It was annoying to watch all this come to pass for Selim, seeing Sonic in such danger, even after he had saved him, and all he could do was watch the outcome of the changes he had made. "Please… can't you just give me it all back… let me know if everything turned out ok…"

The other fox form sighed. "I wish it were that simple Miles, however… however the mind is a difficult thing, don't worry about aging… it may have felt as if days have gone by, but it's only been a second… time has no meaning now. It is going to seem like awhile before your memory starts to piece itself back together… you may not remember these things so well, but it will begin to flow back, soon hopefully… you will be able to piece things together yourself."

Selim rubbed his large fur strands that came over his face. "How did the memories planted within me seem so real? Now these ones feel like they are also real…"

"Time is a fickle thing… many events occur over what appears to be a straight line… however, little and big things combine to form a 'history' there are infinitely many alternatives to events already past…many of us are unaware of them, because we cannot go back and change what has happened, making time seem linear. However, it is a measurement that covers all three dimensional objects at a given point, so it is not linear at all."

After all these memories piecing together in his mind, and not knowing weather his friend made it out ok… he shook his head. "I understand… but please… let's just get this over with…"

"Right… time is of importance…"

Selim scratched his head… "Wait I thought-" He was about to interrupt when the lights this new past came back again…

VVVVVVV

The cabin of the tank started to shake violently as it rolled its way up to the entrance of the mines.

"What's with the tremors?" Knuckles wondered.

Sally didn't like the feeling she was getting. All this shaking could cause the cavern to become structurally compromised. If Sonic was already underground…

"Nicole! Do we have an epicenter to this quake?"

"Earthquake is not from plate movement. It is not natural."

That response made the ground squirrel worry even more. If these quakes were man-made, then this really was a trap. Sonic and Tails were in grave danger. Sally started to move the tank forward as she felt her heart race. Thoughts of losing them both started to run through her head. She pushed her own safety aside as she drove toward the mine entrance.

"What are you doing?" Knuckles barked, causing the princess to snap back to reality.

What was she doing? She almost did what Sonic would do. Charge in blindly, planless, not thinking of her safety or that of others. Sally looked down, a little embarrassed at her reaction.

The echidna crossed his arms in front of his chest. "He'll be fine. Sonic's been in tighter scraps then this. If we go in after him he could escape without us knowing, then we'd really be in trouble. Sonic wouldn't want us to be killed because we were trying to save him. He would never forgive himself."

Sally gave a nod as she looked blankly into the mouth of the cave. "I don't know what I was thinking."

"It's ok Sally-girl." Rabbot consoled lightly. Everyone was on edge, their hearts heavy with worry. They looked to the Endless Mines, hoping that Sonic and Tails would make it out in one piece.

Sonic ran at full speed, keeping his eyes moving. Quickly following the path he had marked, the hedgehog dodged rubble that started to fall from the ceiling. Now that the speeding rodent was more alert of his surroundings he noticed something he hadn't before. There were some dull brown obstructions sticking out of the walls at sporadic points of the shaft walls. The color matched the earthy texture, however when one took a closer look it was easy to tell they didn't belong there. Sonic could conclude that they were plastic explosives. He began to feel the heat from the erupting detonators behind him. The sounds of the explosions caused him to pick up the slack.

He really played the fool this time. Why didn't he listen to Sally? Would he get the chance to speak to her again? He really wanted to apologize, for not listening, for letting Snively get the best of him. This was personal now. The hedgehog felt his anger rise as he made his up the mine shaft. Snively would pay for taking his friend, and using him as bait. As a boulder almost hit Sonic, he snapped back to reality. He had to remain calm, a moments hesitation and he'd be consumed by the collapsing mine shaft.

There was a harsh cracking followed by a twisting of metal. Looking ahead Sonic saw that the ground under the tracks ahead had collapsed, revealing a red glow that could only be that from magma. No wonder this mine was abandoned, there must have been swells under these mountains. Sonic jumped across the new formed gap, the heat above the lava pit was intense, almost taking his breath away. The hedgehog landed on the other side, and continued to run at full speed.

A little light shimmered ahead, signifying he was almost back at the entrance. His injured leg was burning with pain, as he had really pushed it, but he couldn't stop now, or his leg would be the least of his worries. Another rumble shook the ground. Up ahead, Sonic could see boulders coming down from the roof at a steady pace. If rocks kept falling at that rate, then it would block his only escape route. He grimaced as he pushed himself further, he couldn't lose here, he had come too far. The hedgehog let out a yell as a rock smacked him in the shoulder. This was going to be close.

"Structural integrity of subterranean passage reaching critical. Collapse imminent." Nicole chimed.

"Sonic…" Sally felt herself start to lose it. She wanted to run in and save him, like he had done with her so many times, but she was not fast enough and she knew it. By the time she got up to the entrance it would be too late.

The squirrel had stepped outside to get some air, Bunnie had joined her. Knuckles stayed inside to give the girls some time alone, they looked as if they needed all the space they could get.

As the ground shook harder, Rabbot held her stomach, as if she were going to be sick. The rabbit looked to the cavern opening as rocks started to collapse from the entrance and block opening.

"Oh no…" Bunnie gasped.

Sally couldn't watch, but she couldn't turn away either. As the entrance started to cave in, she felt her heart sink.

