Hey everyone! Welcome to chapter four! Hopefully you're all still enjoying this, so let's get started!

Haloixix13: Getting to know our characters is very important, and having the opportunity for a little more action is nice! As to the mysterious figure, we'll have to see what they're up to!

1TGN: Good solid characters have always been important to me, so thank you for that! Their backstories are certainly interesting, and their connection to the Nightstalkers and their experiences are certainly of note. Their sort of adoptive family certainly helps things though! Tails has a few things bottled up, especially with him not only being the youngest of the group, but also with his experiences being the most recent. There's certainly more to unpack with everyone as the story continues!

Void Reader: You'll have to read on, but as it stands, I don't have any plans to have Sonally in this story sadly. :(

AndTails: Nightstalkers certainty aren't ones to let up! Makes things much more difficult for them then it might be otherwise. The mysterious figure is certainly a bit of an interesting one however, and there will certainly be more of that later!

Perturbo: Who exactly our mysterious figure is remains to be seen! You'll have to continue reading to find out!

Let's get started!

Nightstalkers

Arrival

The trek continued into the afternoon as the party made their way toward the next obstacle to overcome. The group was silent for a good chunk of the walk, constantly keeping an eye out for Nightstalkers that could threaten them once more.

Eventually, they reached what could become the next issue in their journey, the slope of the mountain quickly turned into a cliff, one that they would somehow need to descend. While going around was an option, doing so would add another day to their trek. With every second they spent on the mountain being dangerous, the group saw no other option but to travel down the cliff face.

Luckily, the scouting party that had come long before them had seemingly planned for just such a situation, a rope had been tied very tightly to a nearby rock, which then dangled downward off of the cliff face, knots were tied into it every couple feet, giving an easy method of making it down.

Sonic volunteered to go first, gently making his way over and to the edge of the cliff, grasping onto the rope, he very carefully slipped over the edge. Luckily, the rope held his weight, and while there was a little bit of snow on it, it wasn't anything that made it impossible to grip. Eventually, the hedgehog touched down on the soft powered snow at the bottom, his boots sinking quite a bit in the deep snow.

"Alright! You're good to go Sal!" Sonic shouted, they had decided beforehand to only go one at a time, just in case the rope was unable to support all of their weight. Soon, the chipmunk had joined him at the bottom, and the third member of the group was quickly down after the two of them. Things had gone smoothly for once.

The trio was quickly back on their way, they had to be close now. Soon they would be at the mountain's base, and in fact, Sonic himself could already feel the air around him growing warmer as they left the high altitudes of his home.

All three of them were excited, at this rate they would make Angel Island by tomorrow morning, just as they had planned.

But, as night slowly descended on the group, they would need to find somewhere to rest for the remainder of their trip in the morning. Sally led the group onward toward a nearby cave that scouting teams had apparently spotted on their earlier expeditions. Soon, the trio was at the mouth of the cave, preparing for the night. They would need to be well rested for tomorrow. They each decided to take a shift for the night, rather than the usual two shifts. Tails volunteered to take the first, with Sonic second, and Sally finishing for the night.

As the kit took his position at the mouth of the cave, the other two settled into the grip of sleep.

-X-

"What is wrong with me? I mean, get a hold of yourself Miles!" The kitsune was taking a moment to contemplate the events of the past few days. He'd really lost it today, and he knew it.

"It's only going to be a few days and you almost snapped already! What about the rest of the trip?" The fox pulled his cloak tighter around himself for warmth as he glanced back at Sonic and Sally.

"What if you hurt them? What if you… No, don't go there, it's not going to happen…"

The fox really hoped that what he was telling himself was true, he didn't want to hurt them. But today he'd been so close to it…

"I just need to calm down… Maybe take a walk… Would Sonic be fine with that once he wakes up?"

Tails sighed to himself, Sonic probably wouldn't like that very much. He was already concerned with keeping himself safe, and there was no way he was about to let him go alone into the night with the Nightstalkers that inevitably waited for them. Still, it might be worth the ask later once the hedgehog woke up.

"Face it, you can't just keep hiding this. One of these days they're going to find out and then what? Isn't it better if you just tell them yourself?"

The kit had considered the preposition before, each time however he came to the same conclusion. His past was his own, and it was something he'd inevitably have to deal with himself.

"Do you not trust them?" The mental question ran through the fox, of course he trusted them but at best they just wouldn't understand, and at worst…

It was just far too much of a risk, and besides things had been fine before, he just needed to remind himself to keep his cool and everything would turn out alright.

At least, that's the lie he kept telling himself…

-X-

"Night bud," Sonic spoke as Tails retired back to the safety of the cave, having just recently switched positions with the kitsune, he settled in for his own watch. As he did, his mind wandered back to a question he'd been having.

