Prologue: The Tale Begins

The rain poured down in torrents. Mud splattered up the young hedgehog's legs as she ran from the seemingly endless robot army behind her. They drove her to the edge of a large cliff, she edged backwards slowly. She screamed
"You monsters! How can you do this? You killed my parents, you killed my brother, you killed everyone I ever loved!"
Fearing for her life, she turned around for a split second to see if it was worth jumping, but that was all the time the robots needed. Three of them shot her in the back with lasers. She toppled over the cliff edge, soon to land in the large meadow far below.

Chapter 1: A 'Chaotic' First Meeting

"Guys, when are we going back to headquarters? I'm bored!" Charmy moaned
"Charmy" Espio replied "Try looking around and tell us what you see, that'll keep you occupied"
"Okay. Bird....tree....another bird....what the heck is THAT?"
It was over by the cliff, a small figure
"Eeeeww, a body..." Charmy shivered
"I'm going over there, Charmy, stay back, it could be a trap"
They walked across the grass slowly, Espio leading the way. When they were about 3 metres away from it, Charmy started staring at his feet, he suddenly went white, his shoes were more than a little off colour.....
"B....b.....blood....?"
"If there's blood this far away, that thing mustn't be any kind of threat, putting it lightly"
As Espio walked closer, he could see the figure more clearly
"Looks like a hedgehog, a young girl, about my age, and.....WHOA!"
He stepped back, blushing deeply
"What's the matter Espio? Oh...."
"Hey" Charmy said from a fortunate distance "What's the matter?"
"Umm" Vector blushed again, this was gonna be hard to say to a 6 year old "this girl, um, well, we think she's been attacked and, well, the attack has left her, uuuhh, indecent....."
Charmy looked more embarrassed than either of the others, even though he hadn't seen anything. He decided to stay where he was, after all, there are some things a 6 year old really shouldn't see.
"Espio, you should check her over, you know, for more wounds"
"What?! Are you crazy? You do it! You're older!"
"That's why you should do it, you can relate to her at least, I'm 20, it would just creep her out. It's not like we're gonna let Charmy do it"
"All right, all right, I'll do it"
He went up to her slowly, his cheeks burning. He crouched down, took one of her shoulders, and gently rolled her onto her stomach. The 3 huge laser wounds were still there. Espio and Vector looked shocked, Charmy looked like he was going to be sick, he could imagine what it was like.
"We'd better take her back to headquarters"
"Vector, that's a stupid idea, it'll totally embarrass her, and what about Charmy?"
"Well we can't leave her here, I'll take her if you're too shy. She's about your size, I should take her anyway"
He carefully picked up the unconsious girl, and the three of them made their way back to headquarters.

Chapter 2: Going Home

"Vector, why were you saying all that to Charmy? She is NOT indecent, a few rips, giant holes in the back, but indecent isn't the word"
"Embarrassing Charmy's funny, didn't you see his face? That should be one for the album!"
"Come on, you were blushing"
"That's easy, just hold your breath. Why were YOU blushing?"
Espio was silent for a while
"To change the subject, let's get Charmy over"
"You're not getting away that easily! You like her, don't you?"
"I do not! I don't even know her name, besides, she's a hedgehog"
"Knuckles loves a bat"
"Shut up"
They made their way back to headquarters, Charmy was so scared of the wounded girl Espio had to drag him along.
They opened the door of their headquarters, Vector gently put the girl on the couch to sleep
"Me and Charmy are going down to that lab about half a mile away"
"She should really go to a hospital"
"Well we don't know where to find a hospital, the lab fixed your arm last year, they can fix her, you stay here, keep watch"
"Why me?"
They had already gone, he stared at the sleeping girl, he picked up one of Vector's detective stories and started to read.
"This is gonna take a while...."

Chapter 3: Hello...and Goodbye

The girl awoke suddenly, panicking about the robots. But the robots weren't there, the sky looked sort of brown. As her vision cleared, the brown sky became a wooden roof, she was inside, but where? She slowly got up, her back was killing her. Then she got distracted. In an armchair by the window sat a mysterious boy, reading a book. He was mouthing something, she stared closely until she could read his lips
"Come on you moron, the butler did it!"
Lost in his book, he didn't notice her, until a bug crawled in through the window
"Eeeeeek!"
"What the....."
The girl stopped screaming, The boy smiled
"Boy, am I glad you woke up, I was worried"
"Huh.....?"
"I'm Espio, Espio the chameleon, you are?"
"Celeste, the....."
"Hedgehog, I can tell. Me and the guys, we found you in some field, you weren't looking so good, so we brought you back here"
"Thanks"
All was silent for a moment or two, then came the sound of keys in a lock
"That'll be them"
Vector opened the door, Charmy hid behind him, he was shy, Vector grinned at Celeste
"Up already? Perfect, you need to come to the lab"
She looked confused and afraid, a lab? What was gonna happen to her? She followed them anyway. She started to stumble a little, and was lagging behind
"Espio, go help her"
"Why is it always ME?"
He did as he was told, he took her right arm, the left one looked awful, eeeww....
"What's wrong?"
"It's my right leg, it's agony...."
Espio wasn't surprised, it looked so painful he could feel it. They carefully made their way towards the lab, 15 minutes later, they arrived
"So, can you fix her up?"
"Looks like a tough job, but we can find a way. This may take a while, so we must begin surgery immediately"
As she was led through the doors, Espio said softly
"Good luck........"

