A whole month has come and gone, now that wasn't so bad now was it? Thanks to those that put in reviews, though I have most of the story already planned out, sometimes letting me know of the questions the reader is thinking of helps me develop the characters better. So here's the next chapter.

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Miles found himself running, he looked back to see that the Swatbots were close behind. He normally would have been able to leave them in the dust, but he had sustained heavy injury, it was too painful to use his tails as a propeller. His run also had a slight limp, indicating there was a leg injury.

Robotnik had caught his team off guard, they were ambushed and they all scattered, he thought he had trained them to be prepared for something like that, but not to that extreme. He knew one of his comrades bought it, because that was what started the realization of an ambush.

He hated running away, he needed to help his friends, but he remembered that he was no help to them if he was captured too, so he had to keep running. A laser shot over his head, whizzing by his ear and smacking a buttress of metal and caused it to begin descending upon his escape route, this was his chance. Temporarily ignoring the pain, he dashed for the collapsing structure, his tails pushing him forward, hoping to get under it and leave the Swatbots blocked from their pursuit.

He was just about under it when an extremely sharp pain rose in his tails and he was forced to stop just underneath the collapsing rubble, which was now descending onto him. He jumped quickly forward as the metal debris came crashing down onto the street.

As the noise and dust settled, he opened his eyes, he made it, now he had to get back to Lower Mobius and tell the disheartening news to everyone. He tried to stand up but then felt a very acute pain in one of his tails. The fox looked behind him to see that one of his tails was crushed between two metal slabs, it caused him to yip .
He heard some metallic footsteps approach; the Swatbots were climbing the rumble! He tugged as hard as he good, but all it did was cause him more pain, he was stuck, like a mouse with his tail caught in the trap and the cat watching with dreadful glee as his prey struggled to no avail to get out of the ensnarement. He knew this was it, his life flashed before his eye, then suddenly there was a bright white light, he looked in his hands to see the Chaos Emerald he had brought. Then the light grew until he was completely enveloped... and that was the last thing he saw.

****

Selim jumped up in his bed, he looked around to see that it was now morning. Yawning he climbed out of the bottom bunk and looked into the mirror and started fixing some of his frazzled fur. That dream he just had, that was of the moments before he found himself in the Great Forest.

Did that light bring him here? Or was it something else? Maybe it had something to do with the Chaos Emeralds. He didn't know, but it was the only explanation he could devise.

The Vulpine walked out of his room and into the morning sun and as his eyes adjusted to the light. He noticed that there was a little crowd developing in the center of Knothole, something was happening, he had to see what was going on. Selim walked up to the gathering heroes. Sally, Bunny, Antoine, Sonic, Tails, and Rotor were all there. There weren't too many other recruits, they were probably still sleeping.

Sonic was the first to notice the vulpine's approach and he sighed with disgust. "Well look who it is, it's Slim." The hedgehog said spitefully.

Ignoring his former friend, the other Miles looked to the princess, "So what is going on?" He asked noticing that the squirrel was holding a letter of some kind. Obviously it was something that has caused this meeting,

"I told ya there was somethin' cookin' at that Junk Yard Sal." Sonic said as the squirrel handed Selim the letter that she had received.

It was a letter from Uncle Chuck and it said that Robotnik was up to something big at the Junk Yard, but security was too tight, and he could blow his cover. He was asking that Sally send out a team to find out what is going on.

Something rang false in the older Miles mind, he never remembered such a letter, something changed, but how could he have affected Charles? He was never near Mobotropolis since he had gotten here. "Something feels wrong." He thought out loud.

Sally looked to the vulpine and gave him a look of concern and scorn, reminding him to not jeopardize his cover. Seeing her Selim got quiet and then the squirrel turned back to the group, "I assure you, Charles has never let us down, so we should send a team out there and see what is going on."

The princess looked to Sonic. "They'll be expecting you, so you should go, and distract the forces if need be. Bunnie and Antoine, you two are going too." She then turned to the older Tails. "You should go too Selim."

This caught the vulpine off guard. He wasn't expecting to go on a mission so vital so soon. Sonic was also agitated. "He's a rookie Sal, we don't even know if we can trust him yet, and you're gonna send him on an important mission like this?"

Sally placed her hands on her hips and sighed, shaking her head a little. "And here I thought you were the one who said that there was nothing wrong with trusting somebody. What is wrong with you Sonic? If he was a robot don't you think he would have attacked us in our sleep?"

Sonic grumbled lightly to himself. "Alright he can go, but he better not slow me up."

The younger Tails pitched in, "Can I come too Sonic?" The young kit asked the hedgehog.

Sonic shook his head. "Sorry T-2, no can do. Things could get pretty ugly, why don't you stay here and guard the ol' base little bud?"

