An hour later…

Team Sonic, and the Acadian Expedition had found themselves in the hands of the Neolan order of Clan Spectre. And had also witnessed the reunion of a long lost friend of Ziska's. Tails had been one to shed tears as the panther had told him about her. And now, Ziska had no clue that she had survived, and only to be working alongside Clan Spectre, and their leader, Festus Tosh. All the foxes within the Expedition had not even expected Ziska's adopted daughter to even be a fox. But now, they had found themselves within the headquarters of Clan Spectre. The place—from the way that Tails and Amy could tell—had been at one time, a temple that the Ancients had used before Lyric had went on his mad rampage and made them extinct. The indwelling smelled of cedar, and a sweet smelling incense. Knuckles was genuinely shocked when he happened to see that there was a black colored echidna within Spectre. She looked to be around his age. When she shot Knuckles a glance, he could feel his face blush as he returned it. And out of all of his friends, Tails and Sticks had happened to see it. All the while, Sonic and Amy continued sightseeing the ancient temple that this organization called their sanctuary. And truly, it was a sanctuary. Tosh had told Ziska that they were harboring those who found it in themselves to fight back against the Regency, and their socialist ideologies. In fact, the Rebellion—as the people who fought back were being called by the Regency—had been brave enough to stand up to the fact that Brendol Andross had been inaugurated in as their new Prime Minister. The Acadians that accompanied Team Sonic had been quite surprised by these people's willingness to sacrifice all when Tosh told them what happened afterwards to those who stood up to the Prime Minister.

Sonic, Tails, and the other three were not expecting Festus Tosh to be a black colored Canaan dog. If that said anything, Tails—who was the youngest of the team—was slightly taller than Tosh. And speaking of whom, the little fox was still upset yet with how his friends had treated Monté over the last several days, but he was no longer angry with them, considering that he couldn't really hold a grudge against Sonic, nor the rest of his friends for that matter. And the other thing was that Tails had hid his feelings away from his friends whenever he was around them, like he was doing right now. Thing was; the little fox had no idea that Amy was seeing all this, and she hesitated to ask him, in fear that he might snap and go right back to being angry. Amy didn't really want that, so she didn't even bother to ask him anything about what had happened within the last few days. Instead, the pink hedgehog walked away from where the kid was and happened to see Knuckles talking with the black echidna. Amy smiled to herself as she walked past them, the red colored echidna having no clue that she even had.

Sticks, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen. Amy womdered where her friend was. As she looked to her left, the hedgehog saw that the badger was focused in on a conversation with Tosh, Ziska, Cody, and Monté. She soon walked back to where she had last seen Tails, but he was nowhere to be seen either. She then walked back to where Sonic was. Once she approached the blue hedgehog, he turned himself around.

"What?" He whispered.

Amy cocked her head. "How you seen him?"

"Who? Tails?" Sonic asked her.

She only nodded her head. "Yes."

"No, I haven't. Why? What's the issue?" He asked.

"Just wanted to know where he's at," Amy replied.

As she was about to walk away from Sonic and continue her sightseeing adventure, Amy saw the little fox a few feet behind Sonic. She then motioned for Sonic to turn around and look behind him. The blue hedgehog did, and when he did, both him and Amy saw that Tails was clutching his chest. Suddenly, both of them rushed over to the kit, who only barely lifted his head up. When he looked at them, he had beads of sweat on his forehead. This immediately had Sonic and Amy concerned. But before any of them could ask him questions, Tails looked Sonic in the eye, and with ragged breaths.

"You were right…" Tails whispered weakly.

Sonic lifted the kid's head barely. "I was right about what?"

Before he could answer, Tails closed his eyes and fell to the ground. Instinct instantly kicked in, and before he knew it, Sonic was on one knee right beside him.

"Right about what? Tails? Tails? Talk to me. Tails, talk to me."

Tails only kept on saying the same words, and rather weakly. Amy quickly bent low and gently removed the little fox's hand away from his chest, and when she did, both her and Sonic immediately grew alarmed. Right on Tails' shoulder strap, was a scorch mark. Last they remembered, no enemies had followed them. Sonic looked back down at his friend. Then it hit him. Tails had been attacked while he had went away from them. Sonic lifted the little fox's head up and began talking to him, trying to keep the kid awake.

"Tails? Talk to us. Amy's right here."

The hedgehog felt Tails' head jerk, the little fox's chest heaving with ragged breaths, indicating that he was breathing with difficulty.

"No. Tails? Stay with me. Stay with me Miles!"

Okay… I lied. Descent isn't being deleted, because this is the final chapter. And yes, I told you all that this story was coming to a close, and on a cliffhanger. Now, I don't know when I will be back with the sequel to this, but I can tell you that it's not gonna be anytime soon! Meaning that I'll just have to see where the future brings me as I got two stories to finish. Hopefully, in 2023, I'll be back, but until then… God bless.

JalcoFox.