Author's notes: Sorry for the long hiatus, I lost the entire set of later chapters when my computer died so I took some time to redo a few. Thanks for hanging on and without further wait, the next chapter. Please read and review, any advice will help.

Chapter 4: Unpleasant Calm Before the Storm.

.X.x.x New Mobotropolis, 8:00 a.m. x.x.X.

For many, their day begins when the sun rises over the city of New Mobotropolis. But for one soul however, the night before had never ended. Sonic, the hero of Mobius is lightly resting in a tree after he spent the night running to clear his head. For the past two months, Sonic has had a lot on his mind since the disappearance of Amy Rose. The beeping of his wrist communicator cuts the reprieve short. Groaning out of exhaustion and frustration, Sonic drops out of the tree and ends his night the same way he has for the past month, dashing to Amy's house in hopes of her one day just being there. The bright and lovely pink house stands out against the green sea of forest around it so finding it is no problem. As he races to beat the sun to the house, his feigning hope is all but gone as he sees no lights in or around the house. Even as he jumps the fence on to the still well kempt lawn there is still no sign of life. Like every other time, he hopes to not find the key hidden in the loosened slab on the walkway. But like every other time, it is there meaning she is not. As he returns the key to its rightful place he jumps the fence and speeds off in another direction. No matter how fast he runs, Sonic begins to feel an unyielding guilt starting to gnaw at him the grips to the very fiber of his being.

"I can't keep doing this to myself," he stops and rubs his eyes out of frustration "I gotta go talk to someone to get my mind off this." Suddenly an idea sparks in his mind. "I wonder how Tails is doing."

.X.x.x New Mobotropolis, Tails Hangar, 10:00 am x.x.X.

His breathing and stress begins to dissolve as he arrives at Tails hangar. Since most his house was destroyed in the last attack, he has spent most of his free time since being released from the hospital turning his place of work into a second home. As Sonic follows the droning of machinery to the hangar wing, he spots Tails working on the Tornado.

Sonic playfully mused "Hey, I thought the Doc said to take it easy until the bandages are off."

Tails smiles and slides from under the plane "I only started an hour ago; I just put on auto pilot system and a few minor adjustments to help when I'm cleared to fly again." At a glance, he notices Sonic's smile begins to melt. "You know, there was nothing that could be done to change what happened that day." Before he could reply, Tails phone alarm began to blare. Upon realizing that Nicole was calling, Tails pointed his phone at a monitor on the wall causing it to light up, showing a female lynx reading from a clipboard.

Tails smiles "Morning Nicole, what's the morning call for?"

"I was calling to see if Sonic was here," she looks away from the clipboard at notices "Which he is, making my morning a lot easier."

"Hey Nicole, " said Sonic sheepishly "If Sal sent you to look for me can you tell her I'm sorry for leaving."

"She already knew when and why you left, that is not why I'm looking for you. You're needed for a meeting at Freedom HQ."

Sonic shakes his head "Eggman again, this guy doesn't know when to quit, Alright I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Actually we aren't sure who it is and Sally expects you to be there ASAP because of it. See you soon."

As the screen turned black, Sonic began to head for the door. "Sorry Tails, looks like I gotta go ..."

"You mean us," Tails interrupts "First off, I'm still a member hurt or not I'm going. Second, my way is a lot faster." with the flip of a switch a portal opened up on the wall.

Sonics jaw drops "You started an hour ago?"

Tails shrugs, "Yeah, I started on the plane after." Sonic rises a brow "What, I needed something to do for the other twenty minutes."

.X.x.x New Mobotropolis, Freedom H.Q., 10:31 am x.x.X.

To everyone's surprise, both Tails and Sonic appeared at Freedom H.Q. faster than they even expected with sonic on the way. Leaving the questions for later, Sonic and Tails joins Bunnie, Antoine, Rotor, and Sally's brother King Elias Acorn.

Sonic and Sally share confused looks at one another "Why is Elias here?"

"Depending on how this meeting goes and due to our small numbers, we may need all the help we can get." Sally responds. Then she gives a look at Tails "I thought the Doctor ordered you to stay in bed." before either Tails or Sonic could reply Sally signs and interrupts "It's not important now but we will deal with it later. Nicole do you mind replaying the message that was sent to us."

"Sure thing Sally," Nicole appears out of thin air "At 6:32 am a package was found at Sally's front door marked for Sonic. Fearing it was an explosive, I was called in to examine it. However, upon opening the box we found two items. One is a small black primitive flip phone with no numbers. The other is a sub drive with only one item on it." pointing at the screen on the wall causes the screen to light up and display a massive message board. "Although we are unable to find the sites location, we are able to confirm that the conversation on it is not a hoax." Taking a deep breath she looks to the group and then to the blue blur. "I'm sorry Sonic, you have a bounty on your head and someone has accepted it...