34 The Fall of the Robotnik Empire

Tails met up with Amy, and soon rounded a corner. When they did, they noticed some girl none of them had ever seen before. She appeared to be a cross between an axolotl and a snake. She was feeling around a statue of an owl. No sign of Sonic. It was as if he forgot about trying to find anybody and ran right by her.

"Hello?" Tails asked. The girl looked up from the statue. Tails was surprised. She had no eyes. Not even a hole where eyes could have once been.

"Oh, hey," the eyeless girl replied. "Thought you were one of those Knuckles Clan guys."

"No, but they want to kill us," Amy replied, smiling somewhat.

"Erm, nice," the girl chuckled. She then dropped the forced smile and looked like she was concentrating on something. But she wasn't even kneeling down to the owl statue anymore. "Hey, are you friends with that blue guy that just came through here?" She asked as the life returned to her face.

"Yeah, but how could you tell he was blue without---?" Tails asked.

"Oh! Yeah, I'm a Psychic Type," the girl stated. "My power lets me accurately envision all that has ever happened in the past of whatever Zone I'm currently in. It just takes a lot of focus, so much so that I can't really do much else when envisioning things."

"Ah, so you just looked a few seconds into the past to see exactly what rushed by?" Tails asked. "That's a cool power! As you know, my friend that came by is a Speed Type. I'm a Fly Type, and Amy here is a Magic Type," Amy waved. "But I've never seen a Psychic Type person before… It must be so neat to have that power!"

"Yeah, it helps a lot with my career. I'm a historian. Just sucks I need a point of reference for all the interesting stuff, which is why I'm studying here in Marble Garden Zone in the first place," the girl stated. "My name's Ata the Olm. Yours?"

"I'm Tails the Fox," Tails stated. "I'm a scientist, and I specialize in robotics."

"Wait, 'Tails the Fox'?" Ata asked. "I've heard of you. Aren't you that famous scientist that fled the Robotnik Empire?"

"Oh, yes, that's me! I didn't think a foreigner such as yourself would know about that," Tails stated.

"So that must have been Sonic the Hedgehog back there… he was pretty much a blur, so… Wait. Are you kidding?" Ata asked, snapping out of her starstruck state of bewilderment. Even without eyes, her stare was direct, gave a sense of seriousness, and made Tails feel like an idiot. "It was everywhere on the news. You think I would miss history-in-the-making? You DO know what happened to the Robotnik Empire after you escaped, right?"

"Sonic and I… didn't exactly have cable for a while," Tails stated. "Or running water."

"Ohhhhh boy," Ata sighed. She almost seemed excited to explain. "When you two left, the Robotnik Empire fell into a state of uncertainty. The people thought that if two of Robotnik's greatest special forces just up and fled the country, something was seriously wrong. And they were right. Two days after you and Sonic escaped, the Robo Utopia project was canceled. The government said it was because of insufficient funding. But everybody knew it was because the Chaos Emeralds had been stolen. The people quickly lost trust in the empire, which was when the seeds of an uprising were planted. Lord Robotnik tried to make up for it by colonizing Little Planet when it appeared over the Iron Dominion's Never Lake. He wanted to use its indigenous Time Stone as an alternative to the Chaos Emeralds to power his next project for universal conquest, the Cosmic Eternity. But he never returned. Some believe that the Iron Queen either killed him, or destroyed the chain holding the planet down to Erius while he was still on it, banishing him into space. Since his disappearance, the Robotnik Empire has gone from a country of total control, to complete anarchy."

Tails' blood ran cold. He then heard the whirr of Robotnik's head spinning, which was something Robo-Robos did when they powered on. Tails knew it was the time to bail before Ata found anything out about Robotnik.

"That's interesting! So, uhh, sorry for distracting you from your research," Tails apologized. "I'll leave you to it. Besides, we have a supersonic hedgehog to catch." Ata laughed in response.

"Well, wasn't that was abrupt! Real quick, before you go," Ata piped up. Tails stopped walking and turned around. Ata placed a small lollipop with minty green wrapping in his hand. "I like you. Wanna become friends on Researchr?" Tails looked to the lollipop and then back to her, surprised. He smiled and scratched the back of his head.

"Sure!" Tails replied, pulling out the Tails Electric and closing some windows before Amy could see. They were all Science News Network articles on various diseases. "I haven't used that app in a while." Ata's phone and the Tails Electric exchanged beeps, boops, and pings. With that, a new and unbreakable bond of friendship was formed. "Well, nice chat. Thanks for the lollipop. Good luck with your research!" Tails exclaimed. He and Amy ran off, waving goodbye to Ata as she went back to examining the statue.

"Hmm…" she sighed. "What's this about… a 'perfect chaos'?"