Since this will be my last update for awhile, I give you two chapters in one. Plus I think it leaves a good clencher for such a good wait. Sorry that I can't do more for awhile, I'll be writing, but my laptop only gets internet on campus, and that's where all this is saved. So you'll have to wait (but hey, it isn't like the gap between 6 and 7 which was like a year). So anyways, hope you enjoy.

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As soon as the older Miles arrived back at Knothole, the same group that was there as when he had left had congregated once again and seemed to be waiting for him. Sonic, Bunnie, and Antoine had returned before he did and by the looks of it Sonic was still not too happy, and neither was Sally, but her look was more of disappointment then of anger like the hedgehog's was.

The vulpine walked up to the group and sighed. "I'm sorry princess, but we failed." He said softly to the group as well as the squirrel.

"I know, I heard, I have set up a meeting to discuss what happened, you are going to attend." Sally said flatly. "Sonic, Antoine, Bunnie, and Rotor will be their also."

The older fox nodded simply, and wondered why Rotor would be there, he wasn't with them, but he guessed there was a reason he'd see later. "So what time is the meeting?" He asked, knowing that he was gonna be the center of matters, his behavior at the Junk Yard was very peculiar, and though Sally knew the truth, she was gonna have to treat him like a stranger, and by the looks of it she was already well aware of Sonic's side of the story.

"After lunch," she said, "I think that would be the best time. After we have full stomachs we'll be able to concentrate more on the tasks at hand." She thinks for awhile before turning to Selim and in a stern voice she adds, "And I need to speak to you personally before we begin, I have something to discuss with you." With those words it seems that Sonic sneered, he knew well that it was the dire tone she used when she was upset about something.

The older fox nodded, though he was much more matured now it still seemed that his old Aunt Sally could still get under his skin, even after all those years without her to be the leader it felt like he was younger again, a child to be scolded and he took it with the same head hanging silence he used to. Selim then caught himself and looked into Sally's hard, though he found it difficult at first, then he just watched her as she turned the rest of them. "We're going to have to smooth out all these wrinkles if we plan on doing anything, or we won't get anything done."

They all nodded, they knew this meeting shouldn't have been deemed necessary, they should have been more concerned on what Robotnik was up to, they still had no clue. Of course, in Sonic's mind this is what the old fatso had planned, send in this 'Mobian' that was similar to his little bud and use him as a distraction. "Ya, we should not be fusin' bout some diversion old egg butt sent to fluster us up."

Selim growled again, he was getting sick of being accused, he was trying to help his old best friend and partner, and here he was accusing him of siding with the enemy he had fought his whole damned life. "Listen, I'm doing my best here, I was just worried alright. Stop treating me like I'm one of them! I've been fighting them just as hard as you, when will you realize this isn't some game. All you want is to seek thrills, well those times are over, the enemy is getting more and more serious constantly, so just wake up-"

"Shut up! Just shut up! Both of you," Sally shrieked, surprising both. "I don't care about any of these accusations, can't you see this is what Robotnik wants, to start beating ourselves senseless. We will get things straightened out this afternoon, until then you are dismissed." She finished walking away to her building to get things organized; it was more like a stomping and fuming then an elegant walk.

The other freedom fighters stood in silence for a moment; Sonic was the next one to speed off, still angry, probably in pursuit of Selim's younger self and chili dogs. After another half minute of silence and stillness the older vulpine made his movement to the mess hall, maybe if he grabbed something to eat he could settle this queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. Though he knew chili dogs were out of the question, that would probably drag suspicion in itself.

As Selim walked solemnly off Rotor, Bunnie, and Antoine still watched bewildered, as if they were all staring at a foreign language that even Nicole wouldn't be able to decipher. Bunnie broke the silence with a sigh, but it wasn't a sigh of annoyance or tiredness, but a light and flirty sigh. "Hehe... I think I just done felt my heart a pitter-patter..." She stated putting a hand on her chest.

