It was late night when Sonic finally decided to get up and look for the
statue, he wished he'd had gotten Tails' assignment, going down in a garage
wouldn't be very hard, but he had to walkaround in the stench of that
godawful sewage, what a day to go digging into that shit. Not to mention it
wasn't even day anymore, it was night. He lifted the top off of the
manhole, which stunk and had slimy goo on it, it was awhile since he had
gone in, but since the city was under a lot of renovation, he was sure it
wasn't going to be pretty. He took a deep breath and jumped in.
Boy, was this different from last time, last time the walls were clean and the ladders were all there but now the walls were covered with slime and smelled of bodily waste. It wasn't a pretty sight or smell but he pulled out his map and started walking, the slime sticking to his shoes. The box wasn't very far, it was only a few hundred feet from the entrance, but when Sonic got to it, he faced the same problem Tails had faced, it was gone. The only thing he could think of was that maybe some little rat creature taken it.
There was really only one thing to do now, look for it, it had to be somewhere around here and what good would it do to just sit around and wait? He wondered around for some time but still, nothing turned up, he thought he had seen it but it was a toy floating in a moat of waste. He had about given up hope but he saw it, a man in a trenchcoat standing against the wall of the sewer, it didn't look as though he was poor, the tenchcoat looked brand spankin' new. He walked up to him as he looked suspicious and might know something about the golden statue.
"Hey, you!" Sonic talked as he approached him. "Have you seen a golden looking statue around?"
The man looked as though he turned his head Sonic's way, he couldn't tell since his face was hidden under the coat.
"Yes." The man answered quickly in a very deep voice, Sonic could tell that it was being faked. "I did, it was a gold statue of an echidna, was it not?"
"Well, I'm not sure. I've never seen it myself."
"Go straight forward through that pipe in front of us." he pointed "Once you go through, it is there, it was washed away in a water problem the city was having."
"That does it! Who the hell are you?" Sonic looked at the figure intensly, but the figure teleported out of sight.
"It had to be the source behind all this!" Sonic thought as he started toward the gigantic pipe that lead through the sewer.
Sonic was always one to notice that something was amiss and what it was, but this time he had the right idea but had no clue that he could have stopped the entire process of the evolution had he gone with his gut and attacked the stranger.
The trenchcoat wearing stranger appeared outside cityhall and walked toward the train station.
"I can't beleive how easy it is to buy time with these creatures." the evil voice talked as it through off the coat "I will be on Angel Island in no time and these idiots can't do anything about it." The bodily form of Knuckles smirked to himself as he boarded the train.
______________________________________________________________________
Tails banged his head against the iron bars of his cell. If only he wouldn't have gotten all bold and stupid, maybe, just maybe he could have talked reasonably with the mayor, but no, there he was, and now the statue was no doubt in place at the musuem and he...he was prisoner by law in the station swuare facility...he never knew Station Square had a jail, but they proved him wrong and now it seemed as there was no hope whatsoever to get the statue.
He got tired of beating himself up and sat down on a bench on the far side of the room. He couldn't beleive it, it would be a whole different life style from now in, the life of a crook. Showers with hundreds of men, bread and water three times a day. Maybe he would get extra on his birthday? Not likely, for betraying the trust of the people of Station Square, he would be pretty much hated...damn these people held a grudge.
He had to get a fair trial, but before that he had to live here for a little while, and it looked like he had been here for about half a day now, when he came to he was just lying there and his tail had been bandadged. It was a matter of waiting as long as he was strong, he'd be able to pull through this.
Just then there was a clatter and he turned to see a muscular bald guard opening the cell.
"Hey! Traitor!" he yelled. Tails looked back shamefully but the guard didn't show any mercy. "It's time to eat! Follow me to the eating quarters and don't pull any funny stuff!"
Tails followed behind the guard with his hands behind his back as to not draw any suspisions. He hated this, it was like he was in kindergarden again, except the teacher was Mr.Clean and he was at risk of rape.
The guard showed him to a line where they were serving some un-edible slop, no doubt. He was right for as he got to the front of the line they gave him what looked like a mixture of mustard, mold, corn, and hamburger meat, but he felt so hungry he could eat anything although he would have preffered his premonition of bread and water. The only plus was that he got milk, how cute.
He sat down at a table with another person, they looked fairly small so he felt a little safer than if he hung around the A-team looking bunch on the other side of the room.
"Hello." Tails said friendly but firmly as he sat down. "My name is--"
"Miles 'Tails' Prower, good to finally meet you." The person still sat and looked down at their plate without a word.
"What?" Tails looked at them confusingly "How do you know my name?" more importantly how old was this person? He sounded more pre-prubecent than Tails did.
"Oh, please, who doesn't?" the figure lifted it's head, it was a fox, a female fox. She had dark brown fur, long bangs that covered her eyes and seductive eyelashes. She was about a year older than him and would be attractive if she hadn't a big blue outfit on with a long number on the back. "Tails? The ever popular teen hero who saved Station Square. How did a goodie good like yourself end up in this joint."
"Umm...well it's a long story, but basicly I stole from the mayor in front of the entire town." Tails said forcing himself to eat a spoonful of the garbage they called food. "Umm..uhh..What..how...?" Tails couldn't find the words for his question, he didn't want to be too forward with a girl that was very likely cabable of murder.
"Transferred." She mumbled.
"Huh? What?" Tails looked around like his question wasn't answered.
"You wanted to know what a woman was doing in a man's prison, well, now you know."
"How did you know that?..."
"I get asked all the time, it's no big deal." She pointed to his tray "You gonna eat that?"
"No." Tails slid it over to her on the other side of the table. "What did you do to be transferred to an all male prison?"
"Oh..." she said woofing down a big spoonful of the slop "I guess I was too violent for he girls over there....Buncha wimps. They put me in solitary confinement but even when I got out to eat I would accidently start something."
"Wow..violent, arn't we?" Tails said playfully.
The girl glared. "You don't know half of it."
"Uhh...ok.." Tails backed off of the subject. "Hey...umm..I know I introduced myself but can I have your name."
"It's almost nine o'clock. Time to go."
"Please? Can you tell me your name?"
She sighed annoyingly "My name is Kila Meter but everyone else calls me Tails."
Tails eyes widened but before he could ask another question Kila was up and going toward the trashcan, Tails couldn't beleive it as his eyes curiously roamed down...two tails...just like him.
______________________________________________________________________
Sonic was getting to the end of the tunnel pipe that the strange figure had pointed to, it was very long, he had ran most of the way and still was bearly at the end, he had to be out of Station Square now, maybe two towns over. Perhaps it was a trap, he probably should have known better than to trust that strange figure but it was his only lead and with the evolution of the emeralds likely to happen at any day he really had no choice. But maybe it would pay off as he had finally gotten to the end, he jumped down and there it was, right in the middle, the golden echidna statue. This was too good to be true, it had to be a trick...but he was faster than enyone he knew, it'd be a peice of cake to jump down there and zoom off into another pipe.
"Alright.." Sonic paced himself and ran in place and built up speed.
After a few seconds he dashed off onto the floor in a big blue glowing sphere, bouncing everywhere, checking for a trap with the statue in hand, he finally felt the area was secure and felt it alright to land on the pip he had came in and go back to find Tails. But no sooner had he eyed to tunnel it started to back into the wall, the edge moving from Sonics reach, it would have been a sinch to jump onto the pipe anyway, but a problem arose that wouldn't make that easy, out of thin air, three of the biggest boa contricters and hundreds and hundreds of poisonous snakes fell to the ground, he couldn't even scream before he was bitten and squeezed out of concousnous.
The bodily figure of Knuckles hovered over the lifeless Sonic as the venomous devils bit him and the bigger ones wrapped around him.
[Stop! No more! Leave him alone] Knuckles screamed from inside the evils head.
"Oh, you thin khe's had enough?" The eyes of Knuckles' body shined with a bright red and all the snakes dissapeared. "He could have stood more, but it will be ten times more fullfilling when I can kill him personally." he dissapeared in a slow transperent teleport, leaving Sonic alone and near death, luckily for him, it wouldn't be long before someone found him.
