Not long before, Sonic ran through the entire hilly forest to reach the edge of Eastern Lake. Behind the sedges, the surface was illuminated by the pale moon. The moon seemed quite large compared to the apparent size of the South Island.

There were no stars this evening - it was overcast. This made Sonic unconsciously gnaw at himself. It occurred to him that Tails would just be unhappy now if it was just a normal and ordinary day and everyone went stargazing again that evening (instead of arguing and getting separated while a bunch of crazy Mobians who thinks Tails is some sort of a sorcerer is threatening). It would be futile and he would probably insist on keeping them awake as long as possible again. And Amy would probably be persistent in it too. Once she sets her sights on something, that girl doesn't give up.

Amy. Sonic tried not to think much about her until now.

A brief thought briefly flashed through his mind: he wondered if it would be worse if Tails was here now or like this, when he wasn't. Because knowing that something bad might have happened to him was nothing worse than seeing him disappointed.

He shook off his gloomy thoughts, because now he had to find him. But the bad news was that apparently the pack of all those malicious islanders had already passed here and their trail was lost somewhere in the depths.

In depth?

Yes, in depth.

He couldn't fathom how that was possible. Disappeared in the depths. Where did they go?

Again.

Again, he was too slow to save his friend.

How many times?

How many more times will he let this happen to him?

How did he even allow this to happen to him several times in a row?

It doesn't matter now. If he gave himself the vent to regret everything there was to complain about in his life, yes, he would regret it all day long. But he didn't have all day. He had to start looking. Now.

For his… Best friend.

Should have said that to Amy several hours ago, when she asked him meaningfully what is Tails to him. Instead of acting like the answer isn't obvious.

Like, what other answer could there possibly be?

Since he had no plans to stay in one place for too long if there were no visible clues of any kind of pack or herd being there, let alone Tails, he looked once more at the lake, which flashed with all the width of his gaze, and had already turned and prepared to give himself a boost to leave and try to track his intuition somewhere else to look for…

...when suddenly the ground under his feet began to vibrate slightly.

Very slightly. But visibly.

Pieces of gravel on the rocky shore of the lake bounced lightly.

A few birds resting by this side of the coast flew away.

Something is shaking. Down there.

It was like if someone was running throught the ground from underneath. Like there was a pack of moles over there or something.

Sonic paused and lightly scanned the ground.

Seems like he will be staying over here for some time.

The three assailants lay on the ground looking, to put it mildly, beaten to the limit, their bodies as though they had turned to pudding and their limbs at an odd angle. Apparently fiery Amy in the heat of battle and concern for the well-being of her fox friend did not spare the strangers a little "fierce" side of her personality, which she never showed in front of Sonic or anyone else.

Amy was always looked upon by everyone as a typical gentle girl who only fought and wrecked the Badniks and could lift a hammer of several tens of kilograms, which made her once visibly proud to be like a mobian Thor. She and Knuckles were probably the only ones on the team who ever managed to even lay their hands on the ridiculously large wonder.

"I told you we were going to dance," she said visibly smug. She let the piko hammer fall to the ground with a loud crash and sighed, rubbing her hands together.

"Next time maybe you won't underestimate the pink hedgehogs you just met so much." she said and started to approach them, while they were stirring on the ground, one of them was trying to get up, stumbling, and the other two didn't even bother.

She tore the masks off the faces of the first two and immediately stomped on them, cutting them in half. Amy liked to stomp on things when she was angry.

"Now, don't be so shy. Turn around so I can see you. Surely you're not that ugly," she said very confidently in her words, not showing an iota of timidity. Unlike the guys she just massacred.

The one that had been crawling steadily leaning on his trampled hand collapsed again about six feet away. He didn't come a long way, given that he probably expected her to escape by some miracle. He gritted his teeth:

"You... you psycho... You, like, don't even know what you were doing... what is wrong with y-"

"Oooooh, no, no, no, no." - Amy grabbed him by the collar next and violently turned him so that his face was finally facing hers. Although he still wore the mask, his orange eyes were still visible through it.

"Go on" Amy told him and got even more in his face "finish that sentence."

She didn't let go of his collar and stared into his visible eyes.

The No. 3 forward was clearly very persistent in maintaining a fearless attitude. "I asked you what is wrong with you, psycho."

Amy grabs him by the chin and rips off his mask. He just grimaces and grits his teeth. That must have burned.

"The real psycho here is you, along with the rest of your gang." She glanced briefly out of the corner of her eye at the remaining two who did not get up, as if in their lack of reaction she was looking for some kind of approval. She nodded to herself and continued, "You're all ferrets, huh? All three of you. Who would have thought. No wonder you all stink in fighting." she uttered a statement that was intended to sound mocking, but she uttered it with such certainty and seriousness that it seemed that what she said was just a mere fact.

