken from the show is the concept of following four characters, and the drama. This is a very unique Sonic fanfic because of its huge ensemble cast, how it combines drama with humor and action, and how at the end of every episode, there'll be a cliff hanger leaving you wanting more.

This fanfic will be divided into seasons, each season probably having a little more than ten episodes. Maybe more if there's more to the plot to write about. There will be one main plot to each season that all four characters will be involved with in some way. There will be some interaction between all four, but this fanfic will have them mainly off in their own adventures.

Now, I would like to promise one episode a week every Sunday, sometimes I might not be able to make the deadline. But I will try my best to get an episode each week, as sometimes, I can assure you the cliff hanger will leave you really hanging.

Season 1

#01: A Missing Egg

It's been five long years ever since the Space Colony Ark incident. A time of great crisis it was, but it was also a time of great adventure, which was something that was pretty lacking for five years for the furry animals of planet earth. Some of them enjoyed the peace, while others detested it. One of those who no doubt detested was Dr. Eggman himself, because instead of being in action, he was behind bars for five long years.

He sits in his prison cell in the GUN facility, eating his lunch for day, which was cold foul soup. It was awful, but after five years of drinking it, the doctor actually didn't care that much about it anymore. He was just tired of what his life had come to, tired of how the tables had turned so suddenly and have stayed in such ways for a long time. The doctor drank his soup in silence, drowning in his misery.

“Ugh,” he moaned. “I've been in this cell for five years, and nothing ever changes. That blue rat smiles all day, thinking he's really defeated me since it's obviously been five years and I've yet to actually escape.”

“Hey,” said a male in a cell right across from Eggman's. Eggman looked at who had just called his name, and this was a muscular tough guy who would give you bad feelings the second you laid your eyes on him. Bruises and tattoos everywhere on his body lied. Humongous guy, with humongous arms. He looked like he could cost some major trouble as he looked like the black version of the Hulk.

“Oh, hi Joe,” said Eggman. Yes, it's been five years in the cell, of course Eggman is going to make some kind of friends in the prison. Although, Eggman never really liked Joe actually, he was actually quite annoyed by the guy, but he never said anything, as he knew the big guy could kill him in a heartbeat. “Sorry for you having to listen to my sorrows again.”

“Aren't you some super genius? There must've been something you hadn't tried yet in this place to escape.”

Eggman thought for a moment, and as time passed, his face slowly grew a grin, and then he slowly chuckles at the thoughts he conjured up in his head.

One month later, fliers are stapled around the world, saying this, “MISSING DR. EGGMAN, GUN'S MOST WANTED VILLIAN.”

The Mystic Ruins was definitely the place to go to if a person just wanted peace and quiet to get away from the rest of the world. For the past five years, it's definitely been that place without any chance of that changing. This was where the famous Sonic the Hedgehog would relax, the blue hero that's saved the world so many times before. But because of the lack of adventure for five years, have people simply forgotten about Sonic?

You could say so for most people, but other people still come up to him for his autograph. But Sonic had slowly blended into the rest of the world, always spending all his days just laying down on the grass in the Mystic Ruins wondering when the next piece of action will come. This particular day, he was relaxing as usual, daydreaming about an adventure he thought he would never get. But maybe, he would get one this time, as he's about to receive some interesting news.

“Sonic!!” screamed a voice that was too familiar to Sonic. Sonic turned around on his back and saw that it was none other than his former partner in crime, Miles Tails Prower. The two had a great relationship in the past, fighting side by side against Eggman's antics. But lately, the two have grown apart, due to the lack of adventure that was in the world. The two never found a reason to really come together again and just hang out.

“Tails?” said Sonic in a puzzled manner. Sonic sat up and yawned, then faced Tails. “Wow hey, it's been awhile. How have ya been?”

Tails was always happy to see Sonic, but being apart from him for so long, he wasn't as excited to be with him these days. Tails definitely had his own life now. He's now a scientist working for the government to improve the technology of the world. He came a long way from stopping the missile years ago from annihilating Station Square. “It's good to see you again too Sonic,” said Tails. “It's been way too long, but I've been doing great working for the government. I've been able to really assist in the advancing of our society! Have you done anything big in the past five years?”

Sonic was a little said to hear that question, because he really had been on a five year vacation, doing absolutely nothing but just long for adventure. “Um, what brings you here Tails?”

Tails was a little ticked because of the way Sonic ignored his question, but Tails hid those feelings, and just answered Sonic's question. “Well Sonic, I have a message from the president, and he says he has a mission for you he thinks you're perfect for.”

Sonic jumped immediately at the news, shocked at hearing his wishes finally come true. “W-what? A mission?”

Tails nodded answering to Sonic's question. “Yes Sonic, it's a really important one. Let's heard over to the white house so you can hear all you need to hear about this.”

Sonic nodded in agreement, and the two started to head for Station Square. To Sonic, it definitely felt like old times, he and Tails running together towards a new adventure. But little did he know, this adventure would be a little tougher then he had originally thought.

In Station Square, there was a sub-urban area that was calm, yet full of life. Houses were everywhere, just on the side of the city area of Station Square where all the traffic and car horns were seen and heard. It makes one think how such a peaceful area can be next to something that's the exact opposite of it. But it was Station Square, the city with everything you could think of, the sub-urban area really was like its own city though.

There was a small cheerful house in sub-urban Station Square, which was colored mainly brown and yellow. This is a house, that a certain pink hedgehog would visit everyday no matter what. Yes, none other than Amy Rose. She had her own pink colored house in Station Square, which was very close to this brown one, home to one of Amy's newest and most favorite friends.

These five years, Amy had definitely matured in many ways, but also didn't in other ways. Amy was the kind of person that didn't like to lose her youthful energy in favor of a more sophisticated life. She loved her personality the way it was, although, she was self-conscious about her other qualities. One thing that never went away for Amy was definitely her crush on Sonic, which is still as strong as it was before. But she doesn't go around chasing him as much.

Amy walks up to the brown house and knocks on the door. The door opened and at the door was Cream the Rabbit, and her pet chao Cheese. “Come in Amy!” she says. Cream was someone Amy had met a month after the events of the Space Colony Ark. Amy quickly connected with Cream, which eventually leaded to them being as close as sisters. They spent everyday together just talking and playing around. Amy loved having someone she didn't feel inferior to, one she felt she had authority over. Cream's never the type to want authority, so it was fine with her.

“How's my favorite rabbit and pet chao doing today?” asked Amy.

“Good good, are we going to go shopping today like we planned?” asked Cream.

“You betcha!” said Amy.

But before the two took off, Cream noticed the TV was on. She quickly ran to go turn it off before going, but the news was interesting enough to warrant her attention that she told Amy and Cheese to come over and watch the news first. Amy and Cheese followed, and went to Cream eying the television screen.

There was a female news reporter that was speaking. The images were of Dr. Eggman, the mad scientist that almost killed Sonic during their adventures of Space Colony Ark, something Amy would never forget. “It has been recently leaked that the world famous Dr. Eggman has ESCAPED the GUN prison, and is now on the run from the local authorities. It's been rumored that he's been free for weeks now, angering much of the public that have realized they were living not knowing this mad scientist was on the run.”

Cream turned the TV off, and then quickly turned to Amy with a worried look on her face. “Oh my, he's actually escaped?!” Cream asked in worry. “Now I'm really scared to go out.....” Cream waited for a response from Amy, but she didn't get any. Cream looked up and saw that Amy was in deep thought about the whole issue. “Amy?”

Amy began mumbling, saying, “Hmm, Eggman is back....if I do this.....” Amy then suddenly gasped, and smiled widely with a great idea in her head. “This is it Cream! This is my one chance to finally get Sonic's attention!”

“Amy..,” said Cream. Cream was very aware of Amy's obsession with Sonic, it probably was the one thing Amy always kept hanging on to. Cream always thought Amy's obsession was unhealthy, especially since Sonic never showed her any affection back. Sonic actually showed her lots of disrespect these past five years, like he had with everyone else.

Amy didn't care though, no matter how many times Sonic ignored her, Amy always kept looking for ways to get Sonic's attention. “If we capture Eggman, it will impress Sonic so much that he will really go on a date with me! Oh, I can just imagine it, going out with my favorite hero of all time and living my happily ever after!”

“Amy, how in the world are we ever going to find Eggman?”

“Simple Cream! I know just the person that can help us! Let's go guys!” Amy quickly ran out of the house. Cream and Cheese exchanged annoyed looks, and then quickly followed Amy.

The white house, a place of complete awe to many people of the world. Only the most important people really got to really explore this place. The place where the leader made all his or her decisions on certain issues. The president had made a special request for the old hero, Sonic the Hedgehog. He sat in his office, ignoring all the paperwork he had on his desk, because he knew that Sonic would be appearing in the room very soon, taking a step on the red carpet.

The door suddenly opened, catching the president's attention. And out came Sonic, who quickly ran over to the president's desk, with Tails following him pretty quickly. Sonic was excited, wondering if the president really had an all important task for him.

“Reporting for duty Mr. President!” said Sonic who definitely sounded like he was ready to get back in the action.

“Ah thank you for bringing Sonic here Tails,” said the president.

Tails nodded towards the president accepting the comment. “It wasn't a problem at all Mr. President,” said Tails.

“Okay Sonic, have you been watching the news lately?” asked the president.

Sonic shook his head. He wasn't very up to date with all the news of the current world. That was a common result if all you really did was lie around at the Mystic Ruins just daydreaming all your wishes. The president took out a remote, and turned around towards the TV, turning it on with his remote controller.

The TV showed images of Dr. Eggman with a female reporter reporting that Eggman had been missing for weeks from the GUN prison cell. This shocked Sonic and Tails, they both apparently had no idea of this recent piece of news.

“What?!” exclaimed Tails. “Eggman's escaped for weeks?”

The president nodded sighing at the same time. “We were hoping we'd catch him in time to not have to make this go public, but it's been a month now and we're still having no such luck finding him, no matter what we try. We're very scared for what he can accomplish in such time. He might've already built a new base and is planning his attack to take over the world. We're getting desperate at this point, we need to catch this mad man now.”

The president turned over to the two figures who were just staring at the TV. Eggman hadn't been in their minds very much except when they were remembering the old times of having to stop him. “So Sonic, this is why I had Tails call you here. We need you to help us get Eggman back behind bars. We fear of what he plans after being stuck in that prison for five whole years.”

Sonic nodded in agreement with the president. He suddenly spun his body around and gave the president a thumbs up and smirked. “No problem president, I'm sure I'll get this egghead behind bars in no time!”

“Oh Sonic, of course, Tails and Agent Rouge will be helping you on your mission as well,” said the president.

This took Tails by surprise, not aware that the president was going to assign him to go with Sonic on the mission. “Uh, Mr. President, do I really have to? Like, I've been really busy in the lab lately...”

Sonic turned to Tails pretty confused by Tails' comment. The Tails he knew would never turn down an adventure with him. “Come on Tails, it'll be just like old times when we were kicking that egghead's butt!”

Tails sighed, it wasn't like he was going to reject the president anyway. “Alright, I guess you can count me in. Rouge is going to join us too president?”

Rouge the Bat was a very shady person, secreting working for GUN when she was collecting chaos emeralds for Doctor Eggman. Despite being a GUN agent, Sonic and Tails never trusted Rouge that much, due to the fact she had just basically been able to work with Eggman so well, collecting basically all the chaos emeralds for him powering that eclipse cannon. Both of them weren't quite sure what Rouge had been up to these past five years.

Sonic still had these thoughts about Rouge, proven when he says, “Rouge is a lil shady president, you sure we can trust her?”

The president laughed at Sonic's worries, knowing that Sonic wasn't usually the type to worry, and also knowing how untrustworthy Rouge can seem. “Rest assured you two, Rouge is definitely on your side. She may seem very shady, but she's definitely on our side.”

“Oh, how rude,” said a voice that can from a figure in the shadows. It came out from the shadows, revealing herself to be Rouge the Bat, which is the person they had obviously been talking about. “You know, if you knew me a lil better, you would know I would have absolutely no reason to betray you,” said Rouge. “Unless of course, the doctor were to offer me some jewels.”

“Same old Rouge,” said Sonic. Sonic never talked to Rouge much during the Space Colony Ark adventures, but he did with her a little after, hearing her entire story. It left a bad feeling in Sonic's stomach, he really didn't feel comfortable even talking to this person. But the president says she has to help them, so Sonic really didn't have a choice.

Rouge chuckled like she always did. “So, shall we get started?” she asked. Sonic and Tails nodded, and the three of them ran out of the room.

In the forest of the Mystic Ruins lied a lot of beautiful rivers and trees. It was the place for all sorts of wildlife to live at. But apparently, it was also the place for strange portals to appear, as a portal all of a sudden appeared, and out came this white hedgehog who looked absolutely exhausted. He immediately fell to the ground coming out of the portal, landing hard.

“Ugh...must....complete....mission....,” he said. He slowly got up, and began walking through the forest.

On another side of the Mystic Ruins, lies a floating island high in the sky. And on this floating island lies a read echidna that has not left the island in the past five years, literally. Of course, this was Knuckles the Echidna. Surprising how he was finally having contact with the outside world, he suddenly went back to his old ways of just isolating himself from the world by staying on the island just guarding the master emerald for eternity. He barely got any visitors.

But this was the day he'd get a visitor at last. But the guests were actually very unexpected. It wasn't the former blue rival, or the annoying bat girl, it was the pink Sonic fanatic and her rabbit friend and chao. Amy Rose had Cream fly her all the way to Angel Island, with Cheese following the two quickly. Knuckles quickly ran over to his guests as the three landed on the ground.

“Amy and Cream?” asked Knuckles. “What brings you two here?”

Cream was breathing heavily. Carrying anyone was quite the chore for her, but she didn't want Amy to know it was hard carrying her, as Amy was very self-conscious about her weight. Cream wasn't going to go through another period of constant exercise and dieting with Amy, as she was always dragged through it with her whenever Amy was.

Amy meanwhile, was actually not so tired, actually enjoying her quickly flight over to the island. She said, “Oh just wanted to say hi to my favorite echidna!”

Knuckles looked at Amy in a weird way, pretty shocked and weirded out at Amy's comment. Amy wasn't the kind of person to immediately compliment him. “Um, is something wrong with you Amy?” he asked.

“When was the last time you actually got off this island and had some fun?” Amy had a motive without a doubt, but flattery was a new way to gaining that motive instead of her usual aggressive ways.

Knuckles just kept getting weirded out by Amy's comments. “Um, you can say I've actually never left this island since our time on the Space Colony Ark.”

Amy gasped at Knuckles' comment, shocked by the fact he had been on this island for five straight years. “Well then, why don't we get you off this island and have some fun?!”

Knuckles looked at Amy annoyed, still very confused on Amy's behavior. “Um Amy, I can't just leave the master emerald, it's my life long duty to guard it and you know that.”

Amy smiled at Knuckles already expecting such a comment to come out of his mouth. “VECTOR!” she called.

Suddenly, a green crocodile came running towards the three. It was none other than Vector the Crocodile, who was actually a good friend to Knuckles. He was the leader of the Chaotix Detective Agency. However, they haven't really had much business. “Reporting for duty miss Amy Rose!” said Vector.