______________________________________________________________________
It was morning and Blinx was packing for the girls who had fallen asleep trying to pack their backpacks, it was a waste buying all these supplies if they weren't going to use them, Amy as suspected had kicked him all night and he was forced on the other, colder side of the tent, which was mainly the reason he had gotten up so early.
But it was late already, to him anyway. By the watch he had bought in the market place it was time to get ready and move forward, these lucky fools if they hadn't the help of him they would have to walk everywhere, his Chaos Control was more effective and powerful than he had thought. There were times when he had to hold back and not go crazy because of the immense power he felt, it would make an awesome defense weapon when the final battle came.
To his suprise the girls were slumping around trying to find which pack was theirs, amazing how they got up without him noticing but he had noticed some changes in these few over the last couple of days, it was funny when he thought about it, they were scared of him. But he wouldn't hurt any of them for anything, he was starting to like all three of them...well two of them...he felt something...different towards the past guardian. He would, however, use this 'fear' of him as a plus on the work side, if he said to get something done they'd do it...except for the minor occasion of Rouge and her half-assed obsession with first dates and Hallmark moments. But that was just the one thing that pushed that girl over the edge...that's on thing he would never understand..women..
"Where we going?" Rouge yawned
Blinx was about to answer but Tikal was obviously as focused as him "A town up north." Tikal grumbled as she slipped on her sandles.. "I can feel the faint power of the emeralds there."
"Ummm..err..right." Blinx stuttered.
Tikal kneeled down and tapped Amy "Hey, wake up sleepy head."
Amy groaned and turned over on her side. "herrmm...five more minutes..."
"HEY!" Blinx yelled "It's enough you bugged the hell out of me because you couldn't handle the plain sound of the wolves howling now GET UP BEFORE I GET MAD!"
Amy scrambled to her feet, got together her clothes and ran into the other tent to get dressed.
Tikal giggled "I see her leg is feeling better."
Blinx sneered. "Even if it wasn't I'd make her walk the rest of the pain off."
Amy stumbled out of the tent hald asleep and with one shoe on and one in her hand. "Don't scare me like that! That was a horrible way to wake me up!"
"It was the only way to wake you up." Blinx pulled on his backpack. "Don't be lazy anymore you're walking now, your little fluke of a find is done and gone. Now lets get going."
They all held hands in a chain once more as Blinx shouted Chaos Control. This was it, the last peices of the emerald. The journey was almost at an end.
The teleport ended in a very big city. It was the most commercial town any of them had ever seen, there were resteraunts and street shows and a big square where all the action was going on. Not to mention buildings. Oh yes, lots and lots of big beautiful buildings.
"Wow!" Tikal squeeled as she leaped into the air happily, following the rest of the group as she landed "It's so liveley here! Look at all the people!"
"Listen, Tikal. This isn't like the last town, there's homeless people left and right and you can't help all of them." Blinx stated seriously as he glared directly in front of him to intimidate any unwanted attention.
"You...you mean more like Jack and Michelle?" She asked worriedly. She was obviously comftorable with talking about Michelle now.
"Yes, exactly like them. Some worse." Blinx said recalling the night before. "Umm..Oh! And you two!" he motioned to Rouge and Amy. "Stay close I know these cities there's some sort of pervert waiting to mug and or rape you."
"Oh!" Rouge growled. "Are you saying that I don't have what it takes to take care of myself?! Besides, what do you care?"
"I didn't say you weren't capable of self defense, I'm just saying don't take any chances, okay?" Blinx stopped dead in his tracks followed immidiatly by Tikal. Rouge and Amy continued waling a few feet before they noticed the two in the middle of the sidewalk.
"Umm...are you two coming?" Rouge asked as she cocked an eyebrow.
"Don't tell me you're idiotic enough not to notice what's going on!" Blinx snapped.
"Calm down. They don't know." Tikal turned and smiled in their direction. "It's just that we can sense the emerald right here."
"Ooooh!" Amy and Rouge nodded.
"Well...where is it?" Amy asked curiously, looking around.
Blinx out a hand on his forehead and sighed. "That's just it. The emeralds are somwhere around this space, we can feel it very strong."
"Okay...That doesn't make any sense..." Amy dug through her bag, looking for a thermometer for Blinx.
"Don't bother, Amy. Look, the emeralds are somewhere in these buildings or in the shops on the sidewalk, and the strongest signal possible is what Tikal and I are sensing right now." He pointed out the four buildings that made a square around them.
"Yes.." Tikal sighed sadly. "Needless to say our sixth sense for the master emerald is useless in this case, it's a matter of a little treasure hunt."
"So...live up to your name, treasure hunter." The serious echidna's stern look turned into a playful grin as he poked her.
"Ahh!" Rouge jumped from suprise as she had been admiring her surroundings. "Don't do that!"
"haha." Blinx smiled. "Capable of self defense my ass."
"You..You.." Tikal pointed at Blinx.
"It's rude to do that ya know." he pointed back at her.
"No.." Tikal's words caught up with her. "You smiled!"
"What? It's a crime? People do it all the time." He adjusted his backpack. "Okay, me and Amy will go to the two on the left and Tikal, you and Rouge on the right. We'll meet back in an hour, if we come back empty handed, we'll check the market, okay?"
They all nodded and walked off to their destination.
______________________________________________________________________
Kila was pushed outside by the hands of a guard to what looked like an outdoor gym for inmates but she was used to it. Walking out here and seeing the big hunky guys lifting weights, sometimes they tried to impress her. But she personally hated weight lifting, no skill or strategy, just strength. A man could lift from the day he was born and be the strongest in the world and not know how to fight, she was pretty sure she could take them on..no..she knew she could take the ALL on. At once too. These big idiots were nothing compared to the psycho fights she had seen in the female prison.
But she guessed that was why it wasn't very risky to transfer her to a place like this, but it felt real lonely being in that big deserted part of the jail by herself..no roomie..not even a bitch to yell at across the hall, it was way worse than solitary confinement but concerning the crime she was found guilty off of who could blame them for wanting to torture her.
Finally she spotted Miles who she had been looking for ever since she had been pushed out, he was sitting on a bench by himself, she might as well go talk to him. She couldn't trust him, but he was the only male there that wasn't trying to get into her knickers.
She walked over to him and sat down next to him. "Hello there, Miles."
Tails sprung up. "Oh! Kila! Umm...good to see you again."
"So, why arn't you pumping iron like the rest of these idiots?"
Tails laughed. "Me? Lift? Now THAT'S funny."
"Boy, are you a wimp. How do you expect to get a girlfriend with scrawny arms like that?"
Tails sighed "I have more than girls to worry about right now."
"Oh.." Kila stared off of his arms. "Sorry about that."
"It's not fair..I did what I did because I had to..it was for the good of everyone."
"I don't know what it's like to admit to the crime and think it's not fair." Kila's tails followed by her ears slumped down as she thought about it. "But I know where you've coming from...I didn't commit my crime so don't get me started on fairness."
"What were you commited of?"
Kila was silent for a few seconds before she answered. "...attempted murder." Tails jumped in suprise but she had more. "It was my little sister..she got into crime at a very young age, she stabbed an old women when she was eleven and I was there..I let it happen...when the police came, she ran and I was left alone. I loved her so much I thought she would change her ways if I took the heat but it didn't work...she got killed a year later and here I am..I was charged as an adult when I was thirteen."
Tails saw a tear streak down her face so he tried to comfort her. "Wow...for what it's worth I'm sorry.."
Kila recovered from her tear of sorrow cery fast. "Hey! haha...don't tell anyone 'cause..ya know..it makes me intimidating, if you tell anyone I'll kick your ass." she winked.
Tails laughed, but only because it would hopefully lift her spirits but it looked as if it was time to shower for the evening as the guards called them back. Tails got up to walk but Kila pulled his arm back and forced him to sit back down, he didn't want to mess with someone he didn't really trust that was found guilty of attempted murder, it was then that he remembered why he had wanted to see Kila so bad...her tails..
