DISCLAMER: I would tell you that I owned Tails and Knuckles but that would be a lie I don't.

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WL: It would appear that none of you like my story enough to review. This makes me sad. I need the feedback people even if its bad I want it, other wise I wont know what I'm doing wrong. Also with no one responding to my request this fic may go under unless I completely change it around. This is Mal's first appearance inside a fic and if it dies he will be sad. He might cry… DO YOU WANT TO MAKE A 12 YEAR OLD FOX BOY CRY?... No?... I didn't think so.

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Tails: I thought you said my part was next!

Mal: No, I said that our parts where coming up.

WL: That was Mal's part.

Tails: -- Am I in this at all?

WL: Yes, you're next!

Tails: that's what you said last time!

WL: No last time we said…

Mal: forget it just tell the story.

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mystic jungle: Tails POV

SPLAT!

A clump of mud hit me in the face and, startled, I dropped the large rock I had been lifting on my foot. "Sonic!" I yelped then slapped my hand to my mouth. it had been weeks since I had done that… not since the missile incident where I had defeated Eggman myself. Blushing slightly I looked around to see if Knuckles had noticed my slip, Knuckles however was being his usual oblivious self and was busy digging up half of the clearing. As I watched he would shovel out a fistful of dirt and fling it carelessly behind him, so that's where the mud came from. Walking over to him a yelled "hey Knuckles!" That got his attention. He stopped digging and looked up at me. "you sure the emerald is here?" he shot one of those 'that was a stupid question' looks at me.

"Positive, the radar is in the red it has to be close by." He said in a voice that people use for talking to a child… which technically he was. I sighed and let it pass.

"Well we've been here for hours and all you've done is flip the fist 2ft. of dirt over." He was staring at me funny and it took me a minute to realize that the left side of my head was still covered in mud. Ears flattened in embarrassment I wiped it off with the back of my hand. I was going to have to shower to get the rest of it out of my fur. I looked back towards Knuckles he seemed to be laughing silently "Oh come on its not that funny" I complaned, shooting a faint glare. "It's your fault anyway." He kept laughing. Rolling my eyes I continued where I had left off. "the emerald only fell a week ago if it had hit with enough force to go into the ground we should have seen a hole" Knuckles seemed to take this into consideration.

"you'd think that wouldn't you?" he asked "but every time I go looking for pieces of the master emerald they seem to end up in the ground or in the side of a cliff with no sign that there was ever a hole there." I raised an eyebrow at him, that was news to me.

"I wonder why they do that…" I mused.

"You know what? I don't know and I don't care as long as I can still find them." Knuckles replied with his usual bluntness. I decided to ignore him.

"Maybe it has something to do with the way the chaos energy produced by the emeralds attracts each other…" my attempt to annoy Knuckles was cut of by a metallic clang followed by a snapping sound.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" Knuckles yelled. The clang sounded again, louder this time.

"Whatever it is, it's getting closer." I replied, and sure enough there was another clang this one from just beyond the tree line. Then a wiring slicing sound an a tree toppled to the ground with a large CRACK and THUD. "And it doesn't seem friendly"

"that's for sure," Knuckles said looking around "Tails lets get out of sight." I looked at him and cocked my head to one side. Knuckles running from I fight? This was new. He noticed my confusion and sighed. "I don't know what it is, I don't know what it can do and, as you pointed out earlier I've been doing quit a lot of digging today." I nodded. That sounded like a good reason to get out of the way. So with the usual flick and swirl of my tails I was off. I rose maybe 30 feet into the air before setting down in the upper branches of a tree. I could see the whole clearing from here but someone on the ground wouldn't be able to see me. I spotted Knuckles crouched behind some boulders. Good he should be safe there.

The wiring sound started again and one of the trees toppled into the clearing. From behind it came a E-1000 model eggbot. Just one eggbot? That wouldn't be a problem. Knuckles obviously thought the same thing, he was starting to get up out of his hiding place when suddenly he dropped to the ground again. Why did he do that I wondered. It wasn't long before I got my answer, and almost without a sound more E-1000s emerged from the jungle. Mostly soundless because when a tree got in the way of one of the bots it wouldn't move and go around. It would lash out with its clawed arm and the tree would fall and the E-1000 would step over it. They where keeping in a line, sure some where ahead of others but they all moved in the same direction. It reminded me of a search party. They each had a strip of ground to cover and they where doing exactly that. Eggman had them looking for something and they intended to find it. THE emerald! They must be looking for the emerald; why else would they be here?

The bots continued to move across the clearing. As the leading edge of the line neared Knuckles hideaway I could see him getting ready for a fight. I stood up on the branch, when they found Knuckles I would be ready to get the 'drop' on them. Laughing at my own lame joke I got ready to jump from the tree.

That's when something strange happened. One of the bots stopped and, seeing this, the others stopped too. I could hear muffled voices and static coming from the robot that had stopped. It took me a second to realize that it was talking to another bot over a radio. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but a caught a few words, target, confirmed sighting, coordinates, 12, require back up for pursuit. That was all I got. The robot with the radio thin announced in a loud yet still emotionless voice.

"all units, target has been sighted move in and secure." And with that the E-1000s abandoned there careful search and took to hovering off the ground. They sped away in full pursuit mode and thankfully no longer searching the area they failed to see the echidna pressed to the ground between two large rocks as they passed over.

Knuckles waited about a minute after the botniks had left before emerging from hiding. "Tails? Where did you go?" I didn't waste any time getting down from the tree, only putting enough spin in my tails to slow my descent. Knuckles looked like he had seen a ghost.

"Knuckles, what's-going -on-did-they-find-it-did-they-find the emerald…" I trailed off out of breath. He shook his head.

"the emerald is still here." He stated in a shaky voice.

"Well then wh…"

"they weren't looking for the emerald Tails." He cut me off. I opened my mouth to ask more questions, but Knuckles beat me to it. "according to the bot on the radio they where looking for, and found…. You."

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first off I would like to apologize to Katy and mew3692002 you guys reviewed and I love you for it. I would also like to apologize for the lateness of this chapter, things have been hectic I went to a wedding and a funeral this week both within 3 days which was Saturday. I still need fan characters and ask you to send them. I have no trivia question because last chapter's has yet to get a decent response. See you next time.