VVVVVVVV

Sonic wished he had someone with him who could plan, he needed one desperately. He wanted to save the Flickie, but couldn't come up with a way to do it. If he got too close, the robot would crush the bird in its jaws. If he didn't do anything, the catikiller would get away with the hostage, and it probably would be used in Robotnik's experiments. He could go fast, but it would only take that bot a fraction of a second to close its jaws, and crush the creature in its mouth.

Something else crossed his mind just then. He had lost sight of Tails, and he worried that he could have been captured. If he was, the hero probably still had time to save him, he just had to get there as soon as he possibly could. His mind then settled; he didn't care if he couldn't save that one bird, just so long as he could make sure his bud was ok. The hedgehog got himself ready, he was going to try and rescue the hostage. As he was about to go into a spin, and the worm robot was now close to the brush, the contraption stopped and fell to the ground. Sonic stopped in his tracks as the robot laid there, the bird released from its jaws as the catakiller fell, deactivated.

Sonic moved up to it, scratching his head confused. Just then a fox jumped out of the bush, and smiled. "It was the red one, just like Aunt Sally said." Tails pointed to a red wire that was severed.

Finding himself relieved, the hedgehog smiled and smacked the kit on the back. "Past cool, big guy." Though as he hit the fox, the young one winced a bit. Sonic looked at where he had hit Tails and noticed a nice bruise. "Whoa, what happened? You alright Tails?"

The vulpine nodded, "No prob, a buzzbomber caught me off guard, but I took care of them all Sonic. You should have seen it."

He laughed, Tails was really something else. Getting hit by a laser was not fun, but here he was smiling it off. The fox was going to be one heck of a freedom fighter, and they all knew it too. "Tell me later big guy, right now we should talk to the locals and find out what lard butt is up to."

Tails nodded, as he followed Sonic back into the nesting area. They helped put out the fires, the fox moving to the river with buckets and dumping them on the high flames while the hedgehog was flinging up mud and dirt onto the lower fires. The flickies sat, relived, as the heroes had put out the inferno. Though the damage was pretty extensive, the grounds could be rebuilt. They were all happy that they were ok, but there was still a problem. They started to chirp at the two strangers trying to tell them something.

"Alright Nicole… you think you can translate what they're sayin'?" Sonic pondered, bringing out the palm computer again.

Nicole translated, the voices sounded shrill and high as they spoke. "Thank you… Thank you."

Sonic nodded, "No problem, savin's in the hero's job description. Though I have to ask what is going on… are there any others?"

"Yes… you must save them, the four elders… they are in peril." The chirps came out.

"Alright… but where are they?" The hedgehog asked, tapping his foot.

With that the birds flew off toward the brush, acting as if they wanted the heroes to follow. Sonic and Tails quickly chased after them.

The foliage came ot a halt as the fox and hedgehog both could see a large building that jutted out into the sky, it was pyramidal shaped, like an Aztec ruin, it squared up like a stair case. "Wow, that thing's huge Sonic." The fox said as he looked up at the old ruins.

The birds chirped. "They took them inside our shrine… Please save them…"

Sonic nodded. "Not a problem, we got it covered. Right big guy?"

The fox nodded. "Right, Sonic! Let's do it to it!"

They both ran for the ruins at full speed, racing each other to the ancient looking structure. They had to be quick, they didn't know how long they had before Robotnik would complete his objective.

The hedgehog waited in the large doorway while the fox finished making his way up the stairwell to meet the blue one at the door. "What took ya so long slowmo?" He smiled down at the fox. By the time they had reached the entrance the sky had turned a reddish tint, it would soon be nighttime, the sun just peering over the horizon.

The vulpine took deep breaths as he came up the final step. "You've gotten… faster Sonic…" He said as he sat by the doorway, looking down. "Either that or I'm getting slower…"

Sonic shook his head and put a hand on his bud's shoulder. "Listen Tails, I told ya I wasn't gonna hold back, and I didn't. I'm surprised on how well ya kept up." He said as he held out a hand to help Tails up. The fox grabbed the hand and pulled up. "If you're tired we can rest big guy."

Tails shook his head. "No, I can keep going." He said as the sun started to set behind his head. He turned to look at the sun as it started to disappear from the sky. The hedgehog watched with him, another day had gone by and there was still peril in the world. Every sunset was a milestone, to survive each day, to know that they were still fighting. Sonic knew he'd see many more sunsets. He wouldn't allow Robotnik's world. A world in which the sky would be so polluted, those that could appreciate such a specticle would never get a chance see it.

"Let's go inside Tails, we gotta do what we can to save this place… and keep Robotnik from changing history." The hedgehog seemed a bit more serious then his usually self. The young fox turned around and nodded as they went into the large opening that served as an enterence way.

The inside was a little bit dark, fiery torches burned light into the large room. Along the walls, a pictogram-like design seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see. In the center of the room was a monument that attacted most of the heroes' attention. A stone structure that looked like a rectangular pillar with a pointed top stood there, it dwarfed the hedgehog and his friend as they moved toward it. As they climbed up yet another flight of stairs to the platform in which the monument stood, they had noticed something written in what seemed like a large plaque, which was rusted over a bit.

"What does it say Sonic?" Tails asked as they tried to make out the apparently ancient writings on it.