“Okay, you'll guard the master emerald until Knuckles comes back Vector, got that?” asked Amy.

Vector nodded. “No problem, you just better pay me!” said Vector. “We can't afford any non paying tasks...”

“Um Vector,” said Knuckles. “It's okay, you don't have to guard it, I'm not going any.....whoa!”

Amy quickly grabbed Knuckles and then grabbed onto Cream, who started to fly off the island. Cheese quickly followed, leaving Vector the Crocodile alone on Angel Island.

Back in the forest of the Mystic Ruins, this white hedgehog still lurked around. You can say it was pretty unusual to be born into a world by coming out of a portal. Who exactly is this being? And where had he come from? Well, he kept walking and walking, as if he was determined to do something.

“I have to find him,” he says. “Who knows what he could be doing at the moment? I just hope I ended up at the right place.”

He suddenly stopped, as he saw a small building oddly placed in the middle of the forest. The sign read Chaotix Detective Agency. He found it pretty strange that a detective agency would have a building in the forest, it made people unable to actually know about this place. He turned around after observing the building for so long, and began to walk away. But before he could actually escape...

“A customer?!” asked a very energetic young person.

The white hedgehog turned around and saw a small bee that was getting closer and closer to his face, until their noses were literally touching. He had the creepiest smile on the planet. “Um, no, I was just going...,” the white hedgehog said.

“Nonsense!” said the bee. “Come on in please!” The bee suddenly dragged the white hedgehog and flew as fast as he could into the building. The white hedgehog unfortunately didn't have enough time to react, and he certainly didn't seem like the kind of person to inflict damage on an innocent bystander.

The room was quite small, there was a desk at the back, and really nothing else. Where did this bee even sleep thought Silver? The bee put Silver on a chair in front of the desk, and then the bee sat on the big chair that was in the desk.

“So, have you come here to get help to solve your problems wonderful customer?!” asked the bee.

“Um actually, that's none of your concern so I'll just be going...,” said the white hedgehog.

“ESPIO!”

Suddenly the white hedgehog could feel a sort of pressure on his hands, as if they were being grabbed to make sure he couldn't escape. The figure that was doing that suddenly turned visible, yes it was Espio the Chameleon. “Please, let us help you, not only are we the best detective agency around, but we are in DIRE need of business,” Espio said. “Now Charmy, you can go ahead and explain some things.”

Yep, the bee was Charmy, another member of the Chaotix Detective Agency. He was awfully young to be working for something like that though. “Okay!” said Charmy. “Now, just be sure to know if you want our help you'll have to pay very well for our services as Espio said, we're in dire need of business!”

“Ugh,” moaned the hedgehog. “I don't need your help! Don't make me do something I know I'll regret doing please and just let me go!”

Espio sighed, and was about to let the hedgehog go, but Charmy all of a sudden bursted into tears, surprising the hedgehog, but not Espio. Espio was quite used to this last ditch effort to get a customer from Charmy. But it apparently seemed to be working this time.

“PL-PLEASE!” cried Charmy. “WE NEED TO PAY RENT NEXT WEEK, AND WE SPENT ALL OUR MONEY ON DUMB THINGS LIKE FOOD! WE NEED TO BE HELPING SOMEONE!!!!! WAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“H-hey,” said the white hedgehog nervously. The hedgehog obviously didn't have a big ego, and he seemed to feel very bad for making Charmy cry. “D-don't cry, I'm sorry if I made you upset...” But the crying just didn't stop, Charmy just kept bawling on and on, until this hedgehog said, “Okay fine, I'll accept your kind help.”

Charmy suddenly stopped crying just like that. “Really? GREATTTTTTTTTTTTT!”

“W-wait, you mean it?” asked Espio who was quite shocked by the answer.

The hedgehog nodded and said, “Yes, I guess a little help won't hurt. By the way, my name's Silver, it's nice to meet you two.”

Meanwhile, in another part of the Mystic Ruins, there was a blue hedgehog, a fox, and bat walking around. Deep in the forest they were looking for something. The bat was named Rouge, who was apparently carrying a device of some sorts that seemed to be leading them somewhere. Sonic and Tails just seemed to be mindlessly following her.

“You two seem awfully quiet,” said Rouge. “I would think after five years, we'd all be talking tons.”

“Well, I guess you can say not much happened these past five years for me,” said Sonic. “Um, where exactly are we going again?”

“We're going to go visit Eggman's old Mystic Ruins base. You know, that place where that Egg Carrier was built.”

“I guess that's a good place to start an evil epic plot.” Sonic chuckled a bit, just thinking about the excitement Eggman is going to bring him.

Rouge stopped, followed by Sonic and Tails, as they all saw that they had reached the door that led into Eggman's new base. It was a bit rusty, as it hadn't been cleaned in the longest time. Rouge went up to try to open it though, and it opened like it was no problem. The doctor knew how to make lasting technology. “Well boys, looks like we've made it. Ladies first of course!” Rouge quickly walked into the door.

Sonic started walking towards the door, but before he could, he turned around at Tails, who seemed to be deep in thought about something. Ever since their adventure started, Sonic felt this uncomfortable feeling with Tails that he just had to get off his chest.

“Tails, is everything okay?” asked Sonic.

Tails didn't answer for a bit, still deep in his thought. But once he heard Sonic's question, he came out of his deep place in thought and said, “Oh, I'm fine Sonic. Let's get going.” Tails then quickly hurried into the door.

Sonic's face had this plain expression, as if all of a sudden he was deep in thought. He wasn't the kind of person to keep people waiting though, so he quickly ran through the door.

Very close to the three people on a mission though, were Amy, Cream, and Knuckles, who decided to take up a mission themselves to find Eggman. Well, at least that's what Amy and Cream knew, Knuckles thought he was being taken out to have some fun.

“Um Amy, why are we at the sight of Eggman's old base?” asked Knuckles.

Amy quickly turned around to Knuckles trying to find a quick answer. She then said, “Um, just wanted to bring back some memories to you was all! Now we're going to go into the base so we can remember even more about our adventures!”

“Amy, isn't this a little dangerous? I mean, I know Eggman's in prison but still, it's Eggman's base.”

Cream sighed and then said, “Amy, just tell him why he's really here. I hate lying.” Cream was definitely an honest rabbit, which definitely angered Amy, who's schemes usually involved some form of lying.

“Tell me what?” asked Knuckles. Knuckles was now very annoyed, he didn't enjoy being tricked, as he knew he had gotten tricked enough before in the past. “Amy, why am I really here?”

Amy sighed, sounding very annoyed. She then said, “Okay Knuckles, the truth is, Eggman has escaped from GUN's prison cell.”

“What?! That's impossible!”

Amy nodded. “Yeah, it says he's been out of the prison for a month now. I thought if I could catch Eggman, it would finally get Sonic to notice me! Then we can have that wedding on Emerald Coast, and then we can that true kiss, which I'll be thinking about forever and ever and ever and...”

“So you dragged me out here for a selfish reason instead of taking me out to have some fun?!” asked Knuckles sounding very angry. He was definitely not in the mood to hear Amy talk about Sonic, especially when he was mad.

“Well, I thought you could really help us Knuckles,” said Amy. “I mean, I'm pretty tough, but it seemed like a good idea to have backup.”

“Well, you can forget it! I'm going back to protect the master emerald!!!” Knuckles then started back for Angel Island, whichever direction that was supposed to be.

“Knuckles wait!” shouted Amy, who quickly began following Knuckles. Cream and Cheese then quickly began following Amy.

In another part of the Mystic Ruins forest, a white hedgehog had just revealed his name to be Silver in front of Espio the Chameleon and Charmy the Bee, both members of the Chaotix Detective Agency. Silver started walking out of the house, with Espio and Charmy following him very shortly. All three got down the small stairs.

“Ok, I guess I'll tell you what I'm trying to do,” said Silver. “You see I'm looking for this person named Eggman N....”

“Eggman?” asked Espio. “Eggman is trapped inside the GUN Prison Cell, what are you talking about?”

Charmy's eyes suddenly lit open. He quickly flew to the TV that was beside the house and turned it on. “Espio, Silver, come over to this TV quick! I forgot to show you this before Espio.”

Espio and Silver quickly went over to Charmy and had their eyes laid on the TV. There was a female reporter on it, standing next to a sideshow of images of Dr. Eggman. She seemed to be reporting that the mad scientist had gone missing for about a month, the news recently leaking today.

“What, Eggman's escaped?!” asked Espio.

Silver thought of how similar Eggman looked like the person he was looking for. Perhaps this is the person he came to this place to search for. Maybe he's changed his appearance so that Silver wouldn't recognize him, but Silver seemed to know this person very well, and Eggman resembled the person very well.

“Yeah, that's the guy I'm looking for,” said Silver. “You could say it's kind of my responsibility to take care of him.”

“Well I'll be,” said Charmy. “I can't believe we're going to be on the hunt for a mad scientist! This sounds totally cool!” Many things amused Charmy, and that apparently included looking for a mad scientist that could take over the world.

“So then, are you working for the government or something then Silver?” asked Espio.

“Um, you could say so,” said Silver. Silver did do work for the government in the place that he came from, but what exactly that place is still unknown to us. The three then start off on their journey, getting further and further away from the detective house.

Knuckles was mad, very mad. It was a long time ago he had gotten this mad. Being stuck on a floating island for who knows how long hadn't gave him any reason to really be mad. But contact with actual people had ignited those feelings yet again, as he glides all the way to Angel Island trying to forget about the whole incident.

Amy felt bad though, very bad, as she had Cream fly her to Angel Island, following Knuckles. Amy could sometimes be a jerk, but she always knew if she did something wrong. “Knuckles, wait!!” she yelled.

Knuckles landed on the island and then turned around to Amy. “Go away Amy!” screamed Knuckles. “I'm not helping you okay so just give up!”

Amy, Cream, and Cheese finally landed on the island. Amy quickly went over to Knuckles and said, “No, I'm not here for that. I just wanted to say I'm sorry Knuckles. You were right, I was really doing something for my own selfish reasons when it looked like I was just being a good friend. I'm really sorry about that.”

“R-really?” asked Knuckles surprised by the apology. “You really don't seem like the apologizing type Amy.”

“Y-yeah, but I feel bad. I won't bother you again Knuckles, don't worry.”

“Well, it's no problem Amy. It's about time one of you treated me like I have actual feelings.”

Amy thought about Knuckles' words for a second. How Knuckles seemed to feel like he wasn't anything important in this world to people, when his job was actually very important. “Hey Knuckles, why don't you ever get off this island to talk to people?”

Knuckles stood and thought about the question. Then answered, “Well, I figured people weren't really interested in me. I figured that there was no point in it, because all I really have to do is just guard this emerald. Anything else is extra.”

“That's not true. You need friends Knuckles, everyone feels alone eventually with no one to talk to. Lucky for you though we came up here today to show you that!”

“Yeah, I guess it does get a little lonely up here. Well, thanks you guys. But I should get back to my purpose.” Knuckles turns around and begins to walk to the altar. But then he notices something strange. “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! IT'S GONE!”

It was true, the master emerald wasn't at the altar at all. Vector stood in front of the altar with his hands grabbing his head showing worry. He heard the large scream and turned around absolutely mortified that the crew had returned. “Uhhh, hey guys,” he said.

“Vector!” shouted Knuckles. “What happened to the master emerald?!”

Suddenly, the island began to rumble, as if it were going through this massive earthquake. But there was a very good reason for it. Without the master emerald, the island will fell into the ocean. And that fact still held true, as the island to plummet into the ocean. Everyone on it tried to hold on to something, as the roller coaster kept getting faster and faster. But when it finally hit the water, everyone was under the ocean for a few seconds. The island then rises back up to surface and floats on the water, and every lied on the island, trying to recover from the sudden amounts of water that had entered their body.

Inside the former base of Eggman in the Mystic Ruins was a lot of darkness, and dust, and rust, and broken robots and machines. It was a pretty sad place, then again, what mad scientist base isn't? Not much was really functioning in here, people wonder why the government hasn't taken down the base yet. Sonic, Tails, and Rouge had to use a flashlight to get through the base.

“Isn't there some generator we can activate to turn on the lights?” asked Tails.

“If you find one fox boy, then yes,” said Rouge.

Sonic was still thinking about his friend Tails. How he suddenly felt this disconnection from him that wasn't there before. He wondered what had changed, but he suddenly stopped thinking, when the lights suddenly flickered on. All the lights, not a single light was now off.

“How did ya do that Tails?” asked Rouge.

Tails was quite confused at Rouge's comment, not to mention nervous. “Uh Rouge, I didn't do anything.”

“Could Eggman really be in here then?” asked Sonic.

The three didn't waste time and continued exploring the old base. They eventually entered this room that looked like it was actually recently used, it was cleaner then most of the base, and some of the machines actually looked like they were in perfect working condition.

“Eggman has got to have gotten in here!” Sonic concluded. “It looks like someone was in this room.”

All three of them walked around the room just observing the surroundings trying to get any clues to Eggman's location. Rouge suddenly stopped however, when she noticed this capsule at the back of the room. She looked at what was inside the capsule, that made her gasp like never before. “S-Sonic, T-Tails, get over here!” she said.

Sonic and Tails quickly got to where Rouge was, and looked over at what Rouge was staring at. They both suddenly gasped at their sight too. All three of them were absolutely surprised at what was inside this capsule.

“I-it can't be!” said Sonic.

Oh but it is Sonic. A figure was inside the capsule. It looked like this black hedgehog with some red on his spines. With that white furred chest, it was obvious who this person was. It's been five years since the Space Colony Ark adventures, but apparently the other hero had survived the crash. Inside the capsule was none other than Shadow the Hedgehog. His eyes were closed, as it seemed like he was in deep rest. But before Sonic, Tails, and Rouge could swallow what they had just stumbled upon to, Shadow's eyelids opened up, awakening from his rest...

What is Shadow doing in Eggman's old base? Who could've stolen the master emerald? And why is Silver looking for Eggman? And where is Eggman right now? All this on the next episode of Desperate Hedgehogs.

#02: An Old Base

Previously on Desperate Hedgehogs:

Everyone halted their current activities when it was discovered that the mad scientist, Dr. Eggman, had escaped prison. Amy Rose saw it as an opportunity to finally get the love of her life by going on her own mission to catch the doctor, but she found something unusual which was the disappearance of the master emerald.

Meanwhile, a mysterious white hedgehog has appeared in the area, which the Chaotix are assisting, whether he wants them to or not. But just who is this hedgehog, and what does he want with Dr. Eggman?

And Sonic finally gets going on another adventure, receiving a request from the president to go search and defeat Eggman. But when he and his partners explore Eggman's old Mystic Ruins base, they discover their old friend, Shadow the Hedgehog, who was assumed to be dead...

Shock was all three of the people in the room could feel. Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles Tails Prower, and Rouge the Bat came into the abandoned Mystic Ruins base of Dr. Eggman to look for the mad scientist himself, who had recently escaped from the GUN prison. But what they found instead, was an old friend that they thought had left planet Earth five years ago after a long hard battle against his prototype. But that wasn't the case, as the very same creature just opened his eyes in the capsule he was trapped in.

