Hi everyone, All I want to say Is an enormous 'thank you' to NeonLight14 because without him this story would be totally different and totally terrible. You're the best Neon!

This entire story is to be edited so any slip ups will be gone. (I hope). The biggest edits are to the back of the story.

Anyway, here it is XD

Chapter 1 - Wrong place, wrong time

"Finally, I'm done," Tails the Fox said to himself, wiping the sweat from his brow and looking at his plane with pride. Tails was in his workshop. Bits of metal and strange machines were everywhere but they were in neat piles. It was quite cold outside, so Tails had lit a fire in the forge to warm himself up a bit. He could smell the faint smoke and seemed satisfied with the aroma.

Suddenly Tails heard a loud thud, which caused him to nearly jump out of his fur.
"Huh, what was that?" Tails said to himself as he turned around to see where the noise had come from. He spotted a very fierce-looking hedgehog and a hawk quickly slamming the big wooden doors shut.

Instinctively, Tails ducked behind the plane and kept out of sight. He forced his breathing to become as slow and quiet as possible They hadn't seen him yet. Maybe they were just hiding from someone or were lost. Tails doubted this and decided to stay quiet.

"So, In thrwee days the machine will be compweete, and the men will be unstoppable. Rwight Conwrad?" The taller hedgehog said in a very strange accent. He was dark green and wore sandy-coloured army clothes with big black boots and had sunglasses resting on the top of his head. He had quite a large scar near his eye that looked painful. Tails seemed to recognize the way he spoke, it was just like his friend Big the Cat.

"Yes, Stephenson, that's the plan," The shorter hedgehog, known as Conrad, sighed. Conrad spoke in such a way Tails knew that they had been through this conversation many times before.

Conrad was a sandy coloured hawk, he was probably around fifteen and looked like an easy going guy, except for the fact that as he spoke a mini tornado was weaving around his fingers.

Stephenson and Conrad sat down on two empty oil barrels and continued their conversation.

"So 'dat big rwock we found will helwp power the machine?" Stephenson added.
"Yes it will, I hope you're keeping it safe," Conrad said firmly. Stephenson nodded and revealed a beautiful white gemstone that Tails didn't recognize.
That's not a Chaos emerald, but it feels even more powerful, Tails thought to himself.

Tails decided he needed to leave but as Conrad spoke, he froze and peered over the plane wing.

"Good... Stephenson, look around for a yellow Chaos Emerald. Karn said that there was one in here. Once we have the Chaos Emeralds, we go after the Master Emerald. Though that Echidna will prove difficult, it will be fun to pulverize him with the Hydra," he laughed.

Tails inhaled sharply and shuddered. He ducked back down when he realised he had just made a noise. Ok, Tails. How are you going to get out of this one? he thought to himself.
Well... First, you need to hide that Emerald... But where?

Tails thought for a moment, before picking the yellow Chaos Emerald up from beside him. Tails waited until the perfect moment and threw it into the back of the forge, where it would be safe from the fire. However as he threw the Emerald, he knocked the tool box, that had been resting on the plane wing, onto the floor. Tails watched in as it fell to the floor with and made a loud clatter.

Both hedgehogs turned their heads in unison towards the noise and stood. Tails quickly grabbed a bit of cold charcoal from the floor beside him and wrote: Knuckles is in trouble, guard ALL the Emeralds. As soon as he finished he put some paper over the message and listened for the intruders.

"Stephenson, go check the plane, I'll guard the door," Conrad smirked coldly.

Tails kept quiet. Keep calm, just time it right and run to the window... No problem, he thought to himself. The footsteps began to get louder and louder. He suddenly ran to the window but just as he thought he was going to make it, a hand grabbed at his ankle. Tails tripped over and fell to the floor. Tails kicked until he was free and quickly stood up to run again but Stephenson grabbed him by the arm, his grip was like steel.

"Lemme go!" Tails yelled, kicking thin air and desperately trying to escape. This wasn't the first time this sort of thing had happened to Tails, and as petrified as he was, Tails knew he had to show he wasn't afraid. He had to show that he wasn't going to go without a fight but most importantly, he had to try to stall. Sonic would be back soon, Tails just had to fight and struggle until then.

"Not d'is time," Stephenson growled, grabbing his other arm. Stephenson managed to twist Tails's arms behind his back to try to stop him fighting.