Antoine glanced over at the bunny/robot and then noticed her cheeks flushed a bit, watching the taller two-tailed fox walk away. He shook his head, "Give mes a break..." He sighed, this one in annoyance, though he kind of liked Selim better then Sonic. For one Sonic and him have been long rivals in his mind, and this fox shows up and takes him on, not only in wit but in speed, and it was fun watching the hedgehog get all hyped up. Though he could never understand why the women always flocked to the mysterious or the wild and dangerous. He always thought the knight in shining armor approach was the best, but it never worked, guess it didn't help that he was the one needing rescuing half the time.

The others finally followed moving to the mess hall after the fox disappeared from site, all of them hungry and ready for lunch. Selim was already at the serving spot, he only asked for a burger (Which was not made from cow, but more from soy) and he grabbed a cup, not filling it with anything. His stomached ached, but not so much from hunger then from all that was happening so fast. The benches in the hall were pretty full, the other freedom fighters eating their meals, idol conversation filling the area making a jumble of noise. Selim wanted to think a bit on what had happened, what was happening, it was like the noise that filled his ears, all jumbled up. He knew the only way he was gonna straighten the mess was to take a step back, take a deep breath and focus on one aspect at a time. So with that he left the hall.

Selim made his way through the brush, empty cup and burger in hand he made his way to the rivers edge, and he thought he heard someone behind him. His hearing hasn't ever failed him before, and he defiantly heard someone following him, but he didn't look back to see who it was, obviously they weren't a threat. The brush cleared to the stream that trickled around Knothole's edge, just where he remembered it. He put his glass into the water filling it with the clear blue liquid. After that he leaned back, being careful not to sit on his tails he sat down and just stared across the trickling brook into apparent nothingness. He started to sort the thoughts that bounced about his skull like ping-pong balls. How he had always wanted to return to this serenity, and here he was. How he always wanted to see Sonic again, and now he did. How he wanted everything to be like it was before his friend died, and it wasn't. And that's what got to him, that he now not only sees his life of old in his dreams but he also sees it when he is awake, but in both cases it was a taunt, something reminding him of what he once had. The suddenness of it all had drove through him like a wreaking ball, it caught him off guard and made him vulnerable to attack, even from old allies.

What he said to Sonic though was the honest truth, the more and more he brought back memories on how he acted before he died was very churlish. He had the patience of a stubborn four year old and moved first and questioned later. Selim couldn't recall much on how the hedgehog and Sally met their fate, but he knew that it was probably Sonic's hasty actions that had caused it. If that was the case it was Sonic that had caused all this, it was his fault he had to be suddenly burdened with the responsibility that Sally once held. He was in command of the Freedom Fighters for a long time, but Selim still thought he was not as good a leader as his old Aunt Sally. She probably made one mistake in judgment, and it lead to her downfall, or it could have been Sonic influencing her judgment, yeah that was probably it.

Selim sighed, this wasn't helping any, the more he sorted through the more there seemed to clutter into the junk pile of thoughts. As he took his first bite of his burger his pursuer finally made their way out of the brush, moving with a light caution the heavy steps came up until they were only a few feet behind the vulpine. He didn't even turn around; the way the ground trembled under every other step indicated who it was.

"What's the matter Ms. Rabbot?" He asked, still staring across the creek. The bunny kinda jumped at being discovered, but then she quickly laughed a little bit.

"I tell 'ya this darned clod-hopper always give me plum away." She said with a chuckling whine, talking about her robotic foot. She then moves a little closer. "Mind if I sit myself down sugar?" She asked looking up.

Selim shook his head. "No not at all." He stated shifting over a bit as the rabbit sat next to him, looking over to him then turning to look where the older fox was staring.

There was a strange awkward silence, the two sat there staring at the same brush. After a bit Selim found himself wondering why she followed him here, so he had to ask. "So why'd you follow me?"

There was a quick jump from the rabbit as if she was startled out of some subconscious state. She then turned her head slowly to look at the Vulpine. "Well, it's just that the way y'all acted kinda has us all worried 'bout y'all. At least I do sugar, that's why I followed ya. I was gonna ask what caused y'all to get all up tight like that."