Just as she was about to release him from her grip to fall to the ground, he grabbed her arm. "You just play with your pathetic words, lady. But you'll see," he said, a wicked grin on his face, "when Esmeray gets hold of you—"

"Who?"

"Esme—"

"Cares? Whoever still has something against me, can feel free to come. I'll deal with them alone. I have no doubt that your pathetic Esmeray, whom you're an errant to and work for, wouldn't be the slightest problem for my hammer, as neither were you. But it doesn't matter, because I don't even care who that boss of yours is. I don't have time for that nonsense. Listen" she lowered herself to his level, kneeling down, and grabbed his chin and lifted his head so that they were were now at eye level with each other. "I don't even care if the whole island is against me now. I have nothing to do with it and I won't answer to anyone. I just want to find my friend and get out of here. So you better tell me where he is right now. And no lying. I know you know ." she said, keeping her eyes on him, not blinking, as she showed him the massacred scraps of what had once been Miles Electric.

The ferret looked back briefly, as much as Amy's hand would allow. Then he looked at her again. "We were supposed to handle him and take him to Esmeray. But it's over now, you know. Someone else showed up and took him long ago. Now he's with her—"

"With whom?"

The ferret wriggled his head out of her grip only to glance to the side, at the surrounding mud and fragments of the water balloon bomb. Then he measured her again.

And quietly, barely audible, actually, uttered "Abel Ryder."

"Who!?"

"Ryder!" this time it was the ferret that got in Amy's face so violently and quickly that she backed away and quickly got to her feet, only to remain watching him from above. He clenched his teeth and fists and seemed furious.

"Good luck with your two-tailed rescue mission. Abel's not sane. None of the Ryders have been sane since that…that guy…" the ferret started stuttering unexpectedly, as if he'd lost his confidence in his words.

Amy had tried not to show interest in anyone on the island so far, considering she hadn't run into anyone particularly friendly yet, and she didn't want or need any more trouble. But this time, something woke up in her about that story about the unknown Ryders. Flame of curiosity.

"What guy? What did he do? And what do you mean, they're not sane?"

The ferret looked up, somewhat questioningly, as if he had no idea what he had just said. He suddenly looked tired. "I thought you just wanted to save a friend. That you didn't want to get involved in anything else."

A short silence. Amy became uneasy. Embarrassed, she looked away furiously. "And I don't want to. I don't care, really."

"Okay then," the ferret shrugged.

"I do not care!" Amy yells and stomps her foot on the floor.

"Whoa, okay! Dude, calm down! I said -"

"I'm not a dude."

"Whatever." the ferret rolled his eyes and tried to stand up. "Look, my point is that you have no idea why they're actually holding your friend. That is, her. Okay, them. The two Ryders."

Hopping on his stronger leg, he reached Amy only to whisper to her with a grin on his face, "Some even believe there are still three of them."

Amy froze and said nothing.

"I am among those "some" he said, not covering up a grin yet.

"Oh, good grief, I can't wait to get off this looney - bin island" Amy turned, clutching her head and ruffling her hair. Everyone was driving her crazy.

Moving away from the ferret, she picked up her hammer from the wet ground and was disgusted to see how muddy it had become after she threw it. It didn't matter, at least she wouldn't have to watch over while dragging it along.

"Leaving already?" asked the ferret, who sat down on the ground again because he couldn't walk very well. "Do you even know where to go? Where to look?"

"I'll manage," Amy cut her short with a sigh.

"No, you won't. You don't know anything about the island."

Unfortunately, that was true.

"Even if you manage to find Eastern Lake, I highly doubt you'll be able to find Abel's cave there either. It's hidden, and damn well, I can tell you. And Esmeray is already on his way there with the pack by now" he said looking back at looming the new moon above them under the cover of evening, "they are probably already..."

"Wait... Esmeray knows where that cave is?" Amy looked back, a surprised look on her face. "And he's on his way there?"

"Yes-"

"And... You work for him." Amy noticed. Her face slowly took on an expression of enlightenment. And a wide grin appeared on her face.

"Well I guess... Just maybe... If you knew at least some things... that he knows?"

"Well... I..." the ferret didn't like the direction this was going.

Amy was approaching him very slowly, her expression telling, determined.

"Interesting... Very interesting..." she blurted out.

The ferret swallowed the dumpling.

"Come on, don't be a slob," Amy rolled her eyes and smiled again.

"Tell me, ferret... What's your name?"

The ferret flinches. "Finn. My name is Finn."

