Author's note: Alright this one was over halfway done, but from here things are slowing down :)

Disclaimer: I think science and physics are interesting, but I have no knowledge of it. Tails gets smart at some point, and if some of the technobabble he says is wrong then please review or PM me - then I'll edit it and credit you. I like accuracy :3

Warning: Sickness inbound, not too detailed but it's described - faint of heart should beware

You can't just escape into a forest - the past will remind you of the inevitable

She sighed exhausted as she pushed her way past the mobians that hurried to get the last purchases before the sun set in the horizon.

Finally, the deal has been made, hoping that the contract would last longer than first anticipated, but considering the fact that they were selling sugar from the south should keep the deal going for at least five years. That was good – both for the bakers who bought the sugar and then sold their pastries as well as her business. Sometimes she wondered why she bothered with stubborn sailors from across the world, despite it being her job.

And she wasn't even done, had to look through a couple of papers once she got home, since some commotion in Croford had prevented her usual traders to get inside and sell the wheat as promised. Now she needed to calculate the time lost and therefore the money that needed to be paid to them for the inconvenience, as well as inform the top merchants that the produce was now getting stockpiled outside of the city rather than inside.

She shook her head from the thought, letting a hand run through her bangs on her head with one hand since the other was holding on to the basket against her hip, was rather glad that another day had passed in her hectic life. She had fought a lot to gain the admired position she had acquired, though it was more difficult to proof that she had the skills to maintain it. It hadn't been easy, starting out as a runner girl, meaning that she ran around town to get messages upon messages to various merchants and traders, to become one of the top positions of the market system.

She was proud, proud of herself and what she had accomplished. She was a tough nail, not letting anyone stepping on her toes or getting in her way, one her characteristics that she was thankful for. She had lived in this city ever since she was little, and was now becoming one with it, was pretty sure that she could look forward to be sitting in the council at some point. Becoming head of market trade was her dream, despite the stress that followed with the career.

But for now, she didn't care, instead walked up her trivial road to her home, her long dress fluttering around her feet, shivering in the cold since the fabric was thin. Maybe she should buy a new one very soon.

As the mobians thinned out in the residential area she let out another sigh of relief as she saw her house in the distance, very glad that she had bought it with the money she had obtained. It was rather simple and not that big, stone walls making out the bottom layer, a couple of windows with maintained glass panes that made sure you could look through them. The upstairs had wooden wall, a timber frame decorating it as well as keeping the house reinforced, more windows allowing the sun to shine through. The roof had red tiles, a chimney with no smoke coming out of it, dirtied with time but kept the rain at bay.

She had only lived here for a couple of months, but it was her home, nonetheless, being grateful from the upgrade since the shack she had previously lived in had most likely been torn down by now. She walked up to the wooden door and pushed it open, closing it behind her with a swift kick.

"Cream, I'm home!" She yelled into the house without looking around, turning towards a table and put the basket on it. The table was worn out, secondhand bought with four chairs that was just as rundown. A fireplace was her oven, pots and pans put aside, but thanked Chaos for the fridge she had bought and had someone else install it, remembering to check on the generator like she had been told in the basement. Technology was foreign to her, not a lot of people in Kroxburg had it, she was well aware, since the town wasn't the wealthiest. And the geniuses that had invented this was more concentrated on trying to invent something that could drive on four wheels, something that she was pretty sure was left for the dreamers.

Behind her the living room opened up, a couch and an armchair with scarlet fabric was situated around a table, a game of chess unfinished with some of the pieces scattered around. A bookshelf was pushed to the side with various books on different subjects, most of them containing information about currency and the market roles, while a couple of children's books were among them as well.

A staircase gave her access to the upper landing, turning her head around to expect the rabbit running down it. But she didn't. Quirking an eyebrow at the missing presence, she put the fish away in the fridge and packed away the bread, the jam and a new coloring book and placed the basket by the door. She scoffed when she caught the sight of her dress, dusting away the dirt from running into various mobians, pulling out a stack of papers from her pockets.

"Cream!" She called again, as she sat down by the table, putting the papers on it as she began reading. Though, it quickly stopped within seconds, looking at the staircase but no one came running down. "Cream, I don't feel like being scared right now. It has been a tough day," She said out into the room as she got up from the chair and walked towards the stairs.

Having one hand on her dress and lifted a bit in it to avoid stepping on herself, the other hand rested on the banister as she made her way up the stairs. Standing on the upper landing she scanned the bedroom, one bigger bed in the right corner with red covers and a book by the night stand, she looked over at the other bed with orange covers, the bed unmade and one pillow on the floor. She sighed as she walked over and picked up the pillow putting it back on the bed.

