6 Chapter Five- Boom Universe

            The crew sat in Amy's house, confused and dumbfounded.

            "Is anyone sure of what happened at Eggman's today?" Amy asked.

            "Well, we broke through Eggman's defenses, were about to give him what he deserves for killing Tails, then there was Tails right there by the door, Eggman zapped him again, then Eggman blamed the Tails on Orbot and Cubot messing with hollow-whats-its. Did I miss anything?" Knuckles asked, wincing slightly.

            "Sounds about right." Sticks said, glancing curiously at Knuckles.

            "What? No conspiracy theory?" Sonic asked.

            "Oh, there's a conspiracy, all right," Sticks said, "but I'm not sure if I believe it myself yet. I think..."

            Sticks noticed the others where all listening intently. They wanted so much for this to all be a cruel prank, or a misunderstanding.

            Sticks thought of what her theory contained. It was insanity, even to her. She needed more evidence to even mention it.

            "Actually, nevermind. It's impossible, anyways," Sticks dismissed.

            The others were surprised. Sticks had never dismissed a theory as 'impossible' before.

            "Are you sure?" Amy asked, concerned.

            "Yes," Sticks confirmed.

            There was silence for a few moments while everyone was lost in their own thoughts. Then Knuckles spoke up with something that had bugging him for awhile.

            "We haven't done anything to honor Tails. Maybe we should make a grave or set a place for remembering or something," he suggested.

            Sonic looked up.

            "Knuckles is right. Tails needs something. He deserves it," he agreed.

            Amy looked out the window.

            "What should we choose for the memorial?" she asked softly.

            No one had ever heard her sound so young before.

            "What about the Tornado?" Sticks suggested, "Tails loved it. We could find a place for it and retire it."

            They all looked at Sonic.

            "Sticks, that sounds like a great idea," Sonic nodded, "You find the place."

            Sticks was surprised.

            "Me?" she asked.

            "Yes, you. You came up with the idea, you can find the place," Sonic said.

            "But you were his closest friend. All of you knew him better and longer than me," Sticks protested, "I'm the least qualified out of all of you!"

            "You were his friend, though," Amy pointed out.

            "Yeah. Tails wouldn't care which friend chose the spot to honor him. Just the fact that we did, all of us, not just Sonic, would amaze him," Knuckles said, putting a hand of Sticks' shoulder.

            "Actually, the fact that you did know him the least out of us would make you choosing the spot more meaningful," Sonic said, casting a confused sideways glance at Knuckles.

            Sticks nodded, too shocked to notice Knuckles had used reasoning, and turned to walk out the door. She already had an idea of where the memorial could be. She just had to check to make sure a plane could get in.

_______________________________________

            Eggman watched the whole exchange through a fly-bot. He turned it off and quickly brushed away a tear. Orbot and Cubot had been crying too.

            "That was so sweet," Cubot wailed.

            "Yes. It almost makes me want to tell them Tails isn't dead," Orbot commented.

            "That's why I'm not going to follow Sticks as she chooses a spot. I may be forced to destroy it, and I don't want to." Eggman said, turning off the monitor.

             His gauntlet beeped.

            "Boom," a familiar voice said.

            "Yes, Modern?" Eggman asked.

            "Preparations complete. Initiating Operation Get Together," Modern stated.

            "Rodger," Eggman acknowledged.

            The gauntlet beeped again and Eggman turned to the robots,

            "Tie everything down," he ordered, "This will be bumpy."