"Hey, Kila.." he started but she put a hand up in front of him and she shut up he soon saw why, the same guard that had been pushing him around earlier was coming towards them.
"Let's go Tails, you too traitor!"Tails looked confused as he thought he had been adressed twice but he soon caught on.
"Well, hello Robert, hows that bald ass head of yours?" Kila stood up and patted his head.
"Enough games, Tails let's go, it's time for showering."
"Oh, surely you can't seperate me from by boyfriend." She clung to Tails. Tails at this point wasn't blushing...he was glowing a bright red,
"Don't be stupid, you know males are forbidden on your side, now let's go." Robert pulled her by the arm and started dragging her. "You too, traitor!" he started walking.
"What about the first week I was here?" Kila said with a sly grin, Robert stopped dragging. "Oh, let us refresh our memory...see what I remember is you and that bulky guy Eddie in the restroom during my shower..and.."
"Ok! Ok!" Robert shouted nervously and looked around for witnesses. "After shower I'll bring him over."
"Hmm...No..I don't like that...he'll come to my cell right now, shower and bunk with me tonight." She said pulling her arm away.
"Now, wait a minute!" Robert yelled pulling her arm yet again. "That's too far! No!"
"Need I remind you, not only did you sexually abuse an inmate but you came in on me during my shower..how low can you go?" Robert simply growled as he led them to the abondoned cells in Kila's part of the prison, Tails was still trying to figure out why he felt so warm and why the hell Kila wanted to do all this.
They were led into the shower and Robert stood outside the door. "You have five minutes." She pushed them both in, Kila had a chance to pick up her shampoo and towel..Tails had nothing at all, he hadn't had a chance yet to work community service to buy anything. Besides he didn't want to invade her privacy and he wasn't really that dirt so he stood at the wall and let her shower.
Kila thought his innocent boy attitude was funny, any man would kill to be with a woman in there instead of the only option of a man for..that. But he was who he was and she liked it, she knew she could trust him now, the only problem was that he didn't trust her.
She came out with a towel around her and Tails walked her to the door and out. Robert led them to her cell and locked them in for the night.
"You two know I can't come get you for supper, you'll get caught." He walked away.
Kila chuckled. "I'm gonna black mail that fudge packer as long as I'm in here."
"Uhhh..Kila..Why did you..do this?"
"Hold on.." She took off her towel and Tails turned around almost instantly. She got into her clothes again as fast as she could. "You can turn around now, idiot."
"Why do you do that? And why did you do ALL of this?"
"Look at me...is there anything wrong with me?" Tails looked around innocently but she grabbed his two hands and made him face her. "Well?"
"Umm...I..no not at all."
"Don't tell me you need to give me your varsity jacket before we can hold hands."
"Leave me alone!" Tails whined. "Besides, why do you ask?"
"Tell me how is it YOU can fly and I can't?! We both have the same freakish tails! Tell me!"
"Well..I learned how to fly..."
"Can you teach me??"
"Sure, I don't see why not, but why?"
"Because, did you notice that barbed wire fence around the outside place where all the weight lifting was going on?"
Tails nodded.
"Well, I've seen guys risk life and limb trying to climb that thing and always get caught, I always thought maybe if they could fly...then I heard about you. The men have a TV in their main cell and saw the news so I had to eavesdrop to get the information about you beating Dr.Eggman. They had a video. You were flying all over the place, and that's when I noticed we were alike. I wanted to get to you before you did what I thought you would do. Listen, next time we go out we can both fly over that fence and we can fly away as a team! Whataya say?"
"Under any other circumstances I would.." Tails lowered his head. "But I can't risk it right now. I have a chance to explain my case to the president himself tomorrow and I could also explain your case! We could get out legally, just give me that chance if not I'll come back and we can run off."
"But what if you get free and they don't beleive you about me?"
"Okay, I'll teach you tonight but you gotta promise not to use it until the day after tomorrow."
"Okay..but one more thing how are you going to convince them?"
"I..I don't know..I'll think of something."
______________________________________________________________________
Rouge and Tikal ran down the stairs of the second building they had checked to tell Blinx the news about the emeralds, they had already been fifteen minutes late but it was too good of a lead, they had to go check it out.
Blinx and Amy were sitting on the sidewalk waiting for them. Blinx felt he hadn't looked his hardest since Amy kept him from rampaging through the halls, nobody could stop him, but it was best to keep a low profile.
Rouge was the first to get to them. "Wh--white building.." She got on her knees gasping for air.
"What about it? Did you find the emeralds?" Blinx eyed her worriedly. "Are you okay?"
"Oh, she just got excited when we found out about the good news." Tikal helped her up. "We have a good lead as to where the last of the emeralds might be."
"Well?" Amy asked.
"Well.." Tikal started "Rouge and I were searching that building up there and it turned out to be a hospital of some kind, it's a new childrens hospital and it's the first of it's kind."
"Well that was useless, let's go search the market." Blinx got up but Rouge made him sit down again.
"If you wouldn't interrupt you would know! Go on Tikal."
"It just so happens that that hospital is the first hospital ever to run on crystolic fusion which means that it just might be the reason we're sensing the emerald so strong."
"Hmm.." Blinx pondered "But on the other hand it could be just a hospital running on big ass batteries. However it's the best and only lead we have."
Blinx and Amy went into the hospital alone to look less suspisious. If worse came to worse they'd have to steal the emeralds.
They both walked up to the desk and Blink rang the bell at the desk.
"Hello, are you checking in?" the nurse at the desk asked then looked at Amy. "This little girl doesn't look sick."
"Umm..err.." he stammered "My little sister and I would like to see how the hospital works."
"She's your little sister."
"Yes."
"...She's a hedgehog."
"She's my step sister! Got a problem?"
"Umm...no...not at all.." The nurse eyed them suspiciously "Someone take over the desk!" she called to the back of her. "I'm going to give a tour.."
The nurse led them to an underground basement which contained a specially designed container that had a green glow to it..it was the master emerald, he was sure of it now.
"My name is Wendy Matin, I am the co-discoverer of this crystolic fuision that runs the childrens hospital."
"Matin?" Blinx asked curiously. "I know you, you were head of fire arm research before the facility exploded."
"You know about that? Who are you?"
"I was an expiriment conducted by Dr.Eve and Sara.."
"Sara? Oh...Sara..poor sara and not to mention Doctor Eve, they were the only few in the building when it exploded...and you were the doomsday defense project, were you not?"
"Yes, but listen we need the crystolic fusion that runs this hospital it plays a great role in Doctor Robotniks premonition of the end of the world."
"No. Go away!" She screamed.
Amy was as confused as she could be right now, she had no clue what they were talking about.
"What do you mean no?! I'm very powerful!" Blinx yelled "If you don't hand those emeralds over I'll have no choice but to take them by force!"
"You don't understand!" Wendy cried. "Some children are on life support here if you take this away they could die."
Blinx noticed the earrings on her ear. They were diamonds, enough to hold the hospital for twenty-four hours. He grabbed them from her ear almost instantly and threw it into the container with the emeralds. "Amy, go outside. NOW!"
Amy ran as fast as she could down the stairs to the street below.
Blinx ran to the container and grabbed all but the two earrings out of it. It was the last of the master emerald alright. "You have twenty-four hours to find a new source of energy."
"No! Please!" Wendy begged. "You don't know what your doing."
"It's not my fault, it's yours for using emeralds that don't belong to you and getting these childrens hopes up."
Blinx ran down the stairs, when he got there dozens of police were waiting for him, he grabbed the three girls in his arms as fast as he could and shouted Chaos control before anyone could get to them.
They appeared back to the camp site. Rouge and Tikal were clueless as to what happned but Amy had a vauge idea.
"Blinx.." Amy stuttered "Did you take the emeralds from those kids."
"What?" Tikal walked over to him. "You..didn't...steal those..did you? You know what'll happen...the kids will die."
Blinx through his bag to the side and sat down in the spot he was standing. "I gave them jewels to last four one more day, either they find a soulution or not."
"Oh, my god.." Rouge put a hand up to her mouth. "Blinx..how could you be so heartless?"