"Aw, but staying here is dull Sonic!" He whined. "Why do you always get to go on the cool adventures?"

The fox's older form stepped in "Hey, you're still learnin' bud, I'll make sure you're ready to come when the time is right, but now we need to keep Knothole safe. That's an important job, the entire future of the Freedom Fighters rest on your shoulders."

Tails filled with pride and said, "You bet, I'll do my best."

Sonic growled at Selim, giving him a deadly glare. "So are we leaving today Slim or are gonna socialize all day?" He asked bitterly, his tone caught most of them off guard, especially the younger kit.

"Sonic, are you feeling ok?" the young fox asked.

Suddenly Sonic noticed his sudden change in attitude, "Sorry little guy, must be the pressure got to my head."

Sally knew that that wasn't true, since he had been under a lot of stress often, but he never acted like this before, he only acted this fool hearty and bitter when he was jealous. Actually, he was treating Selim like he did Griffen a few years back. Did Sonic think Selim was flirting with her? Or maybe it was that he had caught someone else's eye. She thought to herself looking over to the younger Tails as he admired his older self. She kinda chuckled little did the kit know, but now in a way he was as egocentrical as his blue hedgehog friend.

"Yes let's go." Selim stated breaking the silence. With those words Antoine and Bunnie stated to follow the vulpine as he started to head out toward the Junk Yard. Though Sonic stayed for a second crossing his arms over his chest and griped. "First day here and he's already bossing us all around, better watch out Sal."

Selim blushed, he was so used to giving orders he forgot his place, but it was still kind of rude to spite him as he did. So he just did what he learned from Sonic, aim for the ego. "Oh, I'm sorry, ladies first." He said allowing Bunnie to pass, there was a pause. "So I guess Bunnie is leading now, unless you still want to Sonic."

Antoine was enjoying the hell out of this; it was good to see the blue fool get a taste of his own medicine. Bunnie blushed and said in almost a mumble, "Well, I'm all flattered an all, but I'm no good at leadin' hun." After the rabbit's commit, Sonic dashed up to Selim, "Well then you better get moving, us guys will go last." He spit.

"Calm down you two." Sally sighed. "I don't know why you two are acting so childish, but you need to keep your wits about you, I could always keep both of you here."

Selim or Sonic defiantly didn't want that, so they both were silent. The princess nodded, "Antoine, Bunnie, keep track of them, make sure they don't start bickering." She finished as she turned to head back to her office. She then noticed the younger vulpine looking at the dispersing group with confusion, poor thing probably never really saw Sonic when he was like that. She looked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey kiddo, you have a base to protect, don't ya?" She asked the kitsune in a tender voice.

The young fox finally snapped out of it and nodded, "Right Aunt Sally, I'll do my best."

The group parted ways, each of them going to do their own tasks, all unaware that the letter was set up by someone who was not Uncle Chuck.

*****

Without further conflict the group arrived at the Junk Yard, they all hid behind a pile of metal debris. "Well," Sonic whispered to the party. "Let's see how many butbots there are." He looked over the pile and into the yard, the noon sun made it easy to see them now. He'd hate to say it, but Sally was right there were lots of them, more then before. It kinda made him nervous; it looked like they were ready for him. He had a bad feeling on this one. There was a deep pit that was dug out in the middle of the area, it looked like they were excavating something.

"Looks like they've been pretty busy, haven't they?" Selim asked, startling the blue hedgehog as the vulpine was now suddenly next to him, looking at the same area he was. "I should go check it out." Sonic said as he was charging to go.

Selim grabbed the hedgehog's arm; he remembered that this never happened, so maybe the time and way that Sonic and Sally died had changed as well. "Are you crazy, there are too many Swatbots down there, you shouldn't risk it. We'll probably need more people than we have right now, we might even need Nicole if there is something that needs to be analyzed." The fox stated.

Sonic looked into his eyes and just glared back. "Who do you think you are? You come here and just think you can take over and make every decision for us. You are just a machine throwing our force into chaos. You think just because you have the same eyes, the same fur, and the same two tails that you will trick me. I have been tricked over and over again, but he won't fool me this time."

The older Tails started to fell like something stabbed him, he felt almost like when Sonic died, so many emotions ran through him when those words left the hedgehog's mouth. "Why can't you see I'm as much a Mobian as you?" He said, subduing the anger that was rising in his tone.

"You still try, you failed to fool me yet you still try, you want to stop me from seeing what is happening down there!" He said as he jumped up. "Well you aren't gonna stop me, I won't be fooled again." Sonic cried as he started to run down the hill.

Unfortunately for Sonic, Selim was just as quick as he, the vulpine grabbed the hedgehog's leg, tripping him up and causing him to fall on his face into the pile of metal debris. Sonic quickly glared back at him and growled, "Let go Slim," He said starting to kick the fox's arm.