Amy nodded and stared off into the distance.

"Well, Finn... Pack your humble luggage. You and I have a long way to go. Or maybe not. You'll tell me that. Is it long or not?" Amy didn't hide her smile and extended her hand to him.

Finn seemed shocked, but he braced himself and took her hand to stand up. It was strange to see such a change of mood in a foreign girl.

"Here, this will do for you" - she said and easily tore the handle off her hammer and handed it to him. Finn stared at her in disbelief.

"What?" she will interrogatively. "I don't need a handle anyway. Yet. Until we get to that cave so I can finally deal with that Esmeray, that Abel girl and all the others."

"Erm…" Finn began, leaning on the handle of the hammer.

"Amy," she said, looking back again. "My name is Amy Rose."

"Stop breaking those toys! FOLLOW THEM, for heaven's sake!" Esmeray roared as it echoed throughout the cave. And the last members of his pack got rid of what was left of Abela's valuables and chased the duo. The cave was shaking so much that sand and dust from the ceiling fell on them like snow. Tails was afraid that soon the same could happen to the ceiling itself or the entire cave and everyone would end up drowning in the lake or crushed under the rocks just because these madmen wanted to get their hands on him because they believed he was an evil Nogitsune or someone who will kill them all with his power that he never had.

And it all started from yesterday's arrival on the island to observe the stars. For rest. From Eggman. And just such Mobians.

Well, that escalated quickly.

Tails turned to Abel on his left again:

"I guess that leader is Esmer - ARE YOU CRYING?"

Abel was silently wheezing as her nose hair looked a little wet.

"Who? Me? No," she said in a hoarse and unconvincing voice that shook just like the ground beneath their feet.

"Abel," Tails looked around worriedly as Esmeray's pack visibly moved closer, but at the same time worried about Abel herself, "what's wro - "

"MY BABIEEEES!" Abel began to sob, tears flying everywhere from her cheeks backwards as she ran tirelessly.

Tails glared at her. They almost got hold of them a while ago because of her "babies".

"They broke everything... Everything..." Abel stammered through tears as her backpack full of only a few saved "babies" shook and hit her on the back as she ran.

Behind them they waved clubs and threatened with flames, sparks flew.

"Abel, it's not the best time, but it's not like I don't feel sorry for your..."

"OH CRUD." Abel quickly wiped away her tears when she looked in front of her. "Tails, we have to make a detour to The Hall of Legends!"

Tails will never understand girls and their sudden mood swings, so he didn't even bother to ask Abel why the hell she was crying all this time, and now she's acting like nothing ever happened. Instead, he himself occupied his mind with worries about The Hall of Legends.

"What are we going to do now?" he asked, panting.

"Wait," Abel threw her hand back to rummage through the front compartment of her backpack, and after a few seconds she pulled something out of it. A necklace?

She looked at it briefly, nodding to herself, then held it out to Tails. In the race, it swung back and forth like a pendulum.

"What am I supposed to do with that?" Tails asked, yelling to override the crowd from behind. "To throw it and hit Esmeray in the eye!?"

"That's the Osias amulet, with all due respect," Abel said. "I didn't think I or anyone I meet would ever need it. But you do now. Put it around your neck and squeeze it tight as we walk through The Hall of Legends. I suggest you close your eyes as well."

"And that's supposed to help me?" Tails asked a bit irritated, but he took the amulet in his hands.

"I will lead you forward," said Abel. "It will help you, yes, so that your mind doesn't get lost again in the meantime. They would probably catch us if that happened."

Tails reluctantly, but with visible consent, puts the amulet around his neck. If until now he believed in the power of the seven emeralds that turned his friend into a golden floating super-hedgehog, why wouldn't he believe in this as well.

Ever since he woke up in Abel's cave, the "impossible" no longer existed. Every scenario that was out of his mind now seemed likely to happen, because after all, he had woken up this morning as a tourist on an unknown island, and now suddenly he was the Last Kitsune and there were resistance movements against him.

They turned toward the dark entrance to the Hall. Tails closed his eyelids, and Abel put her hand on his back and held his other, free hand with her other, free hand.

"Now it will be harder for them to pass... The space is narrow and they will have to go one at a time..." Abel said, and in a way that Tails didn't know if she was comforting him or himself.

They entered the Hall. Tails recognized this by the darkness he saw with his eyes closed somehow becoming even darker.

They ran even faster, seizing the opportunity. Tails would bang his hands on the walls every now and then, because he didn't see where they were going. Muffled howls began to be heard again from behind, and by the darkness getting lighter Tails could tell that torchlight had once again reached them.