Blinx turned around sharply with a mean scowl on his face. "Listen, treasure hunter! I understand those childrens positions but if we don't get these back as soon as possible, the world could end! I personally think that a few mere lives are enough to spare for an entire planet!"
He stormed off into the forest without another word, none of the girls stopped him, they just stood there for a very awkward silence. That is until Amy spoke up.
"You...you guys?"
Tikal and Rouge looked over to her. She had a radio in her lap.
"Where did you get that?" Rouge asked.
"I..Blinx bought it for me when we were waiting for you, but that's besides the point, listen." They all leaned in to listen as Amy tried to turn it up as loud as possible.
"A mysterious person or persons has robbed the new Matin Childrens hospital of it's source of power, the mystical freen jewels found just days ago, they have twenty four hours and all they can do is pray...and now for the sports new we go to our news corrispondent--" they clicked off the radio and had no choice but to start cooking supper.
______________________________________________________________________
It was very late night when Blinx finally walked back into the camp site. He couldn't beleive what he had done, it would set them back very far. The first thing to do is find Sonic and Tails and see if they had found the loophole of theirs, if they couldn't find them the only other option was too completely destroy the master emerald, but he didn't really know how to go about that.
He walked up to see that there was a fire going but the girls were nowhere in sight. He got worried for a second but then checked into the tent for them and took a much needed sigh of relief and walked from the tent to the fire not noticing that he woke Tikal.
When he got to the fire he found a plate of food, it was warm as it had been set by the fire, even when he was a heartless bastard these girls had cared enough to leave out a meal.
"Blinx?" Blinc turned around quickly to see Tikal standing on the outside of her tent. "Blinx? You're back?"
"Tikal...yes, I'm back..what are you doing up so late?"
"I was worried about you and if you were okay."
"Well, thanks. But nothing short of the hand of god is going to put a scratch on this echidna."
"Blinx...where did you go?"
"I had to go think...and run an errand."
"Errand?"
"It's nothing..really..."
"What did you do with your copy of the Chaos emerald?"
"What..what are you talking about?"
"When you left I could sense the emerald just fine..I can't sense it anymore."
"I..I lost it, that's all."
"Don't lie to me, I know when people lie."
"Fine, if I don't tell you you'll reveal it...I gave my emerald to Doctor Matin at the childrens hospital."
"Oh, Blinx...that is so sweet..I knew you had a big heart."
"Tikal..do me a favor and don't tell Rouge and Amy..I don't want or need any recognition."
"You're so stubborn..still you've changed immensly since I first met you a few days ago.."
"What does that mean?"
"When I first met you you were like a zombie or minion of someone..but I knew you were warm hearted when you decided to let us go through with this mission. A heartless person would have killed Knuckles on the spot...but not you."
"Yes, well..I had just gone through something big."
"Big?"
"My creators had just died...they were like my mother and father I just..I felt where they were coming from."
"Oh..Blinx I'm sorry."
"No it's okay. Like I said I don't want any recognition for anything."
"Another thing is Michelle...that was the most sentimental thing I had ever seen..you really have no idea how..."
"Before you go on..I have a confession to make...she wasn't really the one I had in mind for my first kiss."
"Huh?" Tikal blushed.
"I thought of sharing my first kiss with the girl I first held hands with."
They both leaned into eachother and kissed quickly and softly.
"I..I gotta go to bed.." Tikal stammered and walked fastly to her tent.
He had done it. The sweetest girl..the only girl he ever felt any romantic affection for was scared away...he had moved too fast..not to mention Michelle..anyone could have been mislead by that..he slowly walked to his tent and tried to go to bed. He didn't get one wink of sleep that night.
______________________________________________________________________
Tails took a silenced seat in front of the president himself in a secluded roo with two chairs and a table, it was morning and Robert had shook him out of sleep and snuck him back to the male part of the prison so the president could speak to him.
"Uherm..Miles..." The president started. "You will not get a trial."
"WHAT?!" Tails yelled. "Why?!"
"Becuase you will testify to me right now..why Miles? Why?"
"Mr. President, I need that statue to enter a very inportant ancient temple. Sonic is looking for the other one and without this one we can't get in! If we don't get in the world will end!"
"That's a very farfetched story, Miles."
"I know it is! But you gotta beleive me!"
"I must be crazy to beleive you..the only reason I'm going to let this slide is because I trust you." he set the statue in front of Tails.
"Thank you! Thank you so much! I gotta go.." He remembered Kila and the promise he made to her. "M--Mr. President?"
"Yes?"
"There's one more thing...it's very important its about an inmate here..I found out about her innocense.."
"Her? You can't mean Kila...the girl who was found guilty of attempted murder?"
"Yes...umm..I.." he paused and thought for sure this is what he wanted to do. "She's Innocent"
"What?"
"I know it sounds crazy but she is! She can't be the mean person she's thought to be, she says so!"
"She would, Miles."
"No! She really.."
"Miles...it took a lot to get you out of here. Please...just leave without another word on this."
"But.." Tails stammered.
"GO, MILES! GET OUT!" The President yelled.
Tails sat on the steps of the Station Square police station...he felt kinda bad. The President DID help him a lot and he just seemed ungrateful...but he knew now what he had to do.
Tails stood on the roof of the Hotel that night so he could get a good over view of the fence so he could fly over. He had camoflage on. He couldn't risk getting caught this time. He had to get Kila in and out as fast as possible.
He flew high above the fence so that the spotlights couldn't catch him, it was getting cold and he was running out of air so he landed softly on the dirt of the 'outdoor weight room.' He walked up to the doorand touched the handle..just then and alarm went off, blaring and he soon heard voices.
"An inmates escaping!" One said.
Tails knew this was it. This is what would seperate him from Sonic for the rest of his life. This wasn't a dispute against Eggman. This was an epic run in with the law and the girl he, for the first time in his life, ever had feelings for besides Amy and Rouge who were just friends in the first place...he used his shoulder to ram into and break down the door it was one of the worst pains he would ever felt, had he been paying attention. He ran and ran to Kila's section of the jail..he got there and there was a guard. Without hesitating he ran up to the guard Kila had teased before and slashed him with his Tails, taking his keys and opening Kila's cell.
"Let's GO!"
Kila stared at him. "Who the hell are you?" She squinted to identify him in the dark
"It's Miles! Please we gotta get outta here!"
He grabbed her by the hand and started out the way he came back in and ran and ran through the halls. It seemed just too easy to be able to do this!..Until they got outside to the fence and saw four guards.
"Kila!" One said. "Get back in."
Kila smirked. "You're gonna have to have fantasies about someone else now, hun." She yelled, the alarm still blaring.
Tails grunted under his breath. "Nobody's taking her away from me." He grabbed Kila's hand again. "You remember how I taught you?"
She nodded.
They both flew together over the fence and ran as fast as their legs could carry them.
It was dawn before they stopped running. They were a few miles from Station Square when the finally realized they were both free and hugged.
"You came back for me!" She smiled at him.
Tails shrugged and smirked. "Yeah, well, I was bored."
"I..I can't thank you enough."
"Ah, it's okay...I just wish we could spend more time together but...I got that thing."
She put a finger on his lips. "Shh...I know." She kissed him softly. "I'll stay near so we can see eachother again after you're through.
Without another word she flew off into the distance.
"...and I can't wait to find you." He smiled to himself
Tails had bigger things to worry about now. All girls aside, he was off to the mystic ruins to find Sonic.
_____________________________________________________________________
Sonic awoke in a hospital bed with doctors surrounding him. It was blurry at first but he focused and saw all the doctors. There were two males and one female.
"He's awake." one of the males stated. "Hello, Sonic."
"Huh..wha?" Sonic mumbled. "My head is throbbing."
"That's to be expected, it took us hours to remove all that venom from your system." the female doctor started to fill a shot.
"Wait...what? Where's..THE STATUE!"
"Don't worry we got the statue that was found with you, Sonic." The other male put on some latex gloves. "It's over there on the desk."
Sonic jumped out of his bed, ripping any machine that was in him out.