"I can't do that Sonic! You're gonna get yourself killed!" Selim yelled at the hedgehog, "Let's at least make the attack at night where we can move without getting tracked as easily."

The hedgehog got his leg moving enough to shake it loose, but now he was more interested in the current conflict to be bothered with reconnaissance missions. "If we come back at night, they'll just use heat tracking! You just want us to come back when the robots will be ready for us."

The older fox growled down on the hedgehog, "I'm not one of them! Will you get it through that self-centered little head of yours, we can cover ourselves better in the dark, and it'll be easier to distract the enemy to a false heat source. Can't you think without rushing into things?"

"Why you!" The hedgehog growled as he lunged back up the hill and attempted to tackle at the vulpine. "Who do you think you are, hot shot? You just come here and think you know everything, and then you have the gall to look like Tails, you'll never be like Tails, you're just a phony, created to catch us off guard, and I'm the only one that sees it!"

The sudden attack caused the future Miles to be caught off balance, and as he was put down by his old friend he began to become furious. Suddenly they both fell forward, grappling each other and crashing through debris on the side of the pile as they tumbled downward. Bunnie and Antoine climbed up the opposite side as they had lost site of the two, but they were well aware that the hedgehog and the fox were in the middle of a conflict.

The two squabbling freedom fighters finally reached the bottom of the hill and crashed into a large metal slab that tipped over and made a loud clang sound, which gathered some unwanted attention, Swatbots noticed a lot of noise on their scanners and what they see is a blue hedgehog and two-tailed vulpine scuffling.

Snively was notified that their guests of honor had arrived, as expected. The pointy nosed human laughed to himself. The hedgehog was so predictable, now that all the pieces were in place, all he had to do was make one swoop and soon the location of Knothole would be his. "Prepare to attach the tracker." He commanded and chuckled to himself as his plan was working perfectly.

The Swatbot with the tracker snuck up to a pile of rubble near the conflicting animals, the other bots held back, told to not move in until the tracker was on the hedgehog, but it was difficult to get a good shot since the scuffle was causing the hedgehog to move around constantly.

The older Miles stood up and threw Sonic off of him just as the other two Freedom Fighters made it over the top of the hill. "I'm not your enemy; we shouldn't be fighting each other, so stop being so stubborn."

"You are the one who is holding me back, are you afraid of what I'd find here?" Sonic asked, narrowing his eyes at the fox.

The Swatbot shot the tracer as the older Miles walked toward Sonic, hitting the fox instead of the hedgehog. The fox felt a sharp sting as the bug was pinned into him, it was a lucky shot because it got through the fur and hid itself underneath, completely undetectable.

"Well?" Sonic asked as he stood up himself, still glaring at the vulpine as he brushed himself off.

Deciding to ignore the pain for now Miles continued to confront Sonic. "I'm just as curious as you are, but we'll never find out what is happening if we rush into this." As he was speaking the Swatbots were now moving in, ready to spring their attack. But their object was to scare them away, not to capture. Three of them came over behind Sonic and caused the older fox to jump.

Having to move quickly the vulpine had a reaction and he lifted his left hand and Something came out of the wrist and Sonic could identify it right away, it was a robotic wrist gun. "So I was right, but if you think I'm gonna let you shoot me-"

"Sonic, duck..." Tails said simply as he shot. Not needing to be told twice the hedgehog got down as the beam went overhead, surprisingly powerful and caused the three Swatbots to go flying back.

Suddenly it was as if they were surrounded, metal heads came out of the debris. "Well they're onto us." Selim sighed as he looked for a way out. He noticed that the way back to Knothole was clear. "Get Antoine and Bunnie outta here Sonic, I'll hold the Swatbots." The fox said putting the laser away, the barrel went back into his wrist and he looked completely normal once again.

Sonic knew the situation was too dire to argue, and was now too dangerous for the others for him to figure out what was going on. He raced back up the debris pile and grabbed the rabbit and Antoine and juiced it out of the area.

The bots started to close in on their target, but the fox, seeing that the rest of the party was gone decided he better get out of their too. "FREEZE INTRUDER..." Came a robotic call.

The fox shook his head, "Later." He said before he sped off, his tails being used as a rotor, and causing the bots to fly back a few yards. Their job was complete, so they engaged in no further pursuit, soon they would return to Knothole, the tracer tracking their location, and the base's coordinates would soon be Snively's.

The humanoid was back in Robotropolis and laughing with glee, the pieces were all in place; now all he had to do was prepare an all out attack.

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Decided to put a little action scene in there for you, they seem to be the hardest point for me, but I should learn to get better, cause there'll be more of those to come. Anyways, my next date of posting will be the 16th of May.