Sonic and Tails are copyright to Sega. Josema Bane and Rik Salubrious are copyright John Avon/Teeto Fox.

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The day was humid - many of Knothole's inhabitants had decided to go about their daily business in a pair of shorts and shirtless, or as close to shirtless as possible without offending the majority of Knothole's population.

Tails sat in the shade of a tree. The grass which surrounded him grew long here; it

nearly covered his small frame. Unknown to him, an colony of termites also inhabited this part of the meadow, and a large group of termites were settled on his lap, living off the wooden buckle of his belt. He sat, reading a book for want of nothing better to do whilst the termites ate away at him. Sonic was recruiting, and those other few fighters that were on duty were away on a minor mission. He paused, glancing up as a strange feeling crept over him. He felt like he was being watched.

And he was.

Rik Salubrious was standing a few feet away, doing nothing but watching him. Tails began to feel slightly disturbed, and stood up, preparing to find another spot in which to indulge his reading hobbies.

At the sight of an event, Rik moved. Sauntering over to Tails, he smiled and sat himself down at a spot of his choosing. He paused for a while, staring out over the fields and meadows.

Tails was now visibly uncomfortable. His eyes shifted about nervously, and he moved about restlessly - Rik seemed oblivious to him, choosing to start a conversation at his own pace.

"I got that book."

Tails smiled, glad of conversation. "Like it, huh?"

Rik smiled and nodded slowly. "Yup. I like Milton. Poetry is interesting. I've written a few meself."

"Really?" Tails asked, his eyes lighting up. "Any of them every get published?"

Rik shook his head, pausing a moment for contemplation. "Nope. Didn't want them published, mate. Can't stand the publicity, meself."

"Oh?" Tails asked, his ears drooping slightly. "Why's that?"

"Well," the rat paused here, taking a moment to raise his hands to scratch at the stubble on his unshaven chin, "living in Latency mate. I got accustomed to being a nobody."

"Oh." Tails repeated. "So how come you wanna join the Freedom Fighters?"

The rat chuckled. "To be honest mate, I don't know. Think I just want the excitement. Think I got fed up of living a lie."

"What do you mean?" Was the inquisitive response.

"Well, producing locks. Hardly stimulating. Got fed up of it after a while, I think."

Tails nodded. He knew all about being bored. It was his pastime, it seemed.

"Well, I gotta go mate. I'll be seeing you." With that, the rat stood slowly, pausing to dust his already dusty jeans, and walked off.

Tails watched him go. He was glad the rat was gone.

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Sonic tapped ineffectually at the keyboard. He was useless with computers. Sighing, he glanced as another error screen appeared. And then another. And then another.

He pulled out his gun and shot it. An error screen appeared.

Swearing, Sonic took hold of the computer's leads, and - after making a face at the screen victoriously - pulled them as hard as he could. There was a bright flash of light from the screen, a high pitched beeping that slowly began to dwindle in frequency and pitch, and finally stopped altogether. Sonic let out his breath, smiling to himself triumphantly.

An error screen appeared.

"God damn it! God damn it! God damn it!" He threw down the leads and picked up the computer with some effort. "I'll press your any key." With that, he threw the computer at a far wall, and opted to go and find someone more silicon minded.

Behind him, an error screen appeared.

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This chapter may have been a bit boring, but bear with me. It's all important to the plot. ^_^ Read and review please! John/Teeto ^_^