The violent cries became louder and louder, and Abel would squeal every now and then, which made it clear that they were throwing something at her.

Tails, on the other hand, felt somewhat at ease with all that. Worryingly at ease, even. Could it really be that Amulet? Calming him down or something?

Suddenly he understood.

"Abel" he said decisively and opened his eyes wide and turned to her. His eyes once again sparkled with a purple-red glow.

Abel flinched and let go of his hand, but she did not allow herself to settle down enough to stop running. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? Close your eyes!" she screamed.

"No! Okay, listen! I have a plan! I don't know if it will work, but... At my signal, I release the amulet, and you run in front of me and don't look back!"

"You want to tell me you want to commit suicide!?"

"No! Listen, you have to trust me!"

"Trust you?!" - the corridor began to widen and the horde behind them sped up again. "I just met you!"

"You're serious!? And I should believe you that I'm the Last Kitsune if I just met you?"

"OF COURSE!"

"How exactly does that make sense?!"

"You want sense? HERE'S THE PROOF OF IT BEHIND US!" Abel roared and pointed behind at the tireless horde that was still hunting them and was getting closer and closer while they were getting slower and slower.

And she starts crying again.

A pang of guilt stung Tails. So, still holding the Amulet tightly as he had promised and running beside her as best he could, he reached out and placed his hand on Abel's shoulder. "Abel, listen to me."

Abel looked up, her eyes shining like glass.

Tails didn't want to break the glass.

Shatter.

He smiled at her.

"I'll be fine. WE'll be fine."

Abel looked at him to the core of his very soul and shuddered again. She quickly wiped away her tears, nodding her head, not daring to open her eyes again.

"On three" Tails encouraged her as she squinted again.

Abel didn't dare look at him. She just ran.

"One..." - a few more tears flew behind Abel.

"Two..." the pack from behind was now only a few feet away.

"THREE!"

Abel ran forward, Tails removed the amulet from his neck and threw it to her, she caught it and continued running, but after a few moments she turned again and stopped.

Tails now stood in front of a horde that was drastically closing in on him. Although he had already stopped, it seemed that they had no intention of doing so. But he was determined. He gave them a not at all intimidated look when they already started laughing triumphantly.

Abel let her tears silently flow down her face like a river as she looked at him like that.

She closed her eyes.

Her hair began fluttered, even though there was normally no wind in the cave.

She clenched her teeth.

She put her fist on her chest and tearfully whispered:

Please... Don't hurt him.

Very close, Tails tried to focus on summoning the Nogitsune again.

He thought it would be more difficult to do, but turns out that it's not that difficult to be scared when a wild mob that wants to lynch you is rushing directly at you.

Tails was caught off guard when he felt it, but he allowed the energy to flow through his body. He knew he should. He felt it squirm inside him. Fear was now nothing but anger.

And the pack noticed.

They began to slow down suddenly, and finally there was complete silence as they all stopped directly in front of him and stared at him, still holding their torches. They stirred, not understanding why he wasn't running away from them, much less why he suddenly seemed so sure of himself.

"SILENCE!" came Esmeray's elder voice from behind. He began to make his way through the crowd to the front of the column. "Let me see what's gotten into you all!? We're wasting time - "

And he stared and let his jaw drop open when he saw Tails in front of him.

The fox in front of him glared at him with glowing purple-red eyes, clenched fists and sharp teeth, fur that turned black like coal, while a purple aura radiated around him. His two tails writhed like snakes in the air and appeared to have doubled in size, their tips pointed at him like menacing spears.

This was almost certainly not the same fox that his pack had been chasing until a while ago.

Esmeray backed away with shock evident on his face. Abel was worriedly watching everyone from the front, Tails had his back to her.

Tails' new form with Nogitsune energy flowing through him didn't even try to hide his pleasure when he saw how terrified Esmeray looked at his appearance.

Esmeray spread his arms slowly guiding the pack back, still keeping his eyes on Tails.

"Nogitsune sorcery" he whispered in terror.

Screams and gasps of horror ran through the crowd.

"I knew it!"

"We should have come much sooner!"

"It's the Ryder situation all over again!"

"We're screwed..." someone whined from the back.

"PEACE!" Esmeray roared, and the echo of his voice continued to flow through the cave for a long time until that peace was restored.

"Calm down! He's still just a kid! Look at him, for God's sake! He's half my height!" he pointed a finger at Tails. "He doesn't have any of the Miracle Gems. He still hasn't fully transformed. This isn't his final form, he just let the spirit possess him! Do you understand? He can't do anything to us! We can still grab him! He has no power!"

Tails gave a wicked low laugh, and all eyes were instantly on him again, then in a voice that didn't sound like his at all, startling even himself, he said

"Are you sure about that?"

