Amy sat at the computer, but her eyes were on Sonic. He was asleep, but he was whimpering frequently, and occasionally would curl up in pain.

He looked so frail and helpless, not the strong, powerful hero she was used to seeing.

One painful spasm hit him especially hard, and Amy saw a flickering aura of black appearing around him. "Sonic...!" She went over to him, stroking his head gently. "I won't let you hurt him...!" She hissed into his ear, hoping the energies could hear. "You hear me...!?"

Sonic's whimpering eased, and he relaxed, his eyes slowly opening. "Mmm...Ames...?" He whispered.

"Hi..." Amy smiled. "Feeling any better?"

"No..." Sonic sighed. "I feel terrible..."

"Don't worry, Tails is working on a cure."

Sonic got up, looking away from her. "I never knew how being a hero could also be a curse...I don't know how to say it, Ames... But-"

Suddenly the window shattered as a metal arm punched through it, knocking Sonic into the wall before hitting the floor with a yelp."SONIC!"
The arm wrapped tightly around Amy's waist, pulling her out of the shop as she screamed.

"N-No! Amy...!" Sonic tried to get up, but his entire body throbbed with intense pain.
He managed to press a button on his communicator before his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed into darkness. "A...my..."
______________________________________

"Sonic!" Tails hurried into his workshop, seeing the shattered window, and found the weakened hero lying on the floor, his finger still on his communicator. "Sonic, can you hear me? Say something!"

Sonic moaned, his eyes opening again. "Amy...Eggman...he's got Amy!"

"O-Okay. Don't panic, Sonic. We'll get her back."

"I couldn't save her...I'm useless...!"

"You are not useless, Sonic...!" Silver argued. "We'll get her back and beat Eggman for good. Okay?"

"I can't...can't do anything..."
Sonic passed out again, and Tails carefully laid him down on the couch before going to his computer.

"Silver, how many emeralds have you and Blaze found?"

"Four out of seven, Tails. Still searching for red, green and purple."

"Good." He flipped a switch on the computer. "Vector, have you gotten a hold of Eggman's location?" He asked.

"Yes siree." Vector announced. "He's got a ship hovering above the planet. Unless he comes down on his own, we might have to ask GUN for permission to borrow a shuttle up there."

"Seeing as Shadow's running GUN right now, that shouldn't be too hard. Thanks, Vec."

"Should we go after him now?"

"No. Amy can take care of herself."

"In the hands of a mentally-unstable villainous scientist...!?"

"Yes." I hope so...
______________________________________

Orbit didn't know where he was, but it sure wasn't back on the Egg Carrier.

He attempted to see through the dark, and identified lots of machinery and glowing screens. A low hum vibrated the room floor, like a giant generator running in a nearby room.

"C...Cubot?" A voice whispered, then he gasped as he realized it was his own voice. What had happened to his voice, or his audio receptors?
He tried again. "Cubot...!"

"Orbot...?" Another unrecognizable voice answered. "Orbot, where are you?"

"In the same room, obviously." Orbot tried to move, then found his arms were restrained, locked to a table. "Oh no...I'm stuck!"

"I-I'm stuck too! HELP! SOMEBODY HELP US!"

Orbot looked as a door opened, and a shape in a lab coat stepped towards them. "Eggman...?"

"Oh Chaos, no!" A feminine voice replied, the same that had captured them. "I'm not Eggman."

"P-Please...don't take us part...!" Cubot whimpered. "I'm too intelligent to die!"

"Oh please..."
Orbot winced as the lights came on, hurting his optics for a second. He opened his eyes again as a hand touched his arm, and he saw a teenage lynx standing over the table he was cuffed to. "You're not going to die...You said you were running from Eggman...why?"

"W-We couldn't work for him now...h-he's gone crazy! He'll destroy us, now that we've defied him."

"Well then...How about a preposition...? You work for us instead, and in exchange, we alter your appearance so that nobody has to know that you ever worked for that lunatic. What do you say?"

Orbot took a moment to think about it. He'd only served Eggman because he was his creator...and he felt compelled to listen, but now he was getting a chance to be something more than a mere robot...
"...Okay."

"If he's in, then so am I!" Cubot replied.

The lynx grinned, then flipped a switch, moving the table up so that Orbot could see her more clearly.
"I've already changed your vocal boxes so your voices can't be recognized, but that won't be enough."

"What now, then?"

She picked up two wires, one red, the other yellow. "I'm giving you two new bodies..."