This took far too long. Sorry for the wait ;D

Disclaimer: I own Kate, the rest belongs to Sonic Team @SEGA

Anyway, enjoy :)

*New Mobotropolis, King Frederick Airfield*

Silver jolted out of his stupor as he finally heard the sound of plane engines, signifying the return of the three Freedom Fighters. He looked up the see the Tornado lowering as it approached, and he grimaced as he remembered why he was waiting for them.

Shielding his eyes from the sun, Silver stepped forward slightly as the plane touched down on the runway and Sally and Sonic hopped off, Sally landing smoothly, Sonic stumbling forward as he winced in pain.

As the two of them approached, closely followed by Tails, Silver lowered his arm to look at Sonic more closely, frowning at his tired and limping state.

"You've looked better," he commented, turning around to join the trio as they left the airfield "it was Kate, I'm guessing?"

Sonic's scowl confirmed his guesses.

"Who else? Also, I hope you're here because you have good news," he snapped.

Silver bit his lip at Sonic's obvious tetchy mood, as unfortunately, he was no bearer of good news. Noticing Silver's hesitation, the blue hedgehog groaned.

"What is it?" he huffed.

"A new royal guard is waiting for you guys in Headquarters," replied Silver, sounding rather distasteful "he…er…he's looking forward to meeting you,"

As he directed them away from the airfield, Sally appeared to be more interested.

"What's wrong with that?" she asked.

A nervous chuckle was Silver's response, and Sally looked taken aback as the ivory hedgehog gave her a painful smile.

"O-ho. Just wait 'til you meet him,"

soon*

Sonic pushed open the door the Headquarters slowly, having no idea what to expect on the other side. Silver hung back as the other three entered, clearly not eager to see the new guard again.

Stepping into the room, however, they saw that no one was in there, and that the door to Tails' lab was slightly ajar.

"Hello?" Sonic called out "is anyone there?"

Less than a second after he had spoken those words, the four of them were greeted by a fuzzy light pink head with deep red eyes poking out of the door from the lab.

"Ah! Yes! Hello! Sorry. I couldn't resist a look,"

The pink head was followed by the rest of the body, and with perked up, rounded ears. The head belonged to a molerat, clad in a crimson belt and boots adorned with the royal crest and he had a long sword resting in the hilt on his hip.

Immediately, Sonic noticed the confident air around the molerat, and he had a somewhat exaggerated swagger about him. Finding this only vaguely irritating, Sonic brushed it off, and held out his hand in a friendly way.

The molerat grasped Sonic's extended firmly and shook, introducing himself before letting go.

"My name is Caleb. I've just graduated from training, and I was eager to meet the famous Freedom Fighters," he said, almost in a pompous way.

Sonic raised his brow at Caleb's flattery, still unsure as to why Silver disliked him so much. He opened his mouth to speak again, but Caleb cut across him, speaking to Sally, and greeting her in the same manner before stepping back.

"I always considered joining the Freedom Fighters in my youth. Always thought I'd be a better leader," Caleb sighed.

Sonic glanced over at Sally and Tails. Both of them were giving Sonic a "did he really just say that?" look. So that's why Silver didn't like him.

Sally tensed up.

"Really?" she said casually, successfully keeping the sharpness from her tone "what makes you say that?"

Caleb retained his attitude despite Sally's obvious scowl.

"I would've stopped that wolf for starters. She had no right to do what she wanted to that Robotisizer,"

Sonic was ready to give Caleb the most snarky comment he could think of, and a brief glance at Silver told him that the ivory hedgehog was thinking the same thing. However, he decided against it. The last thing he needed to do was get into a fight with a royal guard, no matter how unbearably irritating he was.

So, keeping his expression indifferent, Sonic replied with a simple, "Uh huh,"

Caleb apparently had no idea about the tension he was causing, and continued.

"Yes, being a Freedom Fighter seems good. I worked with those in Downunda for a short ti-"

A sudden beeping caught his attention. It was the band on his wrist. Giving a discrete sigh of relief, Sonic smiled, or at least tried to. It came out as more of a distasteful grimace.

