As Melissa and the rest hastened back to the camp, it seemed like a full scale war was going down.
"Holy crap! Has the entire group of Robotnik followers come here to settle things?!" the twin tailed white vixen cried out.

A sudden "whup whup whup" of tail's tails sounded as he flew over her, heading for the hanger where his craft was held.
"He'll be a sitting duck," Melissa said in dismay as she looked round the corner of an office building, just to see a brief flicker as Espio covered him, hurling his deadly shuriken at those who pointed their, or its gun to him in the case of the robots and badniks.

"Of course," she smiled, closing her eyes in gratitude before a coyote, dressed in Robotnik follower gear nearly crashed into her as he tried to find cover from her troops.
A good solid whack with her hand to the back of his head had him out before she picked up the laser rifle he had been using and joined the fray, ducking behind already downed mechs and badniks and trying to make her way to her allies.

Managing to vault herself over a wall of sand bags, she came alongside her second in command, a muscular dingo and a couple of scars from past skirmishes.
"Daigo, what is the situation?" She said, suddenly the serious commander again, wincing as the sound of a bullet smacking into the bags.

"Well we have given them a good kicking but they just keep on coming and about a fifth of our troops are injured or down. Looks like this is the final confrontation. We win here we can have peace for all Downunda, we fail...who knows just how bad things could get?"

Quickly firing a salvo of shots, Melissa ducked again as a spray of fire sounded in retaliation.
"We could really do with some air support," she cried out to him.

"All our planes and avian support here have been downed by a swarm of flight badniks and anti-air mines. The rest are fighting from keeping the rest advancing," the Dingo shouted as the din of machine guns opening up began to drown his voice out.

"Crap, we're pinned down," Melissa thought in worry. They would soon break through at this rate.
But to her surprise the fire abruptly ceased.
Daring a look over the wall, she saw three rebels and a Walker machine disabled.

"Who..." She thought before a gentle cough behind her had herself and her men turning around to see a purple, horned chameleon leaning against the bags of sand and arms folded, his eyes closed.
He was the coolest thing the young vixen had ever seen in her life.

"Ma'am, is he with us or one of the rebels?" Daigo said, unsure about his shady look.

His question was followed by a whack to the head.
"Idiot, don't you recognise Espio, one of the former members of Chaotix?" Melissa said in a rebuking tone. "He just saved our hides so thank him."

"Uhh, a-apologies Espio, you have our thanks," Daigo said with a respectful bow. "But even with his help we are still in a crisis," he said with a frown as he looked to the grim view in the sky.

"Oh, Tails has that one covered," Espio said before a sly smile crossed his face.

Mouth open, about to question, the Dingo was cut off by the roar of jets as a swift, high tech jet plane whizzed over their heads.
From the front and back, EMP charges were spewed out, covering the battle field in pulsing mines that shut down all of Robotnik's followers robots and gave Melissa's troops the home field advantage.
"All yours" Tails shouted through his speaker as he flew back round to land his jet.

"Always could rely on him to come through where technology is concerned," Espio said in a quiet tone.

"Espio, care to help us mop up?" Melissa smiled, her blue eyes gleaming as she held her hand out to him, inviting him to work side by side with her.

"Uhh yeah, r-right," he stammered, hesitantly taking her hand.
It was so warm and inviting, yet he could feel the vixen's strength in her grip.

"Show us what you can do up close," with a grin, she dashed off with a stunned Espio having to play catch up as she dodged blows and dealt out the damage going from rebel to rebel with Espio managing to catch up, covering each other and working together like old team mates.

In the midst of the scrum Melissa couldn't help but cast a glance at the ninja as he blocked a blow with his gauntlet then executed a sweep kick, sending his opponent crashing to the floor.
Looking around he caught the young vixens look of admiration and couldn't help a slight pink tint creeping into his cheeks.

Two rebels tried to use this distraction to creep up on the duo but they spotted their attackers.
Nodding to each other, they reached out and grabbed hands and pulled, using the leverage to team up and take their assailants out with twin kicks.

Among all of this, an orange, furry figure flew over the scene with the rest of the avian Mobians, using his stun gun to help here and there.
His blue eyes lingered over the white and purple figure together, laying havoc as Espio tossed a kunai to his sister and worked like a well oiled blade, cutting a swath through the attackers.
"I find my sister, and my sister finds love at the same time," Tails said softly to himself, a light smile running his face.

When the final follower had fallen, Melissa and her brother reconvened at the centre of camp with ever rebel tied up in a number of large groups.
"Well done little brother," the white vixen said among the cheering mobians. "I can see that whilst you have never been a good fighter, you have always had a gift I have always envied. Natural intelligence and a mechanical mind," she said, giving him an appreciative hug. "If it wasn't for you, we never would have won and would have been over run in the end."

