The light changes in different perspectives

"Your eye looks better."

He turned his head sharply towards the hedgehog, thinking how the hell that was the most important thing to say right now!

But Sonic was relaxed, merely smiled at him when their eyes locked together for a bit, before the fox refrained from answering looking ahead of him. He did give it some thought, not having the need to keep the bruise cool all morning since his thoughts had been occupied by something else. And now, his mind was whirling around, thoughts and confusion, presumptions and considerations running from one point to the next, his thoughts working like an abacus, crashing and running into each other, not standing still, at the same time as he was trying to figure out whether he should be aware or not.

The city looked nothing like Croford and at the same time he might as well have run back into the gate. The were roads everywhere, the widest of them being in the middle leading them to somewhere, he had no idea. Houses were lining the sides of the street, houses almost identically to the ones he had lived around, yet there was a clear difference between these and the ones he knew. They weren't dilapidated, windows being intact, the fronts still dirty but not broken, framework keeping the foundation in work as the timber decorations worked as reinforcement. Tall and short, two layers at most but definitely not bigger than that. They were mostly gray or whitewashed, stone making up for the bottom while ordinary wooden doors kept strangers at bay and the weather outside.

Granted, he hasn't run into an alley yet and hadn't seen the houses amidst the smaller roads, though he could guess that they were more rundown, since anything else seemed illogical. In the distance, a grand tower built out of wood and stone stood either in the middle of town or on the outskirts, it was hard to tell how big it essentially was, being his pinpoint for the sun's positions. A big bell was in the top of it, archways making its golden design visible to the naked eye, almost blinding him if he looked at it in the right perspective with the sun's rays. It hadn't rung yet, and a part of him wondered if it did or if it was for merely decoration.

Despite the surroundings being vaguely familiar he couldn't keep his surprise down by the utterly lack of silence.

People were talking. Mobians chattering, yelling, arguing, crying, and talking. They were everywhere around them, walking back and forth on the road, like every time of day was rush hour, wolves, birds, rabbits, hedgehogs, dogs, bears and cats walking every which way. Their attire told him nothing. They wore robes, dresses, shirts, shorts, baskets, pouches, belts, there was no distinguishable pieces of clothing that told him if this was the poor side of town or not. If it was the wealthy, he didn't know either, they looked inexplicably normal, like they all had the same amount of wealth as anybody else. But this was impossible, he was sure of it.

Were they hiding it? Was it shameful or simply out of protection? If someone wore something more expensive looking than somebody else, then they were an easier target towards burglars and hitmen. That was one thing, the other thing was that he was ignored.

And not just him, the blue hedgehog with spines on his back and the armadillo and flying squirrel were walking without anybody taking notice of them. Not any that he could read at least. People were busy, more busy than he would ever imagine someone being, carrying large barrels and boxes either in their hands or on their backs, people accompanying them to make sure that they didn't trip and fall, smaller kids running back and forth through the masses of people to get through, something on their mind being more important than the people they passed.

He felt almost invisible, like he was in the alleys already, that nobody was looking at him and that he was one with them. He was smart enough to know that running into the alley was foolish, since he had no idea where he would be treating, which grounds he would be interrupting and which eyes he might get in his back. He had seen some groups, smaller than the rest, standing against the alleys, pretending that they were merely talking, though the trained criminal knew that they were observing, making targets, and making plans. He eyed the ones who briefly caught on to them, but their eyes didn't even brush them, continuing to the next lot of people, uninterested by their lack of goods he presumed.

To say that he was confused was an understatement, but he wasn't panicking either. He simply found himself being completely lost, totally and utterly lost, despite walking in the other's heels. He didn't know what to do, had no idea where he was walking, what his purpose was right here right now. What was he going to do? Espio had told him to find a job or something but who was he going to ask? He said that people wouldn't look down on him but how could he be sure?

There were a lot of ways this could go, he could either be accepted to become some kind of transportation runner and find a small shack or something. He could be tossed around because of his age, people having pity but not wanting to give him any kind of career. He could be chased out of his city if people got to know. He could also obtain a rather wealthy job and with time live as the happiest individual on the planet, though he doubted this. A part of him had already agreed to just turn back to the alley, learn the system as he went and take the consequences that he got. Maybe there was someone as the Chaotix around. He didn't know and he didn't know how to ask.