"Looks like they need you," he said, desperately wanted Caleb to go.

Laughing in a loud, hearty way, Caleb nodded them goodbye and opened the door to leave.

"Hah! Who doesn't?"

He shut the door, and they could hear his footsteps grow quieter. It was only until they could no longer hear his footfalls that Silver finally spoke.

"Now do you know why I didn't like him?" he said almost manically.

Sally was still in complete and utter shock.

"Who in the name of Chaos does he think he is?"

Tails' twin tails twitched in agitation.

"He obviously thinks he's above everyone else,"

The blue hedgehog still stared at the door, and gestured to it with his index finger.

"What a liar. If Walt had help from a dude like that, we'd know,"

A short hiss signified Nicole's appearance in the room, and she looked just as peeved as they were.

"I thought he'd never leave," she said in relief "I really do hope you came back with good news?"

Sally bounded forward eagerly with her monitor, more then glad to get away from the topic of Caleb.

"Yes, actually!" she exclaimed, but then frowned "the source was…it was…what was it again?"

Sonic grunted as he flopped down on the sofa.

"One of the waterfalls had been turned into crystal. Like the whole thing looked like it had frozen overnight,"

The chipmunk nodded before she continued to explain the findings to Nicole.

"Yes, well, the readings we got were…odd. They were similar to that of the Chaos Emeralds," she said "we thought one might be hidden behind it, but that-"

Nicole's frowned and finished Sally's sentence.

"That…that doesn't explain the problems with my systems," she murmured "did you get anything else?"

Tails piped up, his hand now on his chin in thought.

"The signal was weaker than an Emerald, so we guessed someone used one,"

Silver, who had been alternating between listening intently then zoning out, engaged in the conversation again.

"If I had a Chaos Emerald I wouldn't use it on a waterfall," he commented, before snorting sarcastically "oh! Oh! Y'know who would know the answer to everything?" he puffed out his chest, doing an uncanny impression of Caleb "the new royal guard! That's who!"

There was a mixture of laughter and groans at his impersonation, and Sonic cringed.

"Aw, jeez," he huffed "that guy needs someone to knock him down a peg,"

Sally scoffed.

"I think he'd need knocking down multiple pegs, Sonic,"

She placed the handheld she still had on the table, and shook her head at the thought of the molerat.

"I'm going to tell Elias what Caleb said," she gasped as a new thought suddenly hit her "maybe I can get him done for treason," she joked.

Sonic smirked as his friend left the Headquarters in a hurry before facing forward again. Nicole had disappeared, and the main screen had switched off. Sonic racked his head to find a topic to break the silence.

Suddenly, he remembered what happened at the base of the waterfall, and sat forward in deep thought, catching the attention of the fox and the other hedgehog.

"What's the matter?" Tails asked, leading on the console under the monitor.

Sonic shrugged, not really knowing how to explain what he saw and what he thought.

"Kate…she was…weird today," he began awkwardly, making Silver's head shoot up.

"How d'you mean?"

Sonic scrunched up his face as he tried to recall exactly what happened.

"Well, she was about to pummel me, and I said-" he stopped himself, choosing his words carefully "I said…er...I said something that would tick her off in normal circumstances-"

Silver was gripped on to Sonic's words.

"What happened?"

Cobalt looked up at ivory, the hopeful glint back in his eye.

"She stopped. Liked she recognised it. I said her name, and she knew that too," he hesitated before he proposed his theory "I think…that we'll be able to get her back if we…" he struggled for a moment "…say the right thing,"

His lame finish made Silver burst out laughing.

"What?" he said bitterly "you can't be serious,"

Tails, on the other hand, knew what Sonic was getting at, but didn't say anything. Sonic grew impatient with Silver's mockery and scowled, leaping to his feet.