"Cream?" She called again, looked under the beds and towards the bathroom, but the door was left open. She bit her lip as she could feel the worry to slowly erupt in her chest. She had told her not to leave the house without her permission and instead stay and study. She knew she had done as told, as the book she had told her to read was finished on the nightstand, as she made her way down the stairs again.

"Cream c'mon out or I'm going to start getting mad," She said as she made her way into the kitchen again, putting her hands on her hips. Walking into the living room she looked behind the couch and under the table, but yet again the rabbit was nowhere to be found.

Humming thoughtfully, she was about to walk out and down her basement to check if she was sitting by the generator when she caught a piece of paper on the table by the game of chess. She frowned at it, and picked it up, was well aware that this wasn't Cream's handwriting.

The words and sentence were short, quick and to the point and made the girl's hands shake, emitting a gasp and dropping the note in the process, one hand covering her mouth.

"Give us the contract for the gold mine tomorrow at Heather Alley at sundown or you'll never see your sister again."

She stared at the piece of paper, her hands shaking and her heart beating.

She had been taken. She had been kidnapped! She – was just a kid.

The mobian felt tears start to appear in her eyes out of panic, suddenly understanding what her position just meant other than the fact that she was happy and wealthy.

With time spend with minimal talk and questions, the night was slowly approaching, with the sun creating beautiful hues of orange, yellow and red in the horizon, the night slowly creeping up on them in the late summer evening. The temperature dropped with it, the path ahead of them becoming just a tad bit darker, the pine trees, big and majestic, creating long shadows in the setting sun.

Tails had never seen such a thing in his life, the long, long black silhouettes of the giant monsters, reaching into the sky, creating long branches with needles, swaying in the soft wind. The grass and moss were getting damp under their feet, and the sounds of the river they had decided to follow got quieter in the calm evening. Even out here, when night fell, it seemed like not only mobians went to sleep but so did nature. The plants become quieter, the vibrations in the ground stopped and the sounds of water or wind disappeared with the darkness settling. It was harder to feel within the city walls, but here he could feel it much clearer, enjoyed the sounds and the beautiful surrounding.

A part of him regretted not escaping Croford earlier, since this was a sight to behold.

With the settling night, the group had agreed to settle down and create a campfire, scavenge for some food, and boil some water. Mighty was clever enough to have brought a dented pot with him that they could use to cook up some water from the river, while Ray was eager to be the one to go search for their evening meal. After some discussion quite a bit of time had passed, and the only ones left were the prisoner and the pick pocketer.

The thimble riggers had gone out to find food, Chaos knows where, as a steady flame was growing on the twigs that had been collected earlier. It had taken time to find the branches, the perfect place to set up so they wouldn't burn the forest down and even longer to make the flames stay lit since the branches were wet and gave off a foul smell.

Tails had no knowledge of what had happened the last hour, was aware of campfires but had refrained from using them at all since it gave your position away with the smoke, and soldiers would think that some house was on fire or something. He had watched curiously, taking note of their techniques, and subconsciously learned. That was how he had learned most things, being a silent observer to a woman sewing something on the street, a market seller patching up his shoe and an old lady scrubbing a piece of cloth at the well. He was a quick study and knew how to keep quiet and let his eyes observe without it becoming suspicious. Of course, that wasn't needed here, but he used that same tactic since that was the way he knew how to do it.

But now, a steady flame was surviving on the damp branches, the pot settled neatly in the middle of the heap of twigs, the water only starting to boil. With the heat from the flames feeling tranquil on his body but making his eye thump he was once again holding his now refilled bottle at his eye. He was getting tired in his arm to sit in the same position, had opted to rest his elbow on his knee, the other leg crossed. He had his cloak on out of habit, looking across the flames at Sonic who once again had balled up his cloak and used it as a makeshift pillow, sitting in the same manner – hands behind head, legs crossed. His foot was tapping into the air to a song Tails didn't recognize, had been listening only half-way. The hedgehog wasn't full out singing, he was humming very quietly to himself, the way that his eyes were staring into seemingly nothing told the fox that he was unaware of it.

He didn't pay attention, since a part of him was eager to fiddle with his device again, now that he thought he had gotten the missing pieces into place. But now, he remained sitting and staring into the flames, getting himself into a daze. They were dancing, pirouetting around the twigs, jumping on the ash, and caught each other in the air. Sporadic, chaotic and at the same time synchronized. Sometimes getting higher, other times lower depending on the wind that passed by them. Though it had settled, making the smoke go straight into the air, not irritating the two occupants enjoying the flames' heat.

