Me: *singing*

Happy Birthday to me!

I am seventeen!

I wrote a new story!

Happy Birthday to me!

This particular story I've been wanting to write since I was seven. I rewrote the beginning at least nine times over a period of two-and-a-half years before finally being satisfied with it. That said, I hope you enjoy!

It was a setup.

Everyone could see it.

Their small group of four charged through one of the numerous hallways in Eggman's not-so-secret base, fighting any robots that happened to be in their way. There were too few to be of any real threat, though, and the limited defense along with the ridiculously easy pass codes just screamed 'trap'.

Unfortunately, Knuckles too focused on his emerald to back out now. Amy, practically an adult, didn't want to seem weak by suggesting they retreat. Sonic could also see the obvious ploy, but, well…

Sonic was drawn to traps like a bear to honey. It didn't matter how many times he got stung; he kept coming back for more. Danger thrilled him. He thrived under pressure, and loved beating the odds. Coming out of another trap unscathed was just another way to prove to the world that he was unbeatable. Besides, they'd never posed him any real threat before, just a nice, refreshing challenge.

Tails was well aware of the danger of the situation, but he knew his brother well enough to know that nothing he said or did would get them to avoid it, short of faking his own death. He sighed, watching as Sonic took out one of the few sentry robots guarding the hallways, his green eyes glowing with excitement. He loved his brother, but sometimes he wished Sonic wouldn't be so reckless, would actually pause and consider the potential consequences of his actions.

"Hey Tails," Sonic called, startling the young fox from his thoughts. "We getting any closer?"

Pushing his worries to the back of his mind, Tails glanced down at his scanner. Two blips blinked on the smooth screen, pinpointing the location of the chaos emeralds. He looked up and shook his head. "No closer than the last time you asked."

Sonic paused a moment and crossed his arms. "Man, that's irritating."

Amy stopped beside him, and put her hands on her knees, out of breath. "Well, that settles it, then," she panted. "Those readings are definitely moving."

Tails immediately recognized the subtle hint toward the trap they were barging into. She glance back and forth between the group, probably searching for any sign of hesitation. When she met Tails eyes, he gave her a small, helpless shrug: 'You tried.'

Knuckles didn't catch the message, and honestly, didn't care either way. "What about the master emerald?"

Tails held back a sigh and shook his head. "Still no sign of it. I'll let you know the moment I see something."

Knuckles growled in annoyance. "Are you sure it's not one of the dots on your screen?"

"Absolutely. These signatures are defiantly chaos emeralds, or something with a similar amount of energy. The master emerald's reading would be much bigger."

Amy frowned and spoke up, still trying to make a point. "Does anybody else get the feeling that we're being led somewhere?"

Tails nodded, glad she'd given him an excuse to talk about it. "I agree with Amy. These signatures haven't just been moving away from us. They've also changed directions multiple times."

Knuckled immediately glared at the fox. "You mean the scanner's been leading us in circles?"

"Not exactly," Tails assured him, feeling slightly nervous under the guardian's scowl. He studied his scanner, avoiding his eyes. "It's been taking us deeper and deeper into the complex. I'm not entirely sure…" He hesitated. "I think Eggman may have something waiting for us up ahead."

Sonic grinned as he shifted again, already antsy. "Only one way to find out." Without waiting for a reply, he took off again down the corridor. Knuckles followed him, the previous conversation already pushed to the back of his mind as he focused on finding his emerald.

Amy glanced at Tails, her features slightly worried, and took out her hammer, signifying her suspicions: they were probably going to end up fighting for their lives. Again.

Sighing, Tails continued after his friends, Amy at his heals. After a moment, he glanced at his scanner to once again plot their course. He stopped. What the…?

"What is it, Tails," Amy asked, coming up beside him.

Tails frowned. "There's another signature."

Amy peered over his shoulder. Sure enough, where there had once been two blips, there were now three. "The master emerald?" she guessed.

The fox shook his head. "No. The readings are all wrong."

"Another chaos emerald, then?"

"…Maybe," Tails muttered, his expression showing that he didn't quite believe it. He continued on, his eyes glued to his scanner, watching the third blip. Amy strode beside him, keeping an eye out for any defense that Sonic or Knuckles might have missed, her hammer ready at her side.

After a few minutes of walking in silence, Tails stopped again. "It's getting closer."

"What?" Amy peered over his shoulder as the fox elaborated.

"Actually, we're getting closer." He frowned. "The energy traces we've been following have been moving away from us, but this one seems to be stationary." He continued again, walking faster now, so that Amy had to break into a light jog to keep up.

"Tails?"

"I was right, see?" He showed her the screen, now bobbing up and down with his movements. As he continued down the hall, the third blip slowly separated from the group, staying in place while the other two moved on, leading them deeper.

"Maybe that's the chaos emerald," Amy suggested, "And the other two are just decoys."

Tails frowned again, still unsure. "Maybe."