"Aww heh heh..." Tails said, trailing off and looking at his feet, embarrassed by his sister acknowledging him.

Off to his side stood Espio, looking lost being at the centre of so much attention.
"Hey, get off, stop tugging my horn, don't touch that it's sharp!" Espio said in an exasperated manner as one of the children living on the base tried touching a bladed weapon, all the while being bombarded with questions.

"This is a chameleon? weird looking critter. Fancy get up, ooh such cool ninja gear, mind if we try one?" The crowd around him fired question after question at him as he tried to shrug them off.

"I think you had better rescue your knight in shining armour," Tails laughed at seeing him ready to flee the scene. "Poor Espio is not used to the attention," he finished off with a snort, trying to keep from bursting out with laughter.

Giving an exasperated head shake Melissa ran to his aid and cleared her fellow Downundas from him.
Tails leaned against the wall, his twin tails waving, chuckling gently as he looked on at the chaos.
It felt good to fight again for freedom, the fact it was with his sister only made it feel that much better.

Catching her brothers look she smirked back and leaped up to grab his hand.
"Come on, you need to be part of the celebration too brother," her light blue eyes, same as his own, sparkled in part mischief and part joy as she dragged him over to the throng.

"S-sis, really I don't mind, oof!" he cried out as he was tackled by a cute brown female koala.

"Oh T2, is this your young brother you told me about? Oh he is so cuuute!" She squealed, pressing him tight into her. "And his tails are bigger than your own, look how fluffy they are!"

"Dilane, let go of my poor brother. I fear you might leave him a tail short," Melissa laughed as she saw her brothers uncomfortable expression as the koala tugged and stroked and wrapped his tail round her neck like a scarf.

Prying her away from him she just gave an innocent shrug as her brother cast her a glare.
"You've never changed there either brother, still shy and still the cute one," she grinned, poking his cheek just to have him playfully bat her hand away.

Giving a soft giggle, the young vixen's composure sobered as she then turned to the crowd. "Today we celebrate, not only because the battle is won and we have captured the bulk of Robotnik's followers; but to also rejoice in the return of my brother Miles Prower and a strong ally and new friend, Espio the Chameleon!"

A roar of cheers sounded from the gathered Mobians, both Tails and Espio wanting to shrink into the background as they felt half the eyes on them, a number of girls giggling but to their relief the white vixen interrupted them with a cough, focussing attention on her again.
"Tonight we shall hold a feast and then tomorrow, my brother will lead a scouting party to ferret out the rest of the rebels and then Downunda will truly be free once again from Robotnik's evil."

After her speech, Melissa wandered up to a scowling brother, her tails knotting and curling as she knew he would be mad at her.
"And when did you talk to me about this plan, dear sister?" Tails said, his hands on his hips.

"I'm sorry brother but we need you, you have the best in tech to track down the remnants. Once we are done here...I can finally go home, brother," she said, not in her commanding voice but in the tone of a girl ready to finally be herself and her age.

"Melissa..." Tails said trailing off as he looked at her, the thought of them going back home an saying she was his sister filled his heart with warmth.
"Just make sure to watch for a certain male blue hedgehog, he's had his share share of tail before settling with the Princess," Tails said, rolling his eyes in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"I see the rumours were not exaggerated about him then," Melissa said, rolling her eyes too, copying her brother before they both laughed and hugged each other.
"Its good to see my baby brother again," she said, "and this time you won't be losing me."

"Aw sis," Tails blushed into the hug before looking at Espio who had been standing silent against a wall, quickly looking away as Tail's eyes set on him.
"You're not interested in Sonic are you?" He said in a mock question, knowing what her answer would be.

"No," she sighed before looking at Espio who had closed his eyes to avoid meeting hers. "I think I already have my heart set on someone."

The rest of the day became quite a busy affair as they prepared to celebrate, and citizens from about ever part of Downunda seemed to have come to the now former base, with the threat gone the freedom fighters could let their hair down and mingle with the crowd, sharing exaggerated tales of fights and run-ins as music played and drinks were shared around.

Melissa of course found her hands full, having to manage the night and being interviewed over and over again about their final fight.
Tails had enough after the fifth time he was mistaken for a vixen and the tenth female had tried hitting on him.
The people in Downunda really seemed a very free minded place and he was finding the whole experience daunting.

He wowed the crowd as he spun his tails to take flight, escaping a needy female possum and headed to where he had taken off to when he had been rescued by his sister.
A figure came into view as he flew closer to the rocky outcrop before Espio loomed into view.