The song apparently ended, as Tails watched Sonic's foot stop tapping in the air and the humming coming to an end. His eyes refocused, looked at the river, clicked with his tongue and then turned his head to the fox.

"I'm not sure who those guys were," He had hoped for a bit of quietness around, but clearly the hedgehog had other plans, refrained from sighing since it was too early to get mad at him.

"Who? Mighty and Ray? They've been following us for quite a while if you didn't notice," He deadpanned, opting to look at the fire rather than the hedgehog across it. The hedgehog snorted, shifted around, and continued with a huff.

"No Mr. Sarcastic. I'm talking about Espio, and the other two that helped us. They must be something other than criminals if they chose to help you," Tails looked at him from the implication, Sonic's green eyes looking back at him, clearly unaware that his sentence could have been offensive. He let it slide for now, instead turned the bottle over in his hand to a cooler side of the plastic, looking back into the flames.

"They're called the Chaotix. They aren't thieves they're pick pocketers like me. They help new criminals in the system – teach them how to survive, where the invisible barriers are and the difference between them. They only take in people who were forced to become it, not people who wants to be it," He said, felt the need to defend them since they had really been the closest to anyone who had actually cared for him. Something he had realized far too late.

Sonic let out a quick 'huh' something that the fox lifted his head from, eyes fixating on the blue one.

"Well I'm glad there's somebody there to teach them," He commented, no heat in his voice or any disgust in his face either, looking out at the far river that twinkled in the stars that shone.

Tails narrowed his eyes at him, couldn't see it in his face but he didn't want to believe it.

"You can say it," Sonic turned his head towards him. "You think it's stupid right? That a group of mobians teach other new criminals how to become better criminals," He couldn't avoid the heat in his own voice, past experience flashing past his mind as his blue eyes looked at Sonic, shining more from the flames dancing between them. He couldn't read something right of the bat, as the hedgehog merely looked at him, before he shrugged his shoulders.

"Nah it's cool. I don't judge people – they do things for a reason and if your buddies has devoted themselves to learn people how to learn the system or whatever, then I admire that," He said, then winked mockingly at the fox. "I thought you could read faces?"

Tails blinked back at him, biting his lip to refrain from letting his surprise show. He had read it; he had read that he hadn't thought the opinion he had thought the hedgehog had – he just didn't want to believe it. He trusted his gut and his senses at everything that he did see, but it was rare that he didn't trust what he didn't see. It was rare that his experience didn't match together with what he had expected of other people. And yet, the sentence Sonic had voiced echoed in the back of his mind, trusting what he said. A part of him had already figured that the hedgehog didn't care and was open-minded, curling one tail around his crossed leg absentmindedly.

"Could you try again?" Sonic looked up from the question, confusion clear in his eyes. Tails nodded towards his quills, trying to switch topics to something much more interesting. "The emerald – I wanna try something," He said, while his free hand fiddled around his fur in his tail around his leg, successfully pulling out the device, glad that it hadn't suffered the dampness of his pelt from the river.

Sonic's eyes travelled over the metallic device that the fox placed in his lap, letting his fingers run over the screen as the hedgehog pulled out the white emerald, looking at it in his hand.

"What do you want me to do?" –

"Just – manipulate the wind or something," Tails inquired, having already found his own programmed program, holding the device up in front of his face. Sonic blinked at him, still confused, but obliged without question, looking at the emerald in his hand, his eyes narrowing slightly like before. Quills risen in the back of his head, the emerald emitting a faint glow.

Sitting much closer to the hedgehog than before, Tails suddenly felt it – felt the energy that the hedgehog pulled at, his yellow fur prickling and his fingers tingling. For a moment he wondered if he could pull at it too without knowing how but didn't get to try it out as Sonic lifted his other hand towards the fire. The flames were pushed away dangerously close to the fox, almost extinguishing in the gush of wind that passed the pick pocketer as well, his cloak fluttering slightly and his fur getting ruffled.

He beamed in pride when his device let out a loud 'beeb', numbers, codes and a chart showing itself on the screen, his heart beating out of pure excitement.

"It's working," He whispered softly to himself, his eyes fixating onto the screen, reading the numbers and the chart, calculations and theories emitting in his mind, as he ran another program, conclusions and texts showing him results.

"I was right!" He suddenly exclaimed, looking up at Sonic who was looking perplexed at him, still holding the emerald, through the glowing had subsided. "It's energy! It kinda reacts in the same way magnetism would, just that chaos energy is much more powerful!" From the bewildered look that the hedgehog gave him, he couldn't stop himself as he put his device in his lap and waved a hand around him.

