A/N - This is a fairly short chapter in my opinion, but I hope ya'll enjoy!
...and no, I still don't own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of its characters. The OCs are mine, but that's only...what: three, four Mobians at the most? Bah, such is life...

Robotropolis Roboticization Factory
Third Block, Facility #17
1111 hrs, day 13, 3227

"Good luck, Miles...you'll need every bit of it..."

Frost opened his eyes and blinked, hearing a pair of metallic footfalls in the hallway that he was hidden from. He could've sworn that he heard someone talking to him...Big Bro, maybe? He wasn't sure. The hedgehog sat up slowly and yawned silently while scratching the back of his right ear: how long had he been hiding from those SWATbots again...eight, nine days? It doesn't matter, he grumbled to himself while placing his free – not to mention robotic – hand over his stomach as it gave a low growl; I need to find some food and fast.

Crawling over to where the grating showed a part of the hallway and waiting for the SWATbot patrol to move on, he removed the grating with a quick push that slid the screws out of their places – he found his robotic arms to be more of a blessing of a curse (the same went for his robotic legs as well), but he hated this place and those chambers that the other animals were stuck in (himself included). He quietly crawled out of the air duct and left the metal cover on the ground, running as fast as possible down the clear hallway and quickly gaining speed.

Frost was quick by any hedgehog's standards, but whenever he hit a certain speed – like the one he was running at just about now, he noticed as he rounded a corner to the right and sped down the hallway that was leading towards a bright light – he tended to trip over himself within two to three seconds – just like he was now, he noted with a sense of irony as his left foot tripped over his right and he skidded face-first on the metal floor a few yards...

...and stopped right in front of one of the SWATbots, which noticed him.

Frost swallowed the lump in his throat. Not good... He though to himself with a wince;his eyes shut even tighter as he waited for the inevitable laser beam – or worse, a tranquilizer dart – and jumped backwards reflexively, away from the sizzling sound of the laser before bolting forward again and around the next corner; stopping to take a breath and allow his frantic heartbeat to slow only after finding a hiding place behind a metal crate, he peeked around the corner.

The sirens were wailing, but nothing was following him...Whew! He wiped the sweat on his forehead away, that was a close one... With a relieved smile he darted around crates and boxes, finally finding himself outside the oppressive steel-forged walls of Robotropolis; Frost took a deep breath of somewhat fresher air. Ah, that's the stuff. He thought with a cheesy grin similar to his older brother's, and began his running and, occasionally, tripping spree in the only direction he could think of: away.

The Frozen Chronicles
Part 1, Chapter 3:
Enter, Freedom Fighters

The Great Forest
55 miles from Robotropolis
1217 hrs, day 13, 3227

He hadn't thought of whether "away" would lead him towards any villages, however; Big Bro said something about finding Knothole... he thought to himself, wondering which way the hidden village would be. Eventually he stopped his sprinting-and-tripping-spree after - even though he could see that the sun had reached its pinnacle in the sky, and the gigantic trees didn't help when he looked upward at the sky to find such out - the young hedgehog. He found a space under one of the enormous dead trees' roots and after setting up a spot for a small fire (which he finally lit after a few tries with rubbing two sticks together), grabbing a giant leaf and cleaning it off, cleared away a spot to rest for a bit and didn't hesitate to enjoy said sleep using the leaf as a crude blanket.

It wasn't too long before...

"This is where the smoke was coming from..."

Frost sat up and looked around, adrenaline starting to pump through his veins, but he calmed himself down once he saw the unknown voice's owner: a non-roboticized hedgehog, not unlike himself (save for the non-roboticized bit to a point), but with blue fur, green eyes, white gloves, and red sneakers with a single white strip running across the middle of the shoe. He held a hand out to Frost – the other one occupied with a backpack – with a smile on his face.

"You okay?" he asked, and the escapee grabbed the hand offered to him and was helped out from under the tree's roots. The red hedgehog nodded silently in agreement, and the other Mobian's grin grew; "I'm Sonic:" he introduced himself, "what's your name?" the red hedgehog gave Sonic a small smile.

"Frost." He answered simply, and the blue hedgehog nodded while pressing a button on his wrist watch; well, it looked like a wrist watch...

"Hey Sal: I just found a refugee from Robotropolis." He explained into his communicator, and a female voice picked up on the other end.

"Got it; let them have your communicator." She spoke and Sonic nodded despite the lack of video connection, handing the communicator over to Frost; he strapped it around his wrist and tested it...

"...Hello?" He heard faint static on the other end, then...

"I hear you loud and clear: I'm Sally." The girl on the other end greeted, and Frost scratched the back of his ear reflexively – he didn't know when it became a reflex for him, but it had somewhere down the road.

"I'm Frost." He answered, "So you'll be leading me...?" Sally caught on quickly.

"I'll direct you to Knothole: Sonic here has to plant a couple of bombs in Robotropolis," Sally explained while the blue hedgehog gave him a thumbs-up with a grin and a wink, "so he'll be back at Knothole in a few minutes." The red hedgehog nodded in agreement.

"Okay." He replied, then looked over at Sonic; "You'll be alright without this?" the blue hedgehog fished an extra communicator out of his backpack, grinned and nodded.

"Think you can get to Knothole before me?" he asked, and Frost grinned and nodded; I just hope I don't trip too much. He thought to himself before following Sally's instructions and running to the only safe haven known to him.

A/N - Well, reviews are the proverbial nirvana-inducers of writer-dom!