All he knew was that he was a visitor at this point, a traveler, someone who went to the city, and from experience alone he knew that people that went into cities, merchants wanted their attention desperately. He wasn't known as a criminal, wasn't someone that people looked down upon and was merely a homeless kid. He was starting from scratch – even more from scratch than in Croford. But despite this, he didn't know what to do with himself, didn't know what to expect from here on out – he had arrived, main mission done, now he needed to discover the side missions.

He had picked up Mighty and Ray talking about hitting the market, finding some stuff to themselves, while Sonic was talking about finding some baker or something. Tails on the other hand, had no idea what he wanted, and was merely still walking with them because he both didn't know what to do and because he still owed them separately. It was difficult paying back to the hedgehog, considering what he had done for him already.

Ray's head span to the right when the road continued that way, eyes widening in surprise and almost darted away from Mighty if the armadillo hadn't left a hand on his shoulder. The oldest mobian shook his head at the younger's antics, before letting him go, following him. Sonic turned as well without any further comment, meaning that Tails was dragged with them from automation alone. He almost stopped from surprise, biting back the gasp in the middle of his throat.

The road was wider here, but even the enlarged width didn't make enough room for the amount of mobians that were around. Carts were parked against each other, trying to fill every nook and cranny into this pedestrian walkway, the pathway longer than his eye could register. Carts upon carts, signs, and stands and booths with yelling mobians, making everybody know their good deals and their rare goods. He had never seen so much merchandise let alone so much food in his life, cramped together into this very path. It was almost filled up, people stopping at booths with baskets in their hands, talking to merchants, haggling for the prices, and bought both cheap and expensive looking things. The noise level doubled, wanting him to pull his ears into his skull more than anything, since he was used to small-talk and listening for whispering. This was downright screaming to his ears.

But before he had time to take in any more of it the two performers had disappeared within the masses of people, and the only person he could see was Sonic, being not the tallest but his blue spikes poked out from behind his head. A cat pricked herself on one of them, telling him to be more careful as she grumbled when she walked by him. Tails followed the hedgehog without understanding why, not understanding what he was doing here in the first place. He had no money, there was nothing that he needed and a part of him wanted to rush back and find a peaceful corner where he could think. Everything was rattling together in his mind, merely followed along because he didn't know what else to do.

And yet, as he walked past mobians, practically getting shoved against their shoulders he could feel his fingers tingling, normalcy making him calm again as he scanned the baskets that he walked past. They were almost filled to the brim with different stuff, some of them having personal clothing items that they weren't using right now, others had wine and vinegar but he saw the cheese, bags of nuts, entire loafs of bread, fruits and vegetables. He frowned for a bit, before he slowed down in his pace, getting a bit further away from Sonic as the hedgehog was looking curiously at different carts, his blue ears swirling towards a booth were a wolf was yelling something about the lines of winning a new pair of sneakers by spinning the wheel.

Tails was well aware that it was rigged but wasn't concentrated on it and instead eyed a female mobian, scanning her clothes briefly and the basket she had by her hip. Clean dress, eyes shining with glee and the fur on the top of her head was pulled back with an elastic band. Silently he swiped his hand into the basket, hiding his arm underneath his cloak and looked what he got. He had snatched a handful of peas in their pods, looking up to get his next target, saw a dog leaning up against a barrel of some sort that he was selling stuff out from. His swift movement went unnoticed as always, satisfied by the peach he had snatched. One more and he had enough.

He saw a kid waving a lollipop around in their hand which he merely smiled at and walked past, instead saw another woman with a larger basket that she had put down on the ground. He crouched and pretended to fix his sneaker before fishing out a decent piece of bread, got up and kept walking. No gasps from behind, no accusations or any yells of 'hey you!' – he had gotten away as always. He smirked to himself, rather glad that he had found himself back into his element, back to something that was known to him.

He almost rammed into someone and had to abruptly stop, noticed that it was Sonic he had almost stumbled into. The hedgehog was frowning at a pair of gloves, before he turned his head towards the fox, a brief smile coming over his face.

"Found anything interesting?" He asked, looked at the gloves again before continuing in his walk, the offer either being uninteresting or he figured he didn't need a new pair just yet. Tails had to push past a hurrying rabbit before he got to walk beside the hedgehog, his green eyes curiously looking back and forth at various carts around him.

