"Sonic? … Sonic!" The hedgehog heard as his eyes opened. The fox was right in front of him as the hedgehog opened his eyes. They held a sparkle of what appeared to be worry in them.

"Tails… what's wrong?" The hedgehog asked. As he jumped up and looked to the fox, and then he noticed something he hadn't before. The kit was bleeding, from what appeared to be just a simple bruise earlier. "Tails, lay down, slowly… I'll see if I can't find a bandage." Sonic tried his best to stay calm, looking through his back, his hands shaking. He knew he had one in there somewhere...

Just then the sun rose up and a light came down upon the two, the hedgehog had to cover his eyes. The blinding light suddenly turned into darkness. Sonic opened his eyes and found himself floating through space. He was alone, Tails was nowhere to be seen, and instantly the hedgehog became worried. "Tails!" He shouted into the darkness, with no response except for an echo. He looked around desperately trying to find his friend, but all he saw was the darkness.

He tried to call out again, he got a response this time, but it was not in the voice of the little kit. "He can't hear you here." A low voice said, it sounded sinister yet smooth. He turned around to see a hedgehog that looked a lot like himself, only it was black. Sonic took a step back as the form appeared.

"W-Who are you?" The blue one asked as the form approached, it seemed to have red streaks in its quills. It's eyes opened up and stared at the blue hedgehog.

"I don't have a name, I am merely a shadow of the reflection that is yourself. And in order to be successfully transported elsewhere you must defeat me…" He said narrowing his eyes.

"Listen I don't have time for this, my friend is in trouble." The blue hedgehog growled, he didn't want to be bothered with whoever this was right now.

"You have no choice, you shall be lost forever if you don't face me." The form retorted. Crouching down and getting ready to strike.

Sonic found himself become angry; he really had no time for this! Without any warning he charged forward with a buzz attack catching the shadowed hedgehog off guard with the attack. It contacted, and the blue hedgehog found himself covered in warm fluid as he cut clean through. He stopped and turned around, seeing the dark hedgehog laying in two segments on the ground. There was blood coming out of the two pieces, however there were also wires that were severed, and what appeared to be mechanical parts.

As the blue hedgehog moved in upon his so called reflection, lying in a puddle of blood the top segment moved causing Sonic to jump back a little. The low voice came out hoarsely. "So who is the monster… you or I?"

"What?" Sonic asked scratching his head. "What are you talking about?"

There was no answer, however, as the darkness that surrounded him disappeared. He was suddenly surrounded by light, and he had to cover his eyes as they adjusted to the sudden brightness. He opened his eyes to see that he was inside a building that was well lit. The floor was a strange blue color; the room was far more colorful and festive looking then the ruins he was in earlier.

He noticed something else on the floor, there were deep red dots that made a trail down the corridor. "Tails!" He cried as he suddenly remembering the danger his friend was in, and that the red spots were probably from the fox's injury. He quickly followed the trail, running as fast as he could. He didn't think of anything else but finding his two tailed friend, he would not let him die… he would not fail to protect him. What would he say to Sally? If the little guy died, she would never forgive him… he ran faster down the hall.

His feet planted on a strange looking platform and he felt himself fly through the air uncontrollably. He flipped as his feet started to raise above his head and ended up landing in a large area. As the hero regathered his surroundings he wondered what happened. It felt as if the floor had suddenly thrown him into the air as he stepped upon it, like a spring.

The hedgehog shook his head as he caught his bearings, and then he heard something. He picked his head up to look and see Tails, bound and gagged to the wall, a large chair sat next to him, facing the opposite way, a large arm on the rest. There was a deep chuckle.

"Tails!" Sonic cried as he started to charge forward.

Suddenly a metal pike shot out of the ground, cutting off Sonic's path. Then a slew of them followed effectively boxing him in. The hedgehog growled as the chair spun around, he wanted to help Tails so badly, and he felt himself become angry. "Let him go Robotnik!"