The two kept walking. Amy could hear the sounds of destruction up ahead; undoubtedly some stray robot had just been torn apart. When the sound ended, Sonic suddenly dashed back towards them. "What's the holdup, bro?", he asked, hopping from one foot to the other impatiently. "We've pretty much cleared the whole hallway already, only there's this door we can't get through and-"

"Tails thinks he found something," Amy interrupted, motioning to Tails' scanner.

"Yeah?" Sonic zipped behind him. "What'd ya find?"

"I'm not sure," Tails mumbled. "It's an energy reading, but I can't make out what…" He halted, looking from the scanner to a nearby wall and back. He walked up to the wall and placed a hand against it. "Here. It should be right here. Whatever's giving off the reading is on the other side of this wall."

At that moment, Knuckles caught up with them. "What's taking you so long?" he growled. "We need to get to the-"

"Master emerald," Sonic finished. "Yeah, yeah, we're getting there. Give the guy a sec, will ya? He just found another chaos emerald."

"It's not a chaos emerald," Tails corrected. "But it is giving off energy."

Amy glanced at him. "A new device for taking over the world?" she guessed.

"Possibly."

"Well then," Sonic said, crouching low. "Let's bust through and destroy it."

Knuckled folded his arms. "That's your solution for everything, isn't it."

"Look who's talking."

"Boys…" Amy warned, stepping between them and sending each a frown. "Don't start."

"It's…gone." Tails mumbled, staring at his screen.

The trio looked at him. "What?"

"The signature," he clarified. "It just disappeared."

Sonic and Amy both crowded around him, peering over his shoulders. There were two blips again. They hadn't moved, as though they were waiting for them.

"So your scanner is faulty," Knuckled reasoned. "Now let's go." Without waiting for a reply, he turned and continued down the hallway. Sonic shrugged and went after him.

Tails frowned and bit his lip, feeling insulted. His scanners didn't get 'faulty'; he'd made sure of that years ago. He doubted, however, that he could convince Sonic and Knuckles, both of whom still had trouble working a computer, of that.

Amy sighed. "Come one, Tails." She waited patiently for the teen to finish pouting and continue moodily after the others before following him.

XXxxXXxxXXxxXX

Dr. Ivo Robotnic glared at the screen before him, watching as his enemies made their way down their designated path. He was surprised none of them had mentioned the trap yet. He knew they must be aware of it. He'd made sure of that.

The whir of a nearby door pulled him from his musings. "Master, I have done as you have ordered," droned a metallic voice.

Robotnic swiveled to face his creation. "Metal. What took you so long? They nearly broke through the wall! That would've ruined everything and probably destroyed the experiment!"

Metal Sonic bowed his blue metallic head. A sign of respect. "I assure you, I closed off the signal as quickly as was possible."

"And why was it even anywhere near the hallway! You knew Tails was using a scanner to read energy, and the experiment is giving of plenty!"

Metal looked his creator in the eye. "Master, the experiment is in a delicate stage of it's creation. Moving it would have resulted in its termination."

Robotnic stroked his mustache thoughtfully. "Hmm…I suppose you're right. Still, no harm done. They're continuing on as planed. Monitor them for me, and inform me when Sonic reaches his destination." He smiled. "I want to see how my newest creation is coming along."

XXxxXXxxXXxxXX

After a bit more walking, Tails and Amy reached the door Sonic had told them about, finding the aforementioned hedgehog zooming from one side to the other, unable to keep still. Knuckles was leaning against a nearby wall, his eyes closed as he put up with Sonic's restlessness.

Well, for the most part.

"Remember what I said about ADHD?" Knuckles asked, cracking one eye open and looking at Tails. He motioned to the blur that was Sonic. "There's your proof."

The aforementioned hedgehog nearly ran into the wall as he suddenly whirled around and skidded to a stop. "Huh? Proof?"

Knuckled frowned at him, but there was humor in his expression. "And as for the lack of attention…"

"ADHD," Tails explained to his confused brother. "Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder."

Sonic stared at him blankly until the only word he recognized registered. "Hey!" he barked indignantly, glaring at an amused Knuckles. "I do not have a disorder!"

"Boys!" Amy shouted, stepping between them again. "Seriously, the door?"

"Oh, right, the door," Sonic repeated. "Tails, bro, can you open it?"

The fox had already unscrewed a panel on the wall and was hooking up his scanner, or at the moment, computer, to the exposed wires. A few seconds later, the door creaked and groaned, opening slowly.

"Sweet!" Sonic cheered, and they all took a look inside. The room before them was huge and circular. Directly across from them, resting innocently behind glass, were two shining chaos emeralds.

"Where's the master emerald?" Knuckles immediately demanded.

"Dude." Sonic shook his head. "I don't think he has it."

"You don't think at all."

"No, seriously, I think your girlfriend stole it again."

The echidna reddened, whirling to glare at Sonic. "She. Is not. My girlfriend!"

Sonic raised an eyebrow, trying and failing to hold back a smirk. "Really? You sure we're talking about the same girl?"

