Welcome back, Sonic fans. Spaz411 here with another chapter of Sonic The Hedgehog : Reign Of The Eggman Empire. Sorry for the long wait but hopefully i will be able to continue alittle more regularly now.. Though i havent stopped writing on paper, my computer access has been limited. Anyway here's chapter 4, hope you enjoy!

CHAPTER 4 : Sonic's Ailment

Sonic was on the verge of panicing. If he could just make it to the door, he could make a break for it. But before he could, something bumped into him from behind.

"Hey! Watch where your backing up!" A tall man complained. The confrontation caught someone else's attention. "Hey, guy, how come your still wearing your empire cape?" That someone asked.

"I'm cold." Sonic answered, keeping his head down. Tails seen the people around Sonic get edgy. He made a move to intercept Sonic and maybe stop the conflict he could surly see coming. But Knuckles put a hand on his shoulder. "Stop, Tails, you go to help him now, and what happens if he's found out? You'll be labeled a Faker supporter. We can afford to lose the trust of the people." Tails shook his head. Meanwhile, the people didn't seem to buy Sonic's excuse. "It's not cold. Take it off, even just the hood so we can be sure. You understand right?" A woman coaxed. Sonic shook his head and backed up more but the tall man grabbed Sonic up by the front of the cape. Tails's hand rested on his holster, now everyone's attention was on the small figure up in the air. "We said take it off!" The man bellowed and pulled the hood down and Sonic was revealed.

Immediently the man dropped Sonic with a gasp. The whole room backed up creating a circle around Sonic. Tails froze on the spot. "Oh man, please no one shoot him..." Knuckles grabbed Tails and jumped off the stage heroic style. "Don't pull me!" Tails grunted. "Shut up and follow my lead." Knuckles shot back quietly. Suddenly Rouge, Knuckles, Tails, and Cosmo had Sonic surrounded, weapons drawn. "Nobody shoot him, we want him for interrigation." Knuckles shouted. Tails sighed. 'Nobody has any defensive weapons at all?! Really?!... Well at least he didn't get shot...' Tails thought.

Sonic, not sure what move to make, began to understand. He threw a punch at Knuckles who easily dodged. Knuckles's punch connected and Tails jumped Sonic as to not prolong the fight and risk others getting involved. As they subdued him, the crowd erupted in cheers, hoots and hollaring. While the girls walked Sonic to backstage, the people were booing and jeering at him as he went by, one guy actually stepped out and punched Sonic in the face.

"Hey! Save it for Eggman, will ya?" Rouge yelled pulling Sonic roughly back to his feet and got him back stage. One of the people in the crowd spoke up. "See? That was easy! We can take Eggman down no problem!" The crowd exploded in applaud and whoops.

"Fools!" Tails bellowed from on stage, " One little capture of a faker and you all want to march into the gates of mecha-hell and beat up Eggman? He won't be alone! We caught this weak faker off- guard, count ourselves lucky."

"Gee thanks Tails, weak?" Sonic said to himself back stage, he smiled and Cosmo smiled back. Tails continued to speak; " Does any of you even have a defensive weapon? How the hell do any of you survive out there? Have any you not noticed we are at WAR?! Don't just sit in your houses with no form of defence." Knuckles pulled out his iron claws. "It's time we stopped playing on the defensive. We must do somthing about the children dissapearing. If anyone has any information on the where abouts of Lord Shadow or Lady Amy, please let one of us know as soon as you can." Tails stepped forward, " Arm yourselves, keep them on your person, expect anything to happen. We'll contact you for the next meeting. Dismissed."

Tails and Knuckles met up with Sonic, Rouge and Cosmo backstage. "Lord Shadow, Lady Amy?" Sonic asked. "Oh yeah, we forgot to mention...After you died, Amy just kind of lost it. At first it was just depression. She almost never spoke, her spirit just broke. When we were captured, we were all kept seperated. At first we thought Shadow had done something to her but when we went to help her out of Mech Island, she told us she was done with us, that her and Shadow loved eachother. So, when Eggman took over, he named Shadow a Lord and Amy his Lady." Tails explained. "But, come to find out, the one thing Amy wanted was children. But Shadow, being the ultimate life form has it's drawbacks. Shadow cannot reproduce. So now those two hunt down children all over in search for the perfect child." Cosmo finished.