When his eyes opened, the three were just left speechless. They didn't know what to expect from the old friend, but they got their answer, when Shadow broke out, destroying the capsule he was trapped in, releasing the liquid his body was apparently swimming in. Shadow landed on the ground, and slowly approached the three, who almost began to walk away.

“S-Shadow?” asked Sonic.

“Who has awakened me from my rest?” asked Shadow. “Who are you?” Shadow then pointed to Sonic. “And why do you look like me?”

“Shadow, don't you remember us?” asked Sonic. Sonic was pretty surprised at Shadow's immediate amnesia, but then again, he didn't really know what to expect from someone that was thought to be dead for five whole years.

Shadow shook his head. “No, I don't. I think I would remember someone like you that looked a lot like me.” Suddenly, Shadow received a nudge inside his head that only he seemed to hear. He covered his ears trying to make the sound not as loud, which made Sonic, Tails, and Rouge look at him weirdly as they couldn't hear anything. “Ugh!” Shadow screamed.

“Shadow what's wrong?” asked Sonic. Sonic was worried, as he didn't know what to expect next from this surprising creature. In fact, Sonic wondered if this was the real Shadow at all. It would take a miracle to survive something like that.

Shadow suddenly stopped hearing the nudge in his head, and he slowly looked up at the three just staring at him. He suddenly knew exactly what he was gonna do next, which was, “Intruders, you're not supposed to be here,” said Shadow. “Now, either leave now or face my wrath!”

All three of the people staring at Shadow gasped, as the thing they were least expecting was a brutal beating from the ultimate life form. “Shadow, I don't want to fight you!” said Sonic.

“Well that's too bad,” said Shadow.

Suddenly, Shadow jumped towards Sonic, kicking him in the stomach pushing him all the way into the wall. Sonic crashes into the wall, and slowly falls to the ground. Shocked faces on Rouge and Tails, they tried their best to stay out of the hedgehog versus hedgehog fight. Sonic slowly got up, barely bruised by the attack. It would take a lot more to defeat someone like Sonic.

“Alright Shadow, if this is how you want our reunion to go, I have no problems with that!” exclaimed Sonic.

Sonic then charged at Shadow, a little angry for being attacked by someone he considered a friend. But he had to assume that this was no longer the Shadow he remembered, in hopes of being able to beat him and then be able to get answers out of him. Sonic began rapidly punching Shadow, with Shadow blocking almost all the attacks. Shadow jumped backwards to avoid anymore punches. Sonic was getting ready to spin dash into Shadow, but Shadow threw a chaos spear at Sonic after screaming those words, knocking Sonic out of his ball form throwing him backwards.

Sonic quickly got up and began circling around Shadow. Shadow was a bit confused by this, but then realized what Sonic was doing when Shadow was flung into the air by the bluest of all tornadoes. Sonic then jumped up to where Shadow was and began repeatably spinning into him in his ball form left and right, and then finishing it off with a slam dunk towards the ground. But Shadow quickly recovered, and landed on the ground slowly. Shadow chaos controlled himself away, leaving Sonic wondering where he was. But Shadow appeared right behind him, and quickly began punching him rapidly.

But Sonic was one step ahead and jumped away. The two suddenly got into their ball forms, and began hitting each other like pinballs, each trying to hit harder then the other trying to get each other out of their ball forms and then finishing them off with a final blow. But nothing budged them, and this fight seemed like it'd be taking awhile between two evenly matched hedgehogs.

While the two hedgehogs fight, near the Mystic Ruins forest, lied a floating island. Or should I say, once a floating island? Angel Island has stopped floating, and is now floating on top of the ocean, due to the master emerald being taken away from a red echidna. He didn't know what had happened, he just knew it happened while he was being taken out by Amy Rose, who was really taking him out to get his help on her in her quest to win Sonic's love after so many years of trying to pursue it. Knuckles, the red echidna, was not very happy hearing Amy's true motives, and he certainly wasn't happy when he found out that Vector let the master emerald slip away.

Everyone was surprised from the sudden collapse of the island, and they all laid on the island resting. Trying to recover from the sudden amounts of water that had entered their bodies. Everything on the island was soaking wet from plunging into the ocean, and the same could be basically said for the people on the island.

Amy Rose suddenly opened her eyes though, and slowly got up, coughing out all the water that was in her mouth. She stared at her surroundings seeing how everyone was all shaken up by the sudden crash. “Oh my,” she said. “So that's what happens whenever the master emerald goes missing?”

Knuckles suddenly got up, and quickly ran to the spot where the master emerald was supposed to be sitting. He fell to his knees, and hit the ground with his hand, expressing his anger for ever leaving the master emerald in the hands of such an irresponsible crocodile. “Ugh, I shouldn't have ever left this island!” cried Knuckles.

Vector suddenly woke, seeing a very angry Knuckles right in front of him. He quickly got up and got away from Knuckles as quickly as he could. He went to Amy, and then asked, “So um, I'm still getting paid right?”

Amy sighed, but surprisingly actually gave Vector some rings. This angered Knuckles, who quickly came running towards the two immediately.

“HEY, what are you doing giving this idiot money?!” exclaimed Knuckles.

“Well, I kinda promised him anyway, I mean, he did try his best,” said Amy.

“Hey Knuckles, um, we're still friends right?” Vector said, sweating as much as a crocodile could.

Knuckles' eyes made him look like he was in absolute rage. Vector took that as a sign and quickly ran to the edge of the island and jumped off into the ocean. What? Crocodiles can swim.....or are those alligators? Knuckles sighed, not knowing how he was going to live with himself after five years of perfect guarding.

Cream suddenly slowly got up, along with her pet chao Cheese. They looked around at the wet island, and sighed at everything they were seeing. “Wow, this island looks really sad now,” Cream said.

“I can't believe I even thought about leaving this island, no idiot but me seems to have the ability to keep this emerald in one place!” said a frustrated Knuckles.

Amy looked pretty sad, she did feel pretty guilty. “Hey Knuckles, I know you think this is all my fault,” said Amy.

Knuckles shook his head. “No, this is strictly my fault. I should never had went with you guys, as a guardian of the most powerful object in the universe, I should have known better.”

Amy looked pretty angry all of a sudden, which was a surprising change to Knuckles, who started to look a little scared. “Now you listen here Knuckles! It doesn't take a genius to know that spending your entire life on an island by yourself is a horrible thing to do to yourself! Stop blaming yourself for a natural craving, and instead, let's get going and try to figure out who stole the freakin' emerald!”

Knuckles, Cream, and Cheese were all very surprised at Amy's outburst. I guess she was getting tired of feeling guilty, and was maybe looking for a way to ease the guilt off of her shoulders. However, Knuckles was in agreement that it was time to actually stop wasting time, and really time to find that master emerald.

“Ugh, I wish that Vector told us how the master emerald went missing,” said Knuckles.

“Maybe if you didn't look like you were about to attack him, he would've explained why the master emerald was stolen,” said a very smart ass like Cream.

“What was that?!” asked a very annoyed Knuckles.

Cream looked very scared suddenly. She may be a nice rabbit, but she also was not very bright. She unfortunately gets on Knuckles' nerves even when she doesn't mean to.

Amy tried to calm the sudden tension. Cream's truthful yet innocent comments can get her into a lot of trouble, that much Amy knew from experience. “Well then, why don't we go try to find Vector and see if we can get an answer out of him?” asked Amy.

Knuckles nodded, and started flying off the island and towards solid ground near ahead of him. Amy and Cream quickly followed, with Amy grabbing onto Cream, and Cheese followed closely behind. Before Cream let Amy grab her legs though, she said, “I thought we were gonna go shopping today.”

Speaking of Vector, he was suddenly swimming on a river in the Mystic Ruins forest. He must've swam a pretty long way at this point, but Vector was no doubt a good swimmer, so he probably didn't have a hard time to get to where he as. He finally did get out of the river though, and was finally standing on solid ground.

Vector was coughing out the water he had gotten from jumping into the water in the first place. He knew Knuckles for a long time, since the days he actually was a part of the Chaotix team, so he knew all about Knuckles' temper, and he wasn't going to be a victim of it like he was in the past. Vector knew the rivers really well, so he was pretty sure he was close to the Chaotix Detective house.

Meanwhile at the Chaotix house, we have Silver, Espio, and Charmy just about to go on a little quest to help Silver in his search for Dr. Eggman. But there was one thing Silver didn't quite understand, which was revealed when he said, “So, why aren't we going yet? We're wasting time!”

Espio turned to Silver, a little annoyed by Silver's impatience. He then said, “Patience is key if you really want something. Maybe as a government agent, you should know that.”

Silver wasn't what Espio and Charmy thought he was at all, so he obviously wouldn't know how to be patient, like government agents of this area seem to need to have. Silver just sighed and continued waiting, although he forgot what they were waiting for in the first place. Silver decided not to ask though, he wasn't really the person that felt comfortable saying just about anything.

“There he is!” Charmy suddenly said.

In the direction all three of them were looking came Vector, who had recently swam all the way from Angel Island. Silver remembered why they were waiting now. Apparently, he was waiting for the leader to come back, who is going to be guiding them in their recently acquired mission.

“WELCOME HOME VECTOR!” shouted Charmy.

“Shut up Charmy!” said a very annoyed Vector. “I just had to swim all the way here from Angel Island so don't do anything stupid! Anyway, what was the big emergency?” Vector then noticed the presence of Silver. Quite curious about the person he's never seen before, Vector asked, “And who might this be?”

Silver was about to answer Vector's question, but Espio went and did it before he got the chance to when he said, “This is Silver, and he has a mission for us. And he says he'll be paying us as well.”

Silver actually wasn't sure how he was going to pay the Chaotix, as he really didn't have any rings on him. Maybe he could find some while on his search with them for Eggman, or maybe he'd try to lose them during the journey. Either way, the Chaotix weren't going to leave his side at all, as proven with the desperateness Charmy had shown before. So Silver was gonna be stuck with money hungry detectives either way.

Suddenly, Vector stared into the sky as if he had money signs in his eyes. With his obtained money through Amy and this white hedgehog's money adding to it, their lives were bound to finally be saved. Maybe they could afford a mansion. Vector snapped out of it quickly though, and headed straight to the mission to try to get his money quickly. “So then, what's the mission?” asked Vector.

“Silver is apparently a government agent who's been assigned to track down Dr. Eggman,” said Espio.

“Oh yeah, I've heard about that,” said Vector.

“Well then why didn't you tell us about it?” asked Espio. “Charmy and I literally just found out now!”

“Well, it never really concerned us did it?” Vector then turned to Silver. “Until now that is. Okay Silver, we'll be happy to help you complete your mission! First, we should think of areas Dr. Eggman could possibly be hiding at. I mean, he's only been out for a month, so he couldn't have made an entirely new base in some location we don't know. No, it's gotta be something already built that would work fine for Eggman.”

Charmy, actually using his mind to think up a possible answer, said, “What about Eggman's old base right here in the Mystic Ruins?”

“C-Charmy, that's a brilliant idea!” said Vector. He was pretty shocked by how sometimes Charmy wasn't a complete idiot, though people can suppose that's just part of Charmy's charm. No pun intended. “Alright then, let's head to the old Mystic Ruins base and see if we can find any clues or even Eggman in there!”

“Sounds good to me,” said Silver. Everyone else nodded, and they all started to head for the old base that was at its peak during the era with Chaos. Now though, it didn't seem to hold much use, at least, that's what the cover makes it look like...

Meanwhile inside the old Mysitc Ruins base, two old rivals were battling it out yet again after so many years of separation. Sonic and Shadow the hedgehogs, were having their reunion with quite the battle. The battle scene now seemed more torn up, as there were even more broken machines everywhere. Tails and Rouge still stood back, just watching the two rivals battle it out. Though, they were still pretty confused on why Shadow was exactly fighting Sonic, they wouldn't dare interrupt the fight.

Shadow suddenly landed on the ground, and seemed to be resting for a bit. “Hmph, not bad hedgehog,” said Shadow. “But whoever you are, I'm just getting warmed up.”

Sonic then finally landed, and was resting as well. “Shadow, does the name Sonic sound familiar?” he asked.

Shadow paused for a second, trying to answer his rival's question. Shadow was thinking hard for a bit, when suddenly, his mind portrayed sudden flashbacks of him and Sonic in the middle of the city at night, where he stood in front of him, holding a chaos emerald. Shadow quickly ended the flashback, afraid of what was to come from it. He then answered Sonic by saying, “Doesn't ring a bell rat!”

Shadow then suddenly charged at Sonic throwing many punches at his face and then finally kicking him up towards the ceiling. Sonic crashes into the ceiling and slowly falls to the ground, until Shadow interrupts and kicks him into a wall. Shadow was suddenly becoming more aggressive.

Sonic noticed to sudden increase in Shadow's power. He didn't know why Shadow was suddenly attacking him so much harder, but Sonic knew it meant it was time to get down to business. Sonic jumped up and started charging for a spin dash. At least, that's what it looked like. But in reality, he was charging for a light speed attack.

Shadow had a bad feeling about what Sonic was up to, and began to charge at him getting to throw in some more punches, but Sonic finished charging up his attack, and all of a sudden was a ball bouncing around the room, attacking Shadow left and right. Shadow was knocked all over the place, and it seemed like it wouldn't be stopping anytime soon.

However, Sonic's attack finally wore off, leaving Shadow lying on the floor. “Grr,” moaned Shadow.

Sonic began to walk up slowly to the injured Shadow, thinking it was safe to go and talk to him now. But Sonic was wrong, as Shadow suddenly got up, and kicked Sonic in his stomach, making him fly all the way into the wall.

Shadow jumped and dashed to where Sonic was trying to recover. “This battle ends now!” exclaimed Shadow.

Sonic got up, and then said, “I agree!”

Both Sonic and Shadow suddenly used chaos control simultaneously, and began attacking each other. Trying to outsmart the other by appearing in a place so unexpected and attacking them. But Sonic and Shadow kept appearing in the same spots, and they kept punching each other until they teleported to another spot. One just couldn't seem to be able to surprise the other, and this was really annoying the both of them.

But suddenly, Rouge the Bat came between the two, having enough of the useless battle, shouting, “STOP!”

Sonic and Shadow suddenly stopped, temporarily pausing their battle.

Meanwhile outside the Mystic Ruins base just right at the entrance to it, there came Silver, Espio, Charmy, and Vector. They've all finally found the base, and were about to begin searching for clues. The forest was right behind them, it was a lot more open in this area. Silver then asked, “So, is this the base you guys are talking about?”

Vector nodded, and then said, “Yep, this here's the old entrance to the Mystic Ruins base of Dr. Eggman. It may seem like a predictable place for someone like Eggman to hide in, but there's really no other place we can really think of.”

Silver nodded then, but as he observed the base, he then commented on it by saying, “Geez, this place looks really busted though.”

“Maybe it's a different story inside,” Espio suggested.

Charmy then ran to the front of the group and then said, “Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go and kick some eggs!”

Vector was yet again annoyed by Charmy's behavior, so he showed it by saying, “Charmy, get back to the back of the group! I'm leading this mission!”