Sonic shook his head and laughed. "I was about to ask you the same thing…" He took out the palm computer again and pointed it at the writing. "Alright Nicole slap me some translation."

Nicole beeps and blips as she translates the plaque. "The script reads as follows: During the light of day, Reflect upon yourself. You will find your way, and be taken somewhere else."

The hedgehog scratches his head. "Why can't these ancient people speak in a way I can understand? I need a translation for the translation." He said as he looked around.

Tails smiled and shrugged. He then noticed something. "Sonic, they said that the robots took the elders here, but I see no sign of them anywhere… do you think they were 'taken somewhere else'?"

Sonic nodded, "Probably… but how can that be I don't see how a robot could reflect upon itself, maybe Robotnik was with them. Though, I don't see how that big lard bucket could accurately think of himself."

The fox thought a moment, "It might not be talking literally, either way we can't do anything until it's day time. So I guess we'll have to wait until then…" He said sitting down and sighing.

Sonic followed and still thought, looking around the room and noticed how it continued to get darker, he looked up noticing there was a hole in the ceiling. It was in the shape of a large square that made the center unprotected from the elements. The sky was a darkening purple, the stars starting to sparkle down upon the two.

The fox wrapped his two tails around himself to keep warm as a cold chill of night started to rise through the structure. The hedgehog laid against the monument, keeping his eye on the kit to make sure he was alright. "I think we did a great job today Tails, we dusted those bots."

Smiling, the little fox looked over to Sonic, "We sure did, I'm so glad you let me come this time Sonic. It feels so good to make a difference." He looked down, "Though it was a bit scary when that buzzbomber caught me off guard." He said with a little shiver.

Concerned the hedgehog looked to the fox, "How is that wound doing anyway big guy? Are you going to be alright?" He looked at the wound, and it seemed to be healing fine. "You're tougher then I thought T-2 you got your first battle wounds."

Tails chuckled a bit. "I'm doing fine Sonic, thanks… that buzz brain didn't even know what hit it…"

Sonic laughed. "Are you going to tell me a story Tails? I thought that was my job."

The fox felt very highly of himself, this was the first time he had any exciting stories to tell, every time before he would listen to the stories of Sonic, or even Antoine when he was gullible enough to believe him as a hero. Both the hedgehog and the coyote tended to exaggerate in their tales, of course the royal guard's were far more brimming with lies then Sonic's, and much more obvious. However Tails was not a very good exaggerator, though he did when his friend told him to. He never really had the chance to come up with his own half-lies. Since he wasn't good with lying, he decided to just go with the truth.

Tails took a breath "Well I flew in between all three of the buzzbombers and one of them was going to shoot me so I dodged it and the blast knocked one of them out. Then I flew away into the forest and the two that remained followed. Then I—"

Sonic found himself falling asleep, the back of his head hit the monument he was sitting against, effectively waking him up. "Whoa, Whoa, hold on big guy… you can do many things, but man I gotta teach ya how to tell a story. Ya sound like a computer manual."

Scratching his head the vulpine shrugged, he was a very technical person, unlike Sonic who'd rather be spared the details. "Guess so Sonic, I guess I just told it how I saw it…"

"Nothin' wrong with that Tails, just you gotta kick it up a notch, ya know. Get them hooked, beggin' for more. Here I'll give you an example: 'The Flickies were in great peril, the robots were threatening to take them away for Buttnik to do some crazy experiments on them. I took the three buzzbombers, flying in between them swiftly. I taunt them. That really pissed them off, one of them popped a shot at me, but I quickly dodged upward making the laser whiz by, almost burning my sneakers. Luckily though, it missed and hit another one of the buzz-brains knocking it out of the sky…'" He then stopped as he noticed the fox watching him intently, as if he was wondering what would happen next. He laughed a bit "Hey, this is your story big guy. Why don't you take it from there?"

The fox thought a bit. "KAPOW!" He started causing the hedgehog to jolt awake. The vulpine laughed. "Bits and pieces rained to the ground, the robot shattered. With one down, two to go, I blast into the forest using my two tails with all the energy I could muster. The two were right on my tails narrowing closer, and closer, I knew I had to do something quickly or I'd be caught. Suddenly an idea hit me, I swung around grabbing a branch and pulling it with all of my strength and waited for the right moment. They were coming, closer and closer… I had to wait for the right moment... There! I let go and the branch and it snapped at the group of buzz bombers. Crash! I heard the sound of one of them falling to the ground. I flew around and saw the remains of one of the robots, but… the other one… where was it? There was a sudden buzz in my ears and I spun around, the buzz bomber was right behind me…" The fox stopped, he heard a snoring noise and looked over to the hedgehog. "Sonic?... Sonic?"

The hedgehog was sound asleep. And the fox scratched his head and let out a sigh, maybe he needed a little more work on his story telling skills… or maybe his friend was just tired. He yawned, he was tired as well. Wrapping his two tails around himself he leaned back against the monument and closed his eyes. Today had so much adventure, he wondered what the next day would bring.

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Sorry about the late update, had internet trouble. That's all for this week next update will be on June 17th. Sorry it's going so slow, but it's the summer and I'm a bit busy. Keep those reviews coming and thank you to everyone who has so far.