"I know it sounds dumb, Silver," he snapped, making Silver calm down a little "but there's something I know about her that you don't. So you're going to hafta trust me,"

Silver squinted his eyes in curiosity at Sonic's words, but knew better than to question it. Kate had been known for keeping many sensitive secrets, and anyone who found out must have done so accidentally. So, nodding in acceptance, he lowered his agitated tone.

"Alright," he sighed, almost reluctantly "I'll take your word for it. What kind of things would we have to say?"

Sonic laughed and shrugged, making the scowl return to Silver's face.

"I don't have a clue, but have fun tryin' to figure it out,"

The next week passed rather eventful. The appearance of the crystal waterfall was followed by multiple crystallised plants springing up outside Mobotropolis, each one having the same strange effect on Nicole's systems.

The Death Egg had been moved from its spot in Downunda to somewhere over Soleanna, and was edging closer to the main town each day. Due to the Egg Fleet being so spread out around Mobius, the Freedom Fighters had been too busy trying to prevent attacks from the Egg Fleet to monitor the Death Egg's movements, and we're now struggling to find time to deal with the problem.

On top of all that, was Caleb. The new guard had been more troublesome then the group had originally fathomed, and didn't shy away from telling the residents of Mobotropolis his apparent dislike of the Freedom Fighters, and how he believed he could improve it. Visits to the HQ were more frequent, questioning the capability of the members, specifically Sally and Sonic.

Whenever they could, the small group had been taking short breaks, where they would try to discuss anything apart from the growing amount of problems they had.

By the end of the week, things calmed down a little, and on the Saturday, the group were able to take a long breather.

Once again, Sonic and Sally found themselves sat shoulder to shoulder beneath a tree by the Lake of Rings. It was midday, but few people were out and about for some reason or another. Neither of them were exactly talkative today. Being the leader, Sally had obviously taken the heaviest toll of Caleb's criticisms and was the most stressed out of everyone. The only thing that could remotely cheer her up was any comment that "slagged off" Caleb.

Fortunately, on this particular occasion, the pair of them could see Caleb standing with Elias on the opposite bank of the lake. Although they couldn't hear him, they could tell he was bigging himself up to the king.

Sonic snorted.

"He's only been here a week. I've never wanted to punch someone so bad in my life," he grumbled, glaring at the molerat with contempt.

Nodding in agreement, Sally stretched out her legs.

"He's trouble, and Elias won't have any of it," she said, looking back up at her brother.

Caleb's smug look returned as he began recounting some thrilling tale of some near death experience that he probably didn't have.

Sighing deeply, Sonic smirked.

"The fuss will die down soon enough. Won't be long before General Prower shows that idiot he's not at the top of the ladder,"

Sally chuckled, apparently amused by the thought.

"That would be amazing. If Amadeus doesn't do anything, I sure will…uh-oh…"

Sonic looked back at Sally, wondering what her problem was.

"Uh-oh?" he repeated "what "uh-oh"?"

She didn't answer, following her gaze, he noticed that Caleb and Elias had stopped talking, and were staring towards them.

Quickly diverting their gaze away, Sonic and Sally began talking in hushed whispers.

"Why were they looking at us?" Sally hissed.

Sonic let out some sort of nervous chuckle.

"They might have been looking in this…general direction not directly towards us," he suggested hopefully.

However, when they moved their heads towards Elias and Caleb, they saw that the two of them were walking round the lake, obviously towards the tree Sally and Sonic were sat under.

Sonic's face dropped in disappointment.

"Crap…"

The chipmunk began to scramble to her feet, with Sonic following her up a second later.

"Right," said Sally "you deal with this,"

The blue hedgehog gave a very sarcastic laugh and lowered his voice more as the monarch drew closer.

"What? Why me? He's your brother!"

Sally rolled her eyes.

"Exactly, I might punch him,"

"And I'll probably punch Caleb. There's no decent solution here. Let's just do a bunk," Sonic retorted.

"Stop being a baby,"

"Criminy, you can be a pain some-" Sonic stopped abruptly as Elias arrived with Caleb "oh! How're you doin', your majesty?"