"Every single thing that you look at is made of atoms. Every tree, every plant, every chlorophyte, and every cell. It's matter that has mass, elements that consists of atoms. Now, atoms are magnetic as well as the hydrogen bond despite having the opposite electrical charges, otherwise they wouldn't hold the mass together. That means that with a strong enough magnetic charge you can actually move the atoms, and therefore the mass. The chaos emerald has a strong resemblance to magnetism, hence why you can move the wind itself! But it's just so much stronger, to move an element as fragile as the wind.

My theory is that you can only move the wind with that emerald and not the water is because of the amount of magnetic charge the emerald needs to compose in order to move the mass, though I suspect that it isn't magnetism at all but energy, maybe a third-world kinetic one, or something that exists in a kind of sub reality since the emeralds does not resemblance anything else in this world. But you can only move the water with my emerald because it has another charge than the white one.

Why the colors are different could also explain this – colors change depending on how much a magnetic field's strength increases, though this is still speculations since I am not too sure whether or not it is magnetism, hence my previous theory about these gems coming from a subdimension. It really gives us another perspective on dimensional transportation huh?"

It was only after a couple of seconds had passed that Tails realized he had been rambling, felt his muzzle heat up with embarrassment, though Sonic was still just looking at him like he just came out of a time portal of sorts.

"I – understood none of that," He said, though he grinned afterwards, his eyes shining with something else as the confusion disappeared with some kind of revelation. "You're a seriously smart kid," He laughed, a light chuckle escaping his mouth as he hid the emerald back in his quills, leaned forward and took the pot off the flames, the water having boiled for a while now.

Tails opened his mouth to say something but had no idea what he was going to say. In all honesty, he had no idea what just happened – he was used to not talking to himself, quit mumbling and only opened his mouth when he was talked to, that the sentences that he had sputtered out sounded like it came from another person entirely. He had never behaved that way, let alone let his thoughts ramble out of his mouth in that manner, talking to someone about his deepest interest that he hadn't shared with anyone. And Sonic didn't care that he didn't understand, he had listened despite of that.

And he thought that he was smart.

With that, his jaw closed again, as he looked down at his device, the calculated numbers and chart still visible to his blue eyes.

His ears turned around, when he heard the sounds of running, whipped his entire body around, fur puffing up in preparation. Though, he quickly calmed down again when he saw the armadillo coming towards them, in his night vision sight, the squirrel making his way back to the fire through the trees instead. Ray was squealing with laughter, jumping from branch to branch, using his tail to hang upside-down and reach the other needles, not pricking himself in some way as the duo made their way to the prisoner and the pick pocketer.

"Hey – found some grub?" Sonic asked immediately, padding his stomach as if he wanted to emphasize that he was hungry. He wasn't the only one. Mighty stopped beside the fire, slightly breathless, but he quirked an eyebrow at him while putting one hand on his hip, the other holding together a bunch of white strips of something.

"If you were that hungry you could've searched yourself," He rationalized, Ray appearing behind him, hanging upside down in a branch while giggling his lips off.

There was a small part of the careful fox who wanted to ask him to be quiet, but yet again, his common sense reminded him that there were no one but them out here.

"Eh, figured you guys did a good enough job," Sonic shrugged with a smirk, obvious humor in his voice if the glimmer in his eyes were anything to go by. Tails rolled his eyes into the night sky.

"We did!" Ray suddenly beamed, front flipped to land on his blue sneakers and showed the hedgehog two handfuls of berries.

The fox had seen berries in the city before, had strawberries recently and had tasted blackberries as well, but these were much smaller and had an oval shape, having different shades of red with some leaves stinking out, like he had yanked them off the bush. Which was most likely also what had happened.

"Barberries! Great find," Sonic identified smiling brightly at the squirrel. Tails looked at his eyes, seeing perfectly well that he was praising him, if the sound of his voice didn't give it away. Why though he didn't know since the roles in this suggested that Mighty should be the one during it. But the performer didn't mind, beamed brighter at the hedgehog, and instead sat down beside him, leaving the berries on the ground.

He began dividing them up into four groups, doing it roughly first before he started briefly counting, as Mighty walked over to the pot and stuck a little finger in the water. He frowned at it before sighing and plopped down between the fox and the hedgehog, looking at the white strips he had in hands.

"Alright," Ray suddenly announced, taking a handful of one of the groups of berries in his hands and reached them over to Sonic.

"One for you," The hedgehog took it, the next handful given to Mighty.