You didn't need to be clairvoyant to see that at that moment everyone in the cave was tingled.

And that was just before Tails - or whatever was inside of him - growled loudly again and threw his two long black tails towards them, menacing sharp tips, his aura going wild.

All of Esmeray's followers screamed, dropped their torches, and started running back down The Hall. The flames engulfed the surrounding walls.

"Wait! No! Go back! That's an empty threat! AN EMPTY THREAT!" Esmeray ran after them all before disappearing somewhere in the flames himself.

There was only silence in the cave, with, of course, the fire crackling menacingly, and in the new silence under the cover of the invisible night, Abel cried again.

She was crying silently, on her knees, on the floor of the cave, and Tails hadn't even had time to look back at her when these emotions came over her.

She just quietly shook on the ground, swallowed her tears and silently formed the never spoken words with her lips:

You didn't hurt him. You didn't hurt him. Thank you.

We will discuss this later. I promise.

Tails felt a wave of relief. He takes a breath and then drops to his knees and curls up, letting the rest of the energy slowly radiate from him, feeling it slowly leave his body. He looked up to look at himself. His fur returned to its natural orange color. One could assume that his recognizable sky blue eyes have returned as well.

He felt such a big rush of relief that he couldn't help himself - he started to laugh loudly, somewhat tiredly.

"Well… That was easier than I thought…" he said, though his voice sounded more unconvincing than he'd intended when saying it. "Looks like we can now-"

Abel threw herself into his arms. She hugged him tightly, so tightly that Tails completely blocked.

The fourth hug.

He knew that feeling now. That feeling of helplessness that existed for some reason when someone hugs you so meaningfully. That feeling as if you are paralyzed and don't know what to do next.

He understood Sonic now.

The only difference was that...

...Tails knew he should hug back.

And just as he started to do that, just as he started to move his right hand up her back, she pulled away from him.

"Don't ever do that again, The Last One." she said, her voice shaking, although she was smiling.

Tails smiled too. "I won't, Daft."

Abel got confused, then burst out laughing. "Ah, so? Now we're just going to make up new nicknames for each other? A'ight, Clancy!" she said and winked at him.

"Your uncreativity deceives me, Water Warrior" Tails said in a gentlemanly and formal manner and burst into laughter himself.

"You are being very superficial...uhhhh...Scout!" Abel obviously struggled with this.

Tails laughed at her bad joke. "Did I stutter, Princess Dippy Flaky Kooky Nutty Loco Zany Bananas Bonkers the Fourth?"

Abel looked at him questioningly.

"Mad Princess, that sum up" Tails explained.

"Oooooh, so now you wanna suck at this nickname giving together, Freak?" she asked jokingly, then realized what she said.

Tails paused.

Abel lost it. "I - I didn't mean that... It wasn't even funny - I'm so sorry..."

"It's okay." Tails laughed. "Any kind of criticism is welcome if it's coming from you."

"That wasn't criti- HEEEEEY, that's my line!"

"And that's mine!" Tails' stomach hurt from laughing, and Abel was already rolling on the floor.

Suddenly, when they calmed down a bit and picked themselves up from the floor, Abel watched him for a while under her eye, and then asked him in silence by the warm fire:

"How did it feel?"

"Huh?"

"How did it feel? When he - I mean, that..." she looked down. "entered your body."

Tails looked at her in surprise. He did not expect such a direct question.

"Well... It was scary at first. But after that, when I let the spirit take over, all the fear just... disappeared. But in a strange way. It was like I wasn't me, but someone else, and that someone else wasn't afraid. Understandable, if it's true that it's a Nogitsune spirit and it's that someone."

Abel nodded his head. "You even looked scary. Sounded scary."

Tails cocked his ears. "I knew it. At the same time I was amazed at myself, but that spirit in me... he was proud. Smug. He enjoyed that they were afraid of me... That they were afraid of us."

Abel took a soft breath.

"It was kind of creepy," Tails admitted, "but there's no doubt we just got our lives out of it. We managed to scare them off. Man, I didn't think I'd ever want to scare someone like that. If anything... All in all, it was less painful than the first time before."

"Good" Abel muttered, clutching the Amulet in her fist. "Good."

Then she turned to him and put it around his neck. "Promise you'll never take it off again," she said matter-of-factly.

"Never?" Tails said confused. "Will there be more need?"

Abel blushed. "Well... You never know, you know?"

And she laughed nervously at her clumsy statement.

She stared at the floor.

"After all, there will be a need until we find all the Chaos Emeralds for you," she said.

Tails assumed that was true.

