I've officially canceled Lost In The Woods and SCP Site 42, my two other stories. They crashed and burned, they're only good for clogging up the site in the state they were. I've deleted them, and now this story is my top- and only- priority on the site. I'm even trying to get permission for a cover image!

Well, time for chapter four! Let's see Tails' Plan In Action!

Tails' POV

It was getting rather late, so I went up to my bedroom and watched the cameras remotely, drinking coffee. It was time to catch this thief!

Hours passed by uneventfully, but then, just around midnight, I saw something through the cameras. The sneaky little thief was wearing a cloak to conceal theirself! I examined their features closely, trying to make out exactly what I saw. "Ah, if only I was able to afford those high-tech thermal cameras!" I said aloud. The thief stole the fake Emerald from the Emerald Box and looked around. I looked to my side. "That's it!" I said, grabbing my flashlight and ray gun.

I ran downstairs and flashed the light at their face and pointed the ray gun at them. They quickly covered their face and threw the Emerald Box at me. It hit me and I fell to the ground, and they ran out the door. I grabbed the box and gasped. "Fingerprints!" I said.

I ran down into my lab and examined the Emerald Box for fingerprints. I could hardly find any, but I was able to find one. I scanned it and put the data into the computer, which started searching databases of fingerprints.

The results came up and I gasped, wide-eyed, jaw dropped.

"No way..." I said. "N-No, it can't be! There's no wa-" I felt something suddenly dig into the back of my neck. I pulled out a sedation syringe and everything started going dark...

"You've figured it out, fox," I heard a faint voice say. "But that won't be of any use once you're out of sight."

I dropped down and the last thing I saw was the metal floor of my lab coming close to my face...

?'s POV

The golden fox dropped to the floor, completely unconscious. I grabbed him and ran off to a cave, which had a metal cell inside of it. I set Tails down onto the bed that was in the cell and walked out. "Now that the genius is taken care of, I just need five more Emeralds to unleash my plan against the rest!" I said. I put my new Emerald on the table and ran off, the cave's secret door wall closing...

9:00 AM

Shadow's POV

I heard the beeping of my alarm clock and reached over to turn it off. There was nothing there. I looked across the room to see my clock on the dresser.

"Ugh... This is what I get for letting that pink nuisance stay over at my house..." I said. I tried to get up, but immense pain shot in my back. I lay back down and pulled out my pistol. I aimed carefully and shot the clock, ending the annoying beeping. Rose peeked through the door. "Now, now, Shadow, the point of that was to get you up and active to turn off the clock!" she said. "Yeah, after I screwed up my back last night in a drunken fight with some idiot? I think not," I said, sitting up carefully. "Agh!" I yelled in pain.

"Do you need help?" asked Amy. "The only way you could help is getting out of my house," I said, setting my pistol on my nightstand. "And maybe get me a bowl of cereal or something." Rose walked out of the room and I reached for the TV remote, which wasn't there. It was next to the alarm clock I shot down. "ROSE!" I screamed in anger. I pulled out my green Chaos Emerald. "Chaos Control," I said, and a second later I was laying on the dresser. I grabbed the remote, Chaos Controlled back to my bed, and turned on the TV. Rose came back in with a bowl of cereal and set it on my lap. I started eating without a word.

"Not even a thank you?" she asked. "No," I said back. She groaned and walked out of my room. I clicked to change the channel with no result. I opened up the back of the remote and took the batteries out, and reached for the spares on my nightstand. "How did I not see that coming...?" I muttered, looking over to the batteries sitting on my dresser. "Screw it," I said, setting the Chaos Emerald to the terminals of the remote and changing the channel to the news.

And of course, the first thing I saw there was the blue faker. But this time it wasn't because he saved a cat, baby, city, the world, another world, the galaxy, or the universe. He was panicking, screaming about how his sidekick Tails went missing. "Great. The most likeable nuisance of them all went missing. Now who's going to repair my broken gadgets?" I asked myself aloud.

The pink hedgehog peeked through the door and asked, "Did you say something?" I reached for my pistol. "Yes, but unless you hear the words 'Amy' or 'Rose', I'm not calling for your help," I said, grabbing my pistol and fiddling with it in my hands. She walked away, shrugging. I turned back to the TV. "Well, I don't know! I just woke up this morning and he was gone! I tried calling him, but I got no answer!" said the faker to the news reporter. "What if he's hurt?! What if he's dying?! What if he needs my help?!" I rolled my eyes and grabbed the remote, about to change the channel until he said, "If anyone manages to find him, I'll uh... I'll give you a Chaos Emerald!" That got my attention. "Chaos Emerald? I need to get out of this bed now!" I said. I tried getting up, but the pain was just overwhelming, and I fell back in the bed in defeat.

"Hey, Rose!" I yelled. The hedgehog peeked through the door. "I need you to run an errand for me. Sonic's giving a Chaos Emerald reward for anyone who finds his little fox friend. If you find him and get that Emerald for me, I'll give you $100." The hedgehog's eyes opened wide. "Alright, I'll go and try to find him!" she said, running off. I'm sure she was in it more for finding her friend than the money, but either way, the deal worked, and I'll soon have a Chaos Emerald in my hands. Another one, anyway.

Tails' POV

I woke up in what seemed to be a metal box with bars. I got up from a bed and looked around. I grabbed the bars and pulled at them with no result. I tried whacking the bars with my tails at full strength, but it had no result either. I reached around in Hammerspace, trying to see if I had anything on me that would help, and I pulled out...

A spoon. I suppose if I worked fast enough, I could dig a very small tunnel, but there's no way I'd be able to make before the thief came back.

...Wait... Who was the thief? The results were on my computer, but I couldn't remember who's fingerprints turned up!

"Just great," I said aloud. "I don't even remember the results of all my work." I looked through the bars and looked around inside what seemed to be a cave. One wall appeared to be operated by a lever to open and close. That must be how I haven't been found by anybody. From the outside, it just looks like either a big rock, a hill, or the side of a mountain.

"If I can find a way out of here, I might be able to find the fingerprint results on my computer. They're bound to still be there," I said aloud.

I took my spoon and looked for a weak spot in the wall. I struck it... and the spoon broke. "It's gonna be a long day," I said.

Sonic's POV

I ran around the city, trying to see if there was any sign of Tails. With no result, I ran out into the Green Hill Zone, looking for any sign of the golden fox. I ran everywhere, but I just couldn't find him anywhere. I stopped in the middle of the city when I saw Amy.

She walked up to me, and I held my hand up in front of her face. "Amy, if you're going to try to trap me in any way at an attempt to make me love you, give up now and walk away," I said. "It's not that, I'm trying to find Tails!" she said. I put my hand back down. "Well, any leads?" I asked. "None so far, but I'm sure we'll be able to find him!" she said. So we've got enthusiasm on our side and that's pretty much it I thought. "Alright. Let's get looking, but I swear, if this is just an attempt at a love trap, I'll run faster than I ever have before!" I said.

Huh. So it doesn't look like Tails' plan worked out so well. At least now we know who the traitor is! Oh wait, no we don't.

Will Sonic and Amy be able to find their little fox friend? Will the kitsune be able to escape with his broken spoon and whatever he can reach from in between the bars? Is Shadow ever going to get out of his bed? Find out in The Traitor: Chapter Five!

P.S. The Traitor's title there (?'s POV) is actually supposed to be a tripple question-mark, but for some reason, whenever I save the story, it changes it to just one! Sucks, eh?