"One for you," He announced, taking the second to last berries in his hands, leaning forward towards Tails.

"One for you," The fox blinked at him firstly, looking at the small hands that offered him food.

He didn't get to ponder about it long, as he took the berries in his hand, Ray smiling brightly at him as he looked down at the last group.

"And one for me!" Enthusiastically he took a good amount of them and practically shoved them into his face, chewing happily on his meal.

The pick pocketer was still staring at the berries in his own hand, licking his lips as he could feel his stomach rumbling. A part of him had already accepted that he wouldn't get any food tonight, now knowing which plants were edible or not in the wild and had decided to find something in Kroxburg. It wasn't the first night that he would have gotten to bed hungry, either not swiping enough food or swiped food that had been rotten or otherwise poor quality.

He had expected the others to merely find food for themselves, hadn't given the thought if Sonic would have found food on his own or not, since it seemed like he had expected them to find food for everyone. A deal that Tails had no knowledge of.

But instead of questioning the morals he knew and instead decided that he would owe them he took a good handful of the berries and put them in his mouth, chewing slowly. They were sweet, a taste he didn't endure a lot of times, though when he swallowed a tart aftertaste was left behind until he took another berry in his mouth.

"We also found this bark – we could boil it but I want to save the water to drink from it," Mighty said after eating some berries himself, taking three white strips in his hand and reached them over to Tails firstly. Slightly taken aback by being offered more food, he stared at the strips before he took them, still looking at them as he ran a hand over it. It was smooth, white, and slightly sticky to the touch.

He frowned, thinking that it didn't look like any other food he had seen before, but upon seeing Ray put a whole strip in his mouth he opted to try it. When living on the street you didn't have the luxury of being picky. Another mild flavor of sweetness hit his tongue, and a bit rancid as well, but found himself concentrating on chewing it instead, since it was a bit chewy.

"Thank you," He said after swallowing, looking at Mighty who looked back at him. He flashed him a brief smile as he took another bite of the bark, chewing loudly.

"'Course. We're a group, aren't we?" He shrugged, eating a handful of berries, as if the statement were as clear to him as to everybody else.

Tails hadn't really thought of it that way, more like people he followed because they were headed the same way. For all he cared they could have made a separate campfire and found food themselves, he didn't need to be with them. But he found the companionship wanted anyway.

His eyes travelled over Sonic briefly, the hedgehog eating berries while Ray had gotten the berries around his mouth than in it, currently eating his last strip of bark as well. He found himself faintly smiling from the childish habit, looking at the armadillo again, looking down at the bark he had in his hand.

"Mighty," He said, gaining the armadillo's attention as well as the squirrel's. "I'm sorry, again. For – making you talk back at the Chaotix. I – don't know why I did it," Tails apologized again, his ears going slightly into his skull, fiddling with the bark in his hand rather than eating it.

He looked back at the armadillo to see his reaction, clearly seeing the surprise from bringing the topic back up, black eyes' looking at the fox before he shook his head, smiling yet again.

"It's okay. You had your reasons and I guess it was a bit suspicious that we had no trouble, when you ran into something," He said, nodding towards the bottle that was still put against the swollen blue eye. He took a bite out of the bark, then waved a hand towards the pick pocketer.

"Though I am curious-" He started, chewed and swallowed. "How old are you?"

Tails scoffed low to himself, guessing that he owed it to him, as he took two more berries in his mouth.

"I'm eight," He said coldly, awaiting the surprise in Mighty's eyes. And it did occur, pupils widening, and he stopped chewing for just a second, ears erect. He swallowed, before looking over at Ray, waved a hand towards the kid who had finished eating and ran down towards the river to wash his hands and face.

"Ray's ten."

Now Tails was surprised, having expected the squirrel of being six or seven from his behavior alone, if his young face hadn't been a hint of something. He saw Sonic's face change as well, slight surprise and another undertone he didn't want to categorize. Though Mighty did it for him, by cleaning his hands of excess juice from the red fruits.

"I'm sorry," Tails turned, blinked perplexed.

"What?" The armadillo looked at him, with an expression that had softened, like he was really sorry about something that the fox didn't understand.

Sadness, or more like empathy shining in his eyes, lips slightly creating wrinkles around his mouth, ears droopy and eyes calm.

"You don't get to be a kid," He simply said, before his head turned around towards Ray's return, trying to wipe out the rest of the water that had been in his face.

"Don't have pity," Tails was quick to say, a stern voice that didn't accept discussion, making the armadillo and hedgehog turn to him. "That's just how it is," He finalized, taking a bite out of his bark to emphasize that they shouldn't.