Suddenly, something else comes to his mind.

"What's the Ryder situation?" he asked.

"Huh?" Abel snapped out of what seemed to be a reverie.

"What's the Ryder situation? Someone in the crowd had mentioned it."

Abel suddenly became uneasy. She looked away again. "No idea. Never heard of it."

Tails decided it probably wasn't worth mentioning any further, so he just let this slide.

Abel became serious again. "We should get out of here already. They could regroup and get emboldened enough to come back any second. Besides, it's still burning here," she said as if she had just noticed.

Tails nodded. "I'm following you."

Abel started, but immediately stopped and sighed.

"What happened?" Tails asked.

Abel turned to him with a dejected look. "Vortex," she said quietly. "What if they set it on fire?"

Tails was surprised, but he knew what it was like to love and care for a machine, so he could easily empathize. He knew Abel probably felt the same way he did when he had to leave his Cyclone among the "Zombots" (he hated the name Sonic gave them) and how hard it was not to even look back when he heard the engine explode. And then to appear in front of Amy and the others and suppress his grief because after all the Mobians who were then lost to the Metal virus, no one would understand why he mourns the machine.

This is why it was so easy to identify with Abel.

But what could they do now? Definitely not going back.

"Hey," he said comfortingly, "it'll be fine. You can always make a new one. I keep rebuilding the Tornado and - "

"But you don't understand! It's not just any submarine! I can't just make a new one! It's made from parts of Dustin Highsky's plane!"

Tails paused. "Wait, what?"

Abel paused. "Wait, what?"

"Made from parts...?" Tails will.

"The Tornado?" Abel will.

"Dustin Highsky!?" both will in unison.

"Damn..." Abel face - palmed herself, surprised, eyes wide. "We really do have a lot more to discuss, don't we? Guess we are way more connected than we originally thought we were," she claimed. "But first...

We really need to get out of here now already. It's filled with smoke."

Tails agreed.

Abel finally led him to the emergency exit that seemed so unattainable until now. It was located on the ceiling at the end of the Hall and was reached by clumsily constructed stairs.

"After you," Abel confirmed.

Tails climbed the ridiculous stairs and stopped under a square slot in the ceiling.

"Just pull the handle towards you" Abel shouted to him climbing from above. "A simple mechanism."

"I know that," Tails said, "but...when exactly was the last time you checked this exit?"

Abel blinked. "Why do you ask? What do you mean?"

"I mean, what are the chances that I'll open this now and lake water will break in and flood the entire cave?"

Abel shrugged. "Then at least it will put out the fire."

Tails couldn't help but grimace and roll his eyes at that not at all encouraging statement, and in the next moment he pulled the handle towards him.

"Good news! No water! Only dry ground." Tails called out to her.

"Too bad" Abel sighed with a smile and made it to the top herself as Tails left.

Once they got out, it was good after so many hours in the dark and damp cave to feel the evening breeze on their face, to see the moon... And gloomy clouds in the sky.

"Looks like tonight wouldn't be a good night for stargazing anyway" Tails said wistfully as Abel closed the door firmly in the ground.

"What did you say again?" Abel asked, still digging into the square door.

"Nothing" Tails sighed and stared off into the distance. "Listen… Do you think we could let my friends know about… all of this? They're probably very worried."

"I'm afraid that won't be possible," Abel straightened up. "We don't have time, and they are probably already under investigation. The lurkers expect us to join them at some point. If they follow them, they will find us and vice versa."

Tails was very unhappy with this. "Now what? How are we going to get to Angel Island and the Chaos Emerald without my friends? I can't do this alone!" and he realized what he had said, what he had just admitted to himself. He face-palmed himself.

"Hey, what's that for?" Abel asked confused.

"Oh, nothing. Forget I said that. I... What I mean is... Maybe I could somehow do this without them..."

"No, no, I agree, you're right! You need your friends!"

Super. Abel still considers him a weakling.

"It's just that now I don't have any good idea how to get to them safely. However, it's already quite late... And the morning is smarter than the evening."

Tails looks back at her, still a little grumpy as she still seems to view him as a weakling.

"I want to say, after a day like this, we deserve a rest and think about everything further in the morning."

"I already agree with that," Tails said affirmatively and yawned.

"We have to hide somewhere safe. And so that they don't find us until morning."

Tails nodded. And then he thought of it.

"We could go somewhere in the mountains, where it's hard to get to. Maybe somewhere among the Eastern Hills?

"You have a good idea," Abel said, shaking his head, "but the Eastern hills? They're just plain hills, nothing more."

"Oh," Tails bowed his head, "and that's our closest option. Unless… Hey, is there anything more than the Eastern Hills on the island? What's your highest mountain?