"What is up with Tails?"

The fox had been acting a bit strange recently, between his out of character outburst earlier today and his demeanor since they had left, his concern for the fox was at an all time high.

The kitsune had asked for permission to take a short walk before the hedgehog took his place, and as much as he'd wanted to let him, it was simply way too dangerous for him to be out there on his own. At least now the kit could get a night's sleep.

Sonic sighed, taking care of the kid was much harder than he'd thought, it was times like this he wondered if he was actually even helping or not. Tails just had issues that he had no idea how to help with, sometimes all he could do was just give him some time to let it all out, and he wasn't sure if that was healthy for the fox in the long run.

"Is there something he isn't telling me?"

Well of course there was the matter of his past, the kit never liked to talk about what had happened, and Sonic didn't know much about it as a result. He would try to talk about it again soon, but every time the hedgehog did, it always ended up with Tails becoming an emotional wreck, to the point he would often end off worse than he started. It would certainly help if he knew more, but he didn't dare push it any further. All he hoped was that this would just be all over with soon and that they could just return to Knothole in one piece, he missed the tranquility that came with the sanctuary already… But things were good for now, everything was going to be just fine…

-X-

The rest of the night was rather uneventful as the group slowly woke up for the morning. Sonic yawned as he stretched himself out, watching the kitsune do the same after a moment.

"How'd you sleep?" Tails asked.

"Just fine, you?"

"Alright, we're getting to Angel Island today right?"

"I hope so." Sally added, returning from her post at the entrance of the cave. "We're not far now."

"Well, what are we waiting for then?" Sonic asked. "Let's get going!"

The other two nodded in agreement and quickly got back on the way down the mountain, snow gently began to give way to grass and foliage as they continued, the trees at the base of the mountain grew thicker until the group found themselves moving through what felt like a forest.

Sonic smiled, this was exactly what he was waiting for, a chance to get away from all the snow for a minute and finally have some more warm weather, the remainder of the group seemed to share his sentiments.

"I haven't seen this much green in a long time." Sally commented.

"I know!" Sonic replied, "Got to mean we're getting close right?"

"Yep, just past this forest and we should be able to see Angel Island. But just because we're out of the snow doesn't mean we can let our guard down, there's still plenty of Nightstalkers out here…"

The group remained on alert until the trees began to clear up a little bit and eventually, they found themselves on a nice grassy plain. As they gazed over the area, Sonic smiled. There on the horizon was Angel Island, hoving neatly above a lake not far from them. As the group approached, Sonic could better make out the stairs that connected the island to the ground surrounding the lake it hovered over. He also realized just how large the island was. He'd heard stories before of course, but seeing it in person was a whole different experience.

More than just the sanctuary, a thriving community had been built atop the floating island. A singular large structure dominated the center of the island, a building which Sonic could only assume was a central hub for the city or something, either way, they'd know better once they got there.

As they approached, a pair of echidna with white markings on their faces met them at the bottom of one of the stairwells that ascended to the structure. They wore small silver chain pendants with a hexagonal green gemstone embedded in them, the jewel appeared to have a faint glow to it, reflecting off the nearby metal to give it a faint green shine. The staffs they wielded materialized a triangular tip of plasma, which they pointed at the group.

"What is your business here?" One of them spoke.

Sally stepped forward, "We're from the Knothole sanctuary, the Council sent us to figure out anything we can about Nightstalkers. We figured this would be a good start."

The two echidna guards glanced at one another, and finally back to the assembled group, they gently lowered and deactivated their weapons. "Very well, but make it quick, the Nightstalkers around here have been getting more aggressive as of late…"

"Looks like it's not just us then…" Sally commented, making her way past one of the guards as the other escorted the group up the stairs and toward the landmass floating above.

-X-

In the treeline near the island, a cloud of red smoke coalesced into the form of a cloaked Mobian. They weren't far from the stairwell, close enough in fact that they could easily make out the trio of Mobians heading up the stairs, but still far enough they couldn't hear the words that were exchanged between them and the guards, nor be spotted against their shadowy backdrop.

"Well… It would seem our little friends made it after all." Their subconscious spoke, "Honestly half expected them to turn back, especially with what's going on with the kid."

"Well, the hedgehog is the one we're looking for. The kid can turn back, as long as the hedgehog stays."

"You can never quite tell how Mobians will behave can you…"

The figure sat in quiet contemplation, hidden by the shadows of the foliage overhead. "Well, now it is time for us to play our part, all that is left is to wait…"

With the thought, the figure dissipated into a cloud of red smoke and retreated further into the trees. They'd come looking soon enough…

Alright everybody that's it for this chapter! Little bit shorter than usual, we'll get more into Angel Island next time! I hope you all enjoyed it! Leave a review with your thoughts and I'll see you next time!