"How old are you?" Pity successfully removed, the armadillo instead blinked out from the sudden question, though he smirked.

"I'm seventeen," –

"Really?" Sonic quipped from the other side of the fire, cleaning his hands off the bark and laced them behind his neck, watching as Ray had walked over to the pot of boiled water, taking a swig of the cooled liquid.

"You don't look like it," Mighty shrugged his shoulders in a casual manner, putting a hand on his chin, a thoughtful expression coming to his face.

"I'm thinking – fourteen," –

"Almost," Sonic winked. "Fifteen," He corrected, asking the squirrel to bring the pot over to him as well.

Tails hadn't actively been thinking about age, but the more he looked at him the more he would have guessed either fourteen or fifteen as well. His face did hold that young façade, eyes shining and no wrinkles around his muzzle or forehead, but his eyes were deep, and with every pull or twitch of his face and thought that occurred to him, a memory popped up in as well. It didn't matter if it were a question, a comment or something else, after he had talked, his eyes would unfocused and his feet stop tapping, briefly thinking about something else than whatever he had said. He had experience and had seen a lot of things that much he knew.

While the pot of water got send around to the separate members, Ray eventually yawned, making the armadillo agree that it might be time to get some shuteye. Despite them being alone out here, they agreed to have one keep watch in case something would happen, since none of them new the area after all. Sonic volunteered to stay awake as the first one, not feeling completely tired himself.

Tails felt exhausted on his part, with senses being on high alert, being near death and thought more than he had ever thought before in a single day had taken its toll on the young pick pocketer. With that, he had leaned down on his hands, tails curled around like he would be sleeping on his pallet, glancing over at Ray who were laying in the same manner, snores already emitting out of his nose. Mighty had turned away from the fire, curled together and ears twitching from the occasional mosquito that tried to get a midnight snack.

The fox spend some time looking into the flames, bottle put away again, his eye not thumping as much as he tried to ignore the nausea that hit him at full thrust, well-aware that he needed to get some meat soon. He swallowed saliva to keep it at bay, blue eyes darting around the campfire. He wasn't sure whether or not he could sleep, regarding the fact if it was safe to do so.

He highly doubted any one of them would do anything to him, didn't have a reason to other than the fact that he had a Chaos Emerald. That would make it dangerous for him since Sonic was the first one to stay awake, but a part of him was pretty sure that he wasn't going to take it from him.

He didn't like the thought, but the more he talked to the hedgehog and the more he spend his time around him he was getting more and more – comfortable. And his presence seemed. Welcome. Like he knew that this hedgehog wasn't going to harm him but still. That rational part of him told him otherwise, that you shouldn't trust people you had only known for two days let alone someone who had stolen something.

"Go to sleep Tails," His thoughts got interrupted by Sonic's whispering, looking up to see him looking at him, the emerald green eyes shining as one of the eyes winked at him.

"I got your back, remember?"

He still wasn't too sure about that fact, but the sentence alone made him feel tired even more than before, and soon found himself succumbing to the need, emitting a sigh of frustration as he closed his eyes.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow he had no idea what would happen.

He woke up still feeling nauseous. The acid feeling in his throat hadn't disappeared through the night, waking up every time someone moved, or when Sonic woke Mighty so he could keep watch when he felt too tired himself.

Drifting in and out of sleep, he still felt tired when the sun was in the sky, the last hues of orange and red making their departure with the new day. He had slept even less than the day before, their new surroundings and his acquaintances making his senses still on high alert, despite Sonic's reassurance. He wasn't too sure whether or not he could trust him.

They had kept moving after a light breakfast, the same berries to which Tails only took a few, well-knowing that the fruits weren't going to be the solution to his churning stomach. He could feel it, despite his mind trying to fight it back, swallowing saliva and tried not to think about it and ignore it. Their slow movement didn't help much, being in the back again with Sonic in front and Mighty and Ray talking their ears off, walking with the river still in their sight, claiming that it would follow them to Kroxburg. Right now, he didn't think about if they were right or not since Espio had told them to follow the road instead, his thoughts trying to convince his mind that he was fine.

"You've never been to Kroxburg right?" Tails looked up, saw that he wasn't the one getting talked to but was more than happy for the distraction, saw that Mighty had turned to Sonic instead.

The hedgehog's blue fur was hidden underneath his cloak, the fox having no idea why he was wearing it other than the fact that he most likely didn't know what else to do with it.

"Nope. I've visited markets before, but this one seems like to be a big deal," He answered, turning his head around towards the fox, a smirk on his lips. "It's gonna be kinda cool to visit huh?" Sonic asked, though the fox hardly heard him.