Suddenly a blue blur shot out of the gathering rubble. Before either of the Freedom Fighters could react they found themselves off their feet. There was a loud explosion as the squirrel and rabbit found themselves back in the protective armor of the tank. Regaining their surroundings the two heard loud clangs of rocks against the vehicle's armor. They were a bit confused on what just happened.

Knuckles looked down to the two Freedom Fighters. "Wow! Are you two alright?" the echidna asked, helping them to their feet. "That was quite a blast. It sent boulders flying everywhere."

Another voice cut in. "Ya, the whole joint was rigged to blow."

Sally could instantly identify who it belonged to. She turned around to see the blue hedgehog. He was looking down a bit, avoiding the glances from the other three. "You guys were right… I'm sorry." Sonic said.

The princess felt her emotions go a bit wild. She was thankful he was alright, and angry that he was so careless. He apologized though, it was rare for him to do something like that, and she couldn't bring it to herself to chew him out for his actions. "Sonic… don't ever do that again." She said, trying he best to stay strong and not to fall apart which caused her to physically shake.

Sonic saw how shook up he had made her, and he walked up to her. Without a word in response the hedgehog hugged the ground squirrel tightly. "I was being stupid… ok…" He said shakily.

Caught off guard, the ground squirrel eyes teared a bit as she hugged back. Why was he acting like this? "You stupid hedgehog…" Sally said, her voice wavering, the warmth of the hedgehog's embrace made her fall apart. He never held her like this since 'Robotnik' returned to the scene. It seemed when they had an enemy to fight they were far too busy to delve into a relationship. Deep inside, she really wished this would all settle down, because in her heart she-.

"I'd hate to break this up, but where is Tails?" Knuckles interrupted with a sly grin.

Bunnie smacked the echidna on the back of the head for being rude. As the guardian rubbed the back of his bumped skull, the two Freedom Fighters broke apart their embrace and blushed a bit.

Sonic turned to Knuckles. "He wasn't there. Sniffly must have taken him with him." The hedgehog shook his head.

Sally rubbed the hero's shoulder lightly. "Don't worry Sonic, we'll get him back… but let's do it together."

"Right Sal." The hedgehog smiled. "We should get back to Lower Mobius, let's plan it out this time… Snively won't know what hit him."

"That's the spirit Sugar-hog!" Bunnie cheered.

The tank started to move again, moving over the scattered rocks that were ejected from the collapsed mine shaft. They were heading back to Lower Mobius. In the sky above, a spybot hovered in the air, watching the Mobians leave the scene.

Snively had seen all he needed to see. He frowned as he turned away from the display. "Looks like he made it out, shouldn't say I'm surprised." He turned to the bound up fox.

"The next time though… I'll be rid of the hedgehog once and for all."

The fox was getting sick of being so helpless, he glared at the human. "It's always 'next time'. If you aren't so afraid of him, why not fight him face to face and make sure the job is done."

With a scowl the human shot back at him. "I'm not afraid of him… he's afraid of me, and you should be as well, I can tear you apart limb from limb."

"Then untie me and give it a try, needle-nose…" Tails frowned.

Shaken with anger the little man looked like he was about to let the insults get to him. He then took a few deep breaths as he realized what was occurring. "Oh… you are good, little twerp… much better then I gave you credit for. You're learning from what I'm doing to your friend, and trying to do the same to me. Such potential…" he grins. "Maybe I won't dispose of you after I've gotten rid of Sonic. It'd be interesting to have an apprentice, and the world could be yours when I've passed, what do you say?"

Tails couldn't help but laugh a bit at that. "What makes you think I would help you?"

The human smiles vilely. "Who says you have a choice? If you don't cooperate I could just as easily have your brain scrambled, or better yet I could robotisize you. You'd be my first 'two-tailed' model." He laughed at his own joke.

If he weren't bound up, the kit would have attacked Snively right then and there. It had been so long since someone had poked fun at his deformity, he had almost forgotten how angry it made him.

Snively continued his scheming. "But I'm getting ahead of myself… Now it's time to initiate plan B, and I'm NOT running away this time. I know that Sonic doesn't stand a chance."

A robotic voice interrupted over the intercom. "Sir we are approaching Mount Gimmick."

"Good, prepare to land and establish a base." The short humanoid grinned.

Mount Gimmick, the name rang a bell in the young fox's head. When the Death Egg fell to pieces and reentered the atmosphere, most of the pieces of the scrambled egg landed atop of the large mountain. It was more of an extinct volcano then a mountain; it had sleeping for so long though, that it was named a mountain. The massive peak jutted out of a far corner of the Green Hills and was defiantly one of the largest mountains on Mobius. It would defiantly be difficult to assault a base on it, which was probably the reason Snively was going to establish one here.

Sonic used to tell him stories of the mountain, usually around a campfire during their 'Freedom Fighter training missions'. Many had disappeared trying to climb the peak that was Gimmick, only to disappear and never be seen again. Maybe these were just stories, however the kit recalled that his idle had rushed up many mountains, but he had always seemed to avoid Gimmick Mountain.

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A little late, but I had to get all my college stuff ready, that and my new roomy is a chatterbox. Thanks for reading as always and I look forward to your critisims. Next chapter should be up on February 10th.