Sally looked about the room at the solemn faces. "That news is not to leave this room." She said sternly looking to Sonic, who continued to look down in shame.

"So… Tails was kidnapped?" Grif asked as he tried to wrap his head around it. That would explain why the usually chipper hedgehog was acting so depressed.

The princess was about to nod when Nicole started to make a high pitched beeping noise that made everyone jump. Sonic looked to his pack and pulled out the little computer. He had forgotten that he had been carrying it. Placing it out on the table, Sally walked over and picked up the palm gadget.

"What is wrong Nichole?"

"Message detected Sally. It's playing on all general frequencies." The mechanical voice replied.

"That's odd…" the princess scratched her head a bit. "Play back message Nichole."

"Lag time at approximately thirty seconds, playing back message." The computer projected the image at the center of the table, and everyone instantly recognized Snively's pointy mug. Sonic looked to the human's projection with a glare, he felt like he was going to lunge at it, but his mind reminded him that it was just a hologram. The crackly voice started his message.

"Rotten day to you, Freedom Fighters. By now, you've heard of the little prize I had collected while on Flicky Island."

The short human moves out of the len's path. There was a collective gasp in the room as they see the two tailed kit tied to a pillar. Tails was gagged and shook his head, his eyes open wide, trying desperately to cry out. Sonic pounded his fist into the table and ground his teeth. He couldn't stand seeing his bud like that.

"If you want to see the twerp alive again I suggest that you meet me at the Endless Mines in the mountain ranges just north of were the Great Forest used to be. I want you to bring all seven Chaos Emerald within 24 hours, or I'll have no choice but to dispose of your fox friend."

Cackles echoed throughout the war room, as Tails started to kick a bit more, muffled yells almost drowning out the laughter. The hologram then disappeared from the center, the room darkened a bit.

"End of Message Sally." Came the computer's voice.

After the palm gadget made note of the conclusion these was a thick silence in the air. No one said a word as the message sunk in. Sally looked to Sonic, who looked like he would jump at the slightest nudge. Knuckles was frowning, arms crossed his chest thinking deeply. The others were just in plain shock, they kept looking to the little palm computer like there was more to be said. So much for keeping this a secret, every devise that picked up frequencies got that message.

With a scraping of a chair the hedgehog stood up. "I'm going after him."

"Wait Sonic… you can't just run in there alone, something wasn't right about that. I can't put my finger on it. We have to come up with a plan."

"You and your plans!" Sonic shouted. "We don't have time, there's no way we're gonna get the Chaos Emeralds in 24 hours. I say we go in and catch him off guard!"

"Sonic that's just it-"

"Blah Blah Blah! Listen Sally, I owe him and I'm going… he didn't let me down, and I won't let him down!" With that outburst the hedgehog was out of the room in a heartbeat.

Sally was left there, everything falling apart around her, she knew it was a trap, it had to be. Snively had scent that message to get the hero all riled up and it worked brilliantly. As the rest of the Freedom Fighters gathered their surroundings after all the sudden shocks, the princess could only say the first thing that rose up in her chest.

" Damn it!" She yelled, and then covered her mouth. This was the first time she had said anything rash. She had always been able to keep her calm. She always maintained composure. But at that instance she had lost it. The squirrel cleared her throat, took a deep breath, and put herself back together. In this moment, they would only succeed if her mind was focused on the problem at hand.

As Sally took her deep breaths, Bunnie looked to her friend with worry. The rabbot had rarely seen their leader act this rattled. Was she feeling the same pressure that Sonic was? Or did the blue hedgehog's sudden action put the burden there?

Now back in her composure, the princess looked amongst the group remaining in the room. She sighed. "Looks like we'll have to go after him," she placed he hand on her forehead as it burned with thought. "Alright, I'm going to take the tank out to the mines and go after him. Who's coming with me?"

Rotor, Bunnie, Knuckles, and Roy stood up. Grif and Dirk remained sitting. This didn't surprise Sally, since the goat and boar had to keep everything running smoothly in Lower Mobius. There were, perhaps, too many on this though. If it was a trap, she couldn't allow them all to be sitting ducks in the tank. "I'd really like to ask that Rotor and Roy stay here, you guys work on getting Jerome derobotisized."

Roy cocked his head. "I think Jerome wouldn't want us to deter a rescue operation for 'im. He ain't gonna go nowhere, I wanna help."

Sally sighed and looked to Roy. It had been a great while since someone other then Sonic had questioned her decisions. "Please do as I say. We need to work together right now. I've been leading too long for people to start questioning me, ok?" Her voice raised a bit as she finished her words.

There was a silence, and after a few seconds Roy gave a nod. Sally decided to call an end to the meeting before she lost any more control of the situation. The two groups parted, their moral low, but they pressed forward. Rotor hoped that Sally could stop Sonic before it was too late.

The ground squirrel entered the tank with Bunnie and Knuckles just behind her. The rabbot was worried for her friend, after Sonic ran out Sally was acting much more aggressively. When they all sat down, the disfigured rabbit decided that she should try and voice her concerns.

"Y'all think ya were a bit too harsh back 'dere Sally-girl?" the southern accent came out quietly.

Sally sighs and shakes her head as she starts up the vehicle, and starts to move it out of Lower Mobius. "Not you too Bunnie… Listen I did have a reason for my decision. I don't see why I have to explain it. You guys haven't questioned me before…"

" It's just 'cause we're all unda allota stress, and stress makes us all do crazy things. We worry 'bout ya Sally. Leadin' this team ain't easy, and we think it's startin' to get to ya." Bunnie looked to the princess softly, showing that she truly was concerned.

"That's why I always like to do think alone, too many headaches otherwise." Knuckles cut in making the two girls jump a bit. They had almost forgotten he was here with him, since he was being so quiet.