He took in a deep breath, when he realized there was nothing, he could do to stop it, his stomach turning around itself, the taste of acid making a permanent stay in his throat.

"Yeah sure," He said, turning his head towards the trees. "I gotta – do something."

Sonic's eyebrow quirked up, making a stop with the other two in front, turning around to look at the fox. The emerald green eyes flashed over the fox's ears briefly, looking around the forest.

"You hear something?" Tails almost beamed at him, starting to take his steps away from the group.

"Yeah, it – sounds like mumbling or something. I'll check it out," –

"You sure? You know we're the only ones out here," –

"No, yeah I know just – it'll be quick," He quickly dismissed, ignoring the confused stares he got from the performers, well aware that Sonic's gaze was critical but he had no time to think of any other excuse, as he turned around closer towards the forest.

He pushed the feeling back, but had to gag on his way, turning his head around to make sure that he was far enough away. When they disappeared from his vision, hidden by a curtain of needles and two or three more trees, he leaned up against the closest one he had, retched and emptied his stomach.

Retching and stepping away to get it away from his shoes, the acid got into his nose and was burning, unpleasantly and uncomfortable, feeling his legs shake. He gagged once more and coughed, and turned away from the pool, to both negate the smell and the sight, since it could very much make another bout of stomach contains make its way out his esophagus. He puffed out a good amount of air out of his nose, freeing his airway of the remains of his dinner and breakfast in his nostrils as well.

He wiped off the rest with the back of his glove, leaning his head up against the tree and exhaled deeply. He felt better – his stomach was still fragile, and some acid was still clinging to his throat. He tried coughing out the rest to no avail, letting a hand run through his face.

"Tails? You alright?"

He jumped from the sudden voice, well-aware who it was. He turned his head around to watch Sonic walk around the curtains of needles, a somewhat suspicious look on his face. Though it changed once they locked eyes together, quills deflating and his eyes looking over the fox's face.

"Yeah. I'm good," He said, resisted the urge to cough, as he pretended to look out for something, hoped that Sonic didn't see or smell the yellow pool on the other side of the tree. "It was nothing anyway, let's go," –

"No, hey wait," Tails sighed as he tried walking past him, a firm hand placed on his shoulder. He could with ease yank it off him, but a part of him didn't feel like turning around too quickly and another part feared that he might tell the others.

He felt embarrassed more than anything, as the hedgehog's eyes scanned the area he had been standing, eyes widening slightly when he saw the vomit covering the previous patch of grass.

"You sure you're alright? You look a bit pale," He didn't announce it directly despite seeing it, turning back to the fox in question.

Tails easily read the critical face, and yet there was a softness there that he had seen before.

"Yes, Sonic I'm fine, really. It's just-" He licked his lips, regretted the action immediately from the taste, as he agreed with himself that the hedgehog was too stubborn to let it slide. "I – haven't had meat in a while."

He felt his ears fall a bit more into his skull, from admitting it, silently cursing himself. Though, the hedgehog's dumbfounded look told him that he didn't get it.

"What? What does that-"

Tails' sigh interrupted his questioning, the pick pocketer wondering how thickheaded one had to be to not correlate those two things together.

"Sonic I'm a fox," He deadpanned flatly, telling the hedgehog that he right now was one of the stupidest mobians on the planet. He apparently didn't catch that, but he did catch his sentence, blinked in pure realization.

"Oh!" He exclaimed, looking back at the yellow pool. "So – when you don't eat meat for a while you-," –

"Yes," The fox quickly explained, shrugging the hand of his shoulder. "It's. Been a week or something, I get nauseous and that happens, haven't you been sick before?" –

"Yes of course I have, just not because of food I haven't eaten in a while," He said, looking back and forth between the pool of yellow and the fox, as if he didn't believe that he was done or something.

"That's because you're a hedgehog. You can easily get berries and such," He silently said to himself, looking away from him, the smell of his stomach starting to reach his nostrils. "Let's go back," –

"You'll be fine now?" He asked as Tails started walking, hearing him continue in his steps behind him.

"Yeah, I'll be fine for now," He said the truth, his stomach feeling better, but he knew that another bout of vomit would escape tonight if he didn't swipe something from the city.

Sonic didn't answer to that, the fox not looking back to see if he believed him or not since he didn't care, the embarrassment still sitting in his chest. Walking past the curtain of needles and the trees he had almost run past, he saw the two thimble riggers waiting, Mighty with hands over his chest and Ray playing in the trees behind them.