"Sonic! No!" The girl yelled "You need to recover!"
"Have you done all that you could do to me?"
"Yes." All three answered at once.
Sonic grabbed some wrapping bandages and ran out the door. The all knew they were helpless to stop him so they let him go.
...
Boy, was this different from last time, last time the walls were clean and the ladders were all there but now the walls were covered with slime and smelled of bodily waste. It wasn't a pretty sight or smell but he pulled out his map and started walking, the slime sticking to his shoes. The box wasn't very far, it was only a few hundred feet from the entrance, but when Sonic got to it, he faced the same problem Tails had faced, it was gone. The only thing he could think of was that maybe some little rat creature taken it.
There was really only one thing to do now, look for it, it had to be somewhere around here and what good would it do to just sit around and wait? He wondered around for some time but still, nothing turned up, he thought he had seen it but it was a toy floating in a moat of waste. He had about given up hope but he saw it, a man in a trenchcoat standing against the wall of the sewer, it didn't look as though he was poor, the tenchcoat looked brand spankin' new. He walked up to him as he looked suspicious and might know something about the golden statue.
"Hey, you!" Sonic talked as he approached him. "Have you seen a golden looking statue around?"
The man looked as though he turned his head Sonic's way, he couldn't tell since his face was hidden under the coat.
"Yes." The man answered quickly in a very deep voice, Sonic could tell that it was being faked. "I did, it was a gold statue of an echidna, was it not?"
"Well, I'm not sure. I've never seen it myself."
"Go straight forward through that pipe in front of us." he pointed "Once you go through, it is there, it was washed away in a water problem the city was having."
"That does it! Who the hell are you?" Sonic looked at the figure intensly, but the figure teleported out of sight.
"It had to be the source behind all this!" Sonic thought as he started toward the gigantic pipe that lead through the sewer.
Sonic was always one to notice that something was amiss and what it was, but this time he had the right idea but had no clue that he could have stopped the entire process of the evolution had he gone with his gut and attacked the stranger.
The trenchcoat wearing stranger appeared outside cityhall and walked toward the train station.
"I can't beleive how easy it is to buy time with these creatures." the evil voice talked as it through off the coat "I will be on Angel Island in no time and these idiots can't do anything about it." The bodily form of Knuckles smirked to himself as he boarded the train.
______________________________________________________________________
Tails banged his head against the iron bars of his cell. If only he wouldn't have gotten all bold and stupid, maybe, just maybe he could have talked reasonably with the mayor, but no, there he was, and now the statue was no doubt in place at the musuem and he...he was prisoner by law in the station swuare facility...he never knew Station Square had a jail, but they proved him wrong and now it seemed as there was no hope whatsoever to get the statue.
He got tired of beating himself up and sat down on a bench on the far side of the room. He couldn't beleive it, it would be a whole different life style from now in, the life of a crook. Showers with hundreds of men, bread and water three times a day. Maybe he would get extra on his birthday? Not likely, for betraying the trust of the people of Station Square, he would be pretty much hated...damn these people held a grudge.
He had to get a fair trial, but before that he had to live here for a little while, and it looked like he had been here for about half a day now, when he came to he was just lying there and his tail had been bandadged. It was a matter of waiting as long as he was strong, he'd be able to pull through this.
Just then there was a clatter and he turned to see a muscular bald guard opening the cell.
"Hey! Traitor!" he yelled. Tails looked back shamefully but the guard didn't show any mercy. "It's time to eat! Follow me to the eating quarters and don't pull any funny stuff!"
Tails followed behind the guard with his hands behind his back as to not draw any suspisions. He hated this, it was like he was in kindergarden again, except the teacher was Mr.Clean and he was at risk of rape.
The guard showed him to a line where they were serving some un-edible slop, no doubt. He was right for as he got to the front of the line they gave him what looked like a mixture of mustard, mold, corn, and hamburger meat, but he felt so hungry he could eat anything although he would have preffered his premonition of bread and water. The only plus was that he got milk, how cute.
He sat down at a table with another person, they looked fairly small so he felt a little safer than if he hung around the A-team looking bunch on the other side of the room.
"Hello." Tails said friendly but firmly as he sat down. "My name is--"
"Miles 'Tails' Prower, good to finally meet you." The person still sat and looked down at their plate without a word.
"What?" Tails looked at them confusingly "How do you know my name?" more importantly how old was this person? He sounded more pre-prubecent than Tails did.
"Oh, please, who doesn't?" the figure lifted it's head, it was a fox, a female fox. She had dark brown fur, long bangs that covered her eyes and seductive eyelashes. She was about a year older than him and would be attractive if she hadn't a big blue outfit on with a long number on the back. "Tails? The ever popular teen hero who saved Station Square. How did a goodie good like yourself end up in this joint."
"Umm...well it's a long story, but basicly I stole from the mayor in front of the entire town." Tails said forcing himself to eat a spoonful of the garbage they called food. "Umm..uhh..What..how...?" Tails couldn't find the words for his question, he didn't want to be too forward with a girl that was very likely cabable of murder.
"Transferred." She mumbled.
"Huh? What?" Tails looked around like his question wasn't answered.
"You wanted to know what a woman was doing in a man's prison, well, now you know."
"How did you know that?..."
"I get asked all the time, it's no big deal." She pointed to his tray "You gonna eat that?"
"No." Tails slid it over to her on the other side of the table. "What did you do to be transferred to an all male prison?"
"Oh..." she said woofing down a big spoonful of the slop "I guess I was too violent for he girls over there....Buncha wimps. They put me in solitary confinement but even when I got out to eat I would accidently start something."
"Wow..violent, arn't we?" Tails said playfully.
The girl glared. "You don't know half of it."
"Uhh...ok.." Tails backed off of the subject. "Hey...umm..I know I introduced myself but can I have your name."
"It's almost nine o'clock. Time to go."
"Please? Can you tell me your name?"
She sighed annoyingly "My name is Kila Meter but everyone else calls me Tails."
Tails eyes widened but before he could ask another question Kila was up and going toward the trashcan, Tails couldn't beleive it as his eyes curiously roamed down...two tails...just like him.
______________________________________________________________________
Sonic was getting to the end of the tunnel pipe that the strange figure had pointed to, it was very long, he had ran most of the way and still was bearly at the end, he had to be out of Station Square now, maybe two towns over. Perhaps it was a trap, he probably should have known better than to trust that strange figure but it was his only lead and with the evolution of the emeralds likely to happen at any day he really had no choice. But maybe it would pay off as he had finally gotten to the end, he jumped down and there it was, right in the middle, the golden echidna statue. This was too good to be true, it had to be a trick...but he was faster than enyone he knew, it'd be a peice of cake to jump down there and zoom off into another pipe.
"Alright.." Sonic paced himself and ran in place and built up speed.
After a few seconds he dashed off onto the floor in a big blue glowing sphere, bouncing everywhere, checking for a trap with the statue in hand, he finally felt the area was secure and felt it alright to land on the pip he had came in and go back to find Tails. But no sooner had he eyed to tunnel it started to back into the wall, the edge moving from Sonics reach, it would have been a sinch to jump onto the pipe anyway, but a problem arose that wouldn't make that easy, out of thin air, three of the biggest boa contricters and hundreds and hundreds of poisonous snakes fell to the ground, he couldn't even scream before he was bitten and squeezed out of concousnous.
The bodily figure of Knuckles hovered over the lifeless Sonic as the venomous devils bit him and the bigger ones wrapped around him.
[Stop! No more! Leave him alone] Knuckles screamed from inside the evils head.
"Oh, you thin khe's had enough?" The eyes of Knuckles' body shined with a bright red and all the snakes dissapeared. "He could have stood more, but it will be ten times more fullfilling when I can kill him personally." he dissapeared in a slow transperent teleport, leaving Sonic alone and near death, luckily for him, it wouldn't be long before someone found him.
______________________________________________________________________
It was morning and Blinx was packing for the girls who had fallen asleep trying to pack their backpacks, it was a waste buying all these supplies if they weren't going to use them, Amy as suspected had kicked him all night and he was forced on the other, colder side of the tent, which was mainly the reason he had gotten up so early.