But Tails kept going, knocking over the machinery and yelling in an attempt to get help. Tails stomped on the hedgehog's foot and managed to trip Stephenson over. As Stephenson fell, he accidentally dropped Tails on to a large shard of glass, which was from one of his machines. It cut his side.

Tails yelped out in pain and clutched his side as he shuffled along the floor
"You fool!" Conrad yelled, running over with a large rag in his hand.

"Sonic, help!" Tails screamed, desperately triying to get to the window. Stephenson quickly recovered from his fall and grabbed Tails yet again. They continued the struggle but Tails knew that there wasn't much hope now.
Conrad grabbed Tails and shoved the rag onto his face.

"Take it easy, kid. We're not gonna hurt you," Conrad muttered through Tails's muffled yells.
Tails tried to fight but Stephenson helped hold on to him. After a few, long seconds Tails fell unconscious and went limp in the strangers' arms...

(Later that day)

"Yo, Tails, you in here?" Sonic called, pushing open the door open. The sight that met his eyes was unbelievable. All of the machines had been destroyed and most of the paper designs were on fire in the forge. But the worst sight was the small puddle of blood on the floor. Tails often left the workshop in a mess, but not like this.

"Sonic, what's going o-" Shadow called as he walked in, his voice flattered as soon as he saw the workshop.
"If someone has hurt Tails... I swear they'll pay," Sonic growled through gritted teeth.
"Let's have a look around first, before we jump to conclusions," Shadow said calmly but seriously. He kept his mind clear and calm. Working at G.U.N had given him these skills but G.U.N couldn't teach you everything

"So much for a quiet day," Shadow thought out loud about five minutes later but Sonic didn't hear. He was too busy wondering who had done this and what had actually happened... But most importantly, Sonic wondered where Tails was.

Shadow noticed that Sonic's actions were quick and full of force, Sonic was angry and his clenched fists were shaking in rage.
"If he has gone missing, Sonic, we'll find him," Shadow said, in an attempt to calm him down.

The original plan was for Tails to finish his new adaptation for the Tornado and wait for Sonic to come back from getting Shadow. Now Tails was gone without a trace and all of his work had gone up in flames. The blood was really starting to worry Sonic, but what worried him more was the fact Tails wasn't here. So where was he?

Tails was as good as a brother to Sonic and if he was - no, he couldn't think like that. Sonic tried to look on the bright side. There wasn't enough blood for Tails to have been seriously hurt and there was no blood trail either, so his wound was at least covered or, was hopefully being treated.

Shadow managed to save some of Tails's designs from the fire. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the corner of a design hidden under an empty oil drum that tended to be used as a seat. Shadow moved the drum and picked up the design of the adaptation for the Tornado that Tails had just finished. He smirked at how much effort Tails put into looking after the Tornado. It was then, he spotted the message that had been written on the concrete floor.

"Sonic, come look at this," Shadow said.
"Knuckles is in trouble, guard all the Emeralds," Sonic read. "All the Emeralds, what could that mean? The Chaos Emeralds and The Master Emerald?"
"Looks that way," replied Shadow.
"So... What do we do now?" Sonic asked, itching to run off and find his friend.
"I suggest that we split up. You go and warn Knuckles and I'll start looking for Tails, that way we can save time," Shadow said.

Sonic nodded and climbed into the Tornado, Tails's little red plane, whilst Shadow opened the doors. Sonic quickly flew out of the workshop and began to make his way towards Angel Island.

"Good luck, Sonic... You'll probably need it," Shadow said, watching the plane disappear into the sky. Shadow then closed the doors and dashed off to find Tails.

What both hedgehogs had failed to see was the glowing Chaos Emerald in the forge and a hooded figure silently standing near the door who had heard all of their conversation.

Stephenson and Conrad too?! This is getting out of hand. I need to find that blue hedgehog. Whatever he knows about these 'emeralds' might explain why Karn wants them so badly. It may be the only way Karn can be stopped... But there's only one thing, how am I going to get to that Island?

I told you I'd tie up all the loose ends. I hope you'll read the rest of the story because the storyline has changed a little and is a lot better.

Quick note: Lost in Greed is up and running... Or publishing rather... You know what I mean XD

Please Review and have a great dayXD