"Not really," He lied since he hadn't been looking around at all. "You didn't bet on that wheel, right?"

Sonic turned his head curiously towards him, looking back over his shoulder at the wolf who had claimed it was a good deal.

"I thought about it. Why?" –

"Because most of them are rigged. Especially the wheels – it's common to tape a small pebble or stone to the back of it to make it stop at a specific place. Other things like those big strength tests where you smash a hammer into a button is rigged as well. It will only reach a certain point and make you lose money, in return you get frustrated and keeps giving them more money because you're sure that you're stronger than it tells you," The hedgehog whistled quietly, an impressed expression send towards him, with amusement sitting in the corner of his eyes.

"Walking around with you is quite useful. How about the carts? Anyone trying to sell me worms in my apples?"

Tails looked briefly at the carts that had stacks of different kinds of vegetables lined up – leeks, carrots, peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, and asparagus sold at different carts with different prices.

"Get an idea of the general cost of something. Like, let's say six potatoes will cost you around 12 mobiums. If the next card has the same deal for either ten or fifteen then they're good. But if someone is trying to sell you eight potatoes for ten mobiums then you can bet that there's something living inside of them. Something that is too good to be true. People will try to sell you anything as long as they get your money. Get an average idea of what different items costs and you should be good," He explained.

He hadn't had a lot of money himself around his time in Croford, but he noticed different things when walking around, being aware when someone had bought five dates and he had snatched one and found maggots living inside of them. That was one of the ways that he had learned that fairness didn't exist in this world.

"Sheez never thought of that. That's why I had a stomachache for weeks when I bought produce when I visited the markets in the north. Three oranges for half a mobium," –

"And you didn't stop to think why it was so cheap?" The hedgehog threw out his arms in mock exasperation, looking at the fox with a grin.

"I was hungry!"

Tails rolled his eyes into the sky and shook his head, a mockery grin finding its own way onto his lips. I didn't really surprise him.

"Being hungry is not enough of an excuse to-"

He cut himself short when Sonic suddenly stopped in the middle of the path, his quills bristling and his eyes staring into nothing. He stopped himself, his ear swirling around when a bird walked into Sonic and mumbled something about damn hedgehogs stopping in the middle of the road.

"Something wrong?" His expression wasn't pained like he had expected, nor had he been interrupted by something else.

The fox's large ears started swirling around for something that Sonic might have heard, and yet he highly doubted it since he would have heard it first. He noticed when the former prisoner blinked a couple of items, stared at Tails, then at the path ahead of them and put a hand on his head.

"I. No. It was just-" He cut himself of, looking like he was staring at something that weren't there. "I can feel something."

Tails frowned, thinking that Sonic either needed a corner to throw up against or get his bladder emptied.

He didn't get to ask him, as the hedgehog looked around himself, like he was expecting something to happen.

"It. It feels like a Chaos Emerald."

Realization crossing the fox, he looked around himself, trying to see if one of the charts were selling gems or jewels or something.

"You sure?" He asked, looking back at the hedgehog with his eyebrow quirked, mildly confused if he had been right about his assumptions. He was looking at his face to try and catch it himself, though the only thing that was plastered on Sonic's face was an utterly confused frown, his eyes slightly skeptical but the corners of his eyes told him surprise.

It lasted for a second before it all disappeared and morphed into determination instead.

"Maybe. C'mon let's check it out," He suddenly took a quick step, almost shoving mobians out of his way in his haste. Tails managed to blink at him before he followed him in his steps, not needing to push past anyone as Sonic was creating a sort of slipstream for him. He ignored the grumbling and 'heys' that followed them, as the hedgehog cut around people and followed something that the fox couldn't see nor feel.

He had never felt the emeralds without having it in his hand, couldn't even feel the energy of the light blue gem he had in the tail that remained hidden. He mentally pushed back the cramp that he was getting, couldn't hide anywhere and especially not now.

Suddenly they were out of the crowd, back out in the open road where Sonic looked around, almost frantically and turned to the left, the fox following in his steps. He had no idea what they were doing, let alone where the hedgehog was leading him to, but a part of him could feel something. A thrill maybe.