The older Miles nodded, "I'm sorry about that, I kinda got out of hand... it's just, Robotnik is not just his problem. He's just so stuck on himself, like he wants to take all the glory himself. You know? I mean, I think he sees me as a threat of something, cause he wants to be the hero or something... We have to work together, being a glory hog will get you killed..." He stopped himself, and looked down realizing what he did. "Oh shit, I'm sorry I shouldn't have went off like that."

Her hand came on his shoulder. "It's alright sugar." She said with a laugh. "It's best that y'all not pent that into yerself. And quite frankly I do agree with ya. Sonic can go overboard at times. And his head can sometimes be a little to big for his little ol' shoulders. But ya know, that's what makes sugar hog who he is. Sure he ain't perfect, but I guess we're all guilty of our li'l old flaws."

Selim absorbs this and it made complete sense, for all the years he was leading the Freedom Fighters he couldn't say that he lead as well as he'd liked. Maybe his flaw was that he was too critical on others, or even worse on himself. He looked to Bunnie and smiled. "Thanks Bunnie." He said with a little smirk, he could always count on her if Sally wasn't available, guess he was thankful for that at least.

The rabbot blushed at his warm smile. "Why Mr. Reworp, I do declare, I think that's the first time I seen y'all smile." She said with a little laugh.

The vulpine laughed with Bunnie, guess it had been a long time since he had been even faintly happy. Life for him was so miserable since Sonic died on him, he had never had the time to be happy. He never knew if he'd ever feel like this again though, so he made sure he grasped the moment of joy, like a homeless man on his last slice of bread, chewing slowly, cause his next meal could never come again.

When they settled down a bit and Selim looked back at the spot he was looking at before, becoming quiet once again, Bunnie decided this was as good a time as any. She cleared her through and turned a little toward the Vulpine, "Uh, Selim." She said softly, almost whispering.

The older Tails turned to look at Bunny's eyes, they seemed to have a glow to them, but not one of shock like the first time they crossed paths, but a little softer and uneasy. He nodded, wondering why she was acting so nervous.

Bunnie looked down lightly as she cleared her throat again. "I was wonderin' if ya'll would consider... um going... out with me... sometime?"

Suddenly a rise of panic rose through Selim. He knew he couldn't go out with his old Aunt Bunny, she didn't know who he was. But what was he gonna do? He didn't want to crush her, and he certainly couldn't go out with her, it'd be too awkward. He found himself pulled in two directions, his heart raced and the silence had already drawn on for a bewildering length of time. How am I gonna get out of this one? He thought to himself.

The fox stammered a bit and kept himself from jolting up, he tried to say something, anything to help the situation, but all that came out was a bunch of useless stuttering and jumbled words flowed out of his mouth, trying to figure out how to put down the egg quickly without cracking it. "Uh... well... ya see... Bunnie... uh." He blurted.

"What's wrong sugar? There somethin' wrong with little ol' me? Just tell me if der is." She said flatly.

The vulpine shakes his head quickly in response, "I just can't... I mean I'm flattered of you to ask, but... hehe... I'm sorry it's just awkward is all..."

"What's awkward sugar?" She asked cocking her head.

Selim sighs in defeat. "I just can't is all, I'm sorry bunnie, but it's a personal problem of mine... I wish I could tell you more, but I can't..."

Bunnie looked away, "I'm sorry Selim, I just all got carried away. I didn't even think 'bout yer feelins, if y'all ever change yer mind then could ya let me know hun?" She asked softly looking into his eyes, it looked like she would stay through this without being hurt. She was actually thinking that it wasn't her, but a problem that Selim had, she only wish he'd tell her what it was though. .

Selim nods and smiles at Bunnie, "I'll keep it in mind thanks, it's not you, I just can't..." He says as he nods and starts to walk off. The rabbot sat there and sighed. "Darn, all well, guess it's no use fussin', he's got his reasons, I just hope it ain't me."