Charmy looked down in disappointment, and was secretly scolding Vector in his mind, but Charmy never outright complained, even though he knew exactly what to say if he was to do so. But another day, another time for that to happen Charmy thought, as he knew the group needed some money bad.

So the group finally entered the base, only to find Espio's suggestion to be wrong. The base was a complete and utter mess, full of dust and broken robots and rusting paint. It really did not look like the ideal base for a mad scientist. If Eggman was hiding here, you'd think he'd renovate the base a little.

“Well, it doesn't look like anyone's been here for awhile,” said Silver.

“Well, there still has to be some kind of clues at least to Eggman's whereabouts!” said Vector. “And besides, he's only been out for a month, maybe making a decent place was at the bottom of his list.”

Everyone else nodded in agreement, and began to search through the base. They were a bit surprised that the lights were on, but then they were thinking it probably was a motion sensing light that turns on whenever someone was in the base.

They continued walking, but then walking, was replaced with falling. This is because suddenly, the group stepped on something that was revealed to be a hole in disguise, and suddenly began falling to their doom. Before all four of them actually crashed into the ground though, Silver and Charmy flew with their natural flying abilities, leaving Espio and Vector with a very unpleasant crash towards the ground.

“What was that all about?” asked Silver.

“It seems to me that the doctor had some booby traps implemented into the base,” confirmed Espio.

“Don't worry, I can fly us out of here,” said Silver. “It's time to show you guys some of my powers.” Silver then suddenly picked up the entire Chaotix using his telekinesis, and began to fly towards the surface. The Chaotix were actually quite stunned at this power, as they didn't know anyone else that had such abilities. But unfortunately, before Silver was able to save the day, the hole they fell through suddenly closed, and all four of them crashed into it, and fell to the ground yet again.

“NO!” cried Silver. Yep, the four of them were stuck.

A few minutes before, as that group was entering the base, another group of four was trying to find Vector. It was none other than Amy, Cream, Cheese, and Knuckles. The four of them came to the entrance to the Mystic Ruins base right after the Chaotix and Silver entered it.

“I could've sworn I saw Vector go through that door with three others,” said Knuckles.

This confused the group, as they wondered why in the world Vector would go visit Eggman's old base. Amy expressed her confusion when she said, “Why would he go through that door? This is Eggman's old base.”

“I don't know, maybe there's some case they have to solve or something,” said Knuckles. “Eggman definitely seems to be a big name at the moment.”

Amy suddenly came up with a possibility on the master emerald's disappearance. But it was a rather predictable one, as there's really only one person that would want the master emerald excluding Rouge. “What if Eggman stole the master emerald?”

Knuckles then turned around to Amy, and then nodded in agreement. “It seems very possible, we better go ask Vector just to be sure though.”

Knuckles then started to head into the base, and then Amy was about to follow. But before Amy went in, she saw that Cream was just staring at the base. Amy walked over back to Cream, and then told her, “Come on Cream, let's go!”

Cream looked very scared and worried, along with Cheese. Cream then said, “This place looks scary Amy. This is the place where Eggman did all those bad things back then.”

“Aww come on Cream, it'll be fun!” Amy then suddenly grabbed Cream and dragged her into the base, Cheese then quickly followed, not wanting to be apart from his owner.

Knuckles stood in the base waiting for Amy and Cream and Cheese to follow. They finally came in, with Knuckles saying, “It took you long enough. They shouldn't be that far ahead so let's get going.”

“This place looks really disgusting,” said Cream.

“It probably means there'll be nothing to scare you then Cream, because all this junk doesn't look like it works,” said Amy.

Cream was a little cheered up because Amy did make a good point. So all four of them started walking through the base, wondering where Vector had gone. But then suddenly they heard a few screams as if they were plunging down to their death. The four were confused though, as they couldn't quite make out the sound.

“Do you think that was Vector?” asked Knuckles.

“Could be,” said Amy. The four then began going faster, trying to go in the direction where the sound was coming from.

Back in the room where the two hedgehogs were battling, Rouge the Bat suddenly had stopped the battle from going on any further. “Shadow, why are you fighting Sonic?” asked Rouge.

“That's none of your business!” said Shadow. “And who in the world are you?”

“What Shadow? You don't remember me?” Rouge then smirked and her personality was starting to return to its regular flirty state. “Remember Shadow? I was the one in your group back then that really was a government spy? Even though, I did give you all the chaos emeralds.”

Shadow suddenly had another flashback, which contained that precious scene aboard the ark when he had discovered that Rouge was a government spy. He seemed to be quite furious at the bat, remembering how betrayed he had felt towards the bat. And also how confused he had felt with the bat's words, when she had suggested that he wasn't the real Shadow.

Shadow immediately escaped the flashback however, and rage had appeared in his eyes. He attacked Rouge and kicked her into a wall, quite angry at her from the flashback. “Shut up!” he cried. “This has gone on long enough!”

“Oh, so you do remember me?” Rouge concluded as she was slowly recovering from the attack. “It's nice to see you do Shadow.”

“Uh Rouge, I think you should be quiet,” Tails suggested, very scared of what Shadow was going to do next.

“The fox boy has the right idea,” said Shadow. “However, it's a little too late for that. It was fun fighting you...Sonic, but I feel it's time to end this awakening of myself.” Shadow suddenly dashed to something in the room, and pressed a button on it, which caused this sudden beeping noise, and the time on it to start moving backwards. It started at ten, then went to nine fifty nine, then nine fifty eight, and continued on.

“In less then ten minutes, you all will be brought down along with the base, when the bomb detonates!” cried Shadow.

Sonic, Tails, and Rouge all had shocked looks on their faces. The last time a bomb like that was dropped was five years ago on Prison Island. Guess Shadow wanted a second round of that excitement. Before the three could scold Shadow for doing that, he chaos controlled out of the area, probably trying to get out of the area quickly.

“We need to get out of here and fast!” shouted Tails.

“I'm way ahead of ya Tails!” shouted Sonic. “Try to catch up ya two!” Sonic then ran out of the room, leaving Rouge and Tails behind.

“Well, he's definitely kept his attitude for these past five years,” said Rouge, as she started to take off and then left the room.

Tails then quickly followed, but he thought about Rouge's comment, and agreed with it too in his mind.

5 minutes left.

Amy, Cream, Cheese, and Knuckles were still trying to find where that sound they had heard was coming from. Part of it did sound a little like Vector, but it was hard to make out. Knuckles was in the lead, but he suddenly stopped walking, causing the other three to stop their movement as well.

“Ugh, I'm starting to think we're going the wrong way,” said Knuckles. “We've been walking for who knows how long and we still can't find them!”

The other three actually felt the same, as it did felt like they were walking aimlessly looking for this random sound that might be Vector, but it also might not be. Everyone was getting tired of walking around, because it seemed like it was going nowhere.

“It doesn't even look like there's anything useful in this base either to help us find the master emerald,” said Amy. “Maybe we should wait for Vector to finish whatever he's doing here and return to his house, and then we can ask him there.”

The other three nodded in agreement, so they were about to exit the base, wherever the exit was. But all of a sudden, the base started to rumble, causing the group to almost lose their balance. It was as if an earthquake was forming under the base.

“W-what's going on?” asked Cream. “Is it an earthquake?”

“I-I don't know,” said Amy.

Suddenly though, three beings ran into the group, one looking like a blue hedgehog, another a yellow fox, and the other a white bat. They all started at each other, surprised at each other's presence.

“Amy, Cream, Knuckles, Cheese?” asked Sonic in confusion of what these guys were doing here.

“Sonic!” said Amy happily. “It's so good to see y-you woah!” Amy said woah because the ground was beginning to shake even more. All of them were starting to get sick of the shaking, as it kept them on their toes, which is something they hadn't experienced in awhile.

“What are you guys doing here?” asked Sonic.

“Sonic, isn't this fate? I mean, you and me running into each other like this!” exclaimed Amy.

“S-Sonic,” said Knuckles as the rumbling was getting worst. “D-do you know why the place feels like it's in the middle of an earthquake?”

“Ugh, S-Shadow activated a bomb and this place is going to blow very soon! It must be already starting the process!”

“SHADOW?! BOMB?!” exclaimed Amy, Cream, and Knuckles. While Cheese just went chao, like all chao do.

“No time to explain!” said Sonic. “We gotta get out of here and fast!”

Everyone nodded in agreement, and started running towards the exit as fast as they could, with the limited amount of time they have left until the bomb detonates.

2 minutes left.

Deep deep deep under the base, were four recent prisoners to the base. Silver was at the top trying to break open the thing that was locking them up in the area. But it was no use, it just didn't seem to budge, no matter what powers he used on it. He tried to move it, destroy it, nothing seemed to work. Silver suddenly came down to the Chaotix, who were just chatting actually.

“I'm sorry guys, I can't seem to get it to open,” said Silver. “Do any of you guys have any ideas?”

“Don't worry, one of us will think of something eventually,” said Espio. “In the meantime, you should just relax and try to think of something yourself. Remember, patience is virtue.”

“But you don't know what's gonna happen if we stay down here too long!” complained Silver. “You guys are here to help me right?” The Chaotix all nodded their heads in agreement. “Well then, I REALLY need your help this time. So if you can try to speed the process up, then try to seem more dedicated to actually trying to get us out of here!”

Espio went tsk tsk tsk at Silver's comment, and the Chaotix continued on with their casual like chats, only bringing up a way to get out from time to time. This angered Silver, who just flew all the way to the top and kept on attacking the thing that sealed them from the outside world.

Suddenly though, the area they were stuck in began to rumble, like an earthquake. It was very very noticeable, and the Chaotix found themselves being thrown everywhere due to the rumbling.

Silver quickly flew down to the Chaotix and got them all up on their feet. “See?” he said. “This is what I mean! We HAVE to find a way out of here NOW!”

“Vector, have you thought of anything yet?” asked Espio.

“Hold on guys, it's hard to think under pressure!” complained Vector.

“It's also hard to t-think when it feels like you're on a roller coaster!” said Charmy.

Vector kept on thinking, as he looked at the thing on the top that sealed them from safety. He kept on thinking, and then finally, he came up with something when he remembered a crucial fact that could get them out. “Espio!” he shouted. “Remember that move you were trying to pull of f last week with making objects invisible?”

Espio nodded his head to the answer. “But I still haven't been able to fully do it yet, and even if I could, it'd be only for a few seconds,” he said.

“Well now's the time to master it then!” exclaimed Silver.

Espio nodded, and was carried up to the top by Silver who was flying as fast as he could. Charmy then followed carrying Vector.

1 minute left.

Silver then threw Espio towards the hard surface, and Espio quickly grabbed onto the ceiling. Espio concentrated hard on the ceiling, trying his best to make his powers work. He was struggling and struggling, seeming to not be able to pull off the valuable move.

30 seconds left.

Silver, Charmy, and Vector were sweating, as they knew the rumbling was getting worst and worst and that could only mean worst things were coming. Espio was probably sweating the most, trying to make his power work. But it just seemed hopeless, he was ridiculously out of breath, transferring all of his energy towards the ceiling.

But, by luck, the ceiling suddenly became transparent. Silver, Charmy, and Vector looked relieved, but didn't waste time and quickly jumped through the new hole. Espio them quickly dashed to surface, where he was finally able to catch his breath.

Vector walked over to Espio and patted his back. “You did good pal,” he said.

Espio smiled in response to Vector's comment. But then they all turned around and saw a bright flash of light heading right towards them. All four of them began to try to out run the light, but the light was just too fast, and they all became covered by it...

10 seconds left.

The base was really starting to rumble now, and it was really starting to crumble too, with all sorts of things falling to the ground from the ceiling. But this didn't stop the seven running from impending doom. Sonic the Hedgehog headed through the door, followed by Tails, Knuckles, then Cream and Cheese. Amy was about to get through the door, but Rouge, who was right behind her, suddenly tripped and fell on Amy. They both were lying on the ground, with only a few seconds left to get up and escape. But both of them were too slow, and the explosion was getting closer and closer.

Suddenly, Shadow appeared out of nowhere, with only five precious seconds left on the clock. “Ugh, it looks like I'll have to chaos control again. CHAOS...” but before Shadow said the second word, he noticed Rouge and Amy in front of him, lying helpless getting ready to be taken by the bomb. Shadow suddenly had these flashbacks of Amy, who was telling him something on the Ark, that seemed to mean a lot to him. Then he had a flashback of Rouge, who was talking to him on the ark, but she didn't seem to have pissed him off at all.

Shadow didn't know why, but he knew he had to disobey what his current thoughts said. As the timer on the bomb reached 0:00, Shadow skates to the two ladies. Touching both of them, Shadow then screams, “CHAOS CONTROL!” He, and Amy and Rouge then suddenly disappeared, right before the floor they were on exploded.

It was about time the Mystic Ruins was finally erased from existence. Nothing but bad memories seemed to come from the base. And even for someone like Dr. Eggman, the base seemed utterly useless now due to the lack of maintenance for five years.

This person was watching the base explode in front of his monitor. All the destruction he witnessed, he just sat still and stayed speechless in the dark room. But if you looked closely at the person's eye, you could see a tear escape his eyes as he watched the destruction behind the glasses.

“I'm gonna miss that beauty,” he said. “But I had to do it, there was too much evidence in there.”

The monitor then showed a picture of Shadow. The person then began to grin, saying, “He did exactly what he was supposed to do, that's all that matters.”

The room suddenly seemed to grow a little brighter, until you could fully see the person's face. The face was so popular, yet so controversial. Everyone hated his guts, but he didn't care. He let out an evil laugh he hadn't been able to laugh like a long time, because he was Dr. Eggman, ready to enslave the world.

What will become of Silver, the Chaotix, Shadow, Rouge, and Amy? Where will Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Cream, and Cheese go from here? And where is Dr. Eggman now? All this, on the next episode of Desperate Hedgehogs.

#03: The Aftereffects

The Aftereffects

Previously on Desperate Hedgehogs...

Sonic, Tails, and Rouge discovered an old friend, Shadow the Hedgehog, trapped in Eggman's old base. Their reunion unfortunately ended in one of the worst ways possible as Shadow was looking for a fight rather than catching up.

Amy, Cream, Cheese, and Knuckles went on a search for the master emerald. It's led them to Eggman's old Mystic Ruins base, but they didn't seem to find much.

Silver met Vector, and they started their search for Dr. Eggman. They also decided to go enter the Mystic Ruins base, trying to look for clues and maybe even Eggman himself.

But plans changed when Shadow activated a time bomb that sent everyone running towards the exit. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Cream, and Cheese were able to exit. But the fates of the Chaotix and Silver are unknown. And where has Shadow taken Amy and Rouge? And what does Eggman exactly have to do with everything?

So many memories came to the minds of some people when they were to look at the Mystic Ruins base that belonged to Dr. Eggman. It was deep and hidden in the dark green forest of the ruins. But now, the base was gone, ten minutes after Shadow had unexpectedly activated a bomb that no one knew existed in the first place. But it doesn't matter, what matters now is that the base is gone, and a place that could have contained tons of clues to find Eggman was gone.

