Chapter 2

Align the fuel injectors, check; check that the plugs spark, check; checked for air leaks, check; check, check and check.

He was finished!

Tails jumped down from his position on top of the nose of his plane, the Tornado and climbed onto the wings and into the cockpit and test fired the engine. It coughed and the rotor began turning by itself. But it wasn't firing. The air, fuel mixture should be good so this thing should start. It coughed, and exhaust gases coughed up from the exhaust. The engine continued to turn over but refused to fire.

He opened the throttle just for a second and let more fuel in. Eureka, it fired up! And it was idling beautifully. That was until he pulled on the throttle and gave it more fuel. Then it began hick-upping and the plane began to shake. Tails killed the engine. The fuel system must still have dirt from its dunking in the sea. Scratching at his temples he climbed out.

Tails, or Miles Prower as named by his parents, was very gifted when it came to mechanics but even he had to trouble shoot engine problems when they happened.

Tails was a yellow fox of around ten years of age. He wasn't very tall by human standards, and by Mobian standards he was still quite short, but he was only ten, and a boy genius. Tails tail also looked like it split into two bushy strands. But that's only what it looked like, in reality the split tail was in fact two tails. Tails had twin tails, a genetic abnormality he'd been born with. It was his most defining characteristic. He'd started off hating them because of the amount of bullying it attracted to him, but in recent years he'd found they had their uses, especially when it came to getting away from the said bullies.

He'd been working on the Tornado for the better half of a month trying to get a proper fuel flow into the engine. During its last flight out when it had needed to follow Dr. Eggman Robotnik's flying machines it was unfortunately shot down. Tails didn't bale though, he loved this plane, and he forced it to land in the water with only superficial damage to the fuselage. Unfortunately it had began to sink and by the time he got anything around to dig it out, it had sunk. Glug, glug, glug.

Tails was so close to getting the girl back on her feet. A month of repairing the fuselage damage, taking the engine apart, breaking the block open. Meticulously cleaning every component before placing it all back on the engine block, and still it didn't work. Could be dirt in the fuel pipe still, or maybe an air leak in the manifold. Or it could be something as simple as the computer map not being set up correctly.

Scratching his head he went to his workshops work bench and moved aside some of the strange machines he had littering the place. A gun like object clattered to the floor and he picked it back up.

Tails was not only a genius, but an inventor too. Several of these objects were first time inventions, made by him. He didn't patent them though, he couldn't afford to pay for it, and besides, what he built wasn't exactly things you could market to the public.

How many people in the world need a detector that reads off Chaos Energy? For example. Tails put the Chaos Detector back and began rummaging around until he found what he was looking for. A small computer and connector to check the engines computer fuelling map. If the map was off that could also explain why it behaved the way it did.

There was a knock at the door of his workshop and before he could answer it, the door opened and Amy Rose strolled in.

"Hi Tails!" she said cheerily.

"Hi Amy" he called back. He knew precisely why she was here. It was written on her face. She came by because she was looking for Sonic. "Sonic's not here by the way."

"Tails, tails" she waved her hand dismissively tutting "I didn't come here to see Sonic, I wanted to see how you were and what you were up to."

"Okay." Tails said sceptically.

"But seriously, where is Sonic?" Amy added quickly.

"Out on a run." he said as he connected the computer to the Tornados engine.

"Oh, okay, so he's coming back. I can wait!" She said and sat on a stool at the edge of Tails' work bench. Amy was a sweet girl, but sometimes her love for Sonic made her cold around other people.

Tails didn't mind. He was used to the company of machines than he was people. In a lot of ways he preferred it. Machines couldn't hurt you, nor cause you pain. They just did their task for you and that was it. Sure, a machine couldn't love, but it also couldn't hate either.

That's not to say Tails didn't like people. He did like Amy, as a friend, and he liked his best friend Sonic. Sonic was hardly even negative or hateful. He was always upbeat and supportive of Tails, and Tails like that.