As Selim walked back into the clearing he sighed and shook his head, this was just getting stranger and stranger all the time. He looked up and noticed that the clouds were becoming a bit overcast and the day was turning humid. He listened to his surroundings and the birds were singing songs warning of an impending rain. And by how it felt, it was gonna be a really bad storm. This causes the vulpine to think back a bit, to the past. He remembered there was a bad storm, really bad. It happened about three days before Sonic and Sally died, it devastated Knothole, cutting communications for the day, it took time to rebuild, however, it was believed that the strange weather was probably caused by their old friend Robotnik. That was the mission that Sonic and Sally went on that had got them killed. The evil genius put a fake machine up when he got hold of their communication to other freedom fighters in concern if there had been strange weather patterns. Of course, it was just nature, a sporadic storm out of nowhere that caused drastic damage to everything, and indirectly, took Sonic and Sally's lives.

The vulpine wondered if he should tell the others, well Aunt Sally, since she was the only one who would believe him and knows how he knows that information, he would tell her when he met with her, which he was going to do now, before the meeting. He took a deep breath as he walked into the war room; Sally could be seen gathering up papers, preparing her case. She looked up to see the older fox standing there, the vulpine uncertain on if he could come in or not.

"Come in Selim," she said, sticking true to using the fabricated name of the future Tails. "Shut the door behind you please, this doesn't have to be heard by the others."

That made the vulpine more nervous then anything as he turned around and shut the door behind him. He walked toward the desk and looked down slightly at the ground squirrel, though he still felt he was looking up for some reason, probably because it was difficult to keep eye contact.

"What's wrong with you?" She asked sternly, "Sonic told me you kept him from searching an apparent excavation sight. He says you two got in a fight and blew the mission because of it. He states you grabbed his ankle and both Bunnie and Antoine saw it. I knew I shouldn't have sent you on that mission, but for some reason I wanted to give you a chance and you blew it big."

Selim shook his head. "It would have been better if we returned when we came up with a plan, there were too many swatbots, and it looked like they were waiting for our arrival. I tried to ration with him but he got really upset."

Sally stopped and thought for a second. "He never told me that, it is kinda like Sonic to rush into things." She thinks for a minute. "If he rushed in do you think that you guys would have succeeded?"

The vulpine shakes his head. "They would have fought us off, we were heavily outnumbered. You remember that story Sonic and Tails told you earlier, about being outnumbered and how they ran, well it was far worse then that."

Sally nods. "Right, but you have to remember Selim that Sonic doesn't know you, and when you take charge like that it gets to him. I mean lets face it, he hardly listens to me. If you tell him he can't do something he'll do it. I thought you knew that better then anyone."

The older Miles looks to the ground. "Sorry, it's been awhile."

Sally smiles and puts a hand on the fox's shoulder. "I'm sure it has, but I don't want to hear anymore about it, it's just you being here has already changed things, you may not know it but it has. What happened to Sonic probably won't happen this time... I should probably tell you something."

The vulpine looked up at Sally with a confused look on his face. "What is it Sally?"

Sally sits behind her desk, "Well I don't think I ever told you but Sonic and I ourselves have been caught in a strange time travel situation before."

Selim looked up at the princess. "Really?" he asked cocking his head. "I never heard about that."

The squirrel nods and looks back up from her papers at the fox, "Sonic and I didn't tell anybody about it, cause with things like that it's always best to be subtle. Time travel can complicate things if it gets outta hand, that's why you have to be more careful Selim. You can really mess things up, sometimes in the worst ways, even with the best of intentions."

Nodding, the fox said. "I will Sally don't worry about it."

Sally looks up and smiles. "I know you're trying to make things better, just be more careful alright, I'll see you at the meeting in a bit."

As the fox walked away he thought of something. "Um Sally?"

The squirrel looked up at the fox as he turned back around. The older Tails looked to the ground. "Bunnie tried to ask me out earlier today, I mean I turned her down, but it's just I'm worried that she might be taking it too roughly, so if you'd please talk to her I'd appreciate it. You could tell her I lost my last girlfriend just a little while ago so I'm still a little heart broken, or something like that."