A blue hedgehog, a yellow fox, a red echidna, a peach rabbit, and an average chao stared at all the remaining pieces of the base. It had been only a minute after the bomb had truly detonated. They stared at all the destruction deep in the forest, amazed at the sight. They didn't know this would be the fate of the base until ten minutes ago, five for Knuckles, Cream, and Cheese.

“Wow, it's really gone,” said Knuckles looking out into the flames burning the remainder of the base.

“Yeah, I can't believe it,” said Sonic as he walked over to Knuckles.

“Gosh, I never thought this place would actually get destroyed,” said Tails.

Cream and Cheese took a step back and looked away from the destruction, as they couldn't bear any more of seeing such destruction. They both were crying, trying to comfort each other because they knew if they hadn't run into Sonic they would have never escaped.

They both turned around and took a look around. But Cream noticed something extremely important was missing, and this showed in her face in an instant. Cheese noticed, and knew exactly what Cream was thinking too, as his face showed the same expression. “AMY?!” screamed Cream. “W-where's Amy?”

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles suddenly looked around, both surprised by Cream's outburst and wondering where exactly Amy was. They searched as far as their eyes could, and they couldn't find a trace of Amy anywhere.

“Now that you mention it, she's not here...,” said Knuckles, who sounded very worried.

Tails kept looking around, as he noticed there was another person missing as well. “R-Rouge is missing too!” said Tails, who also sounded very worried. “Where could they both possibly be? I'm sure they were with us before!”

Suddenly, all five of them simultaneously thought up what could've possibly happened to their friends, and this sense of horror came to their faces, as what was in their minds was probably the worst possible scenario that could ever be thought up.

“N-no, that couldn't have happened,” said Tails.

“Well to be honest, the base had exploded as soon as Cream and Cheese came out of the base,” said Knuckles. “I-I'm sorry, but it's possible guys.”

“No!” shouted Cream. “That can't be true! Amy's my best friend, she can't be..............” Cream couldn't bring herself to say that word that started with a d. She was in tears, it wasn't normal for someone under the age of thirteen to have to deal with a dead friend. Cheese cried along with Cream, and Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles just looked down at the ground.

Knuckles walked over to Cream and Cheese and tried to comfort them, as he was with Amy too, and she was very nice to Knuckles as well. Sonic and Tails looked at them, with all sorts of sad thoughts in their heads. Were Amy and Rouge really gone?

Knuckles suddenly remembered something while comforting Cream and Cheese, and then said, “H-hey, the Chaotix and this guy I didn't know entered the base right before we did. Where are they now?”

Tails shook his head in frustration and worry. Their adventures involving Eggman were always tense but, they never lost any close friends. He sighed and said, “Look, I'll call the president and ask him to send troops here to search for Amy, Rouge, and the Chaotix. Maybe some of them are still alive out there and that they'll be found.”

“That sounds like a good plan Tails,” said Sonic.

Tails took out his phone and dialed the number for the president. He took the phone to his ear and then said, “Mr. President. It's Tails. I'm here to report that Eggman's old base in the Mystic Ruins base had recently exploded because of an activated time bomb. Unfortunately, not everyone I know that was in the base has escaped, so we need to find some of these missing people immediately.”

Eyes were closed, the body that those eyes belonged to were resting in a nice bed that you could probably just lie on for the rest of your life. But, the eyes suddenly opened, and the person looked at the white setting, and the white room. The person was in some white clothes and had many appliances attached. We finally get a look at the figure, and it's none other, then Silver the Hedgehog.

“Ugh,” he moaned. “W-where am I?”

Silver saw that the room wasn't too big, his bed took up most of the place. There were many appliances hooked up to him, and he just felt very weird overall with what the appliances were doing to him. But it didn't feel bad, it felt like it was making him feel better actually.

Suddenly, a girl in a hospital like uniform came in with a clipboard. She saw that Silver was awake and was actually pretty stunned, probably not expecting him to be awake. “Oh my, you're awake,” she said.

“W-where am I?” asked Silver, who was barely awake.

“You're in the hospital,” said the girl. “And I'm the nurse assigned to checking up on you!” The nurse walked closer to Silver, seeming like she wasn't going to be leaving anytime soon. “How are you feeling?”

Silver then said, “Oh, I guess I'm fine. So I'm in the hospital then.”

The nurse nodded. “Yes, you're in great care. It's lucky that we were able to find you before something happened to you that would've been un-treatable. Now, just rest, we'll worry about other things later. What you need to do now is just relax and focus on recovery sweety.”

Silver nodded and smiled. “Thank you.”

The nurse smiled and was about to leave the room. But before that, she turned around and said, “By the way, what's your name?”

Silver then said, “Silver.” Silver's face then turned around as he stared out the window, as the nurse finally left the room and then closed the door.

But Silver was thinking about a lot of things, he couldn't even think about recovering. He had so many questions. He didn't know how hospitals worked here, and he thought a lot of things were strange. “Where am I...”

The forest fire was starting to calm down, as there were now troops everywhere trying to calm all the destruction to preserve all signs of evidence that could be used to actually find the doctor. Cream and Cheese were still crying, Knuckles was still comforting them, and Sonic and Tails were observing the entire process.

“I can't believe Shadow is back,” said Sonic.

“I know,” said Tails. “Why would he activate that bomb and try to kill us all?”

“I don't know Tails, this whole thing just reeks Eggman, and I'm not liking the smell.”

“The more reason to find him. Sonic, it's hard to realize that some of our friends might be gone, but we need to continue this search as soon as possible. The government should have everything under control here.”

Sonic nodded his head in agreement, and then said, “Sounds good Tails. It's not like we can do anything right now anyway.”

Sonic then walked over to Cream, who seemed to be trying to wrap up her crying with Cheese. He then told her, “Hey Cream, are you and Cheese gonna be okay?”

Cream sniffed trying to stop crying to answer Sonic's question. She finally said, “Um, yeah. I think we're gonna go home right now. My mom must be really worried because I forgot to tell her where we were going.”

“Good idea Cream, tell Vanilla I said hi,” said Sonic. Cream nodded in return, and she and Cheese waved to the other three and started walking away towards wherever her house was.

Knuckles walked over to Sonic and Tails, who seemed to be beginning to take off themselves. Knuckles stops, and then said, “So um, what were you guys doing in the Mystic Ruins base anyway?”

“We were looking for some clues to Eggman's whereabouts,” said Sonic. “Obviously though, we found something a lot more interesting then that.”

Knuckles knew exactly what Sonic was referring to, proving it when he said, “Oh yeah, Shadow. You mind explaining what all that is about? I mean, he's been away for five years after all.”

“Yeah, we know about as much as you probably do Knuckles. But since he was in Eggman's base and all, who knows, maybe Eggman has something to do with this. Tails and I need to get going though, we're supposed to find that egghead sooner or later. Sucks that Rouge is um...well...”

Knuckles sighed and looked down at the ground. “I haven't seen her in forever, I wonder how she's been doing after all these years.”

“Well, she's the same as ever.”

“Well, that's good to know I guess. Um......hey guys, do you mind if I come along?”

Sonic and Tails were a bit surprised by Knuckles' comment. They thought he had other things to do like, protect the master emerald. Sonic said, “Sure Knuckles but, don't you have some giant green rock to protect?”

“Well, Vector was in charge of it, and when I got back, I found out that the master emerald was gone. I came to this base to try to ask Vector about it, and obviously, he might still be down there. So maybe if I just travel with you guys, I might find the master emerald since Eggman could always had just stolen it.”

“What else is new?” asked Sonic in a joking like way.

“Hey now, it was that idiotic crocodile that...”

“Hold up guys!” said Tails. “Of course you can come with us Knuckles. It's actually been awhile since all three of us came together like this.”

“Well, let's get started then,” said Sonic.

“Ugh...”

The eyes slowly opened up. The figure was laying down on the cold brown dusty ground. The figure sits up and sees some bars in front of her. The figure then looks behind, and sees a wall. The figure then looks to her right, and notices a white bat also laying on the ground. Yes, this figure was the pink hedgehog named Amy Rose, who was miraculously saved along with Rouge the Bat from an impending death.

“W-where am I?” she asked.

Suddenly, Rouge began to sit up, waking up thanks to Amy's loud voice. Rouge's eyes opened, as she petted her head. “Could you keep it down, I'm busy looking at my jewels...,” she said.

Amy's face showed a bit of shock, as she definitely didn't expect to be sitting there waking up to Rouge. “Rouge?” she asked.

“Amy? What in the world are you doing in my vault?” It was obvious Rouge was having a typical dream while she was asleep. Rouge annoyed Amy very much because of her thieving nature, and her dreams definitely showed what kind of person Rouge was. At least, the Rouge that she portrays.

“No Rouge, get out of dream world, because I don't know where we are,” Amy asked.

Amy was right, and Rouge realized that when she finally woke up and saw what kind of place they were in. The room they were in seemed a little small for two girls, but there were bars in front of them. They came to the conclusion that they were being trapped like prisoners, but the question is, by who?

“Wow, where the heck are we?” asked Rouge.

“Weren't we running from a time bomb before?” asked Amy.

Rouge nodded. “Yeah, we were. So, how did we end up here?”

The room seemed like part of the inside of a pyramid, as there were Egyptian like paintings all over the walls, with hieroglyphics standing right next to them. The ground looked like it was made out of bricks covered in sand, although all that could be really felt was dust. This disgusted the girls, as they were sleeping on the ground with this dust.

“Ugh, this place is gross!” said Amy.

“My clothes are covered in dust,” said Rouge.

It seemed like the Mystic Ruins base, where there was dust everywhere as if the place wasn't cleaned up in forever. But there were no machines anywhere, especially Eggman kinds. However, something about the place seemed very familiar to them both, but they couldn't put their finger on it.

Suddenly, the girls could hear footsteps coming towards them. The girls were suddenly shocked, as they didn't know anyone else was there. They stood there facing the wall in front of them so far away, blocked by the bars, waiting for the person that was walking towards them to appear. The footsteps got louder and louder, and the girls just kept on wondering who the person was. They got more and more nervous, until the figure was revealed to be the black hedgehog that had so many questions surrounding them.

“S-Shadow?” they both asked.

“Hey you two,” Shadow said. “Did you have a nice rest?”

“Shadow, where are we?” asked Amy. “What are you doing here?”

“That's not important right now,” said Shadow.

“No, it is Shadow,” Rouge suddenly said. “Where are we?

Shadow paused for a second, wondering how to answer Rouge's question. Rouge seemed pretty pissed, she obviously wasn't the kind of person that liked to not be in control. Rouge always seemed to be the person in control of the situation, but this situation was clearly not in her virtue.

“I'm sorry, you can't know that yet,” said Shadow.

“Why not?” asked Rouge.

“Look, you should be glad that you are even alive,” said Shadow.

Shadow didn't mean to say that. He wasn't supposed to tell the two prisoners much for some reason, and it showed in his face that he knew he wasn't supposed to let something like that slip.

“W-what do you mean Shadow?” asked Amy.

Shadow sighed, knowing he wasn't gonna get away with this with a lie. “Okay, the truth is, you two fell in the Mystic Ruins base and didn't seem like you two would be getting out of the base in time. So, I chaos controlled you two here. That's why you should be glad.”

“Oh wow, thanks......Shadow,” Rouge said.

Shadow nodded and began walking away from the cell. Amy's face was filled with shock, as this was the first time she had seen Shadow in such a long time. Rouge was just as surprised, as the last time she communicated with Shadow, Shadow had attacked her pushing her into a wall.

“Rouge, what's going on?” Amy asked.

A white hedgehog named Silver was finally up on his feet after a bit of rest. All the appliances that were attached to him were taken off, as Silver was finally aloud to walk across the hospital. Perhaps he would see his new friends, the Chaotix, and then get out of the hospital as soon as possible to go continue on their search for Dr. Eggman. Silver had some questions of his own though, like how he got into the hospital anyway. But first, he just needed to see his friends. So, he went all around the hospital looking for the Chaotix. It took awhile, but he finally found a room with a purple chameleon in it. He had found Espio.

Espio was sitting on the bed, not hooked up to any appliances, just meditating. It seemed like he had finish recovery just as fast as Silver had. It looked like his friends really were in this large white colored hospital. Silver walked over to Espio, wondering if Espio could sense his presence.

“Hello Silver,” Espio suddenly said, with his eyes fully closed.

Silver was a bit surprised that Espio was able to figure out he was there while keeping his eyes closed. Silver got over that quickly though, then said, “H-how did you know I was here?”

Espio got ready to say yet another one of his tips for a ninja. “If you want to defeat your opponent, you must be able to sense your opponent from miles away.”

Silver nodded, he didn't expect anything less from someone like Espio. It was pretty clear at that point Espio was the kind of guy that just liked to think of himself as this wise leader that always had great advice. “So um, are Vector and Charmy here too?” Silver asked.

“Yes, if you had asked the nurses like I did, you would have known,” Espio said, sounding a little annoyed.

“Well sorry then,” Silver said, not completely understanding why Espio sounded so annoyed.

“Look, a ninja shouldn't be interrupted during his or her meditation,” Espio said. “So please, we'll talk later, please exit through the door.”

Silver sighed and understood. Espio wasn't the nicest person to him so far, but he wasn't going to start anything, there wasn't any real big reason to go off on him. So Silver just exited the room, and continued walking around the hospital to find the two other Chaotix members.

Silver walked up a floor, looking at the names at each of the doors he was passing. This definitely seemed like a big hospital that could hold tons and tons of patients. But, his search finally paid off, when he spotted Charmy's name on a door. He opened up the door, and walked inside, to see Charmy playing video games in front of the TV in his room.

“Ch-Charmy?” asked Silver.

“Yahoo!” shouted Charmy, who seemed to be completely forgetting that he was in the hospital. He may be part of a detective agency, but he was still a kid. A little more mature then he was five years ago, but still pretty childish being a pre-teen. “Hey Silver!”

Silver felt like a babysitter, seeing someone as childish as Charmy having the time of his life. But it was the least of Silver's worries. He just wanted to see if Charmy was okay. “Hey Charmy,” Silver said. “You've recovered too?”

“Yeah, but this is the coolest hospital ever!” Charmy said, while still keeping his eyes on the TV. “I never heard of a hospital with video games before, we don't have any of these games back at the detective house!”

Silver walked over to Charmy, and saw the game cover sitting right next to him on the bed. Silver didn't bother to see what the game was however, his eyes was just on the television screen. The game seemed a little bit....mature for Charmy. He saw it was some FPS shooter, with lots of blood in it. Silver wasn't concerned however, he barely knew Charmy.

“I didn't know hospitals had video games for patients,” Silver said.

“Well, I guess this one did!” Charmy said in happiness, still playing his video game.

Silver still wondered how they had gotten to this hospital, he forgot what had happened back at the Mystic Ruins base. But, maybe Charmy knew. He was a kid, but he might have a good memory. “Hey Charmy, do you remember how we all got here?” he asked.

Charmy shook his head while playing his video game. “Nope, but who cares!” he said.

Silver nodded, and exited the room. But he started getting these suspicions, as he had started to figure out, something wasn't right about this whole situation. How had he gotten here in the first place? The last thing he remembered was running away from something. Maybe, the leader would have some answers. Silver set off to look for Vector's room.