Tails fired up the engine and Tails turned on the computer. He suddenly heard a horrible screeching. He thought there must've been something wrong, maybe a bad connection to the engine. But when he turned the engine off as well as the computer the noise still persisted.

He leapt down from the cockpit of the plane and followed where the noise was coming from.

"Hey, shut that thing off. It's driving me nuts." Amy said, her hands clamped down over her ears.

Tails picked up the device. It was the Chaos Energy Detector. He called it that, but it could detect a heck of a lot more than Chaos Energy.

He waved it left and right, maybe it was picking up a Chaos Emerald and Sonic was bringing it back. But no, it wasn't set to pick up Chaos Energy, it was set to detect Chronitons, time particles. The dial must've been knocked when he dropped it.

There were time particles, in here?

Tails turned down the volume on the machine and waved the detector here an there.

"What's with that?" Amy asked.

"It's detecting time particles." Tails said, thinking it better to not use Chronitons or else he'd have to explain what they were. He followed the signal right to Amy. "Its coming from you?"

"Me? I know I'm timeless, but I think that machine is busted."

Tails brought it closer and only now did he notice the shiny, spade shaped medallion around her neck that danced, glinted and caught the light in such a way it refracted rainbows. The signal became even stronger as he pressed the nose of his detector up against it.

"Hey, do you mind?" Amy protested as Tails turned off his detector.

"Amy, what is that?" Tails asked.

"Oh, this old thing?" Amy said, "I found it at Never Lake, buried in the sand. I've spent the past few hours polishing it and shortening the chain." She adopted a pose. "It looks good on me doesn't it?" she paused as a thought came to her. "Wait, that machine, it doesn't say this medallion is dangerous does it?" She was wise enough to know when an innocent object could be dangerous. In their case it usually was.

"Chronitons, or time particles, are harmless." Tails said, "Millions travel through our bodies every single second. They're what cause Time to happen, a higher concentration of them usually means something is warping Space and Time. But that medallion?" It looked harmless enough.

"Wait, you found it at Never Lake?" Tails asked. "The place where that Mysterious Little Planet, Kasterboros appears?"

"Kaster-what?" Amy questioned

"That's its proper name," Tails explained, "The place that houses the Time Stones?"

"Yeah, that's it." Amy said.

The Time Stones were six gems which had the power to warp and shape local time around them. Tails had never found one to study, but from what Sonic told of them, they were powerful.

"Do you remember where you found it?" Tails asked, "I mean precisely?"

"Sure," Amy said "Why, what's the rush?"

"I'm not sure but..." Tails said as he picked up his Chaos Detector and zipped it up in a travel bag. "...It seems to me that spade is calling out to something. A sister medallion for example, or something. If it can produce Chronitons in that volume then it might be a good idea to go get it before Dr. Robotnik finds it."

Tails then picked up a large hammer from the desk and went up to the Tornado. Before he'd turned off the computer it had told him precisely what to do to get the Tornado working again, and it was so simple. He climbed into the cockpit and attempted to fire up the engine. It started. but struggled when the throttle was opened. But then Tails brought the hammer down sharply on the motor. Now it coughed and was brought back to life running on all cylinders and producing one, beautiful note. He's got the knack!

"Hop in" he told Amy.

The strange object was rolled in on a platform. It looked like a wooden box, the panelled design went all around it. There were two windows on each side and what looked like a lantern was on top of it. It was also quite solid, a very deep shade of blue, and the paint on it was so thick that it might be radiation proof. Now that it was in the light the sign above seemed to have stopped glowing, but there was a dull glow coming from within those windows.

Robotnik circled the machine with his hand on his chin thinking what it could be. His instruments told him this box contained a large source of Chronitons. Considering this box was buried in stone that was millions upon millions of years old it could only mean one thing. This object had time travelled, and considering how solid it still was after all these years logic dictated that it only 'looked' like it was made of wood. In reality it must be made of something far more robust.