The princess laughs and smiles. "Turning a few head are we? Well don't worry I'll take care of it Selim. I could tell her you're a speciest (One who believes in only going out with one's own species.), or I could even tell her you're a homosexual."

Selim shrugs and laughs. "You don't have to go that much into extremes, but whatever works. You said so yourself I have to be careful and not mess with the time stream, so just tell her something that will deter her from being bummed out about me refusing her is all."

Acorn nods, "Don't worry, I'll tell her you're still heartbroken. Hopefully by then we can figure out how to get you back to where you belong, but we'll have to talk about that some other time, we need to get to that meeting." She said standing up and escorting Selim out of the room. She says nudges Selim, "You understand I can't go easy on you at the said meeting right?" She asked as she escorted the vulpine, he nodded slowly in response.

The princess and vulpine arrived at the hall first since Sally's office was nearby, the room had gotten muggy as the humidity got thicker, you could almost cut it with a knife. The ground squirrel got some fans and started to circulate some air into the room.

"It's a good plum time for all the ol' air conditionin' to bust, huh Sally-girl?" Came the southern accented voice that could only belong to Bunnie Rabbot.

Sally nods, "I was going to have Rotor fix it. Suddenly it got really muggy, the weather was supposed to be more pleasant then this today."

Selim nods quickly and realizes he forgot to tell Sally about the storm. "It feels like a big storm is brewing, we should probably bolt everything down tonight and make sure everyone's inside. If it's this muggy that's probably what it is." He said.

Outside though it was very still, there was no wind, no birds singing, an eerie silence lingered about, like the sounds in nature had evacuated the area. Sally nods a bit. "It seems a little calm outside, but the sky is starting to shroud over a bit. We should keep everyone safe and have them all in the village, but we still have to have someone at the watch post."

"Leave it all to me sugar." Bunnie said. "If a tree limb tries and clunk me on my little ol' head I can put my arm up and shield myself."

Sally nods in agreement, "Alright, now all we have to do is wait for the others to show up."

The wait wasn't too long, Sonic was obviously the first one to show, he just wanted to get this over with Selim could tell. The hedgehog was never much of one for staying in one spot at any given time. When he came into the room he was hardly breaking a sweat, since the blue rodent didn't have much fur, and he was much smaller then Rotor, so he was cooler then the rest of them, which was kind of ironic in the fox's mind. There was a sense of silence in the room, a scary quiet just like the one outside, and just as dense. As Antoine and Rotor entered the room all the attendants had arrived and they were ready to begin.

Selim sat there and tried to keep himself straight in his chair, he knew he was gonna be the focal point of the meeting and all this attention was getting to him. Not in a positive way like Sonic, but it made him feel like he was being shrunk down and analyzed molecule by molecule and it gave him an uneasy feeling.

The silence was suddenly eroded as Sally's voice came through and awoken the hibernation of sound. "Alright, I called this meeting to discuss what had happened during today's Reconnaissance mission. Now Sonic told me he had obtained no data from the excavation site which is a shame. However, the location of the dig was recovered."

She placed Nicole on the table and a holograph projected up displaying the coordinates of the area in which the robot army was scavenging. "Now this area gave me a creepy déjà vu feeling so I had Nicole scan its history banks and... all I can say is its not good news." She pressed a button and along side the current hologram appeared another projection, this one was from about a year ago according to the date in the corner, and everyone knew what it meant and once again the eerie sound of silence filled the room after one or two gasps, the one from Antoine especially loud. The coyote trembled while the other masked series expressions.

Sonic crossed his arms around his chest and sat one leg on the other, his foot moving, probably going through 'seizure' from sitting for more then ten minutes. "That's where ol' Buttnik was scrapping up junk around the time we discovered the big ol' Death Ship of his..." He seemed to be the least phased, as if he had forgotten what a close call that battle was, which wouldn't be unusual for Sonic.

The princess nodded solemly. "What this means we don't know, but if worse come to worse, we could come close to Doomsday once again."