But it was late already, to him anyway. By the watch he had bought in the market place it was time to get ready and move forward, these lucky fools if they hadn't the help of him they would have to walk everywhere, his Chaos Control was more effective and powerful than he had thought. There were times when he had to hold back and not go crazy because of the immense power he felt, it would make an awesome defense weapon when the final battle came.
To his suprise the girls were slumping around trying to find which pack was theirs, amazing how they got up without him noticing but he had noticed some changes in these few over the last couple of days, it was funny when he thought about it, they were scared of him. But he wouldn't hurt any of them for anything, he was starting to like all three of them...well two of them...he felt something...different towards the past guardian. He would, however, use this 'fear' of him as a plus on the work side, if he said to get something done they'd do it...except for the minor occasion of Rouge and her half-assed obsession with first dates and Hallmark moments. But that was just the one thing that pushed that girl over the edge...that's on thing he would never understand..women..
"Where we going?" Rouge yawned
Blinx was about to answer but Tikal was obviously as focused as him "A town up north." Tikal grumbled as she slipped on her sandles.. "I can feel the faint power of the emeralds there."
"Ummm..err..right." Blinx stuttered.
Tikal kneeled down and tapped Amy "Hey, wake up sleepy head."
Amy groaned and turned over on her side. "herrmm...five more minutes..."
"HEY!" Blinx yelled "It's enough you bugged the hell out of me because you couldn't handle the plain sound of the wolves howling now GET UP BEFORE I GET MAD!"
Amy scrambled to her feet, got together her clothes and ran into the other tent to get dressed.
Tikal giggled "I see her leg is feeling better."
Blinx sneered. "Even if it wasn't I'd make her walk the rest of the pain off."
Amy stumbled out of the tent hald asleep and with one shoe on and one in her hand. "Don't scare me like that! That was a horrible way to wake me up!"
"It was the only way to wake you up." Blinx pulled on his backpack. "Don't be lazy anymore you're walking now, your little fluke of a find is done and gone. Now lets get going."
They all held hands in a chain once more as Blinx shouted Chaos Control. This was it, the last peices of the emerald. The journey was almost at an end.
The teleport ended in a very big city. It was the most commercial town any of them had ever seen, there were resteraunts and street shows and a big square where all the action was going on. Not to mention buildings. Oh yes, lots and lots of big beautiful buildings.
"Wow!" Tikal squeeled as she leaped into the air happily, following the rest of the group as she landed "It's so liveley here! Look at all the people!"
"Listen, Tikal. This isn't like the last town, there's homeless people left and right and you can't help all of them." Blinx stated seriously as he glared directly in front of him to intimidate any unwanted attention.
"You...you mean more like Jack and Michelle?" She asked worriedly. She was obviously comftorable with talking about Michelle now.
"Yes, exactly like them. Some worse." Blinx said recalling the night before. "Umm..Oh! And you two!" he motioned to Rouge and Amy. "Stay close I know these cities there's some sort of pervert waiting to mug and or rape you."
"Oh!" Rouge growled. "Are you saying that I don't have what it takes to take care of myself?! Besides, what do you care?"
"I didn't say you weren't capable of self defense, I'm just saying don't take any chances, okay?" Blinx stopped dead in his tracks followed immidiatly by Tikal. Rouge and Amy continued waling a few feet before they noticed the two in the middle of the sidewalk.
"Umm...are you two coming?" Rouge asked as she cocked an eyebrow.
"Don't tell me you're idiotic enough not to notice what's going on!" Blinx snapped.
"Calm down. They don't know." Tikal turned and smiled in their direction. "It's just that we can sense the emerald right here."
"Ooooh!" Amy and Rouge nodded.
"Well...where is it?" Amy asked curiously, looking around.
Blinx out a hand on his forehead and sighed. "That's just it. The emeralds are somwhere around this space, we can feel it very strong."
"Okay...That doesn't make any sense..." Amy dug through her bag, looking for a thermometer for Blinx.
"Don't bother, Amy. Look, the emeralds are somewhere in these buildings or in the shops on the sidewalk, and the strongest signal possible is what Tikal and I are sensing right now." He pointed out the four buildings that made a square around them.
"Yes.." Tikal sighed sadly. "Needless to say our sixth sense for the master emerald is useless in this case, it's a matter of a little treasure hunt."
"So...live up to your name, treasure hunter." The serious echidna's stern look turned into a playful grin as he poked her.
"Ahh!" Rouge jumped from suprise as she had been admiring her surroundings. "Don't do that!"
"haha." Blinx smiled. "Capable of self defense my ass."
"You..You.." Tikal pointed at Blinx.
"It's rude to do that ya know." he pointed back at her.
"No.." Tikal's words caught up with her. "You smiled!"
"What? It's a crime? People do it all the time." He adjusted his backpack. "Okay, me and Amy will go to the two on the left and Tikal, you and Rouge on the right. We'll meet back in an hour, if we come back empty handed, we'll check the market, okay?"
They all nodded and walked off to their destination.
______________________________________________________________________
Kila was pushed outside by the hands of a guard to what looked like an outdoor gym for inmates but she was used to it. Walking out here and seeing the big hunky guys lifting weights, sometimes they tried to impress her. But she personally hated weight lifting, no skill or strategy, just strength. A man could lift from the day he was born and be the strongest in the world and not know how to fight, she was pretty sure she could take them on..no..she knew she could take the ALL on. At once too. These big idiots were nothing compared to the psycho fights she had seen in the female prison.
But she guessed that was why it wasn't very risky to transfer her to a place like this, but it felt real lonely being in that big deserted part of the jail by herself..no roomie..not even a bitch to yell at across the hall, it was way worse than solitary confinement but concerning the crime she was found guilty off of who could blame them for wanting to torture her.
Finally she spotted Miles who she had been looking for ever since she had been pushed out, he was sitting on a bench by himself, she might as well go talk to him. She couldn't trust him, but he was the only male there that wasn't trying to get into her knickers.
She walked over to him and sat down next to him. "Hello there, Miles."
Tails sprung up. "Oh! Kila! Umm...good to see you again."
"So, why arn't you pumping iron like the rest of these idiots?"
Tails laughed. "Me? Lift? Now THAT'S funny."
"Boy, are you a wimp. How do you expect to get a girlfriend with scrawny arms like that?"
Tails sighed "I have more than girls to worry about right now."
"Oh.." Kila stared off of his arms. "Sorry about that."
"It's not fair..I did what I did because I had to..it was for the good of everyone."
"I don't know what it's like to admit to the crime and think it's not fair." Kila's tails followed by her ears slumped down as she thought about it. "But I know where you've coming from...I didn't commit my crime so don't get me started on fairness."
"What were you commited of?"
Kila was silent for a few seconds before she answered. "...attempted murder." Tails jumped in suprise but she had more. "It was my little sister..she got into crime at a very young age, she stabbed an old women when she was eleven and I was there..I let it happen...when the police came, she ran and I was left alone. I loved her so much I thought she would change her ways if I took the heat but it didn't work...she got killed a year later and here I am..I was charged as an adult when I was thirteen."
Tails saw a tear streak down her face so he tried to comfort her. "Wow...for what it's worth I'm sorry.."
Kila recovered from her tear of sorrow cery fast. "Hey! haha...don't tell anyone 'cause..ya know..it makes me intimidating, if you tell anyone I'll kick your ass." she winked.
Tails laughed, but only because it would hopefully lift her spirits but it looked as if it was time to shower for the evening as the guards called them back. Tails got up to walk but Kila pulled his arm back and forced him to sit back down, he didn't want to mess with someone he didn't really trust that was found guilty of attempted murder, it was then that he remembered why he had wanted to see Kila so bad...her tails..
"Hey, Kila.." he started but she put a hand up in front of him and she shut up he soon saw why, the same guard that had been pushing him around earlier was coming towards them.
"Let's go Tails, you too traitor!"Tails looked confused as he thought he had been adressed twice but he soon caught on.
