When Amy and Eclipse finally fell asleep, they had no idea about a young man who was rushing to his boss' office. He had urgent news and reports he had to deliver, and it was nobody else but Sonic the Hedgehog, running faster than wind.

While his speed was appreciated, not many people were happy when he dashed around their pile of papers, throwing their hard work into the air, or when he dodged them at the last moment starling them. Any of that resulted in his quick apology and some cursing from them.

Finally, he reached his boss's doors, so he had to slow down, creating a squeaking sound as he was sliding the floor. Whoever saw him breaking like that, had to ask how come his shoes didn't catch on fire. Nevertheless, the burning question was never answered, so nothing delayed him from knocking on the door. He was quickly invited inside, entering the big room.

Nothing much changed from the last time he was there which was about ten days ago. The same heavy table hidden by papers was in the middle of the room with Nigel Acorn sitting behind it.

Sonic stopped about five steps in front of the desk, announcing his arrival, "Agent True Blue is reporting for the duty." He made sure to salute although it wasn't necessary, he just liked to do it.

"Let's skip the formalities," noted Nigel, asking the most important question, "What have you found?" Next to the squirrel was standing a big purple striped cat named Big. This person was actually a demon who played a big role in establishing The Order, but nobody would guess it as his personality seemed to be simple and his gaze blank. Only carefully picked individuals knew the truth, and Sonic was one of them.

Sonic nodded and reached inside of his bag, hanging over the left shoulder, taking out a document containing his whole report. He cleared his throat before speaking, "In the last week there was one hundred and five sightseeing of black Arms in the northern territories. About eighty-five was seen in the eastern parts, mainly in the forest areas, so no big casualties happened.

On the other hand, the west side of the kingdom suffered from ten big attacks that resulted in about fifteen deaths and over one hundred injured. All the incidents happened in big towns or their vicinity. This area recorded an existence of one hundred and fifty-eight of Black Arms." He took a deeper breath, as he was closing to the end of his annual report.

"Finally, the southern territories had a similar count of Black Arms as the eastern one, and no bigger casualties were reported. Since the center of the Acorn Kingdom has a stronger defense, I have got only a dozen of reports." Here he stopped a bit, checking on Nigel who gestured him to continue.

"Next we can say there are distinguished specimens among them. Two are reported to look like big scaled birds, three have a humanoid figure of various builds, indicating their physical strength and durability." He listed in the papers, looking for the next part concerning their shapes. "The most troublesome appears to be a worm-like Black Arm that can attack from underground, spit fireballs, and is responsible for the most casualties."

Mr. Nigel frowned, but he waited for Sonic the finish his report.

"The investigation regarding their intelligence is still undergoing, but we can be sure they are capable of some communication since their attacks are highly coordinated. The other confusing matter is their reaction to physical pain as it seems they are unable to feel it or have a very high threshold."

Nigel leaned back in his chair, frowning even more. He was afraid those monsters would be problematic, but this was getting worse with each report the blue hedgehog brought.

Sonic continued, not noticing any facial change on his boss' face, "They also seems to be unable of vocal communication, and upon death their bodies evaporate, turning into black mist. There was a number of tries to capture them alive, but they either escaped or died." Sonic lifted his green eyes from the papers, finishing his report, "This sums up my research, more details can be found in the papers." He put them on the table, seeing Nigel's displeased face; however, a small smile appeared on it after a few seconds.

"Thank you, Sonic," he expressed his honest gratitude, "you did a magnificent job gathering all of this in a week."

The young hedgehog puffed his chest, overflowing with pride. "No problem, I'm super fast." He showed him a thumbs up.

This was his job since he finished Knuckle's training a half of the year ago. He was distributing the most critical information, gathering annual reports, and providing quick help to field agents if he saw them having trouble. Usually, it resulted in making new friends, but some people weren't happy for a greenhorn sticking their nose into their mission without any approval or the recommendation.

Mr. Acorn nodded, asking, "That reminds me, how is your homing attack progressing?"

That took the young hedgehog by surprise. "Well, I was able to gain a better control over my spin, and I managed to change a direction in midair for a couple of times, but I still need to work on that." Sonic scratched behind his ear, as he was hoping to present it when it would be fully developed.

He discovered this ability in himself during the training that allowed him to, in a sense, lock on his opponents' spiritual level and ram them with his spinning body. While it sounded simple, it required quite a self-control on Sonic's side, but each successful hit dealt massive damage that proved to be effective against the new demons dubbed as Black Arms.

Sonic continued, "I hope to be able to chain my Homing attack as each additional hit gives me power and speed boost. Most of the time I manage to hit two targets before going off the trail."