Chapter 4: What Have They Done?

"She has woken up, you may see her now"
These were the first words Celeste heard since she woke up, she couldn't feel her left arm or right leg, and her back didn't feel right. She saw Vector and Espio standing over her
"She's not gonna like this"
"What've you done to her?!"
That was bad, she climbed out of bed and walked over to the mirror
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!"
Her arm, her leg, they were, they were, metal? Robotic limbs? No, they couldn't be, those metal plates on her back...
"WINGS? What do you think a hedgehog needed wings for?"
"Well, those holes on your back were so large, it looked like there was something missing...."
"But wings are stupid. What about this arm and leg?"
"Needed replacing"
"Gross"
"Well, you're free to go"
They all left the lab, Charmy at the back. He wasn't scared anymore, he was intrested.
"Charmy, stop poking Celeste's wings"
"What? They're so weird, can she feel it?"
"Yes, I can"
"How?"
"They did something rather unpleasant with my nerves"
"Eeeeeeeww......"
Espio ran up to Vector, who was far ahead
"Something just hit me...."
"Well hit it back"
"....Celeste hasn't got a place to stay"
"She can stay with us"
"That's crazy!"
"She needs SOMEWHERE to go"
"Fine, I'll give up my room, I'll sleep on the couch"
The sun was beginning to set, and the 4 of them made their way home.
Espio looked up at Celeste as she flew around, playing a game of flying tag with Charmy and testing out her wings, he looked back at his shoes
"A girl huh, this is gonna be....different....."

Chapter 5: Making Arrangements

"Celeste, you can sleep in my room, I'm crashing on the couch for a while"
"Aaaaaaw, you don't need to do that!"
"You're a guest, besides, you need room for, umm, those....."
"Oh, I guess you're right."
The conversation drawled away, Espio felt himself blushing again. She had a really nice voice, he'd love to hear her sing. Wait a second, she was coming to a close.
"Yeah, hey, why don't I show you around?"
"Thanks!"
He showed her every room quickly, Charmy's messy bedroom to Vector's room, it was more a library really, Espio had no idea there was so many detectives to write about. He moved on to his own room
"This is my room, where you'll be sleeping"
"Nice room, I wonder how you keep it so clean, I......."
Celeste went silent and tears welled up in her eyes, Espio wanted to ask her what was wrong, but he decidede against it. It wasn't like he didn't care, it was just. She was a GIRL, asking her what was wrong sounded too PERSONAL, if Vector heard, he would get the wrong idea. She wiped her eyes and turned to him
"I'm okay now"
"If you don't mind me asking, about my room being clean, why were you so surprised?"
The tears came back, Celeste struggled to speak
"I...I was raised with funny ideas about boys....."

Chapter 6: Fading Away....

Poor Celeste was crying her eyes out, it became almost too much for Espio to bear. He took her hand, he felt embarrassed, but there were more important things to be dealt with.
"Celeste, tell me everything you remember, maybe I can help"
"Oh Espio, no-one can help"
"Tell me what you can"
"When I was younger, I was raised mostly by my mother. Father had been killed when I was just a baby. Mother told me that boys were stupid creatures, messy and loud and arrogant, I had to believe her, she was all I had. One boy was different though, Sparky"
"Sparky?"
"My twin brother, he was kind, smart, everyone who met him liked him. When I was 9, he introduced me to a friend of his from a place called Knothole Village. A handsome blue hedgehog"
"Sonic!"
"That was him. Sparky was the only one who knew how to contact him. Then HE came, an evil scientist called doctor Robotnik, he terrorised our village, until Sparky sent a distress call to Knothole, Sonic defeated Robotnik, life went on. 5 years later, he came back, with one target in mind. He killed Sparky! He had no chance to send the distress call, he then killed Mother, then my friends, then everyone I ever knew. I had to escape, I ran and ran until I came to a village.
"Celeste?"
"Sonic!"
"Celeste, what's wrong?"
"It's Robotnik, he's back Sonic!"
"Why didn't Sparky...."
He can't Sonic, he's dead! They killed him, they killed everyone, I'm the only one left!"
Sonic went silent for a while, I could see by his face that he was forcing back tears of both anger and misery, out came a beautiful girl called Sally Acorn, she tried to calm Sonic, then tended to my wounds, she was such a sweet girl. Then I discovered a tracking device planted on my neck, I had to leave. I ran for a year. I threw my device into a lake and destroyed it, but they still found me, they edged me to that cliff, then they shot me, I fell over the cliff, then you found me...."
She was so miserable she clung to Espio and bawled away again. Instead of going red with embarrassment, Espio went white, this was worse than he'd ever imagined....
To be continued.........