"That would be Mt. Rudolph on Rock Island. But that's a long way off now, and at night . . ."

"Excuse you, but I think you forgot you are talking to the world's first-class professional buttcopter, Daft" Tails winked and turned his back to Abel to point out his namesakes.

Abel gasped. "No way! You're actually ready to go that far!? Awesome, dude! But... What about me?"

"Well, I carry you. Obviously."

"What? You? Carry me? All the was down there? But... Won't you get tired?"

Tails rolled his eyes. "I'm not a bum, Abel."

"Interesting" Abel put her index finger on her lip, trying to look like she's thinking. "You're saying you're not a bum, but a a synonym to the word "bum" is "prowler", which is exactly your surname. So technically, bum is your last name. Miles Bum.

Tails remained silent, then burst out laughing like crazy and couldn't stop for a while. "You dork. Acting all smart. It's Prower. P-R-O-W-E-R. Not Prowler." and he kept on laughing uncontrollably, and Abel joined.

Until, of course, Abel was the one who stopped and then remained serious.

"You know, I am serious. I won't let you carry me. That's just not fair. You're the Last One. You're not supposed to do stuff like that."

"Daft, don't tell me what to do" Tails smirked again and got in Abel's face. "You're persistent in trying to convince me not to carry you, and I'm persistent in trying to convince you I will. Who's got more stamina?" he asked, starting his "propellers" and giving her his hand spinning in the air.

Abel sighed with a sneer. "Only time will show" she said and took his hand and he lifted her up and separated her from the ground .

"Oh, really?" Tails giggled. "'Cause I think I already won."

"As you can see, it wasn't a long way at all," Finn said.

"The lake was within reach. If you had walked a little more, you would never have found us, nor would you have had any idea where you were going."

Amy dragged her one-piece hammer behind her as best she could while Finn leaned on its handle and hissed.

"Oh, yes? Then why have we been walking for so long? And didn't you say earlier I wouldn't be able to find anything on my own?" Amy gasped. The hammer seemed heavier than usual now that there was nothing to carry it. "I've been plowing the ground with that for half an hour," she complained, looking at the hammer, and then it occurred to her: "Are you even leading me on the right path?"

"I wouldn't risk leading you astray," Finn replied. "It's a long way because we have to cross quite a bit of lakeshore to actually get to the cave, which is on the more isolated, northern part. If there's a place more isolated than this very island, it's that cave on this island," Finn remarked.

"The lake looked smaller on the map," Amy complained.

"Everything on the map looks smaller," Finn sighed.

Amy thought for a moment. "Tell me, Finn, how come you actually decided to help me? I thought it would be harder to talk you into."

Finn paused for a moment. "Let it go now," he stammered, "the real question is... why did you give me... a chance? I mocked you. You could have just beaten me again. Or tied me to that hammer of yours and made me show you the way by force. And you, instead, you gave me a crutch so I could walk and..."

Amy paused, grabbed his shoulder and turned him towards her so that he looked into her eyes again. Finn flinched as his handle almost fell out.

"I'm a fighter," Amy said coolly, "not a monster."

And turned back to the road.

Finn looked at her somewhat stunned.

Then he quickly evened his pace with her again.

"Hey," he started to ask her, "there was a blue hedgehog with you in town this morning, too."

"Yeah," Amy sighed. "He's my..."

Sonic hadn't answered her when she asked him what she was to him.

"Friend," she finished.

Finn was silent, then just nodded. "I see," he said.

Amy suddenly stopped and stared into the distance. Finn didn't notice, so he continued walking in front of her, thinking they were still talking:

"Say, that hedgehog, could that have been-"

"SONIC!" Amy screamed and ran right past him and down the bank, towards the blue blur in the distance.

Finn barely managed to see with his eyes what she was running towards, and only managed to react by following her, as fast as he could limping with his crutch. He also noticed that Amy had completely gotten rid of the hammer.

Sonic heard a crying voice calling him not far from him and quickly looked back. Amy. Amy Rose.

For the first time today, he was genuinely happy to see her.

"Amy!" he shouted, but did not run to meet her. He let her approach him first.

Amy rushed to him even faster when she saw him waiting for her. Sonic prepared a defense system in case she tried to throw herself into his arms, but he was surprised when she suddenly stopped in front of him. Her face showed general concern, while the scenes she saw earlier slowly returned to her.

Black forest, attackers, weapons in the wet land.

Tails' broken Miles electric.

So she shook everything out to Sonic in that order.

Black forest, attackers, weapons in the wet land.

Tails' broken Miles electric.

Sonic listened with his face growing paler.