The squirrel looks down, realizing that maybe she had been affected by everything. It was all happening so fast. "I'm sorry, you're right Bunnie, it has been getting to me lately. The reason I wanted them to stay behind was because Rotor is our last technology expert, and Roy is the closest thing to a doctor we have. If anything were to happen… I don't want all our eggs in one basket…"

Patting her friend on the back the rabbot nods. "Now, let's get sugar-hog back before that varmint Snively, does."

Knuckles nods as the tank reaches the surface, heading for the mines. "You can't change what has happened, just concentrate on the here and now."

Sally gave a nod in reply, then after a pause thought about, and laughed, thinking about the irony that they were living in these events right now because of something someone did to change the past. "You should tell Tails that."

The hedgehog moved deeper into the depths of the mines. He wished that he had Nichole with him to help him search the caverns, but he had Uncle Chuck's advise from when he was younger. His unc helped him with this maze book, no matter what the young hedgehog did he couldn't get to the finish.

Chuck smiled when he told him. "Keep following the left wall. You'll get to the end eventually."

Sonic moved quicker, he lost Uncle Chuck because of Snively. He won't lose Tails too. The thought of the peril his friend was in made him move quicker, always making the left most turn and marking the way to the exit at every fork, just so he could get out quickly once he found his friend. He hoped the Endless Mines didn't live up to their name, he really hated being underground, and the thought of wandering around endlessly didn't appeal to him.

"Well… that should do it." Rotor said triumphantly. "Let's give it another shot."

Roy turned on the machine and as the chamber started to glow with an eerie light, the marsupial turned to Rotor. "She can be a grumpy Sheila, eh?"

The walrus gave a nod, he knew he was talking about Sally. He didn't take his eyes off the contraption, and really hoped it would work. "She can be. But you know, I think that's why she can lead. She always has her reasons for doing things. We're still alive, so she must be doing something right."

Walking up to the mechanic, the kangaroo asked. "How long she been leadin' for?"

Rotor thought a bit. "Hmm… I can't remember exactly when. Since she was about 11 or so… its been a long time, or it just seems that way. She's been the leader of the Freedom Fighters ever since we established, after our nanny Rosa died. That was over 5 years ago, right before Sonic brought Tails to Knothole."

Now curious, the marsupial continued the conversation. "How'd she die? Botnik get to 'er?"

The mechanic shook his head. "Surprisingly, no. She made sure to stay in Knothole. She seemed to follow it like some sort of unwritten law. Her heart gave out, and she was buried just outside the village.

Roy nods. "I guess it was for the best. These times are tough."

"The thing we still can't explain, though, is that when Tails was 10 he had this imaginary friend named Rosa, who would 'make us dinner'. Of course the meals mainly consisted of mud pies of the kit's creation. Sonic and Sally seemed sort of shocked when Tails started to do this. Sonic was sure to spend more time with Tails, because we thought he was lonely. Now what's strange is, none of us recall telling him about her."

There was a pause as the roo pondered that for a moment. "That's creepy, mate."

"There is about as much mystery surrounding Rosa as there is Selim…" the walrus was interrupted by a loud beep as the test was finished. Looking to the terminal the mechanic saw that it had gone through without error.

"Wow, it worked." Rotor said, surprised. "Now let's bring your friend in here and try it for real."

The marsupial smiled a bit. "Ya, poor bloke, let's get some skin on 'is bones."

It had been another ten minutes in the mines and the caverns seemed to be getting darker. The hedgehog wondered how deep he was, and how much further down he would have to go.

Suddenly, Sonic stopped in his tracks. He thought he heard a voice, but it was so quiet, maybe he was hearing things. As seconds of deathly silence passed by, the hero was ready to take off again when the cry came out again.

"Sonic!"

Instantly the hedgehog identified it as his friend. "Tails!" he called back. There was another pause, and Sonic could hear his voice echoing back at him. The reverberations died down, and there was more silence. The young fox's voice suddenly called out again. Sonic listened carefully, making sure that he was sure which way the sound was coming from. He was off in an instant, stopping periodically to make sure he was getting closer, and not moving further away. Keeping his cool the hedgehog continued to mark the way to the exit.

A mine cart was sitting on the tracks up ahead and Sonic stopped right next to it. When the fox cried out again the sound was as plain as day, he knew that Tails had to be nearby.

"Sonic!" There was a bit of an echo coming from the metal mine cart that was right beside the hero. He jumped onto the side of the mine cart causing it to shift a bit down the track. "Tails?" he asked looking inside.

What he found in there, however, was not his little buddy. There was a black box on the bottom of the pushcart. It made a hissing sound as it until it suddenly cried out "Sonic!" very loudly causing the hedgehog to jump a bit and the cart moved backward.

The hedgehog growled to himself, he was tricked, Tails was not here. But then why would Snively…? Sonic suddenly received a shock as sparks from the cart tires landed on a trail of black powder. A flame started to shoot down the trail of flammable substance. As his eyes darted up the trail, he spotted the answer to the question he was asking himself. All around him there were explosives, and as soon as one went off, the whole cavern would be up in smoke.

He spoke in monotone as he realized this grave error. "Bad move hedgehog… mondo bad move…"

00000000

My final final is coming up and winter break is on it's way, the next episode will be here on January 26th of next year. Hope you guys have a great holiday, and sorry to leave you in a bad spot like this.

Anyways I also tried my best to solve the Rosa problem... if you remember the episode "Blast to the Past" Sally did what Selim did and tried to change events when Robotnik took over, and the only thing she changed was saving Aunt Rosa... yet in later episodes she never once made an apperence. Tails was actually the only one to mention her at the end of the episode, so things changed but the outcome deemed similar...