Ah, the classic trio that used to fight against Eggman. Well, at least the majority did. For a bit, the red echidna of the trio was fighting with Eggman, but he had obviously eventually come to his senses. Knuckles still saw Sonic as a threat in some ways skill wise, but they were no doubt on the same team now. These three haven't seen each other in a long time, so it seemed like quite the reunion. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were out of the Mystic Ruins forest, pretty close to the train station.

The three were walking, just coming out of the forest from the cave that was the entrance into it. Mystic Ruins was still the same place it was five years ago. Thankfully, Perfect Chaos' damage was only limited to Station Square, which the Mystic Ruins was actually far from. So the Mystic Ruins really didn't have much to worry about.

Knuckles thought about what had happened to the Chaotix. He hoped that they were okay, and that they would turn up sometime soon, as he needed answers from Vector soon. He needed to know what had happened to the master emerald. He hoped this reunion with Sonic and Tails would lead him somewhere.

Knuckles was thinking so much though, he forgot where the three of them were going. So he asked, “Um guys, where are we headed off to again?”

Sonic chuckled, as he was pretty sure Knuckles had heard before. “Knuckles, we're heading off to Tails' lab to see if he could possibly find Eggman,” said Sonic. “But I'm not sure if there's anything on the internet that can help us ya know.”

Tails then said sounding annoyed, “Well Sonic, if you were listening as well, you would know that I suggested going to the lab because maybe we could find other locations Eggman could be hiding out at. You know, more clues?”

Sonic nodded. “That's right,” he said. “Gee, I hope Amy, Rouge, and the Chaotix are okay. I mean, that bomb was pretty intense and all but, they can't be gone, can they?” Sonic's voice definitely had shown a sign of worry, which you didn't hear in him most of the time. When Sonic was worried, he was definitely worried.

Knuckles sighed. “Well, we can't just sit around and pause our lives for them, we have to solve the questions that are out there,” Knuckles said.

“You're right Knuckles, I didn't expect to hear such wisdom out of ya.”

“What's that supposed to mean??”

“Ah nothin' just messin' with ya Knuckles, it's been five years after all, right?”

“Well unfortunately, it looks like you haven't changed.”

Sonic loved to play around with Knuckles, as Sonic always thought he was one step ahead of the echidna, no matter how much Knuckles tried. They've come a long way to be friends now, and despite some minor things like Knuckles being tricked to battle Sonic again by Eggman when Chaos was around, their friendship remained intact. Although, they both hadn't spoken in five years, the trio didn't have any contact with each other in five years.

The three walked up the stairs to Tails' lab, which seems to have gotten the upgrade. It was about ten times the size of the lab that was there five years ago. It probably wasn't the biggest lab out there, but it was pretty big for only one scientist. The three entered the lab to be met with hundreds of inventions and a big monitor all the way in the back.

Sonic, amazed at the sight, said, “Tails.....this is your lab?”

Tails nodded, and felt a little proud that Sonic and Knuckles were amazed at the sight. “Yep, I've been pretty busy these past five years,” he said. Tails flew to the computer at the back, with Sonic and Knuckles quickly following.

Tails had reached the computer, and began typing on the keyboard in front of the huge monitor screen, looking like he was getting started on his work. “Hey guys, this might take awhile so you can look around, or wait outside if you want,” he said.

Sonic nodded and smirked, and went to exit the lab, giving Knuckles a gesture to come with him. Knuckles noticed the gesture, and followed Sonic out.

Sonic walked to the side of the lab, and stopped there, waiting for Knuckles. Knuckles came, wondering what Sonic could possibly want.

“So Knuckles, you do realize it's been five years since we've last seen each other right?” asked Sonic.

Knuckles nodded, saying, “I would've visited, but I had to be guarding the master emerald. Whenever I let someone else guard it, it seems like they fail on the job, and that's really annoying too!”

Sonic chucked at Knuckles, who still seemed to be pretty pissed that Vector lost the master emerald. And since Vector could possibly be dead, Knuckles might not be able to get a clue to where Vector may be.

“So Sonic, why haven't you visited me yourself?” asked Knuckles.

Sonic hesitated to answer for a bit, as he honestly didn't want to answer the question at the moment. But he began to answer it, by saying, “Well, to be honest Knuckles, I haven't really had contact with anyone during these past five years.”

Knuckles was actually a bit surprised at Sonic's comment. He thought of all people, Sonic would be the one to keep in close contact with everyone. But, it looks like that wasn't the case. Maybe Sonic had a similar reason to Knuckles on isolating himself from everyone. “Why Sonic?” he asked.

Sonic was about to answer Knuckles' question, but before he did, he got lucky, and noticed something sparkling in a bush right next to Tails' lab. “Hey Knuckles, look!” he said.

Sonic and Knuckles walked over to the sparkling bush, wondering what could possibly be in it. Sonic reached into the bush carefully, not sure what to expect to be touching in there. But Sonic's face showed a sense of shock, when he took out a green sparkling shard. “Knuckles, is this what I think it is?” asked Sonic.

Knuckles' face showed nothing but shock, as he also knew exactly what that jewel is, and what it means for him. This was a missing piece of the master emerald. There was no doubt about it, because Knuckles could feel the familiar energy.

Amy hated being trapped. She felt useless in that kind of state, and she hated being useless, as she was so sick of being looked at as useless so much in the past. Amy was older now, and she wanted to show that she was capable of being just as heroic as someone like Sonic. She couldn't however, if she was stuck in a cage.

Amy was smashing the bars with her hammer, trying to find a way out of such a confined room. She was pretty loud, and basically in emotional rage. “We've got to get out of here!” Amy screamed.

“Calm down sweety!” Rouge said sounding very annoyed. Rouge had to put up with Amy's loud hammer for awhile now right after Shadow left them. Rouge was very fed up, and could kick Amy into the wall a dozen times from the built up annoyance levels in her.

Amy finally stopped, breathing in and out. Amy tried to regain her energy, but she was in a state where she could actually pass out. “B-but, we have to get out of here!” she cried in desperation.

“I know, I want to get out of here as much as you do,” Rouge said. “But you have to calm down, and think with me of a way to get out of here!”

Amy sat down listening to Rouge. She was right, she wasn't going to smash her way out of this situation. She had to think of something, and to do that, she has to work with someone she really despised. “B-but, I'm so confused Rouge,” she said. “I mean, why would Shadow save us, and then trap us in here? More importantly, how in the world did Shadow survive that fall to Earth? For five years, I thought he was dead! And just where are we?”

Rouge didn't answer for a bit, as she was thinking of an answer to Amy's numerous questions. Rouge unfortunately didn't have any answers, she was just as confused about the situation as Amy was. So Rouge unfortunately said, “I know just about as much as you do. Believe me, I'm still shocked from that first time I saw the guy.”

Amy sighed, she wanted answers now. And she didn't like not being able to do anything about it. “Are we ever going to get out and figure all of this out?” she asked.

“I don't know, but we need to just calm down, and think of something,” Rouge said.

Amy nodded, and moved closer to Rouge, and they both started chatting with each other, trying to figure out any possible way to get out of this prison cell.

Back with Silver, he was still looking around for Vector. He had found Charmy and Espio, who were basically completely useless in his quest to look for answers. They seemed to be busy in their own matters. Didn't they know they were technically working for him? Silver didn't care at the moment though. He'd probably need the leader to get them back on track.

Silver felt like he was walking for hours though. He kept looking at every single room in this huge hospital, but none of the doors had Vector's name on it. Silver was running out of rooms to look at, he was starting to get worried that he wasn't going to find Vector. He had to find Vector, he had to get out of this hospital, he had to do what he came to this place for.

“Where could he be?” he asked.

Silver stopped however at the top floor, when he finally found a door that directly said Vector the Crocodile on it. Silver, being as impatient as he was, quickly opened the door, shouting, “Vector! Finally...”

But once Silver entered the room, he noticed that Vector wasn't there. Silver's face was filled with disappointment. Where could the green crocodile had run off to? Silver quickly exited the room, and kept looking for Vector, unfortunately just figuring out his search was nowhere near over.

Vector wasn't in the cafeteria eating food, he wasn't in some special room getting tests done, Silver couldn't seem to find the guy anywhere. Silver sighed at this annoying search. He had just returned to Vector's room after another long search, and Vector still was nowhere to be found in his room. Silver closed the door behind him, ready to continue the search.

But Silver looked at the name tag right next to the door, and he realized something he was quite surprised about. Vector's name......wasn't on there anymore. This room was no longer holding Vector as a patient.

“That's strange,” Silver said.

Shadow the hedgehog. A name that rings a lot of questions to minds of quite a few people at the moment. Most people will say this person is dead. But it turns out, this person is still alive. At least, that's what it looks like to the eye. Anyway, this hedgehog hasn't answered any questions, as he felt there really was no need to answer any.

He walked, he was going to go pay Amy and Rouge a second visit, but he had decided against that. He was recently called to the main room of wherever the place was. It seemed like the inside of an Egyptian pyramid, except, there was this strange feeling to it.

Shadow kept walking, noticing all the paintings on the walls around him. Wondering if he had ever been here before. He wondered why he even came to this place anyway. He wondered why he had saved those two girls. What was the importance of them? Why did he feel the need to save a girl he attacked a few minutes ago?

Despite the questions surrounding him, Shadow had some questions himself. He seemed to be suffering from amnesia. Well, slight amnesia at least. Shadow entered the room he was summoned to at last, as he wondered why he was there.

“You wanted to see me?” Shadow asked.

Shadow was looking at a chair. It was obviously some kind of man was sitting in it. The man chuckled, and slowly turned his chair around to face Shadow, which he had summoned. He finally turned around, and reveals that with the instantly recognizable mustache, it was no doubt the other person many questions surrounded as well. Dr. Eggman had summoned Shadow.

“Do you remember this place Shadow?” Eggman asked.

Shadow looked one more time at the room he was in. He suddenly had yet another flashback in his head, this time, of him talking to the doctor in this control room. How Eggman was telling him the end was near, and that he was going to go break the news to the heroes. Shadow nodded. “Yes, this is your base,” Shadow said.

Eggman chuckled, and grinned. “Well Shadow, I have a mission for you,” Eggman said.

“What is your mission then my master?” Shadow asked. Shadow had called Eggman his master when he was first awakened by him. Eggman was pleased he was being called that again. Very pleased.

“I need the chaos emeralds Shadow,” Eggman said. “And only you can help me get them.”

Shadow nodded, remembering exactly what the chaos emerald were. “And you will reveal to me answers to all of my questions? You will tell me who I am?”

Eggman nodded. “Of course Shadow, I care about you,” Eggman said.

“Good, then I'll be happy to help,” Shadow said, sealing the deal.

Whoever stole the master emerald, why did they let the master emerald shatter into pieces? Did they do it on purpose, or by accident? Will Amy and Rouge be able to escape their prison cell? Where in the world could Vector be? And why does Eggman need Shadow to collect the chaos emeralds? All this, on the next Desperate Hedgehogs.

#04: Four Searches

Previously on Desperate Hedgehogs...

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles had decided to stop worrying about Amy, Rouge, and the Chaotix and just continue pursuing what they needed to do. Sonic and Tails finding Eggman, and Knuckles finding the master emerald. Knuckles particularly gets a breakthrough in his search, when he finds a shattered piece of the Master Emerald.

Silver and the Chaotix have found themselves in this strange hospital after the bomb detonated. Well, at least most of the Chaotix, as Silver discovered at the end that Vector was no longer a patient.

Amy and Rouge find themselves prisoners after nearly dying in the Mystic Ruins base, due to an unexpected rescue from a hedgehog that all sorts of questions surrounded. Now the girls have to figure out the situation though and find a way out.

And lastly, Shadow was revealed to yet again, be taking orders from Dr. Eggman. Why he is taking orders though is unknown, but Dr. Eggman is after the chaos emeralds, and it isn't yet known why...

Shadow the Hedgehog. Often called the anti-hero of the heroic Sonic the Hedgehog. And with good reason too. He had manipulated the evil genius Dr. Eggman into nearly destroying all mankind. But frankly, he didn't seem to be a villain either, since by the end, he had made a dramatic turn around and helped Sonic in his quest to stop the Space Colony Ark. It was a happy ending for everyone, except for Shadow himself, who was at least thought to be dead.

But now this black hedgehog was standing in front of Dr. Eggman, the mad scientist he was able to trick so easily. It's surprising yet not surprising that these two weren't fighting as soon as they reunited. Eggman hates to be made of fool of, but Shadow was also his only connection to his family's past. Dr. Eggman looked up to Professor Gerald very much, even after finding out he was a madman.

The two were in the control room of Eggman's once abandoned base in the desert. But after Eggman had escaped the authorities, the base had finally gotten back into action, and everything was still working perfectly, for the most part at least. You may think the doctor has an artistic side to him, seeing shapes of his face all around the base. Or maybe you'd call that very self-absorbed.

Eggman had just told Shadow he wanted the Chaos Emeralds, and Shadow accepted without any hesitation. Why exactly these two were working together is still unknown, but it seems like Shadow wants something from Dr. Eggman.

"Good Shadow, you can get started right away," Eggman said with a grin.

Shadow nodded, and was about to leave the room to get going. But before he did, he asked, "Master, why did I feel the need to rescue those two strangers?"

Eggman didn't exactly know how to answer that question, but with his large IQ, he was quick to find one and then said, "Un un un, first get me one Chaos Emerald and I'll start answering some questions!"

Shadow was a little annoyed that the doctor refused to answer his question, but he knew he had no choice, he needed answers to the current situation, and it seemed like only the doctor knew what those answers were. "You're right, sorry, but um, do you have an idea where the first Chaos Emerald is?" Shadow asked.

Eggman's smile was more obvious then ever. "I'm glad you asked. I've been working on something that will be able to assist you in finding the Chaos Emeralds. E-123 Omega, report here at once!"

Suddenly, a robot came entering the door behind Shadow. It was a pretty big robot, colored black and red just like Gamma was. But this robot looked much stronger, nothing about the robot looked very cute at all. "At your service, Dr. Eggman," he said.

"It's time for your first mission to begin Omega," said Eggman. "I've been working on you for far too long, so it's time to see you be put to good use. You contain an emerald radar inside of you, I want you to go with Shadow and find me a Chaos Emerald. Failure is not an option, they're key to my plan!"

Omega nodded by bowing down, as he didn't actually have a head. His head seemed to be the same thing as his tummy, if that makes any sense at all. "Mission recieved, will begin progress immediately," he said.

"Good, Omega, wait outside the base for Shadow, when he comes, begin your search immediately," said Eggman.

Omega heard the message loud and clear and immediately exited the room, as Shadow watched his legs taking each step they took. The robot did seem intimidating, but it was a robot, robots don't have minds of their own, he would be fine with it.

"So Shadow, when you're ready, head outside and join Omega and begin the search," said Eggman.

Shadow nodded, and walked out of the room leaving Eggman to his doings. Shadow wasn't just ready to go on such a journey though. He first had something that was on his mind before he entered Eggman's control room that he had to take care of.

In another part of the base, there were two prisoners, both female, just letting time go by as they were stuck in a very small and dark prison cell. It sucked being stuck in a place with no way out, especially to these two girls, who absolutely needed all the fresh air they could get. These are two girls they don't belong in cages at all, Amy and Rouge.

