Crumbs knew that, as the older cousin in the family (Though not the oldest, that honor went to Retro), she shouldn't be doing this.

Her father had specifically told her that she wasn't supposed to go near the walls of the Eggman Empire. But the mystery had been so intriguing and wonderful, and she just couldn't resist inspecting the metal walls that became so taboo to even speak of.

Once she got an idea in her head, it was damn-near impossible to get it out. She knew that she was being reckless, but she was doing it anyway. But the worst part of it to her was that she had accidentally dragged along her little cousin, Cream.

But instead of turning around and bringing Cream back home, she had continued on. To her credit, she did scold the little Rabbit the whole walk there.

"You shouldn't be anywhere near this, you know better! When I was your age, I most certainly did." She realized how hypocritical it sounded, and Cream did as well, giving her a disapproving look the entire time.

Until the hum of machinery and electricity broke them out of that and they realized that they were right by the wall.

"Now, you stay here." Crumbs demanded, looking up.

"Not happening." Cream shook her head. Normally, Cream was a well-behaved, sweet little girl. But she was curious and frustrated, and she wanted answers about what was going on behind that wall that her mother refused to give her. Crumbs responded with an exasperated sigh and looked back to the wall.

"So... This is the wall. What do you think Emperor Ivo is hiding here?" The Hare-Rabbit two years Cream's senior asked.

"I don't know, but it must be something horrible." Cream wondered in a hushed voice. "Like... monsters!" She let out a frightened squeak at the very thought.

"No, no! It's not monsters! I hear he has machines. Big, huge, evil machines that do his bidding." Crumbs whispered with dread.

Cream trembled. "What do they do?" She asked, trusting anything her cousin had to say.

"I don't know, but Retro says he captures innocent people and turns them into machine-zombies." Crumbs warned, trying to get to her tip-toes like that would give her a better view.

The younger paused. While she completely trusted Crumbs, the same was not true for her other cousin, Retro. The teen had a tendency to come up with ridiculous ideas that scared the two girls senseless. Most of the time, the Green-Cheeked Conure would be bluffing, or exaggerating small things that he heard. And he'd smirk and tease until one of them burst into tears and he became a fumbling mess as he tried to calm her down.

Cream liked Retro, he was her family of course. But she was not at all inclined to believe him and his stories about machine-zombies.

"No way!" Cream shook her head. "Retro just made that up to scare you, like he always does!"

Crumbs seemed almost offended by the idea, like her big brother was an innocent martyr to Cream's accusation. "No, he didn't! He said he saw it, and then Dad told him to hush. But he didn't say, 'Stop scaring her with those stories' like he says when Retro's lying." The proof was flimsy, but Cream took that into consideration.

Her uncle, Remus, was very consistent. He always said the same thing in the same situation. And him refusing to call it a "story" did strike an odd cord with her.

"But that doesn't prove anything." Cream insisted, trying to deny the idea. She had to admit that the idea did freak her out

Crumbs nodded in agreement, glancing around the militarized territory. "Maybe it doesn't, but I trust my brother." She looked at the younger girl, as if getting one of her sudden, impulsive ideas. "What if we snuck in and trashed Robotnik's machines?" She whispered, a decision that seemed fun. Not that Crumbs would actually go through with it.

Cream gasped in shock, quickly looking at her cousin. "We can't do that. We'd get caught the minute we jumped over the wall!"

"I know," Crumbs tsked, looking back at the castle. She sounded almost disappointed. "I was just thinking." She sighed.

"Well, I wouldn't suggest that. Thinking too much could get you in trouble, little bunny." A cool, taunting voice said from behind them. The two girls jumped in shock and spun around.

Before them was Silver, one of the Hatchlings.

The Hatchlings were the Eggman Empire's most impressive warriors. Powerful and intimidating, trained to kill since creation. The girls had been told before that two of them had been created long ago, organic creatures powered by Chaos energy. The most recent of them was a machine, created by Robotnik himself.

Silver was one of the former, created long ago and still the youngest of his "siblings." And luckily for Cream and Crumbs, he was the least likely to capture or kill them.

Shadow, the oldest, probably would just bring them over to the Emperor and report their proximity to the wall. He'd let his ruler take care of it. Spook, the one Robotnik himself created, was unpredictable. They wouldn't know if she'd kill them, drag them to her creator, or just laugh in their faces and run off.

But Silver... He was most likely to just shrug his shoulders and tell them to get lost. Despite being a Hatchling, he didn't exactly seem to care what happened or who lingered too close to his home.

Crumbs swallowed hard, grabbed Cream by the arm and pulled the younger one behind her. "Hi... Mister Silver." She managed to say.

Silver just raised a brow, his gold eyes narrowed down at her. His eyes were surrounded by dark marks, like bruises but completely black. It was a contrast to his otherwise light appearance, white hair and very pale skin. Even his uniform seemed to be brighter than the other Hatchlings. It was an odd sign of almost freedom; like a bold, arrogant statement that he could do what he wanted, even if he was still on a short leash.