"Woah, woah, woah, Amy!" he stopped after she panted talking on the verge of breaking down about Tails' Miles electric. "Slow down! What exactly—"

"They took him away," Amy said, sounding almost defeated.

Sonic's heart stopped for a moment.

Or two.

"Not." he said. "No. Impossible. They couldn't... How... I followed them... the whole pack... they just disappeared... no..."

There was something terrifying about seeing Sonic so distracted and stuttering. He radiated so much disbelief and shock that Amy just looked at him helplessly and dejectedly, and how he, like her, was just reaching the very edge of what he could bear.

Amy witnessed Sonic put up with a lot of things. He was locked up in prisons. Saved human princesses. He was ejected into space in exploding capsules. He was turning into werewolves. Rescued aliens. He fought against his robot doppelgangers. He was held hostage and tortured (only a few months have passed since then).

But if there was any breaking point, it was the fact that his friend was kidnapped by the Christmas Islanders.

Probably the worst possible group of people on Mobius to kidnap.

Amy realized a breakdown was coming, so she quickly corrected herself, "No, no, no! There's no pack! They didn't take him...she took him."

Sonic stopped clutching his knees. "What?"

Amy looked down and began to rub her hands together nervously. "That... girl. What was her name again?" she briefly turned her head to Finn, only to immediately turn it back to Sonic: "Ah, yes. Abel Ryder."

Sonic blinks, composed. "Who is -"

"The biggest psycho of all the biggest psychos here" Finn stepped forward and brushed himself off, trying to look somewhat normal even though he was pretty sure Amy had broken several bones in his body.

"Uh…" Sonic rubbed his nose. "That's comforting, I guess... But I thought, who are YOU."

"Oh." Amy snapped. "That doesn't matter now. He's right. We have to find him while we still have a chance. Finn says," she pointed at the ferret, "that there's an underground cave around here somewhere."

Sonic, son. "I heard something," he said. "The ground was shaking. Something down there..."

"I'm afraid that means they were already here" Finn replied a little too nonchalantly for Sonic's taste. "Okay, if nothing else, this is the spot."

"What do you mean?" Sonic and Amy addressed him in unison.

"The entrance to the cave is here," he said and pointed to the surface of the lake, which was dimly glazed in the now pitch black. "Not quite here, a little deeper, and you can only get in through the submarine passage."

Sonic glared at him. "Are you serious?"

"As much as I can be," Finn said, not at all upset. "What is it, superhedgehog, are you afraid of getting wet?"

Sonic flew into his face and growled. "Watch your words when you talk to me."

"Okay," Finn said disinterestedly.

"Finn," Amy said sharply now, "is there something you're not telling us? I'm pretty sure as much of a fool as that Abel is, she must have made more than one underwater entrance."

"I told you I'd take you to the cave. We're here. If we're going straight, the cave is directly below us." Finn rolled his eyes. "I didn't say I'd show you the entrance."

However, one sudden movement of Amy's hand that ripped the handle of the hammer from his grasp and symbolically began attaching it back to the dirty hammer itself was enough for Finn to swallow the dumpling.

"Fine," he sighed in defeat. Sonic and Amy exchanged contented looks.

"Come, it's not far," Finn waves to them and walks a little further along the shore without any problems.

"Oooooh, what a nasty actor" Amy said grumpily. "He can walk normally all this time."

"Now let it go Ames" Sonic said and quickly chased after him. Amy trotted after him.

A few minutes later, Finn was rubbing the sand on the ground and pulling it away from a square slot in the stone with a small visible handle. Sonic and Amy stood over his head and watched him as the hidden entrance became more and more visible (that is, the exit, but they didn't know then that the purpose of that door was to get out).

Finn opened the door and immediately jumped down. Amy and Sonic followed him at a slower pace, up the stairs.

"Uh...stuntguys?" Finn called out to them from somewhere deep in the cave. "Maybe we should consider going back slowly."

Sonic had just helped Amy down the humped stairs. "Excuse you?" he asked, now angry at the ferret, which he liked less and less by the second.

He and Amy saw that in the direction their leader had gone, some kind of strange light was coming, which noticeably radiated a lot of heat. The air was heavy, dry and hot, and the view was hazy.

"No way!" he said with Amy by his side walking in that direction. "I'm not leaving here until I find—"

And he saw it.

Fire. It blocked the entire passage, and extended from behind as far as could be seen. On the floor was a pile of discarded torches.

He, Amy and Finn stood completely paralyzed.

Staring into the fire.

A fire in an underwater cave.

"Tails" Sonic whispered, his eyes distracted by the flaming tongues dancing in front of them.