Adrenaline that started coursing through his veins and his heart starting to beat a bit faster. This was exciting

Sonic suddenly stopped again and looked around, Tails taking his time to get a look at their surroundings. The mobians hadn't lessened, quite the opposite, but more of them were carrying heavy boxes and crates, some of them stacked against buildings while groups of mobians were standing around seemingly waiting for something. He didn't get to muse about his surroundings for too long as the hedgehog continued walking, towards a building of sorts, Tails looking at it briefly.

It looked like the building was washed and kept, the many windows clean, the wood and stone shining almost in the sun. It was large and could have fooled him for a storage area if the sign over the door hadn't told him what it was: 'Trader's management'.

Before he knew it, a door was opened by Sonic, kept it open to make room for the fox to walk inside. He didn't think about what he was doing as he walked inside, a small bell above the door making their announcement.

He had to blink before he looked around, shelves upon shelves with different papers, books and a few items that seemed like they weren't for sale. Pens and papers scattered around randomly, while in the corner of the room was a desk with a chair in front. A dog with a cloak over his body was standing in front of it, not sitting down but standing and slammed his fist into the desk, his entire body practically screaming that he wasn't mad but infuriated.

"What do you mean you don't have time! This is your job!" He yelled at the mobian standing on the other side of the desk.

It was a female from the curvature from her hips, not that short with pink quills and fur, bangs on her forehead. She had a tan muzzle and green eyes, fierce with anger of her own while she wore a long red dress, a white longer and thicker dress underneath the red one which reached from her elbows and down to her ankles. She wore a pair of boots, red with a white stripe down the middle, thin, but her entire stance were sharp, and her angry frown was almost becoming one with her face.

"Yes, exactly this is my job and therefore I decide which people I can talk to when I want! I have something much more important to do than talking about simple produce from Plumouth!" –

"Simple produce?! You call sugarcane simple produce?! You listen here lady-!" –

The dog didn't get to continue as she slammed her own fist into the desk, much more forceful than his own, hand shaking from anger.

"No, you listen to me mister! I do not have time for your shenanigans! Now wait outside like I told you to!"

He opened his mouth to bark something back at her, but her arm flung beside his face, an index finger stretched towards the door. He seemed like he considered staying anyway, before he let out an offended huff and turned around on his heel, shoving Sonic out of his way in anger as he marched out the door and slammed it into place, making a book fall down to the floor. Tails looked at the door almost enchanted before he turned back to the female hedgehog.

She hadn't noticed them, instead sighed deeply, and planted her elbows on the desk hiding her face into her hands. Because of that he couldn't read her, but he could hear the deep long sigh that she elicited, telling him that something was wrong. The hedgehog turned his head towards the fox, but he shook it for a response. Sonic looked back before clearing his throat taking a step forward towards the desk.

"Miss?"

The hedgehog looked abruptly up at him, before she gasped surprised and stood upright, straightening her dress. She was surprised, most likely because she hadn't heard them come in.

"I'm sorry I didn't hear the bell," Bingo. "What can I help you with? If you're searching for the dock manager, he's in the building across from here," She smiled, a thing that could have fooled anybody else that stood in front of her.

But Tails saw past it, one of the most fake smiles he had ever seen, plastered with customer satisfaction, and pretending that everything was fine and dandy. Her eyes were shaking, not with anger but because she was thoughtful, there might even be a bit of grief in them as well. Something had happened to her, something that she didn't know how to deal with.

"Uhm, this is gonna sound very weird," Sonic said, scratching the back of his head. "But you have something that I'm searching for."

She was immediately confused as expected, until her eyes changed into fright within milliseconds instead. She gasped, taking a step back like the hedgehog had threatened her with her life, complete confusion littering the two individuals standing.

"What? No I – Th-There's still hours until sunset! You wrote that we should meet at Heather Alley I still have time!" She suddenly shrieked, grasping her hands around Sonic's shoulders, and shook him, her eyes screaming anger and at the same time desperation was showing through her actions.

"Wow, wow easy now miss!" Sonic said, not angrily but forcefully took her hands around her wrists, making her let go of his shoulders but he was still holding on to her. "I have no idea what you're saying. Is something wrong?"

Disbelief was running through her face, an entire wave of emotions overflooding her eyes at it suddenly sounded like she was giggling.

"Wrong? Is something wrong he says. No, no-no-no-no. No, everything is fine. I am totally fine!" She screamed again, making the hedgehog let go as she gripped her head with her hands, squeezing her eyes shut.