"Well, hello Robert, hows that bald ass head of yours?" Kila stood up and patted his head.
"Enough games, Tails let's go, it's time for showering."
"Oh, surely you can't seperate me from by boyfriend." She clung to Tails. Tails at this point wasn't blushing...he was glowing a bright red,
"Don't be stupid, you know males are forbidden on your side, now let's go." Robert pulled her by the arm and started dragging her. "You too, traitor!" he started walking.
"What about the first week I was here?" Kila said with a sly grin, Robert stopped dragging. "Oh, let us refresh our memory...see what I remember is you and that bulky guy Eddie in the restroom during my shower..and.."
"Ok! Ok!" Robert shouted nervously and looked around for witnesses. "After shower I'll bring him over."
"Hmm...No..I don't like that...he'll come to my cell right now, shower and bunk with me tonight." She said pulling her arm away.
"Now, wait a minute!" Robert yelled pulling her arm yet again. "That's too far! No!"
"Need I remind you, not only did you sexually abuse an inmate but you came in on me during my shower..how low can you go?" Robert simply growled as he led them to the abondoned cells in Kila's part of the prison, Tails was still trying to figure out why he felt so warm and why the hell Kila wanted to do all this.
They were led into the shower and Robert stood outside the door. "You have five minutes." She pushed them both in, Kila had a chance to pick up her shampoo and towel..Tails had nothing at all, he hadn't had a chance yet to work community service to buy anything. Besides he didn't want to invade her privacy and he wasn't really that dirt so he stood at the wall and let her shower.
Kila thought his innocent boy attitude was funny, any man would kill to be with a woman in there instead of the only option of a man for..that. But he was who he was and she liked it, she knew she could trust him now, the only problem was that he didn't trust her.
She came out with a towel around her and Tails walked her to the door and out. Robert led them to her cell and locked them in for the night.
"You two know I can't come get you for supper, you'll get caught." He walked away.
Kila chuckled. "I'm gonna black mail that fudge packer as long as I'm in here."
"Uhhh..Kila..Why did you..do this?"
"Hold on.." She took off her towel and Tails turned around almost instantly. She got into her clothes again as fast as she could. "You can turn around now, idiot."
"Why do you do that? And why did you do ALL of this?"
"Look at me...is there anything wrong with me?" Tails looked around innocently but she grabbed his two hands and made him face her. "Well?"
"Umm...I..no not at all."
"Don't tell me you need to give me your varsity jacket before we can hold hands."
"Leave me alone!" Tails whined. "Besides, why do you ask?"
"Tell me how is it YOU can fly and I can't?! We both have the same freakish tails! Tell me!"
"Well..I learned how to fly..."
"Can you teach me??"
"Sure, I don't see why not, but why?"
"Because, did you notice that barbed wire fence around the outside place where all the weight lifting was going on?"
Tails nodded.
"Well, I've seen guys risk life and limb trying to climb that thing and always get caught, I always thought maybe if they could fly...then I heard about you. The men have a TV in their main cell and saw the news so I had to eavesdrop to get the information about you beating Dr.Eggman. They had a video. You were flying all over the place, and that's when I noticed we were alike. I wanted to get to you before you did what I thought you would do. Listen, next time we go out we can both fly over that fence and we can fly away as a team! Whataya say?"
"Under any other circumstances I would.." Tails lowered his head. "But I can't risk it right now. I have a chance to explain my case to the president himself tomorrow and I could also explain your case! We could get out legally, just give me that chance if not I'll come back and we can run off."
"But what if you get free and they don't beleive you about me?"
"Okay, I'll teach you tonight but you gotta promise not to use it until the day after tomorrow."
"Okay..but one more thing how are you going to convince them?"
"I..I don't know..I'll think of something."
______________________________________________________________________
Rouge and Tikal ran down the stairs of the second building they had checked to tell Blinx the news about the emeralds, they had already been fifteen minutes late but it was too good of a lead, they had to go check it out.
Blinx and Amy were sitting on the sidewalk waiting for them. Blinx felt he hadn't looked his hardest since Amy kept him from rampaging through the halls, nobody could stop him, but it was best to keep a low profile.
Rouge was the first to get to them. "Wh--white building.." She got on her knees gasping for air.
"What about it? Did you find the emeralds?" Blinx eyed her worriedly. "Are you okay?"
"Oh, she just got excited when we found out about the good news." Tikal helped her up. "We have a good lead as to where the last of the emeralds might be."
"Well?" Amy asked.
"Well.." Tikal started "Rouge and I were searching that building up there and it turned out to be a hospital of some kind, it's a new childrens hospital and it's the first of it's kind."
"Well that was useless, let's go search the market." Blinx got up but Rouge made him sit down again.
"If you wouldn't interrupt you would know! Go on Tikal."
"It just so happens that that hospital is the first hospital ever to run on crystolic fusion which means that it just might be the reason we're sensing the emerald so strong."
"Hmm.." Blinx pondered "But on the other hand it could be just a hospital running on big ass batteries. However it's the best and only lead we have."
Blinx and Amy went into the hospital alone to look less suspisious. If worse came to worse they'd have to steal the emeralds.
They both walked up to the desk and Blink rang the bell at the desk.
"Hello, are you checking in?" the nurse at the desk asked then looked at Amy. "This little girl doesn't look sick."
"Umm..err.." he stammered "My little sister and I would like to see how the hospital works."
"She's your little sister."
"Yes."
"...She's a hedgehog."
"She's my step sister! Got a problem?"
"Umm...no...not at all.." The nurse eyed them suspiciously "Someone take over the desk!" she called to the back of her. "I'm going to give a tour.."
The nurse led them to an underground basement which contained a specially designed container that had a green glow to it..it was the master emerald, he was sure of it now.
"My name is Wendy Matin, I am the co-discoverer of this crystolic fuision that runs the childrens hospital."
"Matin?" Blinx asked curiously. "I know you, you were head of fire arm research before the facility exploded."
"You know about that? Who are you?"
"I was an expiriment conducted by Dr.Eve and Sara.."
"Sara? Oh...Sara..poor sara and not to mention Doctor Eve, they were the only few in the building when it exploded...and you were the doomsday defense project, were you not?"
"Yes, but listen we need the crystolic fusion that runs this hospital it plays a great role in Doctor Robotniks premonition of the end of the world."
"No. Go away!" She screamed.
Amy was as confused as she could be right now, she had no clue what they were talking about.
"What do you mean no?! I'm very powerful!" Blinx yelled "If you don't hand those emeralds over I'll have no choice but to take them by force!"
"You don't understand!" Wendy cried. "Some children are on life support here if you take this away they could die."
Blinx noticed the earrings on her ear. They were diamonds, enough to hold the hospital for twenty-four hours. He grabbed them from her ear almost instantly and threw it into the container with the emeralds. "Amy, go outside. NOW!"
Amy ran as fast as she could down the stairs to the street below.
Blinx ran to the container and grabbed all but the two earrings out of it. It was the last of the master emerald alright. "You have twenty-four hours to find a new source of energy."
"No! Please!" Wendy begged. "You don't know what your doing."
"It's not my fault, it's yours for using emeralds that don't belong to you and getting these childrens hopes up."
Blinx ran down the stairs, when he got there dozens of police were waiting for him, he grabbed the three girls in his arms as fast as he could and shouted Chaos control before anyone could get to them.
They appeared back to the camp site. Rouge and Tikal were clueless as to what happned but Amy had a vauge idea.
"Blinx.." Amy stuttered "Did you take the emeralds from those kids."
"What?" Tikal walked over to him. "You..didn't...steal those..did you? You know what'll happen...the kids will die."
Blinx through his bag to the side and sat down in the spot he was standing. "I gave them jewels to last four one more day, either they find a soulution or not."
"Oh, my god.." Rouge put a hand up to her mouth. "Blinx..how could you be so heartless?"
Blinx turned around sharply with a mean scowl on his face. "Listen, treasure hunter! I understand those childrens positions but if we don't get these back as soon as possible, the world could end! I personally think that a few mere lives are enough to spare for an entire planet!"