The laugh echoed in the room. "Now why would I bring myself to do that…? I mean seeing both of you helpless; just give me a nice tingly feeling inside." His voice was like it usually was, a deep belly busting bass that sounded as evil as his heart was. He pressed a button and suddenly a slew of robots landed into the enclosement Sonic was stuck in. "These should keep you busy while I make a nice new robot for my collection."

Sonic shouted and cried out as the two Tail fox started to cry in pain and the captive started to glow. The hedgehog was hit in the back by a robotic spider causing him to smash into the bars of the pikes. He turned around and growled, he felt a rage fill up in him. The multitudes of robots were ready to kill him, and he was now ready to do the same.

In lightning speed the hedgehog started to spin rapidly, and he cried out as he smashed through them. Pieces flew in the air as Sonic, in his anger and rage, smashed through the spiders and wasps the horde consisted of. He used a homing attack to the final flying wasp and used his height to jump over the raised spikes, landing on the ground outside the box that was supposed to keep the hedgehog trapped. No bars or cage would keep Sonic from saving his pal though.

When he looked over at the kit... he saw it was too late. The metal body clanked forward as it was released from it binds, it's once blue eyes now a deep crimson. It's orange color looked like that of rust, the energetic and liveliness that always filled the kit's face now gone. "Tails?" Sonic asked, his heart stopped, he felt numb… this couldn't be happening. "Tails!" He cried, his voice echoed throughout the room. The hedgehog felt himself burst with rage, and unfortunately for Robotnik he was here to take the brunt of his fury.

Without hesitation he whirled into a buzz saw attack lashing at the fat man sitting in the chair, he tore through him and the chair, again and again and again. He didn't stop, his anger still raged and he kept on slicing until he ran out of breath, it was to the point where he had to stop in order to catch his breath.

When all was said and done he got on his knees and coughed, he felt like he was going to throw up. His quills dripped with the blood of his oldest enemy but his friend was still standing there in his new metal skin. He cried, he didn't know what else to do as the two tailed machine walked up to him. "Sonic?" It asked causing the hedgehog to jump a bit.

"Tails are you in there?" He asked looking up at the machine. He stood up and moved toward it, tears in his eyes. "You still there big guy?" He sniffled.

"Sonic!" The cry got louder.

Sonic snapped up, his quills scrapping against the center monument. He quickly looked around, a familiar set of blue eyes were set upon him. The hedgehog felt himself breathing heavy and sweating a little. As the form before him turned out to be the bud he thought he lost, he instantly realized that it was all a dream. He looked up through the hole in the ruins. The sky was red again, only this time it was brightening instead of dimming.

"It's morning already, huh?" Asked the hedgehog as he stretched out and stood up.

"Ya it is…" Tails said as he looked about the room, and then back to Sonic. "Are you feeling alright?" He asked, noticing how out of it he was acting.

The hedgehog nodded and smiled a bit, he was very relieved it was a dream, and he knew that losing his friend was always a personal fear of his, so he was not surprised he had a dream about it. In the back of his mind through another part of the dream was burning in his mind. That other hedgehog, his 'reflection', called him a monster. What was all that about? He couldn't think of it right now, the sun was starting to peer and they had to figure out how to solve the riddle they found last night. Which had to do with reflecting upon oneself. But what the hell did that mean?

Tails nodded. "Alright Sonic, now I think I figured out the trick to the puzzle."

The hedgehog cocked his head. "Really? What do you think it means."

The fox pointed at the sign on the monument. "Well it says to reflect upon yourself right?" he asked, to which he received a nod. "It didn't make much sense to me, since I think that there must be a teleportation device, and if you look at the floor in front of the sign, there is a pad that looks like it might be one."

Sonic looked at the floor and there was a round platform on the floor that was kind of dark green in color. He wondered why he hadn't seen it before, it sort of blended in with the floor, but when one took a closer look it was obviously there. "Yeah but what does this have to do with reflection?"