Nigel carefully listened, imagining the attack in the action. "Nevertheless, it's good to hear that. Don't be ashamed you have made a huge progress over the last year." His mood sunk a bit as he added, "But I still have to ask you to perfect it as soon as possible. I'm afraid our weapons are slowly starting to be ineffective against them." He connected his fingers in a triangle, resting his elbows on the table.

For months the R&D departure was working on perfecting their weapons; however, that resulted in minor adjustments. This reminded him of Gold's discovery of masking seals she first used on Eclipse. Since the three years ago, those inscriptions underwent a huge development, allowing his agents to go undercover, investigating cases without getting spotted by enemies.

He sighed in his mind. He wished for Gold to be here, but there was something important she had to do. He only hoped it would go smoothly, and she could be able to return in the next weeks. His ears pricked, as he heard Sonic took a deep breath which usually meant he was about to say something important.

"There is one more thing I would like to report," the young hedgehog started. Nigel nodded, prompting him to continue. "I have noticed decreasing number of old demons."

The brown ears perked up as Nigel realized he had heard about it once or twice from different agents. A small smile appeared on his face. Sonic wasn't just a good fighter and trustworthy person, but he had a keen instinct as well.

"Yes," agreed Nigel, "I have got some reports regarding this decreasing number." He pondered for a bit, before continuing, "I wouldn't be too surprised if those Black Arms had something to do with it."

Sonic shivered. "You know this may sound strange," he rubbed his arms, "but I would rather deal with old demons than those dead-gaze monsters." His emerald eyes frozen for a bit, as his brain was hit with a sudden thought. "Are they... even alive?"

Nigel jerked with his head, feeling there was more to these words. "You mean like those victims during Emerald Coast massacre?" The blue agent nodded, and his superior strongly frowned. If this would be true, then they are facing much bigger problem then he could imagine.

"Thank you for your hard work," Nigel said after a short while. "You should go take a rest, it's already late." He looked at the wall clock that was telling him it's almost eleven at night.

A wide grin seated on Sonic's face. "That will be hard, I hate dillydallying, but I could take a quick nap." He winked at Nigel before leaving, wishing him a good night.

Nigel slightly laughed, taking the report to read through it before he would head to bed too. "I can't express how happy I'm for Sonic being our agent. Otherwise, I would be waiting for this information whole month."

"He is a good boy," nodded Big, who was most of the time silent, so it was easy to forget about him.

"What do you think, my friend?" Nigel inquired, showing him the sketches of the Black Arms Sonic collected.

The big cat leaned over his shoulder, staring at them, saying nothing, but Nigel was sure his friend bristled for a moment. Those small changes were something only a member of Acorn family could pick, and only after knowing this fella for a long time.

The leader of The Order read the whole report, taking notes on a new sheet that he later delivered to R&D departure. He hoped it would provide some help in beating these black and red monsters. Once he was done with it, he decided to call it a night.

The next day came, and the Rosemary mansion was full of happy chatter. Amy was with her parents and sleeping younger brother in the garden enjoying afternoon tea and cookies. Since the breakfast, she was telling them about their training and showed them the clothes she was wearing during her sessions. They were a lot similar to the ones her master was having.

Eclipse was still a bit nervous, talking only when he was asked. Reagan tried to encourage him with friendly gestures, but it resulted in mixed reactions. His wife was more concerned about her daughter getting close to another strange creature she had no name for.

"The world is truly full of strange creatures," she commented the picture her daughter drew describing Chaos. It looked strange, those big eyes were scaring her, and the big claws weren't making it look friendly either. Everything about it screamed danger. She was astonished how her daughter was able to withstand to be in its presence.

"You think so?" Amy inspected her picture finding nothing wrong. "I think he is kind of cute," she informed her with a smile.

Adeline made a mental note not to call Chaos as "it", as she did a few seconds ago. It made her a bit ashamed. After all, Eclipse wasn't a person either, yet she didn't regard him as an animal.

"But then again," her daughter admitted, "his visible brain and big eyes may seem spooky to someone."

'Spooky, huh?' thought her father. He was sure that wasn't the right word, he would use "terrifying". However, after hearing her stories, he was sure this Chaos was a decent person, and he wondered if he would have a chance to meet him.

Amy continued, "He doesn't talk much, actually I haven't heard him to speak at all."

"I think he doesn't talk at all, he can't," added Eclipse after a long time that he was silent. "Isn't he completely missing a mouth?" He took a sip of his lemon tea.

His master wasn't exactly agreeing, saying, "But you can still communicate with him. It just takes time." Her eyes widened. "That's right! I haven't told you about this event!" She scratched her cheek. "I can't believe I skipped this earlier when it was such a cute scene."

Her parents looked at her eager to hear more.