"Oh Tails, I thought you would want to catch up with your sister," he said, his usual demeanour seeming more rigid than ever.

"I would if I wasn't always having my tail tugged by a child or being mistaken for a girl or otherwise being hit on. Besides...my sister is the commander here, she is being monopolised by the crowd," he sighed heavily, sitting alongside him and swinging his legs over the edge, his tails in his lap and toying with the ends as he like Espio, lost himself in thought.

It was finally Espio who finally broke the silence, "So. Is she coming home with us or stopping here in Downunda after all this is finished?" He said in a quiet, deep tone.

Tails seemed to think about this for longer than the chameleon was comfortable with before the young, orange fox looked at him.
"What if I said she was staying here, and you would never be able to see her again?" He said, looking at his face.

"You would not allow that Tails, I know you want to spend time with her," he answered simply.

"But that can be solved by staying here for a while, I can leave for home any time I want," he countered before Espio fell back into brooding silence.

Deciding to take a different tact on the matter he said, "She is quite pretty, my sister huh? I wonder why no one has taken her up yet?"

"Maybe she is waiting for the right guy?" Espio said, his voice neutral although he did seem to be trying hard to keep his colours neutral purple, a little envy green flaring just briefly.

"Maybe she already has?" Tails said before standing up and looking about to take off before a hand held a tail to halt possible take off.

"Who?" Espio said, nearly too quietly as this time he didn't bother to stop his colours from turning envy green.

"Why don't you ask her yourself? But I think you feel the same way too am I right?" Tails smiled before tugging his tail from his hand, leaving Espio to sit on his own, lost in thought.

"Phew, there you are Tails. Finally managed to get away from the mob," Melissa sighed as she staggered outside of the main camp which was now in full swing.

Tails found himself shifting uncomfortably as his sister looked at him, "What, you're kind of making me feel odd," he said, tails twirling as he looked away from her.
He suddenly found his hand in his sisters as she led them to her old office.
"H-hey, what you doing?" he said, unsure why she was acting so strange now.

"I want somewhere were we can't be overheard Miles. I want to talk, catch up...and talk about more private matters without prying ears around," she said, opening the metal door and then closing it, locking it with a bolt just to be safe.
Stepping into a spare room, she pulled up two chairs and smiled gently, "Don't worry, I am not going to interrogate you, I just want to properly catch up without interruption," she said before holding his hands, a look of sincere caring in her eyes. "Now, tell me what happened after we parted ways."

As the people outside partied and the joyous laughter rang loud, the two fox siblings caught up, exchanging stories and what led them up to this point.
"Wow, I am envious Miles. You had so many adventures, got to see the entire world with your friends and even going into space and fighting demi gods?" She whistled and sat back.

"Well your life has hardly being boring sis, I mean becoming the leader of the rebels at 15 and defending Downunda is a huge thing and you running the entire base of operations too? It sounds like we both just put our time into other things. To be honest...I wish I had your fortune. I love building and mechanics but it was just what I put my time into. I wish I could have actually done more to help, being a big hero like Sonic instead of his side kick," Tails said, looking down at his feet, his ears going back at the thought.

The scraping of Melissa's chair had the vixen standing up and walking round before her arms went round her brother's neck.
"Miles, if our parents were still alive they would be as proud of you as I am, you have done more than any Mobian your age would be capable of and lived a life most at the end of their life would not be able to."

"S-sis..." Tails found himself welling up as tears threatened to spill again.

"And this time, I won't be going anywhere," she said, hugging tighter still from behind.

Tails found himself stroking her arm, gripping tightly as the siblings shared a moment before breaking apart.

"Brother...I do have another favour to ask of you..." Melissa said, looking suddenly bashful as she looked to her side, avoiding eye contact with her brother.

"What, what is it? Come on Melissa I...ohhh I get it," he smiled slyly. "You want me to arrange for you and Espio to be alone huh?"

"What? No! I was just going to a...yes," she admitted as her brain fired a blank for excuses, deciding she may as well come out with it. "But...I'm not sure if Espio feels the same way as I do," she said, remembering how he wasn't at the party.

"Espio's a quiet guy, he just went out to get some peace and away from the chaos," Tails said, putting his arms around her in a comforting hug. "And to be fair sis...I think he feels the same way."

"Miles..." she turned round to look at him, hope in her beautiful eyes.

Smiling he nodded. "Yep, just leave it to me," Tails said, letting her go. "You have to clean up the last few stragglers right? Well, if you set it up so Espio is in your team he has to follow orders, it is in his nature. And then you can split into small groups of say two?"

