Tails looked first at Mighty. The armadillo was trying his best to remain cool, but it was obvious he was panicked. Then he looked at the weasel. Nack's face was much the same, nervous and panicked. The fox gripped the pendant tighter; it was his only bargaining chip here.

"Hand it over fox," Nack said, trying to sound commanding, "'less you want something to happen to this guy." Nack's gun pressed firmly against the side of Mighty's head. The armadillo felt it, a cold reminder of just how dangerous a situation he was in.

"Let him go Nack," Tails said, "There's no reason for this."

"Oh I got's plenty of reasons kid," the weasel smirked, "Now if you know what's good for you, hand it over."

Tails walked over to the weasel slowly. He began to realise he had no choice. He could only hope the weasel would keep his word once he got the pendant. Then he saw the kitchen door move slightly open behind Nack. The fox grinned.

"What, what is it?" Nack said. He had been watching the fox closely, and could not understand what the smirk was for. Then he felt his arm get yanked away from the armadillo, and Nack suddenly remembered the chameleon that had just fled out through the door behind him. The chameleon that had now stormed into the living room and freed Mighty from Nack's grip and aim.

With the surprise dealt, Espio returned to his default purple colour. Hiding took too much focus, focus he would now need for a close range battle. The chameleon thrust his arm against Nack's, grabbed it, and yanked it down.

In shock, the weasel spun around as he went down. Landing hard on the floor, instinct made the weasel roll onto his side before getting up. He still had his gun, and now was clearly the time to use it. Without even trying to aim he shot at where the chameleon was.

The shot missed, but there was no hesitation from the weasel. He got to his feet quickly and aimed his weapon at the nearest target. This time it was the fox.

"Freeze!" he shouted again, "or the fox gets it."

For an eight year old, Tails was already surprisingly used to the idea of being held at gun point. It had happened to him quite frequently. Yet Nack now was only the second person to do it. The weasel immediately grabbed the pendant off the fox, sarcastically giving thanks for it.

"Now that I have this," he said clutching the pendant, "I shall bid you all goodbye." Holding it firmly he began to run his fingers along it in the usual pattern. There was a faint crackle as a purple portal opened next to him. The weasel chuckled, "Say goodbye to Sonic for me," he grinned.

Espio leapt out from where he was standing; he had no desire to lose Nack now. Jumping at the weasel he threw his full body weight into grabbing the weasel. The pair grappled with each other, Nack desperately struggling to get rid of the lizard, while Espio was determined to hold Nack back, just long enough for the portal to collapse.

The pair struggled and squirmed, inching ever closer as the portal began to dwindle. Seeing this Nack made his decision and stopped trying to get Espio off him, allowing the pair to fall through the portal.

Charmy peered in from the kitchen. Espio had instructed him to stay put while he dealt with Nack. "What happened?" he asked nervously, already convinced he knew the answer.

Mighty and Tails looked at each other nervously. Both of them were also shocked. It had all happened so quickly and now there was just the three of them. In addition, they had both just seen how upset Charmy had gotten over losing Vector, and now they have potentially lost someone who actually exists.

Then Tails remembered his earlier fight with Eggman, and how the scientist had agreed with Sonic that Vector existed. This thought began to play on the young foxes mind, was there something amiss here? After all, it seemed like everything was fine, but why would so many people all seem to think the same incorrect version of the same thing? Tails now waited for Sonic to return, he had questions he wanted to get answers for.

That wait wasn't a long one as Sonic and Blaze returned to the house less than a minute later, only to see everyone stood around awkwardly.

"Would it be fair to say we got here too late?" the hedgehog asked, only to have Tails nod slowly back in response.

"Where's Nack?"

"He got away," Mighty said sheepishly.

"Well which way did he go?" Sonic asked, "I'm sure I can chase him down."

"Through a portal," Tails elaborated, "And Espio managed to fall through it to. The pair of them could be anywhere on the planet."

"Or on my planet." Blaze said solemnly.

Charmy was distraught hearing that. He wanted everyone back. He'd already lost Vector, and now he was losing Espio. He was distraught, and stormed off out of the house completely to cry outside, away from everyone. Mighty naturally followed, hoping to reassure the bee.

"So now what do we do?" Blaze asked, only to be told that neither Sonic nor Tails had any ideas. In spite of all the gear he did have, Tails lacked the ability to track where Nack went to, and he hadn't had chance to properly analyse the pendants design and components to be able to replicate it.

"The way I see it," Sonic said, "we've got two options. We chase down Nack and hope we find him before Eggman does unspeakable things with the Sol Emerald, or we go grab the emerald from Eggman and hope we can find Nack later."

"Or," Charmy said excitedly, "me and the armaldo will find Nack while you go get Eggman."

"You sure you can do that?" Tails asked, "Don't you guys want to find Espio?"

"Espio can look after himself," Mighty reassured, "besides, he's probably with Nack, and if not, he can always call us."

"Then it's a plan," Sonic said, "We're finally going after Eggman!"

A/N: Kinda dropped the ball on the whole 'update every two weeks' plan. It's been a very long month for me, sorry for the delays.