Examining it he found what he assumed were doors. There was a panel set into one side that was covered in a scorched dust. Wiping it away he found a sign which said.

Police Telephone

Free for use of Public

Advice and Assistance Obtainable Immediately

Officers and Cars respond to all calls

Pull to open.

So its disguised as a telephone booth? Robotnik reached up to a handle on one of the doors, and pulled.

SNAP! "YAHHHH!"

He yanked his hand back as the machine gave him a sharp and unpleasant electric shock. Despite wearing gloves the machine had just shocked him? That wasn't possible, and 'impossible' didn't improve his mood much.

Next to the handle he saw a small slit, that looked like something should slide into it. Some sort of key perhaps to open the door. Robotnik laughed. He didn't need a key to break into this thing.

He snapped his fingers and a large, robotic arm came down and grabbed the box and lifted it up. Another robotic arm appeared, this one had a large drill bit on the end the size of his arm. It activated and pressed itself against the "Police Box" lock. Sparks erupted and the sound of tortured metal echoed throughout the room. When it was done Robotnik nearly fell off his chair when he saw what had happened.

There was a neat, polished circle area around the lock, and his drill... it wasn't a drill any more! It was a flat disk! Under it, piled up on the floor were metal shards, all that was left of the drill. The box was undamaged.

Robotnik grunted. This was a very robust box. No matter, he has plenty of time to examine it back at base.

Now back at the controls of his Egg-Carrier he engaged the thrusters and the large vessel began to surface.

Tails and Amy had touched down at Never Lake again. Tails had his Chaos Detector out and was scanning the area for any object emitting Chroniton particles.

"I should've hitched a ride with you Tails. We got here in no time." Amy said.

Tails had landed the Tornado in a clearing further away and they'd had to walk here.

Funnily enough, Tails had never been to Never Lake before. Sonic and Amy had obviously, but this was before he'd met either of them. It was eerily peaceful, kind of like a grave yard. There's a morbid thought.

The detector bleeped and made a noise. Whatever this medallion was calling out to it was difficult to find because the place was swarming with Chroniton particles. He turned around in a circle waiting to see if anything spiked.

"Why am I here exactly?" Amy asked looking impatient as if she had better things to do.

"Because you wouldn't give me that medallion of yours to study." Tails replied. He knew precisely why Amy was here. It was fast, blue and she wanted it badly, and she probably expected to bump into it if she stuck with him long enough.

Suddenly there was a spike on the monitor. It was there for a brief second an then it died away back to background levels. Tails re-aimed his detector and, yes; yes! There was a large source of Chroniton particles, a narrow beam of them coming from Never Lake, or the bottom of it.

Tails sighed and his shoulder sank, he should've brought some diving equipment.

But suddenly there was a disturbance on the calm surface of Never Lake as something broke the surface. A large something. A large, red something made of metal and with the round, orange logo of a smiling, bushy moustached man on its side. The air ship freed itself and its massive thrusters propelled it into the air.

"Isn't that Robotnik?" Amy screeched over the noise of its thrusters as they blasted a gale down at them.

Tails pointed his Chaos Detector up at the retreating craft. It sure was Robotnik, and by the look on Tails' Chaos Detector he already had the thing they were looking for.

To Be Continued...

Authors notes: Where Sonic CD (which features Never Lake and the Little Planet.) fits into the Time Line is always a mystery. Some put it before Sonic 2, when Sonic meets Tails, others after Sonic 3 and Knuckles. Either way, Tails has never been to Never Lake before.

Chronitons are real theoretical particles that produce time.

I'm trying to streamline my writing style. It's been said I usually pack far too much information into my writing and it just holds stuff up while I give an info dump. So hopefully this chapter flows better than most of my other chapters.

I do some work on engines as a hobby. However they are air-cooled VW engines, so I hope the knowledge translates well to a prop planes engine.