"That's insane!"

"That's not the end of it, after a while, just capturing children wasn't bringing results. So now they send them to children camps to train them into the perfect child."

Sonic thought for a moment. "How did you find out all of this? Surly, Eggman won't give you the grand tour?" Tails laughed.

"Definitly not. Actually, that was Cream's doing, yes she is doing alright, she's more of a supporter then anything. She found a nice guy named Jake, an orange tabbycat, and settled down in northeast's territory. North territory (Tails territory) is where we are now. You know she never was a fighter... But She has a has a son, Jack, he has her colors but is a cat like his father. But the funny thing about Jake is he works as a guard for Eggman."

"What?!" Sonic was agast. Cosmo laughed, " That's what we said. Actually he was Creams cell guard and the three years we spent on Mech Island, they fell in love and once he found out who cream was associated with, he helped us escape."

"Why would anyone work for Eggman?" Sonic murmered angrily. "Eggman took over all the Armed Forces is basically forcing compliance of the Army. That's how he is locking down Creams territory. They are searching for resistance groups and anyone who is not following the Empire's laws." Sonic just sat, deep in thought.

Everyone was about done from the meeting room when Sonic pulled Tails off to the side. "I know your mad at me, Tails. But i didn't mean to leave for so long. To me, it feels as if I've closed my eye's and when I awoke, I was here ten years in the future! I don't know what happened!" Tails turned his head off to one side angrily. "Well, I'm glad this experience has been so easy for you, Sonic!..." Tails turned to walk away and Sonic reached out to grab his shoulder. Suddenly, Sonic felt faint again, his vision blurred of his friend walking away. "Tails I-..." Sonic doubled over in pain. Tails turned back at his friends wail.

"Sonic? SONIC! What's wrong? Cosmo! Come help me!"

Tails and Cosmo was trying to help Sonic keep his balance. Everything was blurred, his mind chaos. Sonic didn't recognize anyone around him. He started lashing out to his tormentors. "Sonic, stop!" Before anyone could move to restrain him, the reisitance member who socked Sonic in the face earlier appeared out of seemingly nowhere, and pinned Sonic to the floor, everyone froze.

"I thought you guys might've needed some help with this faker. Good thing i came back too, wouldn't want any of you ladies hurt, Mrs. Prower." The old dog gave Cosmo a wink and Tails was on him, pinning him to the floor next to Sonic. "Thanks Mac, but i had it under control.." Tails looked from Mac to Sonic, how had seemed to lose conchessness.

Tails was visibly peeved after Mac left. Sonic was put into a locked bedroom, until he wakes. Tails wanted answers when Sonic woke, he wasn't sure if he trusted Sonic yet. He couldn't put his finger on it but something was definitly off with him. The way he gets faint and reason he's still appears sixteen years old...

"Sigh..." Tails covered his face with his hands. Everyone knew Tails was beyond finished with this war. If it wasn't for his family and friends...

"I wouldn't even been here anymore." Tails had planned leaving Station Square ten years ago. See new places, learn more mechanics, just a change in pace then this "defeating Eggman game" over and over. But then Sonic died...

"Leaving me with all of your responsibilities!" Tails shouted. Soft hands embraced Tails from behind. He relaxed instantly; She had that effect on him, even after all of these years. "Are you still angry over Mac?" Cosmo asked. " Mac is on the bottom of my problem list. Though he does come in every meeting, hitting on you.. One day he's gonna leave a little less then a male.." Cosmo smiled at her husband's dark humor. "There's no reason to worry, Love. Here, let me show you why..." Cosmo wrapped her arms around Tails and kissed him deeply. Backing him into their bedroom with the door closing, the only sound is the click of the lock.

Well there it is! Chapter 4! Hope you all enjoyed and I'm hopeing to keep regular updates now so please read and review! Thanks!