He stormed off into the forest without another word, none of the girls stopped him, they just stood there for a very awkward silence. That is until Amy spoke up.
"You...you guys?"
Tikal and Rouge looked over to her. She had a radio in her lap.
"Where did you get that?" Rouge asked.
"I..Blinx bought it for me when we were waiting for you, but that's besides the point, listen." They all leaned in to listen as Amy tried to turn it up as loud as possible.
"A mysterious person or persons has robbed the new Matin Childrens hospital of it's source of power, the mystical freen jewels found just days ago, they have twenty four hours and all they can do is pray...and now for the sports new we go to our news corrispondent--" they clicked off the radio and had no choice but to start cooking supper.
______________________________________________________________________
It was very late night when Blinx finally walked back into the camp site. He couldn't beleive what he had done, it would set them back very far. The first thing to do is find Sonic and Tails and see if they had found the loophole of theirs, if they couldn't find them the only other option was too completely destroy the master emerald, but he didn't really know how to go about that.
He walked up to see that there was a fire going but the girls were nowhere in sight. He got worried for a second but then checked into the tent for them and took a much needed sigh of relief and walked from the tent to the fire not noticing that he woke Tikal.
When he got to the fire he found a plate of food, it was warm as it had been set by the fire, even when he was a heartless bastard these girls had cared enough to leave out a meal.
"Blinx?" Blinc turned around quickly to see Tikal standing on the outside of her tent. "Blinx? You're back?"
"Tikal...yes, I'm back..what are you doing up so late?"
"I was worried about you and if you were okay."
"Well, thanks. But nothing short of the hand of god is going to put a scratch on this echidna."
"Blinx...where did you go?"
"I had to go think...and run an errand."
"Errand?"
"It's nothing..really..."
"What did you do with your copy of the Chaos emerald?"
"What..what are you talking about?"
"When you left I could sense the emerald just fine..I can't sense it anymore."
"I..I lost it, that's all."
"Don't lie to me, I know when people lie."
"Fine, if I don't tell you you'll reveal it...I gave my emerald to Doctor Matin at the childrens hospital."
"Oh, Blinx...that is so sweet..I knew you had a big heart."
"Tikal..do me a favor and don't tell Rouge and Amy..I don't want or need any recognition."
"You're so stubborn..still you've changed immensly since I first met you a few days ago.."
"What does that mean?"
"When I first met you you were like a zombie or minion of someone..but I knew you were warm hearted when you decided to let us go through with this mission. A heartless person would have killed Knuckles on the spot...but not you."
"Yes, well..I had just gone through something big."
"Big?"
"My creators had just died...they were like my mother and father I just..I felt where they were coming from."
"Oh..Blinx I'm sorry."
"No it's okay. Like I said I don't want any recognition for anything."
"Another thing is Michelle...that was the most sentimental thing I had ever seen..you really have no idea how..."
"Before you go on..I have a confession to make...she wasn't really the one I had in mind for my first kiss."
"Huh?" Tikal blushed.
"I thought of sharing my first kiss with the girl I first held hands with."
They both leaned into eachother and kissed quickly and softly.
"I..I gotta go to bed.." Tikal stammered and walked fastly to her tent.
He had done it. The sweetest girl..the only girl he ever felt any romantic affection for was scared away...he had moved too fast..not to mention Michelle..anyone could have been mislead by that..he slowly walked to his tent and tried to go to bed. He didn't get one wink of sleep that night.
______________________________________________________________________
Tails took a silenced seat in front of the president himself in a secluded roo with two chairs and a table, it was morning and Robert had shook him out of sleep and snuck him back to the male part of the prison so the president could speak to him.
"Uherm..Miles..." The president started. "You will not get a trial."
"WHAT?!" Tails yelled. "Why?!"
"Becuase you will testify to me right now..why Miles? Why?"
"Mr. President, I need that statue to enter a very inportant ancient temple. Sonic is looking for the other one and without this one we can't get in! If we don't get in the world will end!"
"That's a very farfetched story, Miles."
"I know it is! But you gotta beleive me!"
"I must be crazy to beleive you..the only reason I'm going to let this slide is because I trust you." he set the statue in front of Tails.
"Thank you! Thank you so much! I gotta go.." He remembered Kila and the promise he made to her. "M--Mr. President?"
"Yes?"
"There's one more thing...it's very important its about an inmate here..I found out about her innocense.."
"Her? You can't mean Kila...the girl who was found guilty of attempted murder?"
"Yes...umm..I.." he paused and thought for sure this is what he wanted to do. "She's Innocent"
"What?"
"I know it sounds crazy but she is! She can't be the mean person she's thought to be, she says so!"
"She would, Miles."
"No! She really.."
"Miles...it took a lot to get you out of here. Please...just leave without another word on this."
"But.." Tails stammered.
"GO, MILES! GET OUT!" The President yelled.
Tails sat on the steps of the Station Square police station...he felt kinda bad. The President DID help him a lot and he just seemed ungrateful...but he knew now what he had to do.
Tails stood on the roof of the Hotel that night so he could get a good over view of the fence so he could fly over. He had camoflage on. He couldn't risk getting caught this time. He had to get Kila in and out as fast as possible.
He flew high above the fence so that the spotlights couldn't catch him, it was getting cold and he was running out of air so he landed softly on the dirt of the 'outdoor weight room.' He walked up to the doorand touched the handle..just then and alarm went off, blaring and he soon heard voices.
"An inmates escaping!" One said.
Tails knew this was it. This is what would seperate him from Sonic for the rest of his life. This wasn't a dispute against Eggman. This was an epic run in with the law and the girl he, for the first time in his life, ever had feelings for besides Amy and Rouge who were just friends in the first place...he used his shoulder to ram into and break down the door it was one of the worst pains he would ever felt, had he been paying attention. He ran and ran to Kila's section of the jail..he got there and there was a guard. Without hesitating he ran up to the guard Kila had teased before and slashed him with his Tails, taking his keys and opening Kila's cell.
"Let's GO!"
Kila stared at him. "Who the hell are you?" She squinted to identify him in the dark
"It's Miles! Please we gotta get outta here!"
He grabbed her by the hand and started out the way he came back in and ran and ran through the halls. It seemed just too easy to be able to do this!..Until they got outside to the fence and saw four guards.
"Kila!" One said. "Get back in."
Kila smirked. "You're gonna have to have fantasies about someone else now, hun." She yelled, the alarm still blaring.
Tails grunted under his breath. "Nobody's taking her away from me." He grabbed Kila's hand again. "You remember how I taught you?"
She nodded.
They both flew together over the fence and ran as fast as their legs could carry them.
It was dawn before they stopped running. They were a few miles from Station Square when the finally realized they were both free and hugged.
"You came back for me!" She smiled at him.
Tails shrugged and smirked. "Yeah, well, I was bored."
"I..I can't thank you enough."
"Ah, it's okay...I just wish we could spend more time together but...I got that thing."
She put a finger on his lips. "Shh...I know." She kissed him softly. "I'll stay near so we can see eachother again after you're through.
Without another word she flew off into the distance.
"...and I can't wait to find you." He smiled to himself
Tails had bigger things to worry about now. All girls aside, he was off to the mystic ruins to find Sonic.
_____________________________________________________________________
Sonic awoke in a hospital bed with doctors surrounding him. It was blurry at first but he focused and saw all the doctors. There were two males and one female.
"He's awake." one of the males stated. "Hello, Sonic."
"Huh..wha?" Sonic mumbled. "My head is throbbing."
"That's to be expected, it took us hours to remove all that venom from your system." the female doctor started to fill a shot.
"Wait...what? Where's..THE STATUE!"
"Don't worry we got the statue that was found with you, Sonic." The other male put on some latex gloves. "It's over there on the desk."
Sonic jumped out of his bed, ripping any machine that was in him out.
"Sonic! No!" The girl yelled "You need to recover!"
"Have you done all that you could do to me?"
"Yes." All three answered at once.
Sonic grabbed some wrapping bandages and ran out the door. The all knew they were helpless to stop him so they let him go.
...