She remained like that for two seconds before she sighed, another deep thing that didn't calm her down. Sonic locked eyes with Tails, completely confusion filled to the brim of his entire face. In all honesty the fox didn't know what to say, since he was well aware that Sonic could guess that she was rattled and sad at this point.

"Ehm. It seems to me like there's something wrong," She looked at Sonic again through her fingers, before she let out another sigh, started rubbing her temples as she looked away from him.

"Yes. I'm sorry for my outburst it's just. Something's happened that I have no idea what to do about," She said, but then looked back. "But nevermind that, I shouldn't worry you about my problems. Was there something you needed? You said I had something?" She tried again with that fake smile, some of her desperation dimmed since it had gotten an outlet.

Her efforts of looking intrigued and interested in his question washed away with whatever thoughts she had in her mind. Sonic went quiet for a bit, the fox again finding himself not knowing what to do.

"Maybe there's something that we can do."

Tails' head whipped towards him without the hedgehog noticing.

We?! Since when was he ever included in this!

He looked back to see the female's expression, though she was shaking her head slowly.

"No there's nothing you can do. I'm sorry, I don't want to bother you with this," She quickly dismissed, her eyes shining with something else. She was genuine, kind and meant what she said, and yet there was something behind her irises. Something that was shining, like she had found a very small smidgin of hope.

"You're not bothering us. You talked, or rather, yelled something about an alley of sorts and that you were running out of time. Are you in trouble? Cause we can easily take a couple of goons down," And yet again Sonic included him in this, despite not even talking to him about it.

But the female's eyes widened, the hope that he had seen before now being fully visible, now noticing the fox standing in the room. He kept his hood on his head, but looked back at her, so she could see him, eyes widening in surprise from his young face, most definitely.

"No, I-I don't want to bring anybody in danger," She explained, waving her hands in front of herself. "This is something that I have to do, its too dangerous for you to get involved," –

"How about the authorities?" Tails chimed in, in an attempt to get himself untangled from the mess again. She looked at him, slightly surprised that he had suggested it, but she shook her head again.

"They say that they have more important things to do. I just don't understand what is more important than saving a child!" –

"A child? What do you mean?!" Tails looked at Sonic, surprised by his sudden burst from the statement.

The female looked at him again, bit her lip as regret started erupting into her eyes. Then something else appeared, as she looked at the door and out the window, behind her and leaned closer to the hedgehog.

"Yes. My little sister has been kidnapped," She explained, sighing. "And I can't give them what they want in exchange," Her head fell as she looked into the desk, obvious defeat clear in her body.

Tails started to feel sorry for her, hadn't even thought of the possibility as kidnapping was something that would make the web heat up in flames. It had only happened once in Croford, but during that time he had been more careful than ever, trying to not get involved and was more than happy when the adult had been found again.

He looked, as Sonic placed a hand on the female's shoulder, the pink hedgehog looking back up at him.

"Look - we wanna help. We know how to throw a couple of punches – if your sister has been kidnapped then we're more than willing to help you."

Weirdly, Tails couldn't find the heart to disagree with him. A part of him wanted to help, he just didn't understand how. Hesitation was now clear in her face, eyes darting around Sonic's, the corner of her lips twitching and her hands slightly shaking. It lasted for a couple of seconds before she clearly made up her mind, standing upright and let out a sigh.

"Look, thanks for the offer but if you want to help me you need to know what is at stake. Follow me for a second," She said, bended down and found a small sign behind the desk putting it on it instead, the words spelling 'on break' as she walked around the table and towards the door. Sonic briefly glanced at Tails, the fox having no idea what he was looking for, before he followed the female out, the door closing behind the secret two-tailed one.

Mobians started to shout after the pink hedgehog, though she bickered something back about coming later and that she would attend to them soon enough. She led the duo along the road for a while, before she turned a corner, looking over her shoulder to make sure that they were following. The hedgehog turned his head again towards Tails, who looked back up at him.

"You fine with this?" He bit his lip, not really thinking about what he should answer. A part of him wanted to say no and find somewhere else to be but the other part of him though what else he was going to do. What else could he do besides this crazy thing that the hedgehog had gotten him involved into.

"Yeah, it's alright," He nodded, making Sonic flash a toothy smile at him before he turned back around towards the pink hedgehog. He was fine with it; he just had no idea why he was doing it.