The two were sitiing with their legs crossed, trying to think of ways to get out of the cell, after Amy's little tantrum that was with slamming the metal bars with her hammer. She was a wild girl, wild girls didn't like to be trapped. Unless of course, they're saved by their favorite blue hero.

"Maybe Sonic will come save us," said Amy, souding a little more hopeful now that Sonic had returned to her mind.

"Oh please, they probably think we're dead," Rouge said, sounding very annoyed at hearing Sonic's name.

"Don't say that!" Amy shouted in a very angry tone.

"It's not far from the truth though," said Rouge. "I mean, if Shadow is telling the truth and he saved us from that bomb, they probably can only assume that we didn't make it out in time."

Amy was about to shout something insulting, but she thought about Rouge's words, and then sighed. Rouge was right, they probably think that they were dead, if her and Rouge were ever going to get out, they had to do it themselves, or maybe ask Shadow a million times. "I just wish we knew where we were," Amy said.

Nope, Rouge and Amy still couldn't figure out that they were at a base they were standing in five years ago. But it had been five years, they didn't really feel the need to keep this base in their heads. But they had to figure it out eventually, they definitely were there before.

Suddenly, the girls could hear footsteps coming towards their cell again. They didn't sound too different from the ones they heard before with Shadow, and since Shadow was the only person they knew was in this base, they could only assume it was him again.

And they were right, as Shadow was finally seeable in their eyes, and he then stood in front of the cell, just looking at the two people he had saved from an inevitable death.

"Hey," said Shadow.

"Shadow...," Amy said.

"How are you two doing at the moment?"

"Not bad, except that we're kinda trapped," said Rouge sounding very annoyed.

Shadow chuckled surprisingly, and he didn't really know why, but Rouge's attitude seemed familiar. "Can you two answer some questions for me?" he asked.

Amy and Rouge were a bit surprised at Shadow's question. Rouge quickly answered though when she said, "Maybe if you tell us where we are, and let us go."

"Well.....then nevermind," said Shadow. Shadow then started to walk away from the cell, leaving Rouge looking pretty annoyed.

But Amy had a different plan, as she ran to the bars and grabbed them with her hands and tried to put her head through the space between two of them. She then shouted, "Shadow, wait!"

Shadow stopped, and turned around to Amy, who's head was outcide of the cell.

"Shadow please, don't you remember us?" asked Amy. Amy sounded desperate, as if she thought this was the only way to get out of the base, which seemed to be true in their minds. "Don't you remember? I told you something that made you change your mind about mankind, and then you went and saved the world with Sonic! Why are you trapping us here now? I thought we were your friends."

Shadow's face suddenly had shown a ton of confusion. He remembered getting that flashback of Amy telling him something very important. Did he save these two girls because he knew they had answers to his question? It was too bad they weren't going to answer any unless he let them escape. Shadow shrugged Amy's comment off his shoulders then, and just exited the room like he had planned, leaving Amy falling to the ground with her head down.

It was a very strange hospital indeed. When Silver the Hedgehog entered the room of the Chaotix Detective Agency leader, he came out and saw that his name was no longer next to the door. He didn't hear anyone coming to take the name off, so unless they were tip-toeing the name seemed to have vanished. Silver kept looking at the now empty name-tag, wondering if Vector's name was still there somewhere.

But, Vector's name wasn't there, Vector was no longer assigned to this room. Was Vector assigned to a different room? Silver didn't know, but he knew that something fishy was no doubt going on. He didn't know exactly what it was, but he didn't like that this was pausing his mission to find Eggman.

"Maybe he checked out or something," Silver said. "Maybe I'll go ask that nurse." Silver was referring to the nice nurse that was talking to him when he had first woken up. Silver thought he might find her somewhere on the first floor, so he quickly got to the stairs and began running down.

He finally reaches the first floor, and sees the counter near the front door, and the nurse was over there doing some paperwork. Silver walked over to the nurse, and then said, "Hey there."

The nurse looked up to see Silver's face. His eyes looking for her eyes. The nurse smiled, and then said, "Oh, hey Silver! It's good to see you on your feet hun!"

Silver nodded smiling back. There was something about the nurse that was really sweet, that made you feel like she was really on your side no matter what. Silver immediately said, "Thank you. I'm feeling pretty good at the moment. Hey um, do you know where Vector the Crocodile may be? He's a patient here but I can't seem to find him anywhere."

The nurse looked at Silver pretty weirdly, as if she was a bit weirded out by what Silver had asked. She quickly responded though by saying, "I'm sorry Silver, but there's no one named Vector in this hospital."

Silver's face suddenly showed a sense of confusion. He knew if he, Espio, and Charmy were in this hospital, Vector had to be in this hospital too. "But, I saw a door with his name on it before, but then later on, the name tag changed and there was no name on it. Did Vector check out or something?"

The nurse's face continued to show a sense of weirded outness. It's as if she thought Silver was spouting out something crazy. "Silver are you okay? There was never someone named Vector the Crocodile checked into this hospital."

"What? B-but, I saw the nametag on the door, his name was on it! Vector the Crocodile was in this hospital not too long ago." Silver seemed to be a little frustrated at this point. Was his mind playing tricks with him, or was there something even stranger going on?

The nurse's face suddenly had shown much worry, as if she thought there was something wrong with the person she was speaking to. She confirmed this when she said, "Oh my, these must be some side effects," she said. "We must take you back to your room immediately and do a check up."

"Oh um, no thanks, I actually just wanted to check out," Silver said, who didn't seem to know what he was saying due to such a surprising comment.

"NO!" shouted the nurse. "You aren't going anywhere until we get you checked up!"

Silver was immensely shocked by how such a nice and pretty nurse turned so aggressive so soon. Was this really some side effect to whatever damage was dealt to him, or was something even bigger going on?

Everyone in this universe had at least heard of the Master Emerald. Its great powers that could completely help or destroy the universe. But the power is not easily accessible. At least, the full potential isn't. No, if you really wanted control of that unlimited energy that could completely stop the Chaos Emeralds from doung anything, you had to be one echidna, which was Knuckles.

Unfortunately, since Knuckles was the only one that was able to really use the Master Emerald's energy to its full potential, he's a popular person to try to trick into giving information. Luckily he had never given such information, and the secret to really harnessing the Master Emerald's power is still a secret.

So, people may take an alternative to reaching true power, which is to steal the Master Emerald so that it could not stop the Chaos Emeralds, which on the other hand was very easy to absorb power from. Sometimes, even shattering the emerald. This is all Knuckles could think of, when he found a missing piece of the Master Emerald.

He stood in front of the bush outside Tails' lab in the Mystic Ruins with Sonic, and they both stared at the Master Emerald piece, which Knuckles was now holding. Knuckles at least knew what the state of the Master Emerald was, but who did it, and why?

"There's no doubt about it, this is a piece of the Master Emerald," Knuckles said.

"Now why would someone go and steal the emerald, then shatter it?" asked Sonic,

"Beats me," said Knuckles. "Whoever did this though is going to meet my fist!"

Sonic chuckled, always seeming to laugh whenever Knuckles showed his anger. The Master Emerald was usually a good place to start if you wanted to piss the echidna off. "Why is that your answer to everything?" asked Sonic.

Knuckles was in rage, and didn't really appreciate Sonic's smart comment. "This isn't a joke you idiot!" Knuckles said. "Someone has the nerve to not only steal the Master Emerald, but smash it into pieces as well! I must find the colprit as soon as possible!"

Suddenly, the two heard something coming up behind them, and they saw that it was Tails, who had just exited the lab, looking like he was wondering what all the commotion was about. "You guys are really loud, what are you talking about?" Tails asked.

"Guess what we found Tails," Sonic said, as Knuckles showed Tails the Master Emerald piece.

Tails' eyes lit up, as he definitely didn't expect to see a master emerald piece sitting there right next to his lab. "Woah, is that what I think it is?" he asked.

Knuckles nodded, then said, "Yes, it's a missing piece of the Master Emerald. Whoever stole it shattered the Master Emerald for whatever reason!"

"Whoever did this, why would they waste their time to steal the darn thing and then just break it?" asked Sonic. "I guess though, they could just be really clumsy."

"Well, it's kinda scary that a thief might've been near my lab while we were gone," said Tails. "I mean, what if they stole anything I made as well?" Tails' face suddenly showed a lot of worry, you could say he was the type of guy that could get very attached to things he created, kind of like a father and son relationship.

"Heh heh heh," said Sonic. "Don't worry Tails, I'm sure with your mind you'd just be able to make it again."

Tails turned around and faced Sonic actually looking very stern, then said, "It's not as simple as you think, you have no idea what I've been inventing these past five years Sonic."

Sonic was taken a bit by surprise, as Tails would usually always laugh at his little jokes. At least, that's what the Tails he knew five years ago would do. Sonic shrugged the comment off though, and then just said, "So, not only do we have Eggman on our minds, but we also have some guy that cared about the Master Emerald enough to want to steal it. And for what we know, they could've shattered it on purpose or by accident. Sounds like another adventure guys!"

Knuckles was pretty annoyed by Sonic's laid back attitude, like he always was. He showed it by saying, "This isn't all fun and games Sonic. If someone wanted the Master Emerald it's because they know it has enough power to stop the Chaos Emeralds. And if they wanted to shatter it, it's because they plan to use the Chaos Emeralds and don't want the Master Emerald to get in the way. Maybe Eggman is the one that did this, the person you two happen to be looking for as well."

Tails suddenly remembered another reason why he had come out to chat with the two guys. He had something to tell them, which was, "Oh, that reminds me guys, get into my lab, I just remembered something incredibly important that could lead us to Eggman!"

Tails then began to run into his lab, and Sonic and Knuckles followed shortly.

It seemed like Amy and Rouge didn't have very good luck for awhile, considering the fact that not only were they stuck in prison in a place they just could not recognize, but they could not even get any answers from someone they had considered a hero before. But then again, it was Shadow, no one but Eggman seemed to had known enough about the black hedgehog.

Amy and Rouge were both lying on the floor, trying to think of ways to turn their luck around, which would be by actually getting out of prison and out into the free open world so that they could figure out this mess. But so far, they had come up with nothing, and it felt like forever since Shadow had last visited them.

"Rouge, thought of anything yet?" Amy asked, sounding very tired and lazy actually.

Rouge sighed, sounding just as tired and lazy as Amy, then said, "Nothing yet. And I'm getting bored feeling like we're being trapped here for eternity. Aren't we at least supposed to get something to eat? My ideal way to die isn't starvation."

"I can't believe you're thinking about food at a time like this," Amy said sounding annoyed. "But then again, you are very self-absorbed."

"Wow, since when did little miss sunshine use words like that?" asked Rouge, sounding pretty mocking like actually.

Amy yelped a big fat ha to Rouge, as she knew exactly what to say in response. "It's called growing up Rouge, which is something maybe someone like you should consider."

Rouge girnned, thinking Amy's comment as quite amateurish at trying to be a decent insult. She responds by saying, "Says the one that can't let go of a crush on a guy that's probably not going to settle down for anyone."

That comment really hit Amy deep in her heart. She didn't like to be called a child just because of her enormous crush that she knew she couldn't let go of yet. Even after five years of total rejection, she still loved that blue hedgehog as if he were her true soul mate. Fire raged in her eyes, she faced Rouge, and then shouted, "Who do you think you are?! Love is something that cannot be helped, it isn't some childish thing! Then again, you probably don't know anything about it knowing your lying nature."

Rouge then said, "Believe me honey, I do," knowing exactly what she was referring to. "Why are you being so defensive? Face it Amy, your little crush on Sonic is kinda hopeless if he's ignored ya for five years."

"Well you don't know that!" Amy shouted. She sighed and laid back on the ground. "Gosh, staying in this cell with you is making me go insane."

"I think I can see that," Rouge said. "Don't worry, it's all making me pretty cranky myself, we've got to find a way out of here." Rouge was right, who knows what will become of Amy and Rouge the longer they are to stay in such a confined area.

That must've sucked. Feeling like you were in tip top shape, only to be told that your feelings were wrong and then rushed back into the room to do extreme testing. Silver knew there was nothing wrong with him though, and these tests that were being performed felt very weird to him. He just felt this certain sense of sleepiness as whatever that was being inserted into him kept going in.

Silver had a bad feeling about this now. He was getting more and more sleepy. And there didn't seem to be a way to fight it. He stared at the nurse, who seemed to be staring at him with much worry. But to Silver, there seemed to be something odd about her face. It just seemed, well, you could say Silver never thought someone like her could even show worry, let alone so much of it. How long had she known Silver now? About an hour at this point? There just seemed to be something...odd about her.

However, Silver had no time to think about it all, as he couldn't help his eye lids close. He tried to resist, and it actually seemed like he might've been able to stay awake for a little while.

But then the nurse said, "Don't worry sweety, you're safe with me, please let us help you."

Help you, help you, help you, help you, help you. The words kept repeating themselves in Silver's head. He couldn't control himself at this point, his eye lids finally closed, and he appeared to finally be giving into whatever was being inserted into him.

"Yes yes, rest, that's what you need, rest," said the nurse. She then slowly walked out of the room, and then closed the door behind her.

If something was going on, then Silver had basically failed to try to resist whatever it was, and now he seemed to be sound asleep. All hope was lost, Silver had fallen into whatever clutches he had fallen into.

At least, that's what they thought.

Silver's eyes opened, and took out all the appliances hooked up to him. He seemed pretty tired, but not tired enough to have actually fallen asleep like what was thought. He slowly got off his bed, trying to gain his balance. He almost fell to the ground, the stuff inserted into him was pretty effective, but it couldn't get Silver completely, as he was awake, barely.

"I-I know what this is," Silver said slowly. "And it isn't any good."

Silver seemed more convinced then ever that this hospital wasn't exactly a hospital. Something about what was injected into him seems to have led him to this conclusion. He had to tell Espio and Charmy. He had to get out of this place. He had to find out what they had done with Vector. He had to be the hero. The Chaotix were going to pay him when this was all done.

He slowly walked up to the door, and slowly opened it, hoping no one would hear or see the door opening. He slowly put his head out the door, to see if anyone was in the hallway. He looked to the left, nothing there. He looked to the right, nothing there.

"I've got...to tell Espio and Charmy," Silver said. He slowly exited the door and began walking, well, barely walking.

Tails' lab was still a shocking sight to Sonic and Knuckles. But then again, it definitely was the first time they saw the lab be as huge as that. It definitely wasn't the lab they knew before during their days battling Chaos. They could only assume that the more years that past, the smarter that Tails gets.

Tails was standing in front of his computer. He seemed to be trying to get something up to show Sonic and Knuckles. Sonic and Knuckles were waiting, wondering what Tails' important news was.

"Okay guys, let me ask you something," Tails began to say. "Do you guys remember another one of Eggman's old bases we hadn't investigated yet?"

Sonic and Knuckles were thinking, Eggman had the ability to create massive bases in such a short time. It wouldn't be a surprise if they forgot about a base that Eggman could possibly be hiding in. But, nothing really came into their minds, so they both shook your heads.

