Recent events have slowed this story's progress quite a mouthful in the past few months, and I'm surprised I'm not tired of it yet. Half the little plot things I had planned are forgotten, but the main point, of course, I can remember. Just to say, it's still a planned… sixty chapters or so.

I got an email from a guy with a name like Speedpig, but I know that's not it, it's just the song I was just listening to. He said I need to 'hold out on the plot more'. Well… -gets on top of the plot and holds out a lollipop-

There. Now I'm holding out a LOLLIPOP on the plot. That work?

Anyways… this chapter is just basically about how the people met. The chapter theme is appropriately picked, because the song is about friends.

REMINISCING

Chapter Theme: At the End of August by 36 Crazyfists

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Knuckles, Hyphen, and the grey fox, soon known as Liatra, were playing Poker on a small table in the garage with Amy, the purple female echidna, and Arieal watching, and talking at the same time, since the whole reason the girls came to Flint had been taken care of. It seemed the renegades didn't care too much for the fact that the Freedom Fighters had not left. Or that Miles was taking at least forty-five minutes; which is a long time for him. And he always went to one of three places, so anyone could go fetch him. Even then, he usually took the long way home, which left him pretty much pointless to try to catch up with, unless you just like to waste energy.

Amy and Arieal could still not get over the way Miles had acted when they came around. The hate that he felt for them seemed to extrude from his body in an intimating aura-intimating in a negative way. It seemed as though they never knew each other; strangers, perhaps.

It made Arieal think back- back to the 'ClaN', as they would call themselves. Arieal, Miles, Kari, and Amy, all in a little bundle of dynamite fun and happiness; supposedly strung together like dynamite cartridges. Those good old days when flicking corn at each other was the shit. The days when the girls would stick up for Tails when all the other kids bullied him.

The days when Tails…

And, there leads back to the present. Any questions?

It came upon Amy in such a manner as this:
She couldn't help but talk to his friends about it. Come to find out none of them really liked authorities of any kind, but had respect- a lot more respect- for them than Miles did. They didn't seem to have any kind of problems with talking freely and out in the wide, vast open about things, either. It seemed they weren't too worried about the bite of consequence, which really put everyone in a better mood. To be quite frank, they pretty friendly.

They talked quite a bit about the band, too. Another Know It All was their name, which Hyphen pointed out. Apparently, the band was Miles' life. "Without Another Know It All, Miles Prower wouldn't have a story. A pamphlet maybe, but not the whole book." as stated by Liatra.

Knuckles agreed with "the band is his life. It's his aorta; it's what he is. It keeps him alive."

The group also had a few interesting talks about… life, in general. What fun, to just sit and waste precious breath that you could lose by incorrectly swallowing a Life Saver, on something as plain and obvious as life. Ah, life after High School.

It was obvious that Knuckles and Sora, as she came to be known, were dating. Knuckles said it had been about four years since they started dating, after Knuckles and she met at a competition made for bands that wanted to get up and out… or up and 'outer'- CPAK's. She was in a band called Claimed Authority, where she was the vocalist… of sorts. She majored in screaming, which was rare for a female. It didn't prove to stop her, though. She proved a promising career for five years- since she heard her first band at CPAK's. She was just 15 when she and a group of friends started it, naming the band after her guitarist's dad, who claimed to have once been a Freedom Fighter. They became unnerved of attention throughout Oak, which is where they originated. But, the attention wasn't all too good, for they were shunned by many as evil (for the screaming). So, they all relocated to Flint at 17/18 years of age and became quickly a favorite.
A few years passed, and Sora beheld that of some kind of disinterest for the band. Her last show was at CPAK's. To up the ante, the legends Hammered, who she heard the first time she went to CPAK's, were headlining- and therefore she made DAMN sure she did her best.
But shortly before the end of her last song, by the time she got to the line "don't let the lights turn out", her voice had pretty much gave out. She blamed it on her not using skill, but all of her emotions, in her screaming; apparently because she had been wanting out of the band for a long time, but as living in Flint goes, had nothing better to do.
But shortly after her little incident, she met up with Knuckles backstage, whose band was playing next. He complimented her on her screaming style, and she decided to buy a small demo of some of his band's earlier songs, just to be nice. From there, they parted. The next day she decided it best for her throat to leave Claimed Authority.