Soon enough the female pulled out a key when she stood in front of a house, opened her door, and walked inside, gesturing for the other two to walk inside. When Tails entered, the very first thing he noticed was the metal box standing in one corner, up against a countertop of some sort. Wires in the back of the box, a handle that indicated that it could be opened.

A fridge.

The first piece of technology he had seen this up close. His eyes were glued onto the thing without his knowledge, though he interrupted himself when the female walked into a living room of sorts and picked up a piece of paper from the table in the middle. A game of chess was unfinished, though the fox frowned and thought that whoever had the black figures could have won with four castlings.

"Look at this," She reached the paper out to Sonic, who's eyes started going over the lines, frowned when he finished. Tails walked over and pulled down his hood, reading over Sonic's shoulders.

"Give us the contract for the gold mine tomorrow at Heather Alley at sundown or you'll never see your sister again."

Well that is ominous and dramatic.

It wasn't anything he had seen before, but he remembered Espio warning him about stuff like this, not to get involved into gangs who did this type of crime.

"The gold mine?" Sonic questioned, making the pink hedgehog sigh, before she sunk into her velvet couch, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Yes. It is a contract that has a lot of value. It's a mine someone found down south close to the mountains, but there is no one who is rich enough to buy the land and get the production going. It's owned by the capital of the south, Omok and is willing to sell at the right price. The contract is a symbol of payment, and if someone gets their hands on it then it means they own the mine," She explained, throwing her hands out into the air.

"But if someone doesn't pay for the mine then Omok doesn't have enough money to keep themselves sustained! They are already in debt to other neighboring cities and if they don't sell this then their city is ruined! I have the responsibility of the contract, meaning that if I just give it to someone then I'm going to be responsible for making an entire city go into poverty!" She exhaled, hiding her head in her hands again.

Tails understood the situation, looking back at the paper, though Sonic shook his head, disbelief littering his face.

"Is it really true that an entire city will go to smithereens because of one simple gold mine?" Now she looked annoyed, letting her hands fall into her lap, as she turned her head to look at him.

"You obviously have no knowledge of advanced marketing," She simply said, rubbing her forehead with her hand.

"I may not. But I'm smart enough to understand that one simple gold mine is not worth a child's life," Her eyes held that same exasperated stare, though it softened at the end of his sentence.

She bit her lip, looking at the table in front of her and shook her head.

"Are you saying that I should give up a contract that could send thousands of people on the street for one person's life? Despite it being my sister," Her voice broke at the last word, letting her head once again fall into her hands, trying to fight back the tears that was threatening her.

Tails felt more and more sympathetic the more he listened, looking at Sonic, somewhat hoped that he had some kind of answer for all of this. He bit his lip thoughtfully looking at the paper, when some sort of thought crashed into him, smirked, and looked at the female.

"No. I'm saying that we'll get your sister back and then you won't have to worry about this again."

She looked up from her misery, eyes wildly dancing around the hedgehog's face, throwing a hand into the living room.

"And how do you suppose you do that? You have no idea where she is!" She had clearly thought about this herself, annoyance once again going over her face. Emotions were wild with women.

Tails frowned and looked at the paper, mental gears starting to work around in his brain.

"These kinds of operations are done in secrecy," He started, taking the paper from Sonic, the female looking at him.

"If you show up then there's most likely only going to be one guy because he expects that you can't fight him. The others will be hidden somewhere in a warehouse or something with her. I'm sure they hadn't done anything to her since they don't want any evidence of them taking her if you say yes to their demand. The guy will surely know where his other gang members are keeping her," He explained calmly, going over the text one more time before he looked up at the others.

He had never done this, but Espio had explained how these kinds of things happened in case he got entangled into something of the likes. He was slightly surprised to see a bit of fright make it into her eyes, looking at the hedgehog and back at him.

"How do you know?"

He opened his mouth but didn't know what to answer her and closed it again. He couldn't say that he was a criminal, had lived in the spiderweb his entire life and therefore knew that these sorts of things happened.

"Let's just say that some things are best left to the past," He looked at Sonic from the simple explanation, nodded at the fox before he looked towards the other pink hedgehog. She looked at the both of him, hesitation flashing around her eyes, her lip getting bitten from consideration and her hands were mildly shaking.

Though she smiled shortly after, letting out a sigh and got up from the couch and walked towards them, gave the blue hedgehog her hand.