"And why are you here?" He asked, stepping a bit closer to them.

"We just wanted to see the wall, we weren't going to do anything!" Cream blurted out, clearly not able to keep her mouth shut under pressure.

Silver just smirked, amused by the panic. "Interesting." He crossed his arms and looked up at the wall. "Just wanted to take a look?" He pressed on.

"My mom and her dad won't tell us anything about it! We swear, we just wanted to see what was the big deal." Cream pleaded, while Crumbs just held onto her arm tighter, silently trying to tell her to shut up.

The Hedgehog let out a faint laugh, almost in disbelief. "Oh, Gaia, you're completely helpless." He didn't even seem to say that as an insult, just a mild observation like a fact of life. "Get out, I don't have time for little kiddies." He shooed them off.

Crumbs immediately nodded and ran back off to their own kingdom, dragging Cream behind her.

The Chao Kingdom, compared to the wall, was much more desirable. Like all Crumbs' curiosity about the Eggman Empire flickered out from fear. She got to the tile path and stopped at the gate, catching her breath and pulling her arm away from Cream's arm.

Cream gasped for air, winded from getting dragged like that. As Crumbs yanked her arm away, she nearly fell over from the unintentional force of the action.

"Never again!" Cream demanded. She almost sounded angry, though that was highly unlikely. Cream hardly got angry, and when she did, it hardly lasted for more than a few minutes.

Crumbs agreed with her, though. "I know, I know!" She didn't want to imagine what would happen if they were caught again. Because it was very unlikely that Silver would be the one to catch them a second time.

Cream huffed a bit, looking to the side as her two little braids swung to the side and hit her in the face. "So, does this mean we don't tell them?" She asked, quieter now.

The older girl nodded, looking down and straightening her light purple vest in an attempt to look more organized than she was at the moment. "Right." She responded. But that wasn't the full truth for her. She was going to tell Retro.

Cream was satisfied by that answer and rushed off, her fluffy vermillion dress bright in the light of day as she ran to the castle before them. She was a bright speck as she rushed towards the castle. Then she disappeared as the dark wooden doors opened and she went inside. The castle was an off-white, gray-trimmed building of stone, with a lovely garden full of vegetables and fruits that the Chaos would feed on.

And that was basically all of the Chao Kingdom.

It was small and cozy, and Crumbs loved it. But now wasn't the time to linger on how lovely her home was. She started walking, going to a corner of the garden to a large oak tree.

She looked up at the small wooden structure in the branches, snug and hidden with the leaves. Crumbs squinted her eyes and saw feathers flutter from the view of the window.

"Retro!" She called, knocking on the trunk of the tree. She heard a faint hum of surprise and the familiar face of her brother's face appeared in the window.

The copper-skinned Conure smiled, his black eyes glittering with excitement. "Hey, little chef." He said, his dark green and gray hair falling in front of his face as he tried brushing it away.

Crumbs smiled and reached for a branch, pulling herself up and shimmying onto the trunk. Once Retro could reach her, he grabbed her arms and pulled her up onto the small "patio" of the treehouse. She went through the door and brushed off her skirt, which had become dirty from climbing onto the tree.

Retro leaned back onto the wooden seat, patting a spot next to him for her to sit down. The Hare-Rabbit plopped down there and looked up at him. "I saw the wall today." She whispered.

Her brother's smile immediately faded. "You what?"

"Nothing happened!" She insisted, frowning at him. "We were careful.

"We? Oh gods, did Cream come with you?" He sighed in frustration.

Crumbs immediately felt guilty. It was rare for Retro to be upset because of her, or even annoyed. He was usually teasing or just friendly, letting her tag along with him when he wandered about or he'd help her take care of the Chao spirits.

"I told her to go back home." She promised. "You're not mad, are you?"

He looked at her for a moment from between his fingers, expression softening just a bit. "No... I'm not mad." Retro mumbled. "But I am sorely disappointed. You should know better."

Crumbs huffed at that. "Well that's even worse." She whined, which drew a laugh from Retro.

"Oh, don't be like that. You know why we don't go there, missy." He scolded, though he was now smiling faintly.

"Then how do you know what happens there?" She asked, now smiling at him as she shifted up and crossed her arms.

"Because I'm seventeen. I'm practically an adult." He insisted, poking her in the nose. "You, however, are ten. And Cream is eight. You two can't be acting all reckless because you two want to be curious." He chided. "So no more sneaking out to the Eggman Empire. You may wanna act mature, but you're still a little kid."

"I'm ten, it's not that little." She rolled her eyes and smiled.

Retro seemed unconvinced. "Oh, you'll be changing your tunes in a couple years." He promised. "Now," he stood and pulled her up. "How about we get a snack?" He suggested.

"You're just saying that so I'll make you cookies." Crumbs accused, pointing at him. Despite having a couple of chefs in the castle, the little Princess insisted on taking over most of the cooking and baking. And she was good at it.

"Maybe." The bird smiled at her. "But can you blame me?"