A few months later, after two or three more twenty second meetings here and there, they met up again, this time not at a show. It was at a restaurant, where Knuckles, Tails, and Liatra informed her that Justin Jiabnetaro, Another Know It All's backup guitarist, had died in a fatal car wreck 13 days earlier. The funeral was the next day, and out of pure respect (and what she now calls lust for Knux) she offered to go to it. After some intense staring, the trio agreed.
After the funeral, she decided to start hanging out with them, going to their little garage every day to listen to them, and eventually hooking up with Knuckles. Upon hanging out with them frequently, she started to more liken the feel of a guitar, and politely asked for assistance. After quite some time of Miles' teachings, and some of Knuckles' bass techniques, she decided to officially try to take place as backup guitarist for AKIA. Well… she's in it now, so it obviously worked. And she also added, as a sidenote, that her voice never really ruined, she just had wanted a legitimate reason to drop the band.

As for Liatra, he basically led a normal life in Knothole, until he moved to Flint during his Sophomore year. He later learned that his older brother and Miles were in the same Geometry class. But anyway, in Flint he picked up a local habit of playing drums, which became a main priority for him. He passed all of his classes with ease, quite easily the best grades in school, so he had no need for extra study. This caused many weeks and weekends of vigorous drum practice in his garage, where his parents "never bothered to put the van." It was perfectly soundproof, or so he said.

When he first started, admittedly, he sucked. The kids on the street who were all about music would stop by when his door was open would discriminate him and tell him to find new hobbies, like making Algebra tests for his fellow students. But over time, he started to greatly improve, sometimes even causing groups of kids to stop by and hang out at various spots along his road, within hearing distance- much to the disapproval of his parents. He found it to just be something fun to do when he got bored, nothing too serious.

- -

QUE: Ceramic by 36 Crazyfists

- -

But after about two years, Miles Prower, just about a year and a half older than Liatra, happened to stroll by while Liatra recited one of his made up drum lines. After hearing the last of it, Miles and he started to conversate, which resulted in a few more nifty drum lines and an invitation to Miles' place.

Now Miles lived with Knuckles back then, in a really run down house almost in the center of the city. The house really wasn't Liatra's kind- it was messy, a few paint peels and carpet stains- as opposed to his house, which he liked naturally halfway cleaned. But he ignored this and got down to business. Miles and Knux played a song they had written together, and after the whole thing, complete with Miles' vocals, Liatra took interest and accepted their offer to become their official drummer. This was partly due to the fact that he liked the line "and only God, can save me." He borrowed a few of their cheaply recorded songs on a shitty eight-track and went home to 'study'.

Just a few days after the agreement, Miles and Knuckles brought their stuff over along with their backup guitarist named Justin Jiabnetaro. They were introduced to Liatra's parents, and set up in the garage. Liatra told them to play the fourth track on their demo list, and told them to "just play and don't stop." They played the song, and Liatra just went along with it, and it was almost perfect- which really shocked the original three members. After a few months they had three songs fully done, titled 'Self Revolution', 'Tripled Manic State', and 'Name Your Rapist'. And… that was the start of Liatra's new life.

All Knuckles wanted them to know was that he basically had to raise himself because his dad died and his mom was a whore; he found Miles sleeping up in a tree, in which he looked uncomfortable, so Knuckles 'took him in'; and that he had thieved before. It really set Amy off on an edge, but Arieal just took it in.

"At least he's honest about it. Besides, I'm sure it was a while ago." She looked up at the ceiling to admire its features- a bunch of iron tubes, painted with green-pale, and some lights. She also flipped her radio off, noticing it was going dead. Headquarters hadn't said shit for a long time now, so no need to waste battery. Amy caught this and did the same.

Knuckles chuckled. "That was a very lucky assumption, Arieal. It was a long while ago." He sighed. "Back in my high teen ages- thirteen through seventeen- I was in a gang. Pihno, run by a guy called Darius. We weren't exactly a nice group… there were times when Darius would order an assassination. Two or three people would go out to complete the task- and not by simple gunshot, but by normal items." He looked down. "Torturous. Terrible. But simple, common items. They once carried out an assassination with a window fan, an acoustic guitar, and a plate." He sniffed. "Beat the living shit outta the guy. First the guitar, which he was playing. Just grabbed it and smacked him in the stomach with it. Then, swung, but missed and hit the door, causing it to crack. Then broke the rest over his head… second guy grabbed the fan, and just beat the shit outta him till he was bleeding from an arm and the face- profusely." He stared, and then looked to his right, away from them. "After that… they dragged him into the living room and tied his wrists with a rope they brought, and hung him from a dresser that they turned around. He was just barely touching the ground, facing the back of the dresser. They took turns with a plate- throwing it at him like a Frisbee. Did it for thirty minutes, until he didn't respond- he had purple spots all over, cuts, broken ribs… to finish the deed, they tipped the dresser on top of him. Just left, with his wife crying and his kid just staring." He hung his head and sniffed again.