Tails smiled, kind of proud of himself that he figured it out before Sonic. "Well, there has to be some way to power it. There is only one reason that I can think of why it would need to be daytime to use it, and I came to a conclusion. Right below the sign is a solar panel, which means 'reflecting upon yourself' doesn't mean mentally. It means physically reflect the light upon where you're standing."

The hedgehog scratched his head. "Then why didn't they just say so? Why can't people ever say what they mean?" He laughed as he shook his head.

The fox shrugged, he looked up around the room noticing a giant mirror. "It looks like it's already pointing the right way, probably Robotnik jarred it in that position so all we have to do is wait for the sun to get high enough… it should soon." Tails stated.

The hedgehog yawned. "I really hate waiting." He said sitting back down. Tails sat next to him as the sky was now becoming its true blue color. The fox liked watching the clouds. He couldn't wait to fly in them again, but he had to finish his mission here with Sonic. He looked over to his idle as he thought about all that had happened in his life that lead up to this. This big mission where it was him and Sonic against the army of robots that Robotnik would send their way.

Tails thought back to Selim, a hero he never really got to know that well before he met his fate. Uncle Chuck, also was gone, and he knew it saddened Sonic greatly. His friend though, kept talking tough around him, as if nothing was wrong. Tails was more perceptive then that. He wondered why Sonic did that, tried to act tough constantly around him. He knew like all of them he felt great sadness at the loss of their homes and friends, and right now when he thought about it, he started to feel homesick.

"Sonic… I miss Knothole." He said as he looked up at the sky, the light in the room getting brighter.

The hedgehog put an arm around the little kit. "I do to Tails. When this is all over, we'll restore the forest, and though we may not see it like we did once… our children will."

Tails scratched his head, he was a little too young to think about having a kid, but that wasn't the most outlandish part of the proposition. It was more of the 'when this is all over' part. He sat his head in his hand and sighed. "Will this ever be all over?"

Sonic shrugged, he had wondered that himself quite a bit. He didn't have the answer, no one did. Just then a bright light blinded him and he stood up and moved to the side. The light was shining off the mirror and struck the solar panel. The circular pad on the ground lit up and sparkled ready to take Sonic and Tails elsewhere.

The hedgehog looked to Tails. "Are you feeling ok bud, how's the wound?" He asked suddenly concerned on his well being, a weird déjà vu feeling of the whole situation. The question caused the fox to check himself. "Ya I'm fine Sonic, now let's get going!"

Nodding to the vulpine, Sonic moved toward the pad, keeping Tails close; he didn't want what happened in his dream to happen here. He would not lose the kit to the likes of Robotnik. As they both stepped onto the platform a bright light washed over them and the room in which they stood was empty again.

Snively grinned wickedly as he slammed a glass cylinder down around a red Flicky. There were two other cylinders adjacent to this one, both containing one of the elder birds. The fourth cylinder was empty, where the hell was that fourth robot?

"Sir..." a swatbot called, making the human turn around. "The bots in the grove haven't reported when they were designated to, investigation of the area showed that they had been destoryed, and the fires in the Flicky Village distinguished."

The human twitched inwardly, he instantly knew exactly what was going on, Sonic has come to stop him. This is going to make things far more complicated then he intended them to be... He had come to far to be interfered with now. "I want spybots up, find me that Flicky and search for any signs of rodents, NOW!"

"Yes sir." The robot walked out of the room leaving the tyrant alone with the three captive Flickies.

Smiling vilely into the glass, admiring his own reflection, the madman chuckles. "It doesn't matter how fast you are hedgehog, by the time you get here, neither you or the Freedom Fighter would have ever existed."

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That's all for now, the next update will be on July 8th. I appritiate SonicRules12 for being honest in his review, looking over these past chapters I agree, I'm making the storyline a little too clique. In future chapters I hope to try and push the characters to their emotional limits (Actually the last section of this chapter didn't exist until I read this review, and I think it made it wrap up much nicer.) So, even if what you have to say may not be considered a 'nice' review, let me have it. Can't get better without knowing if there's a problem.