Melissa couldn't help but grin with him, "So my brother isn't so innocent then? There is a devious brain behind the cute looks?" She teased.
Just as her brother looked ready to defend himself it was her turn to hug him, halting any words of defence. "Thank you brother," she said, letting her words hang as the sibling pair held each other.

The next day the pair had been roused as an alarm went off at the base, followed by Espio and two freedom fighters as they dragged three of Robotnik's followers.
"Looks like they was trying to rescue their friends, looks as though the fight isn't truly over yet," Espio said in a calm, clear voice but Tails noticed with some amusement that he wasn't looking at Melissa.

"Hmm, looks like they are wasting no time. We should respond in kind and form small hunting parties to search for them," Melissa said, using her authoritative tone as her freedom fighters gathered round her.
Bringing out a number of special watches she assigned them to ever second person.
"These are SDW, Secure Data Watches. They run on our encrypted network and contain all the information on where we have known to spot them and possible locations of hiding, I have a team at the base scanning and constantly updating so we should be able to track them down. Espio, Tails, Dilane and Daigo will form my team, the rest of you I trust your judgement. Move out!"

As everyone scrambled Espio couldn't help but stare at the vixen. She seemed to command such authority about and yet he could see the young vixen wanting to come out and be herself instead of commander.
"Espio, do you want to join us or stand there gawking?" Melissa said, her tone holding authority but Espio could see a playful gleam in her eyes.

Swallowing, he gave a quiet "Ma'am," and saluted before the five set off.

The five rode across the dry land north in a large yellow buggy, ideal for crossing the sands and rocky natural paths.
Coming to an intersection, Tails looked at the radar he had in his hands.
"By the looks of things there are Robotnik energy signatures from both directions so we should split up from here.

"And how do you propose we do that?" Daigo said in his usual serious tone. "You and Espio may be able to go at super speeds but Melissa is like the rest of normal people."

"I thought of that," he said before reaching into the back where he pulled out a thin board, yellow board with an anti grav engine underneath. "Good job I thought about bringing this along," he said with a triumphant look at the Dingo who just huffed and turned away.

"Wow, I seen these in races before but never rode one, but I should get the handle of it," Melissa said, running her hand over the smooth plastic before jumping out and hitting the on switch.

As she jumped on the hovering board, she quickly learned that balance and control was key. "We'll meet back up at our base, if anything goes wrong no heroics, fall back to our base!" Melissa cried over her shoulder too her team. "What's keeping you two?!" She called out to Espio and Tails as she sped off.

"Can so tell you two are related," Espio murmured, "you both learn fast."
Chuckling, Tails shook his head and the pair soon caught up to Melissa.

Looked on at the pair in envy she knew from her research on the pair that they could go faster too, much faster. She felt like she was just slowing them down.
Her dark musings were distracted when the three of them came to a halt at a run down factory town that looked like it had once been one of Robotnik's robot processing factories.

The sight sent a tremor down Tail's tails, shivering as he stood there, remembering the horrors he had been responsible for, and the many deaths of innocents.
He suddenly felt a strong hand squeeze his arm, finding Melissa's hand reassuringly there.
"I know how you feel brother, it never gets easier for me, either," she said in a quiet tone.

Espio climbed up the wall of an old building to get a better view, making a mental map of the place before dropping the 30 feet down to the floor with no real effort.
He looked to the pair, both twin tails billowing in the hot wind as Tails leaned into her, showing a part he hardly ever showed to others, the kid fox part who wanted tot take comfort in his sister.

He coughed quietly, making the siblings jump and blush in embarrassment, though somewhat more visible through the albino vixens white fur.
"Melissa, maybe we should start our search and split up? I have spotted three likely places to be a stronghold."

"No, I refuse to let my brother out of my sight," Melissa said, holding her brother protectively.
But to her shock he pushed her gently away.

"Don't worry sis, I survived a lot worse than this and can handle myself," he said before seeing her crestfallen face. "Don't worry, we will meet back up and then we will all go back home together, and I can introduce you to the rest," he smiled before handing them a badge looking object and watches.
"These will tell us where each other are, and if we run into trouble it will notify the other two so we can cover each other even apart."

With a smile at his sister he flew off towards one of the indicated factories still standing as Melissa looked down at her badge.
"Tails, you can always count on him to come through when it comes to tech," Espio said with a hand on her shoulder.

She turned to look at him, their eyes locking as both held their breath before breaking away.
"I um, will see you back here," Espio said, marking a rock with his kunai quickly before taking off at speed.

"Espio wait!" Melissa cried out as he ran away faster than she could blink.
He glanced back, seeing her standing there looking with wide blue eyes and looking so crestfallen before quickly looking ahead.
Now was not the time to become distracted, she would understand and later...what then?