"I'm Amy. Thanks for helping me," Sonic smiled at her, taking her hand and shook it.

"I'm Sonic – and this is Tails," Confusion now overruling the brief happiness, she stared at the fox beside him.

The fox silently cursed himself from Sonic's abrupt introduction but wanted to avoid any further discussion and therefore let his other tail slither out, his two appendages wailing in slow strides besides eachother.

"Oh," She said, an octave higher than he was comfortable with. He winched and looked away, wondered briefly if she was now going to yell at him or tell him to get out of her house.

"Well. Nice to meet you," He looked back with surprise filtering his face, saw Amy's outstretched hand to greet her. He blinked at it in complete disbelief before he took it and shook it.

She stared at the two appendages for a couple of seconds more, before she shook her head and promptly turned around.

"Listen, thanks for your help, I appreciate it. Is there anything you would like in return?" She said, still her voice being in a higher note than before, as she turned back around towards them.

"Yeah. There is something that we're searching for, that's why we came to you in the first place," Sonic chuckled, either not paid attention to the exchange or took any note of it, as he reached behind his quills and pulled out something. "We're looking for a gem that looks like this. It most likely has another color than this one."

The white Chaos Emerald seemed like it was pulsating in his hand, like it wanted him to use the energy, wanted him to manipulate the wind in the room. Tails found himself staring at the emerald himself before he got out of his daze, looking back at the female hedgehog.

"Oh. Is that it? I've actually wondered what I should do with it," She explained, took a hand behind her back and pulled something similar out at them. It was the exact same shape and the exact same size, despite that this one was dark blue instead. Tails' fur prickled without his consent, could feel the energy from the emerald across the room.

"I found it a couple of days ago out on the road. I wondered if some jewel merchant dropped it, so I tried to contact a group of them that passed by earlier, but I haven't been able to contact them. They haven't returned back a complaint about missing it, so you can have it when you're done," She smiled, her entire face filled with appreciation. Sonic smiled back at her, before putting the white gem back in his quills, putting his hands on his hips.

"Is a deal then. We'll head out to the ally at sunset – where is it?" He asked, scratching the back of his head with his hand. She started explaining the directions to him, though Tails was zoning her out at this point, his thoughts yet again whirling around his head.

Why was he doing this? Why had he suddenly agreed to saving some kid from a bunch of bandits to get a Chaos Emerald that this crazy hedgehog was searching for? He couldn't quiet grasp an answer for himself, but the more he thought about it the more he realized what he was searching for that made him join in.

Something else. Something different. Something that didn't make him a part of the system. A part of the web.

This was something different.

This – was fun.

"Wait, wait – so you just followed your instinct?"

Complete disbelief was practically plastered onto the armadillo's face, having a mango in his hand while Ray was munching on a sandwich beside him.

Shortly after they had left the house with a promise of bringing her back, they had agreed to find Mighty and Ray again, realizing that they had left them behind in their pursuit for the energy that Sonic had felt. It didn't take long, as they reached back to the area where they had found Amy in the first place, where both of them were scouting around, until Ray squealed their names and ran to them. When the explanation was said and done, Ray sounded intrigued and wanted to join in where Mighty promptly had said that he wasn't going to and then wanted a more thorough explanation.

With that they had found a fountain – working fountain – to sit at and was separately finding food to eat for lunch. It was a big round fountain, with ceramic fish in the middle that repeatedly spurted water out of their mouths. It was surreal how it was the exact same sound that repeated itself, blobs of water hitting the surface before disappearing underneath, a miniature waterfall that repeated a course of an unnatural action. It was peaceful and at the same time Tails didn't wonder why he felt thirsty.

Sonic shrugged out his answer, biting into a pear, the crunch of the fruit reverberating around the small group. Tails briefly looked at him before finding the peach he had swiped earlier, taking a generous bite out of it. It was more acidic than expected, but he wasn't going to be the one to spit out food and instead chewed quickly and swallowed as well, going his way around the stone in the middle since he knew it was poisonous.

"It was kinda weird yeah. But the closer I got, the clearer it became. It was sort of like, following a beacon just that I couldn't see it," Sonic tried to explain, though you could hear the confusion in his voice from his explanation.

Mighty made a 'huh' sound, as he found a bottle of water he must've bought earlier, taking a swig of it before reaching it over to the squirrel who asked for it.