Elias smiled. Luckily he hadn't heard Sonic and Sally's words.

"I'm doing just fine, Sonic," he jerked his thumb towards Caleb, who was stood next to him "Caleb was just telling me that you're going to attack the Death Egg tomorrow, and put a stop to this,"

Sonic raised his brow at Caleb, who seemed to be very proud of himself.

"W-we are?" he stammered blankly, before letting out a hiss of pain as Sally subtlety elbowed him in the side "umph! I mean…e-erm. Yes, we are,"

Once again, Elias didn't notice anything.

"Good," he said, rubbing his forehead exhaustedly "it will be nice to have one less thing to worry about,"

Caleb nodded in approval, before he himself spoke to the two Freedom Fighters.

"And I'm assuming, whilst you're up there, you'll destroy that wolf?"

Sonic's green eyes showed a glint of amusement, knowing that the molerat was so sure of himself. He leant back against the tree trunk, and grinned smugly.

"No,"

Caleb bit his lip, obviously taken aback by Sonic's denial. His fuzzy pink head dipped slightly towards Elias and he pointed at Sonic.

"If it's okay with you, may I-?"

Elias held up a hand at Caleb to make him stop and nodded.

"Go ahead,"

With that, the king jerked his head at his sister and the two of them left Caleb and Sonic at the tree, and Sally glanced back to Sonic with a confused look.

Once they were gone, Caleb turned to Sonic, and the blue hedgehog edged a little away from him.

"I don't mean to disrespect you, Sonic, but to me it seems like you have your priorities wrong," Caleb began seriously.

This caught Sonic's attention immediately, and he felt hid temper begin to rise. Outwardly, however, he kept a cocky attitude.

"Do I, now?"

Caleb nodded, obviously not noticing Sonic's anger at his statement, and carried on regardless.

"Yes. You're making your top priority to save the wolf, when it could do more damage than the whole Egg Fleet put together. You need to destroy it," he continued, the air of confidence around him suggesting he was certain he would win the argument. Sonic, however, wasn't easily deterred.

"Yeah, the "wolf" you're talking about has a name, pal," Sonic snapped "I'm not going to destroy my friend,"

Caleb frowned, running a hand over his rounded ears and fiddling with the hilt of his sword.

"I understand that. But didn't she say to destroy her if necessary? Surely you'll comply with her death wish?"

This took Sonic by surprise, and instantly made him suspicious about Caleb. The video Kate had made them had been hidden away in Nicole's files so it could be kept safe from accidental deletion. Nicole wouldn't share it with someone so new (and so disliked), so how did he see it?

Sonic pushed up off the tree trunk, squaring up to Caleb almost threateningly.

"How did you know that?" he muttered dangerously "have you…have you been looking through our private files?"

Caleb didn't seem to realise the problem Sonic had.

"I'm a royal guard. I was making sure you weren't harbouring any information from the crown,"

Sonic wasn't listening, and he smirked knowingly at Caleb.

"Why do you want to destroy Kate so badly?" he questioned, making Caleb's brow twitch as his body tensed "is she a threat to you? Want her out of the way?"

Caleb finally lost his professional attitude, and scowled.

"I only act in the interests of the Monarch," he snapped, a tiny bit of frustration working in to his tone.

Sonic laughed, not having any of it. He shoved past Caleb and began to leave, walking backwards so he could have to last word.

"Right, yeah, okay," he said, nodding in mock agreement "whatever your deal is here, we'll destroy the robot by all means, but we'll save Kate. You can count on that,"

He left without another word, kicking up a cloud of dust at Caleb as he went.

Ok. This chapter was longer compared to the others I've done, so sorry it took so long :P

College is being demanding, so I'll start writing the third chapter whenever I can.

Also, there is a point to that cringey-ass molerat (although I could have made him less of a twit...oh well...)

Anyway, I won't waste your time anymore with my prattling. Go! Be free!

Hope you enjoyed! :D

Rate and Review!

~W.O.T~