Selim looked at the table then back over his shoulder just in time to see two fox ears duck down behind a high window sill. The older vulpine wasn't surprised, spying on meetings was one of his pastimes after all, though this meeting never took place back at this time, because they had never gotten the letter from Uncle Chuck. The more he thought about it, the more he thought that the only difference that could have caused it was his presence; however he failed to see how he could have affected Uncle Chuck since he had never left the Great Forest before they got that letter.

After about a good minute of silence Sonic piped up. "I coulda stopped the ol' Swatheads if some hadn't gotten in the way." He stated sourly glancing at the two-tailed fox across the table, which Selim had just been able to glance up and see.

Bunnie shrugged. "There were quite a bit a Swatbots Sally-girl, I don't know if we'd all be able to handle 'em all." Selim surprised to hear a defense in his case, however not quite surprised of the person it had come from.

Sonic glance over at her in a little bit of shock. "C'mon I woulda been able to hand a few of those ButtBots no prob." The blue hedgehog said articulating it with a little cross chop a chest level lightly jumping from his seat.

Sally sighs. "I don't know Sonic I wasn't there, so I'm just speculating. Anyways the point is we shouldn't be fighting with each other over it. Just by the location we all know something we didn't before, so the mission wasn't a complete failure."

Sonic sits back in his seat and lets out a humph. "I still say he's a bot, what was up with the wrist gizmo. Sal, your look alike had one of them, and it fooled everyone, I don't trust him." He said, no longer looking at Selim, or anyone for that matter, it was more like he was in personal thought. Selim did shake his head though, he and the young spy in the northern window pane knew that the fact that nobody knew was not true. For Robotnik counted on Sonic's encounters with Sally, but he could not program it to anticipate reading bed-time stories in an appropriate role playing manner and therefore he failed to fool the young fox. Ever since that time though, that time when Sonic almost lost Sally because of his ignorance, Tails did notice a different air about the hedgehog. He was far more cautious about strange phenomenon. Like if a rescue mission was too easy, or if a stranger came into Knothole as an ally, Selim's two tails and wrist laser were just ways to add to the suspicion.

Sally nodded, that was why she brought Rotor to the meeting. She turned to Selim and turned off the projection the room turning slightly darker as she did so. "Bunnie also saw this wrist weapon, I'm sorry to ask this, but can you have Rotor look at it?" She said sighing, hoping she wasn't gonna effect things herself, but she had no choice, it was the only way to relieve Sonic's suspicions.

The vulpine nodded, he didn't have a choice and he put his left hand on the table and it landed with a hard thud, as if it were a little heavier then just a normal hand. He moved his right hand over his wrist and a clicking could be heard as a button was pressed, a piece of the apparent skin lifted up to reveal metal insides. "It's not something I'm proud of..." he said looking down at it with a mediocre tone. "The only reason I have it is because I became careless."

Antoine jumped at the weapon and was shivering lightly, Sonic just let out another humph noise, Bunnie knew what the fox meant, she wasn't exactly proud of her robotic limbs either. Sally nodded to Rotor and he moved cautiously toward where the vulpine was sitting. The mechanic looked at the contraption with amazement, it was unlike anything he had ever seen. It look like a swatbot arm, but more durable, the skin that covered it was almost had a frightening quality of realism. "Hmm... it looks like it's not powered by an external power source; these wires go back into the frame so the battery must be father up the arm."

To this the fox shook his head. "No," he said as he moved his right hand to grab a wrench out of the walrus's utility belt and tapped it against his wrist, a muffled metallic sound could be heard. He made his way up his arm tapping the metal wrench until the sound of metal to metal contact faded and a light thud sound was heard. Obviously it was organic tissue under that part, just above the wrist laser; about half of his forearm was metal. There would have been no room for a battery.

The fox handed the wrench back to its respective owner, who used it to scratch his head. "Then where does the juice to fire it come from?" The walrus asked puzzled. Selim shrugged, "Well, I lost my left hand in an accident and a friend of mine built me up a replacement. She said something along the lines that the oxygen that would have normally been dispersed to run my organic hand could be converted into the energy needed to run the contraption." The older fox surprised himself on how well he could lie, not about how the robotic part worked but about the creator, must be he was getting used to his role.