"So? Anyone wants to ambush us?" The armadillo asked, as the two emerged back to the group.

"Nope. Just making sure," Sonic said before Tails had a chance to, walking casually as if nothing had happened at all. Mighty quirked a brow at him, disbelief shining through his eyes through he didn't question it, instead beckoned for Ray behind him.

"Thanks," The fox whispered, making sure that he was beside the hedgehog when he said it. All he received was a wink, as they continued their trek.

Tails still felt the embarrassment flush in his chest, as Ray and Mighty made out the front, not thinking that he was walking beside the hedgehog this time around.

"So. You've been to other markets?" Was the most creative question he could muster, not at all interested but just wanted to get his mind off his thoughts. Sonic looked at him for a second before he smiled and nodded.

"Yeah. I've been to lots of markets. Down south the markets are so big I almost get lost in them – they had tons of produce. Sugar, wheat, clothes oh I found my gloves, there they sell really great materials," He explained, looking at his right hand. "I remember that market. It was called something southern I don't remember, but I remember the jungle that was down there," –

"The jungle?" The fox found himself asking, the hedgehog nodding again, waving a hand around the pine trees.

"It's different from here. In a jungle the trees are much taller than these old pine trees. There are vines that is fun to swing in, every pathway is obscured by a bush or two and it's just awesome to run through! It's really hot though and there's lots of animals such as snakes and such. Oh man, I remember one time that I got bitten by one," –

"By a snake?" –

"Yeah! Apparently it was poisonous, but my blue butt didn't know that so I just kept running until I felt ill, head swimming all over the place and then I suddenly passed out."

Tails' ears peaked, intrigued by the story without his consent.

"When I woke up, I was in some sort of hut or something. I didn't even have time to look around before someone shoved a bowl with something into my face. I drank whatever was in it, it wasn't until later that I learned a village had found me and given me the antidote for the venom. I told them thanks, collected some food for them and continued my travel," He chuckled lightly, shaking his head at something only he understood.

The fox on the other hand didn't quiet understand, since it sounded like he had been pretty close to death, and yet he thought the experience was amusing.

"Do you travel a lot?" Sonic nodded, both to the fox and the squirrel that had decided to walk backwards to be able to hear his stories as well.

"I travel all the time. I don't like standing around in one place too much, I wanna get out there and explore you know? I've been almost everywhere, both to the south the north and the west since I come from the east. I've been to jungles, cities, temples, monuments and visited different cultures, different people – I've seen a lot of weird stuff, but it's awesome to know that every place that I've ever visited is different from everywhere else. It would be boring if everything were the same wouldn't it?" He asked, looking firstly at the flying squirrel before looking back at the pick pocketer.

The green emerald eyes were shining with amusement, memories and anecdotes flashing through his mind behind his forehead, a grin on his lips. Tails didn't know what to think of the statement, let alone what kind of opinion he should have about it. He had only been in Croford but listening to the hedgehog's stories made another desire erupt in his chest. One he was pretty sure was unattainable, as he bit his lip, felt his tails whip once in agitation.

He would have opened his mouth to ask another question when Mighty made a sound in front of them, stopping and placing his hands on his hips. Ray walked into him as a result, stumbling in place and fell onto his bottom, as the armadillo gestured a hand in front of them.

"I think that's it," Tails looked up from the conclusion, stopped beside the armadillo while Ray got to his feet, looking with wide eyes ahead of them.

There wasn't a wall like there had been at Croford, no, the city was visible to the naked eye. The pine forest stopped suddenly, as if they had been chopped down, the river to their right continue, a road that they had supposed to follow to the left of them, different mobians walking to and from. At first glance it reminded him of the city he came from, houses with timber frames, stone and wood, pillars and tiling keeping it together. Though he noted that they were less dilapidated than where he came from, some of them taller than others, a tower of some sort in the back of the city, as well as some taller buildings.

From his perspective he couldn't quiet grasp how big it was, but upon seeing the mobians carrying various items in and out he was pretty sure that they had reached the right place. He bit his lip in hesitation, felt the urge to stay in the forest more than keep walking, old instinct and experience making its way forth.

"Then let's go! Check the place out, get some brunch," Sonic exclaimed happily, taking his first steps towards the road, not minding at all if mobians saw them and wondered why they came from the forest.

Mighty exchanged a glance with Ray, the squirrel squealing with delight as he sprinted past the hedgehog to get to the road.

The armadillo shook his head, as the pick pocketer let out a deep sigh, putting his hood over his head and swirled one tail underneath his cloak.

Here we go again. Nothing had changed.