Amy cocked her head. "Damn… that is terrible! Why would they do such a thing? If I woulda been there…"

Arieal looked at him. "In front of his kid and wife? Damn… you seem pretty affected by it. Did it do something to you? Mess with your head?"

"Shouldn't even bother…" Liatra mumbled quietly.

Knuckles turned to look at them, a lone tear running down his cheek. "It was my dad."

… Silence.

Arieal just stared at him, mouth agape. Sora grabbed Knuckles' hand, Amy covered her mouth, and Hyphen and Liatra just stared up into the ceiling.

… Silence is a big issue here.

"Don't worry… I got them back. Really good. Spared the details, I grabbed a rope and a knife. Finished every one of the fuckers. Six day's work, really." There was silence. Amy was about to speak, but Knuckles beat her to it. "My dad was a traitor of the group. He turned in one of Darius' buddies, who is still in prison. Darius thought I was totally committed and wouldn't care if he murdered my dad. Boy did he forget to do his math."

Amy stood up and started to pace. "So, back in the alley wasn't your first kill?"

Knuckles chuckled. "Oh, trust me. I didn't kill them. In a sense…"

- -

QUE: Aesthetics of Hate by Machine Head

- -

Liatra laughed at Knuckles' statement. Arieal frowned. "So, what did you do?"

Knuckles cracked his knuckles. "Well, the small people I just tied up and put in scalding hot water. While they were asleep, of course. Stealthily drugged them. I knew everyone's bath times, as did everyone else. And yes, most just took baths. No showers. And the gang was small, twelve people not including me and Darius." He smiled and punched his palms. "As with Darius… met up with that fucker in his quarters. He had been watching his work on the news. Had my shit hidden. Got up and greeted me, and ready to assign me to some bullshit theft. I grabbed the knife and stabbed him three times, in one leg, the other, and the left arm. Punched him in the face, knocked him down, and tied him up at the hands. Waited until night came around, eating his food, drinking his beverages, whatnot while he never shut up. I dragged him outside, out back, into my dad's van- threw him in the back and drove about thirteen miles away, to a secluded lake in the Delmont Forest, up north. Made my way through and found an old wooden rowing boat, put him in. I had some plywood, as I was simply going to just bury him. But I put the plywood over the boat and flipped it over into some deep brush, bottom up. This wood was thick- hard as a rock. The idiot wouldn't be able to kick his way out of it. Re-covered him in the bushes and left." He looked up, put his feet out, and stared. "I haven't been back to check on him since."

"Gosh, Knuckles… that's brutal." Amy said, in total awe. The whole thing about these criminal acts really started to bother her. But she easily brushed it off… a little.

And that's what made the crimson echidna flinch. "Wait… about back in the alley…"

Arieal looked at Amy and smiled. She looked back at Knuckles, replying with "We'll let you go… those people you killed were who we were after anyway."

"The Blood? Wh… oh. Because they assassinated the Mayor, eh? Fucking idiots…" Hyphen replied. Amy looked over at her hopeful date and smiled.

"Hyphen… what about you? We haven't heard your story yet." She smiled a deep, warm smile. 'I have to know more about him if I'm gonna try to hook up with him.' Hyphen looked over at Amy. He chuckled and winked.

"Normal life, really. Grew up here. It may seem to be impossible to be normal in a town like this, but… well, I was your average kid. Did decent in school, had enough friends to get me by; and enemies too, of course. Started playing guitar and decided to get out and just jam with random people. Never really got into any fights… verbally maybe, but I always win those. Never had a girlfriend, either. Which- for the record, means I'm still a virgin. And I don't jack off- only nerds do that. The time will come. I know it will." He looked a little bit more towards Amy. "But anyways, my parents were… weird… I never really understood why they existed… when they talked to each other; it was about stupid things, like the media. Up until now, I never cared for it, so I just ignored them when they weren't talking to me. Let's see… um… I'm 23… my fur is grey…" A few of the people chuckled, and Hyphen just waved his hand, indicating he was done.

