Alone in the Tornado III, Miles allowed his mind to wander free and his thoughts to come into focus.

The painful memories of feeling helpless in the light of Sonic's sudden disappearance, the tragedy of losing Knuckles, Silver, Blaze, Vanilla, Shadow and Rouge, the phantom pain of the many scars that mar his back and the loss of his tail were overwhelming.

"Sonic... I know it's now your fault. But I just can't bring myself to forgive you..."

Miles stared forward, through the hazy clouds that transitioned into the escaping, billowing smog from the dangerous mines below.

"Black Ore Mines." Miles observed the labyrinthine and heavily guarded, smoky mines that stretched out across the land. "And somewhere inside is the Chaos Emerald."

Pressing a button on the control panel of the Tornado III, the plane engaged an auto-pilot mode. Sitting on the floor of the cockpit was a metallic belt, of which he fastened around his waist. He grabbed his electronic pad and held it against his chest for safe-keeping.

As the plane circled over an isolated, craggy peak of the mines, Miles leapt from the still flying plane.

Miles managed to tuck up into a little ball and roll onto the surface and avoid injuring himself in the process. "Just like old times..." Miles commented aloud as he turned on the electronic pad's map. "Okay... the Chaos Emerald is about 50 feet down." The map display also showed a green reticle indicating the emerald's location, while a red circling reticle indicated the Renegade Soldier's current location. "Hello there..."

From the small communicator in his ear, Miles heard Amy's voice speak up. "Miles? Can you hear me?"

"I hear you Amy. How's everything going?"

"I managed to get across the dunes and I'm now inside the ruins. It looks like there used to be an ancient society of an armadillo clan here."

"What about the Chaos Emerald?"

"From what I can tell from the ruins, the Chaos Emerald is inside of an isolated chamber at the top of this temple."

"Be careful of possible collapses. Who knows how long it's been since the temple's been restored."

"Right! Keep me updated."

"Will do."

Walking low along the ground, using the small cliff ledges jutting out from the mountains, Miles avoided the line of sight from the patrolling Badniks and the ever scanning eye of the Renegade Soldier who watched the skies.

Using the map Miles found an isolated and seldom tread pathway that lead into the mine. "Perfect."

Miles found the small entryway of the path and stepped inside. The tunnel was dark and filled with acrid fumes. Using the back of his hand Miles covered his nose and mouth to keep the pungent air from burning his lungs, but it didn't do anything to keep his eyes from watering up.

The clever fox clipped his electronic pad to his belt, using the glow of the display screen to the light the ground as he walked and used his opposite hand to guide himself along the dirty tunnel wall.

Stepping deeper into the mine Miles could hear the heavy machinery churning away and the sound of metal chipping into stone. As he rounded a corner he found himself looking down from a ledge into a large chamber where several captured locals were being forced into manual labor. Each enslaved miner had a heavy chain shackled to their ankles to prevent escape.

"That fiend..." Miles whispered angrily to himself. "I have to help them escape!"

...to be continued...