"So now you chose to help a lady in finding her sister?" The hedgehog frowned at the armadillo, Tails following along in their expressions while chewing on his fruit.

"I don't know if she was a lady, she actually seemed younger than me, but not as young as Ray," He said, gesturing towards the squirrel who was almost choking on his sandwich. "But yeah. Wouldn't you have?"

Mighty swallowed his piece of mango before looking down at the ground, biting the inside of his cheek in thought.

"I dunno. You guys seem to somewhat know what you're dragging yourself into, but I guess it's because I don't know everything about what's going to happen. If she is actually hurt, or if they guy leads you to somewhere else but their hideout, if they were actually bluffing and she had run off or if there is actually more than one guy there. There's a lot of holes in this," He explained, though Sonic wasn't deterred, throwing a dismissive hand into the air.

"I'm sure it'll be fine. We'll punch someone some more if she's hurt, and I'm pretty sure Tails can tell us whether he lies or not. And if there's no one there, then we'll take it from there, and if there's more than one there, then I'm not worried either. There's nothing to worry about, this'll be a cinch!" He exclaimed, grinning at the armadillo, taking another bite of his pear.

Tails frowned slightly at his rationalization, couldn't quiet follow along with it, though it fitted together with how Sonic had done things from here on out. They didn't know what they got themselves into and wouldn't know until they came. Uncertainty was something that could kill you on the street, but right now the pick pocketer found himself not caring that much. As long as the hedgehog was there, he supposed.

He shook his head from the thought before throwing the stone out at the pavement, fishing the bread out for him to eat. Sonic had followed the stone when he had seen it in his peripheral vision, a pair of curious eyes turning towards him.

"How'd you get that?" He asked, nodding towards the bread in his hand. Tails looked at him, easily saw the curiosity and confusion in his expression, most likely not registering that the fox had bought anything at the market that they had passed earlier.

"How do you think?" He said sharply instead, taking a bite out of his bread as if to make a statement. He refrained from looking at Sonic but got annoyed at the sigh that he emitted, wasn't in the mood to be lectured about 'simple moral'.

"Tails, you – you don't have to steal food, I-" –

"It's not stealing!" He quickly defended, sending the hedgehog an angry stare, blue eyes darting around his face. It wasn't stealing. Stealing was when you took something because you wanted it. He needed it. He needed food in order to survive, he didn't take stuff because he simply thought it was a nice trinket. He only swiped food because otherwise he would be dead. As simple as that.

Sonic's own eyes looked critically at the fox, before he shook his head.

"Fine, whatever - but as long as you're with me I can give you some. I don't' mind. I already bought you this," He said, fishing something out from his cloak and showed him something red in his hand.

A roll of salami, about eight inches long, speckled with white spots of fat, plain and unseasoned but it made his mouth water immediately.

He looked up at Sonic, disbelief clear in his eyes, though the hedgehog shrugged.

"I hope it's enough," He smiled this time around, the welcoming thing that made Tails feel utterly safe and warm inside his abdomen.

He looked at the meat again, licked his lips, feeling more and more subdued by the second. He looked away from it, giving out a small sigh as his ears fell into his skull.

"I already owe you so much," He mumbled, feeling timid and cursed his stomach for growling. The saliva was conjugating in his mouth from the craving, age old stupid fox instinct wanting to take the meat from him, but he couldn't. He had saved his life twice and now he was giving him food. There was no way that he was ever going to repay him.

He looked back when Sonic said nothing afterwards, was slightly surprised to see him being surprised, blue ears flicking in the sun.

"What? You owe me nothing squirt. This is just me being a nice hedgehog, alright? Just take it – I don't want you vomiting around when we have something important to do tonight," He chuckled this, reaching out the salami to the fox again.

Tails looked at him, surprise as well as a deep, deep appreciation filling his sky-blue eyes as he slowly took the roll of meat from him, smiling faintly.

"Thank you, Sonic," He said, the smile not fainting of his lips.

"No problem," The hedgehog winked at him, before he returned to his pear, turning his head towards Ray when he asked a question.

Tails looked at him again, before he looked at the piece of meat, and at his bread.

Then it was true. There really were some people who didn't think of him differently. Who wanted him to be okay.

Maybe the world wasn't so cruel after all?