Arieal laughed some more, and then thought for a minute. "Wait… when did you meet T… Miles?" Hyphen looked at her and slightly stopped smiling.

"Oh, yeah. I first met him when this kid in I were about to get into it. His name way Danny. He brought his groupies; Brenten, Steve and Kyle, and they just about ganked me. Out of nowhere the son of a bitch punches Kyle in the face and knocked him completely out. Blood and everything. The three turned to him, except Dan, who charged at me. Miles jumped at him, and grabbed Brenten in a headlock. He wrapped his ankles around the one bound for me, and used the one in his arm as a lever to swing Danny around. He did that and pulled on Brenten's, sending him straight to the ground while Danny flew a few feet away from me. He stomped on Brenten's face once before Steve punched him, making him stagger two steps back." Hyphen leaned back, looked up, and put his hands behind his head. "The fox didn't like that too much, so he grabs the guy's arm, puts his right leg over it, and brings it down, right below the elbow. Broke his arm. Danny ran back at him, but he just leaned back, caught his collar and beltline, and guided his fall onto his face. Figuring that was done, he walked over to Brenten, who was recovering. Upon reaching him Brenten tried to surrender. Miles just laughed and kicked him in the head."

Amy leaned in a tiny bit.

"He walks over to Danny, whom he didn't particularly like either, and grabbed his shirt collar. He looks in the kid's eyes and goes 'I don't care if YOU were the one talking shit, or that kid was. Point is, if you can't fight one on one, you're either scared or you'll never last in a boxing match.' He drops the kid and walks up to me; but not without slightly kicking Dan's ear with his heel. 'Miles. Miles Prower. As you can see, I hate one on more than one.' I just smiled and shook his hand. That was… pretty much it. We walked around a bit before I decided to leave. That's how we became friends."

Arieal frowned. "He didn't ask if you were ok? That's not like Tails…"

Hyphen smiled. "Of course not. We have this thing… if they're standing, and alive, they're ok. If they're wounded, they're ok, and they need treatment. But if they are bleeding like none other, then they aren't ok. It should be obvious."

Amy stood up and stretched. "And he didn't use those… things?"

Hyphen and the others just stared, before Hyphen caught on. "Oh, his blades? No… he doesn't use those often. Only when needed. He doesn't just kill for the hell of it. Only when he knows he's in the presence of death. And when he gets large, large sums of money from higher ups to assassinate."

Amy looked at Hyphen. "Now… explain to me how that works."

Liatra decided to explain instead. He knew more of it, anyway. "When the government people want a criminal out of this town, or… off of the planet, they call Miles, because he can and will do it in less than a day, if possible. But, only, of course when one: he gets large amounts of cash, and two: if they can't catch the fuckers themselves. Flint's government is that twisted."

"So its only criminals?" Amy replied.

Sora got up and started to talk while walking towards the sink. "Yeah. Of course. Tails isn't a murderer. He considers himself one though. He always hates killing people… in fact, when he has to, he sits there and just… stares. He hates it. He claims to rarely… extremely rarely… have wanted someone to die. Only once, back in Knothole, and once at Emerson's, where an official wouldn't let him talk to Hyphen."

Liatra nodded. "Strangely enough, within seventeen hours within those periods, both of his enemies died. People reported the assassin of the official looking like Miles. But several hundred more claim to have seen Miles three miles away, at a small place north of town, at another show. With us. And at the same time of the murder. He was in the crowd watching the other bands until we went on. We were with him- the kid never left."

"And the guys that claimed it to be him were only like… seven other management people. Not many." Knuckles said as he got up to follow Sora.

Amy suddenly looked to Arieal swiftly. "Hey, Air… you DO notice that since we got out of the store, we've been walking… where's our patrol cars?"

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

A white bat with black and purple wings pressed the 'call' button for the fifth time. "Amy? Amy! Are you there Amy?" She let go of the button and waited a few more seconds before throwing her three-quarters empty gas station Coke into a nearby trash can, causing some of the brown liquid to splatter slightly on the wall behind. She looked up and sighed. "Now just where in the hell are they going?"

She looked down at the monitor before her. On the monitor were green gridlines, white markings, and two red dots. The white markings were the terrain around the patrol cars in a 25 yard radius. The red dots were Amy and Arieal's patrol cars, labeled accordingly by a red text at the top right corner of each dot. Of course, the gridlines were latitude and longitude.