"Oh, I don't blame you guys for forgetting, we only actually were at this certain base for a short time," Tails said. "But it's the most recent one we saw! Eggman's base in the desert, when he was working with Shadow!"

Sonic and Knuckles suddenly remembered exactly what that place was. How could all three of them forget about such a base? Especially since it was the most recent one. But then, they remembered why they didn't even consider the base, why they didn't even remember it.

"Tails, didn't that base get engulfed during some desert storm three years ago?" asked Sonic.

Tails nodded. "Yes, that's why we all didn't remember it," Tails said. "The base was reported to be buried in the sand, and it was impossible to find, as searching through sand is very hard, even with the technology we have today. But guys, this is Eggman we're talking about. He may have possibly found a way to get back into the base. It's our only clue left."

Sonic smiled, pretty happy about what Tails had discovered. He gave him a thumbs up, and then said, "Nice work Tails! It'll be tough trying to search through such a large desert though, it actually kinda slows me down running on sand."

Tails wasn't very into the idea of searching endlessly through the desert himself. What their task was basically digging up an entire desert in search for this base that was a very small part of the entire desert. But Tails, being the genius he was, had a solution. "That's why we're lucky that I found the exact coordinates of where the base was on the computer. All we gotta do is basically get to these coordinates and really just start digging."

Sonic faced Knuckles and then said, "Well, it's a good thing we got ourselves quite the digger here!"

"What, me?" asked Knuckles.

"Alright guys, let's get going, I'll fly us over to the spot on the Tornado 3," Tails said.

As Tails was walking over into a different room, it suddenly occurred to Sonic. Tornado 3? Did Tails really make another plane? He wondered what it looked like, and what it could do. Was it as fast as him? Sonic would soon find out, as Tails gave them a hand gesture a little later to come into the room and get onto the plane.

Sonic and Knuckles entered the ginormous room. But it was actually pretty dark, none of the lights were on. So they couldn't see a thing. This was unusual, but maybe Tails wanted to surprise them that much more.

"Hey Tails, can you turn the lights on in here?" Sonic asked.

"Sure," Tails said, with the lights immediately going on right after.

The Tornado 3 was huge, very huge. It wasn't as huge as let's say, the Egg Carrier, but it was still pretty freakin' huge. It was painted white, with the words Tonado 3 nicely painted on top of the white. The shape of the plane seemed a lot more complex, and there were all sorts of guns on the plane as well. It had two seats inside of it, which was one extra seat then the previous Tornado.

Sonic and Knuckles really had no idea Tails' abilities in technology have gotten this advance. They knew he was a genius, but he never actually made anything that would absolutely amaze them. This reunion seriously brought lots of surprises.

"Woah!" Sonic said.

"Impressed guys?" asked Tails. "Let's get going!"

Tails and Knuckles hopped into the plane seats, while Sonic took his usual spot on the outside. Although, it seemed a little more uncomfortable, as it didn't seem like Tails made this plane with Sonic riding on it in mind, strangely.

Slowly, the garage door in front of the plane opened. The plane's engine turned on, and fire started blasting out from behind, as the plane got ready to take off. As Tails shouted, "here we go", the plane flies out of the lab, and heads for the desert.

A Chaos Emerald was no ordinary object. It contained huge amounts of power, that only so few could actually absorb and control. Chaos Emeralds were not to be played with, especially in the wrong hands. Dr. Eggman certainly didn't think he had the wrong hands, as he had ordered Shadow and his newest robot Omega to retrieve them. But many people in the world would obviously disagree, Dr. Eggman didn't care.

Shadow and Omega were walking around in the shadows in the sub-urban area of Station Square. Omega's radar had led them to this area first. They both hadn't exactly been to this area. But Omega's radar had come in handy, so all they were doing is just following the radar.

The both of them were pretty silent on the trip so far, but Shadow wondered if Omega would be able to answer any of his questions himself. Omega was a robot of Eggman's afterall, maybe Omega had some of Eggman's memories. But he couldn't just outright ask a stranger he guessed. But what did he have to lose.

"That emerald radar is really useful," Shadow said, trying to break the ice. "Do you know how Eggman built it?"

Omega faced Shadow as they were both walking, and then said, "Information unavailable."

Shadow knew Omega was a robot, but it just seemed very weird how he talked like one so much. Did this robot have no mind like all of Eggman's robots did? Omega must be a very powerful robot if he can be mindless but can find the Chaos Emeralds. Or perhaps Eggman made Shadow go with Omega because he knew Omega could not do it alone. Although, Omega seemed to be doing pretty well so far.

"So, what do you think of the doctor?" Shadow asked.

Omega ignored Shadow's question, making Shadow believe even more that Omega was just a mindless robot. Shadow didn't think he'd get anything out of him, so he just kept his mouth shut for the rest of the trip.

The walking in silence wouldn't last much longer though, as the two finally stumbled upon what they had been looking for. A Chaos Emerald was right in front of them. It was laying on the bush trying to blend in with the surroundings with its green color. But the emerald was far too shiny to not notice. Quite a strange place for an emerald to be at actually, where there were so many people, but it looked like no one seemed to come to this spot very much anyway.

"That's a Chaos Emerald," Shadow said.

Omega nodded in agreement, and took the emerald and put it inside himself. Omega then said, "Now, let us report back to the base to store this emerald."

Shadow nodded, and Omega began to walk back the direction they came from. But before Shadow followed his footsteps, he heard something strange. It was a cry. It didn't sound like tears of joy at all, but tears of pain. Shadow quickly turned around to see what the commotion was. He knew the way back to the base, he'd catch up to Omega later. He ran up to the bush in front of him and hid in it to observe who was making such sad sounds.

What he saw with his eyes was a young orange rabbit and her pet chao crying into their mother's tummy. The orange rabbit's face was in her mother's as her mother tried to comfort her, and the pet chao too. Yep, it was Cream the Rabbit and her pet chao Cheese, along with Vanilla, their guardian. Shadow had never met these three before, yet the crying was enough to get his attention. He listened in.

"Oh, it's okay dear," said Vanilla. "I know Amy was a great friend to you two, I'm sure she's out there somewhere."

"B-but, you didn't see the bomb mom," said Cream, who was still trying to fight her tears enough to speak. "It was just so huge, and if Amy didn't escape the base, it really is likely that she's dead."

"Oh stop it Cream. I'm sure the bomb was pretty big, but remember, Amy is a fighter. She's taught you to be tougher then you were before. If she can do that, I'm sure she's out there somewhere just trying to get to you as soon as possible."

Cream's tears seemed to lesson, her mother really was encouraging. "Y-you think so mom?"

"I know so."

Shadow knew that Vanilla was right. Amy Rose was still alive. If only he could tell them, and stop the crying. But he mustn't show himself. The doctor told him that the best thing to do was to remain undercover, and with no one else to trust, Shadow agreed already.

Amy and Rouge haven't really talked to each other much after their little verbal fight. They just needed some space. It was too bad that they wouldn't be getting any anytime soon. The two were stuck with each other for who knows how long, and there's only so much they can take.

Amy suddenly thought of someone she hadn't thought about since she had woken up in here. And that was her best friend in the whole wide world, Cream, with her pet chao Cheese. She knew that the two of them wouldn't take her missing very well, and now a sense of worry struck her head.

"I hope Cream and Cheese are okay," she said. "They must be really sad that I'm missing."

Rouge heard what Amy's supposedly self comment was, then she asked, "What is it now?"

Amy was still mad at Rouge. Amy did still feel very negative feelings towards her, and she was determined eternal life with her in prison wasn't going to change that. "I'm just worrying about my friends, nothing of your concern," Amy said.

Amy was feeling more and more worried about Cream as the seconds past. She knew that Cream wasn't the strongest person in the world, but Amy did help her grow stronger as the years have passed since they first met accidently. Amy thought of how she told Cream everything, and how Cream told her everything, and how cute Cream's chao was. Cream, is she okay?

Amy couldn't stand it, she felt like she was responsible to make sure Cream was alright. She didn't want to be the cause of Cream pausing her life. Amy needed to get out now. "Oh my gosh, I need to get out of here!" Amy shouted.

Rouge was a bit startled by Amy's outburst, thinking that she was done with that phase. Apparently though, there was no end to Amy tantrums. Rouge had to get out now too, she couldn't stand another Amy tantrum. "Shut it!" shouted Rouge. "Gosh, not another of your tantrums please. I was having this perfect daydream about my jewels back home if you don't mind."

Amy then turned to Rouge and said, "Don't you have anyone you actually care about besides your precious jewels? At least I have a living being I need to be there for."

"Oh believe me Amy, there's more to me then jewels," Rouge surprisingly said.

"Hmm, how so?" Amy asked.

"That's strictly confidential," Rouge said with a giggle at the end.

"Hmph, you're such a terrible liar," Amy said, coming to the conclusion Rouge was lying about having someone to care about.

"Believe what you want to believe," Rouge said. Rouge laid back at the ground and was about to close her eyes and do some more daydreaming. But before she closed her eyes, she noticed something on the ceiling she hadn't noticed before. She suddenly stood back up, and tried to get a better look at the ceiling, but it was just too dark to see it clearly.

"What are you doing?" Amy asked, since Rouge wasn't the type to do something so random.

"The ceiling," Rouge said. "There's something on it, but I can't see it."

"Well, you can climb can't ya? Go climb up there and get a closer look."

Amy actually gave a great idea thoguht Rouge, so Rouge flew up to the ceiling and stuck onto it. She realized that what she was looking at, most of it was covered in this unusual material. Rouge had her gloves on, so she wasn't afraid of anything disgusting. She started tearing the material off.

"Ew, what do you think you're doing?" Amy meanwhile was not fond of the stuff falling off the ceiling. She was wearing a sleeveless dress and the disgusting material was getting on her arms. Amy brushed it all off and tried to find a safe spot in the cell.

Rouge was almost finished though. She finally took all the material off to reveal what Rouge wanted to see. Rouge's eyes suddenly opened up, as she suddenly found a piece of information that could really benefit them both.

"Why didn't I realize this before?" asked Rouge.

"What?" asked Amy, who then looked up at the ceiling herself. Then, Amy's eyes opened up just as wide, as she knew exactly what Rouge was talking about. Rouge was right, why didn't they realize this before? The ceiling had a picture of an Eggman symbol. This was the old Eggman base that was thought to have been buried by a sand storm.

The desert was a very hot place. Staying out here for too long would probably be a pretty bad thing, unless you were in an area that was air-conditioned 24/7. Nothing was going to bring down these three though, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, who all had a goal in their mind coming into this area, which was to find Dr. Eggman. Sonic and Tails were asked to bring the doctor back to prison, and Knuckles just had a strong feeling Eggman was responsible for the Master Emerald being shattered.

The plane was flying pretty fast. It wasn't Super Sonic fast, but it was pretty fast. It definitely beat running on the sand. Tails' piloting skills seemed to have definitely improved since Sonic last saw him flew. He was basically starstruck at everytime Tails had been doing so far. Who knew the fox had grown up so much?

"We're here," Tails suddenly said interrupting Sonic's thoughts. The plane landed smoothly on the sand. There weren't any ancient ruins or cities anywhere near where they were. It was just an endless area of sand. Nothing else but sand, and the unbearable heat. But the three were going to find that Eggman even if it's the last thing they do.

The three of them got out of the plane, and looked around at all the sand. It was such an enormous place, they had no idea how they were going to find that base.

"I hope you guys aren't expecting me to dig all this sand up," Knuckles said, which he had every right to say seeing all that sand.

"Don't worry Knuckles, I'm sure if we all just dig into this sand we'll find something!" Sonic said.

"No, that's a horrible idea Sonic," Tails said. "With all that sand getting into your body, you'll probably die out here," Tails said sounding very annoyed. "Don't you know that? What we're going to do is try to find a secret entrance to the base. If Eggman truly is here, all we have to do is find a secret entrance."

"Well, sure Tails," Sonic said, a little surprised by Tails' disagreement.

Tails nodded and said, "Good. I'm going to go get this scanner I took with us in the plane, you two just start walking around here and see if you can find anything without killing yourselves." Tails then ran back towards the plane, while Sonic and Knuckles began to explore.

"Geez, did you two get in a fight or something?" Knuckles asked, noticing Tails' attitude.

"Huh, what do ya mean?" asked Sonic.

"Like, last time I was with you guys, you two were totally in-sync. What happened?"

Sonic unfortunately didn't know the answer to the question. But he didn't think there was much of a problem himself. He just thought that Tails well, grew up was all. Grew up into more of a jerk that didn't laugh at any of his jerks, but grew up. "Eh, I think you're over analyzing things Knuckles," Sonic said, even though he knew that was a blatant lie.

He could barely stand, and he certainly didn't want to get caught by that nurse, but he had to see his new friends. He had to find out what was really going on. This substance that was inserted into Silver was something very bad, he knew it. He knew that it was no way something that was supposed to help you heal. He knew that it was a poison, to try to put you to sleep for life. He knew the effects may last for a long time with only a little of it inside him, but he was able to walk, he had to do something. He had to get out of this hospital.

He slowly walked up the stairs, trying to reach the floor Espio was on. Silver couldn't believe how slow he was going. He couldn't believe it had become such a struggle to get up these stairs. He wish he could just use his powers and fly to the next floor, but he felt like his powers were wiped out. That poison really did it for him.

But eventually, he finally made it up a floor, and didn't waste anytime to get to Espio's door. No one was around thankfully, so he entered the room, and saw both Espio and Charmy there. Espio was still meditating, and Charmy was playing video games.

"There you guys are," Silver said slowly.

"Hi Silver!" Charmy said while still keeping his eyes on the TV. "What's up?"

"Can't you two leave a chameleon at peace?" asked Espio. "Meditating would be much easier if you both were to leave the room."

"W-we have to get out," Silver suddenly said. "We have to leave this place NOW."

"Why?" asked Charmy. "This place rocks Silver! I can't get these video games anywhere else!"

"And the peace I've been able to obtain in here, it actually is a great place to train as a ninja for me," Espio said.

Silver wished he didn't have to convince them to leave the place, as he was pretty tired. But it looked like he had to try his best. It seemed strange they didn't notice how tired he was. "G-guys, have you seen Vector at all?"

"Not really," Charmy said. "And who cares?"

Silver's ears didn't fool him. Silver did not expect Charmy to say that at all about his leader, who he had probably spent a lot of time with. "What do you mean you don't care?" Silver asked, with a little more energy due to the shock.

"Like yeah, who cares Silver?" Charmy asked. "Infact, let's stay at this hospital forever! It's free and fun!"

Espio grinned while his eyes still stayed shut. He then said, "I actually agree. I've never actually been to such an amazing facility before. I don't see the harm in staying."

"WHAT?!" shouted Silver. Both of their comments woke Silver right up, as not only were they not suspicious about anything this hospital is doing, but they actually were suggesting to stay at the hospital forever. At least Silver was now finally awake, but things just got even stranger.

Questions are still there to answer, not to mention some new ones as well. What's Eggman's plans with the Chaos Emeralds? What will Amy and Rouge do now that they know exactly where they are? Will Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles find the base? And what will Silver do now that he knows what the hospital truly is? All this on the next episode of Desperate Hedgehogs.