The room sat silent, until Rotor piped up in a lightly stunned way. "Wow, I have to meat this friend of yours some day..."

Selim quickly twisted the mold to a point that would prevent further talk on the matter. "She's dead, or robotosized, either way she's gone..." He said looking at the table as he closed up the contraption.

The ploy had its toll and the subject was immediately dropped. Sally knew this was made up, but hung her head anyway. She then looked up at Sonic, who still seemed to be unmoved. His arms still crossed in front of his chest. "Ok, so you aren't a machine... not entirely anyway, that don't I can trust ya Slim, not after what ya did today." He said, in a flat tone, not wanting to attack him fully while the sympathy was shifted.

Bunnie shook her head. "Sugar hog, he's been through as much as we have, so y'all best just calm yerself down a bit."

Selim shook his head at the rabbot. "It's ok Sonic, I understand, trust is something that isn't cheap in this world, and the way I've been acting hasn't been helping matters, I'm just trying to look out for us you know. I guess I got nervous; it was my first mission, give me a break."

The blue hedgehog is silent for a good while. "I still feel something false about you, like you were sent to catch us off guard. Like Ari, or Grif slinking his way to the Power Stone. But it's not my decision. All I can do is keep my eyes peeled.

The older fox nodded. "It's understandable, so was there anything else that needed to be said here princess, or are we all set?"

Sally thought for a moment then shook her head. "I think that's all we'll discuss today, tomorrow we're gonna try and see if we can't get more information on what Robotnik is looking for, if it is more parts for another Death Egg, we'll have to stop him."

"No worries Sal. Those things maybe huge, but they take practically weeks to build from scratch, we'll take it out in a sonic-second." He stated.

"I hope you're right Sonic," Sally stated. "I don't think any of us want to live that nightmare again."

The rain had started, and it came down hard, sheets and sheets of it. Bunnie sat in the watch post, the cricket noise that usually accompanied nightfall was drowned out by the constant pounding water. The rabbot sighed and sat back, looking into the swaying brush, a quick flash sliced through the dark and made a horrific crash, it was a terrible night.

She had barely heard someone approach from behind and placed a hand on her shoulder causing her to jump and spin around, a quick flash followed and lit up the dark so that Bunnie saw Sally's face. The rabbot sighed in relief. "Jeepers Sally-girl, you just plum near scared me outta my fur."

The princess quickly apologized and stood for a minute. "Mind if we talk bunny?" She asked lightly sitting next to the southern-accented rabbit.

The rain continued to pound on their surroundings as they talked, about Selim's fabricated past. About his girlfriend who had vanished after Robotnik had brutally attacked the town the fox had lived in, how the vulpine had wandered the world, avoiding patrols and surviving alone for a whole month. How he had accidentally stumbled upon Knothole.

"He said he wasn't ready," Sally said as the conversation was reaching its conclusion. "It's just been hard for him to cope with the lose, and he's afraid it'll come back."

The rabbit nods slowly. "I didn' know, I hope he knows I am sorry fer that."

The princess nods in response, "I'm sure he knows..." She said when Bunnie heard something, it sounded like thunder, but it was more constant, regular. "Hold on sugar... I got this feelin' we're not alone."

The sound continued to grow a bit, and now even Sally could hear it, and when she hoped this was a dream, a horrible nightmare, the rabbit next to her yelled. "Sally! My Stars! Get everyone up quick hun, we're in it deep."

The Bunnie handed the ground squirrel the binoculars and ran to the alarm, as the rabbit's footsteps faded in the distance, the thousands of others got louder and louder. Acorn took the looking glasses and brought them to her eyes, and immediately wished she hadn't, about a hundred yards away there was an army of Swatbots. Thousands and thousands of them, and they were all heading for Knothole village.

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And there's another one before I go for summer vacation. Sorry, the next one won't be up until late August or early September. My internet access is much better on campus when school is in session, but don't worry I'll still be working on this over the break. Review, please. Enjoy your summer, the next chapter should be up around August 24th.