The two patrol cars were stationed southwest of Oak, in what appeared to be a loading dock environment. But they were seventeen miles away from where they SHOULD be!

The bat pressed the button again. "God dammit Amy, where are you? What the hell are you doing?" She pushed a few buttons on the monitor to change the perspective, but to no avail. Just then Sonic walked in.

"Don't worry about them, Rouge. You know those two. They aren't doing anything but taking a break, probably."

Rouge sighed. "Well, they've been going off course for quite a while. And now they're at this loading dock six miles southwest of Oak… and there are people everywhere…" The neon white bat looked at all of the grey dots that showed the presence of others.

Sonic frowned. "Hm… they don't know anyone down there, that I know of…" He walked up next to the bat and rested his arms on the desk the monitor was on.

Neither of them had any idea what the two were up to. Sonic didn't care too much, for he trusted the two with his throne.

Yes, Sonic Maurice Hedgehog was the king. He took Sally's father's place after he unexpectedly died of a heart attack at a Royal Feast six years after Tails' disappearance. Without her father's consent to object, she inconsequentially married Sonic. Therefore, the two were dubbed King and Queen. This led to a slightly less labored lifestyle in Knothole and the forest surrounding it, which was slowly being excavated about a half a mile a year to build new houses or franchises. Other than those two things, NOTHING had changed.

Their technology had not advanced much further either. The only thing relatively advanced that had been invented was that of a tracking device, made for the Freedom Fighters. Many, many of the elders blamed this on the absence of Miles Prower, the only one smart enough to do anything out of the ordinary. But, one person had some say in the Miles game of inventing. His name was Schooner Wilsen. That's… wile-zin. That's how it was pronounced… unlike the many people who thought it to be pronounced Wilson at first glance.

But anyways, this 25 year old had a knack for inventing. He came from Alex, a place up towards the northeastern area of the continent. He brought along at age 18 and upgraded the FF's ever so cumbersome radio communication devices AND invented the first ever (in Knothole) tracking device. This revolutionized keeping track of the points of authority, such and the Freedom Fighter patrol cars, LeVyines (a large framed vehicle with either heavy or low artillery weapons), and pretty much anything that had to do with the Royal Palace. He had changed the way the Freedom Fighters would keep in touch for a while.

The only flaw, which no one in Knothole had noticed, was that no one had bothered to make a tracking device small enough for -people-. The devices placed under the vehicles were about the size of Arnold Schwarzenegger's hand, and if placed in clothing would either break or cause extreme inflexibility. But then again, he never thought to try it on clothes.

So therefore it led to the current problem- Sonic and Rouge thought that Amy and Arieal were with the patrol cars…

And Schooner thought he was the ever-loving shit…

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Miles brought forth the concept in his mind that there was an uneasy air between him and the two girls. He also brought forth the concept in his mind that he had thought about them the -entire, fucking, way- TO the restaurant, and on the way back. How riveting. And yet another thought, no one really used cars in Flint. He had noticed this several times before, but it still kinda stuck to him. He built these things called 'cars' for import to rich people's garages in other towns. Demand for them was high, but no one used them for what they were made to do… drive. Some did, but… rarely. The jealous people decided to pillage the steelwork with various penetrable objects, like rocks or scraps of metal or glass. Yea… best idea to keep them locked up for show.

He smelled the food in the three bags he had, which were all pretty big (about 12x14 inches), and were nearly all full. He turned the corner of the street, Laney Street, and made his way to his God forsaken alley. Upon reaching it, another left turn promised the entrance of the very small and barely confusing maze that made way to his quarters.

But something felt unnatural.

- -

QUE: Leave Me Out by Orgy

- -

He could sense a foreboding aura, one that isn't usually there when he walks through the paved alleyways. He got halfway there and came to an assumption. 'God dammit…'

He walked up to the door and sighed. He looked up, stared for a moment at the grey sky, and turned the handle. Upon opening, there was not too much to see. But he did see Knuckles and Sora at the sink, and heard conversating between Liatra and another female voice… but Sora wasn't talking. He walked in and looked to his right as doing so, and basically mentally stepped on one of his biggest mines yet. The white grey fox looked over to him and changed her expression to a soft 'Oh Shit' look. Miles looked back in front of him, lightly skimmed with anger. "Well shit the bed…"