"Sonic…"

"'Cause Rouge…Weeeeell, you know how often she stops by on that island of yours, and I seriously doubt it's all for your stupid rock, 'specially since she's got so many already." Sonic openly grinned now, and was about to tell Knuckles what a lovely shade of purple he was turning when Tails spoke up.

"We shouldn't continue."

Sonic turned to his brother, confused. "What?"

The young fox was frowning, staring at the ground, looking deadly serious. "We should head back."

"Why?"

He glanced up at his brother, and Sonic was surprised by depth of his gaze. "Sonic, you know this is a trap, right?"

At the question, the hedgehog breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, yeah, of course." He grinned. "But that's never stopped us, huh pal?"

Tails nodded. "I know. But there's something…off about this one."

"What?"

"Something's wrong."

Sonic stared at his brother, trying to read him. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know, but Sonic…" Tails looked him in the eye. "I've got a bad feeling about this, really bad. It's been eating away from me since we got here."

Amy nodded her agreement.

Sonic didn't get it. "Tails, it's a trap. Of course there's something off. The whole things a setup."

"No, that's not it." The teen raised his hands and lowered them again, searching, struggling for the right words. "I've just…there's this feeling, like…there's something…something…"

Knuckled interrupted. "You want to give up two chaos emeralds? Based on feeling?"

Sonic sighed. His brother was usually right. And with the way he was looking at him, the hedgehog couldn't say no. "Look, buddy, if you want, we can go back."

"What?"

"Quiet, Knuckles." He turned to Tails, who seemed indecisive. "Seriously, bro, just say the word. We can always get these emeralds later."

Tails thought for a long time, repeatedly glancing in at the obviously rigged room before them. Then, he nodded. "Let's go back."

Sonic grinned. "Alrigthy then!" Ignoring Knuckles protests, he took off down the corridor, clearing the way. Soon, he was far ahead of them, but he didn't worry about Tails or Amy. Since this was, technically, a retreat, he knew Knuckles would stick with them, guarding their backs. Not that Amy couldn't handle it, but with a trap, you never know. Besides, the way they had come just led them down one continuous hallway, so he had no reason to worry about getting lost.

Grinning, Sonic picked up speed, enjoying the feel of the still hallway air rushing against his quills. In seconds, he was nearly out. Suddenly, the blue hedgehog screeched to a stop. What? Were was the exit? Confused, Sonic stared up at a wall he hadn't remembered being there.

Dead end. He glanced around, wondering what he'd missed, and soon spotted a door alongside one of the walls. Huh. Maybe they had veered off the main hallway for awhile. He'd probably been too busy fighting one of the robots to notice they'd passed through a door.

Cautiously, Sonic stepped up to the door. It immediately whirred open. Yep. He could see how he could've missed this. Any doubts flew from his mind as he spotted the hallway on the other side of the door. At the end of it was the broken wall where they'd first burst through, and beyond that, greenery. He could smell trees on the cool breeze that drifted over him. Yep, this was the way.

It wasn't until he stepped through the door, hearing it whir shut behind him, that he realized the breeze and the scent it carried had been coming from the wall. The one he hadn't remembered being there…

Sonic whirled around and again walked up to the door. It stayed shut. Sonic immediately began hitting the door, trying to punch through it. His punches were soon followed by kicks and, eventually, spin-dashes as he tried to saw through the door. He rammed against it, jumped back and looked it over. There wasn't even a scratch. He whirled around, back to the opening in the wall, and stared.

The greenery, the hole, even the hallway was flickering. Eventually, they disappeared altogether, revealing a small, boxlike room.

A hologram. It had been a hologram.

Now feeling what Tails must have been describing, he turned again and pressed against the door. "Hey, Knux!" he shouted "Knuckles! I could really use your help right now!" He pressed his ear against the door and listened. Nothing. He was too far ahead of them. Well, they had to get there eventually. Sighing, Sonic sank to the floor, leaning against one of the way-too-close walls, and waited.

A hissing sound immediately filled the tiny room. Starting, Sonic jerked his head upward, toward the noise, and started to panic. Gas. Eggman was flooding the room with gas! He wouldn't be able to call for help if he was unconscious!

Or dead.

Praying it was sleeping gas, Sonic swallowed, jumped to his feet, and began pounding on the door again. "Hey! Hey! Guys! Can you hear me?" Thud. "Can anyone here me?" Thud. "Knuckles? Tails?" Thud. "Amy?" Thud. "Can you guys…" He trailed off, feeling dizzy as the gas replaced his oxygen. "Can you…" He jerked his head up. It had started sinking. Man, this stuff acts fast. Sonic tried to shake off the heaviness already settling on him. "…hear me?…I need…" He coughed. "…I need your help…" Gravity was increasing. He sank to his knees, trying to fight it. "Can…Anyone…" He hit the floor. "….Hear…"

Everything went black.

Me: Man, that was fun. It's not to often I get to write stuff like this, especially with the all of the epicness I have planned. Want to know what's going on? Click the shiny blue fast-forward button.

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