A Monarch's Corruption
Chapter 9: Forest Recon
Tails was just coming into view of the Great Forest after an hour of flying. Just like he had thought, he could already see off in the far distance some small ships flying around in the distance. Tails would have to immediately go into stealth mode to make sure that he isn't seen landing or his cover might be blown. "Alright Lara, we are coming in on approach of the Great Forest. This should be where Sonic is hidden in this forest. When I land, you will have to keep yourself moving stealthily. We can't afford to be spotted by even one patrol that might be in the area. If Shadow gets a hold of us in the forest, he will definitely suspect that Sonic is hidden in the forest somewhere. We have to keep quiet. I hope you understand that." says Tails as he does see a small clearing nearby.
The clearing looked like the place he was going to have to land in, if he didn't want to be spotted. Tails was going to try and be easier with landing this time as well. He was a bit too clumsy last time and left skid marks in the dirt when he landed too quickly. Tails had to be sure that it didn't happen again, or risk being found out and never getting his plane back again.
"Are you sure Sonic is hidden out in this forest Tails? It would seem like a hard place to survive to me. If he is out there, how in the world are we ever going to find him? There looks to be miles and miles of forest out there. We will be searching for days!" says Lara pretty much stating the obvious to someone who had never been to this forest before. Tails had grown up in this forest and knew a lot of its passageways still. He was pretty sure he could track down the old Freedom HQ and find Sonic, if he is still there.
"Don't worry Lara. When we get down there, just follow me. I'm pretty sure I can still find my way around the forest. I know it will have changed a lot, from growth and all that, but I'm sure I can still go by the basic layout and find my way to the ruins of Knothole." says Tails as he starts to turn and make an approach towards the clearing up ahead. He is being sure to come in slower this time and give plenty of room to lower himself down. If he came down too quickly he would likely make much larger digs into the dirt than he did before. It was probably unavoidable to make some holes in the ground, but he could make them very light so it's not that noticeable.
"I sure hope you do. I don't want to get lost in that forest for days looking for something that may not even exist." says Lara seeing Tails starting to come in for approach now and holds on. She had never been with him during a landing, so she had no clue what kind of lander he was. Tails seemed to be a good pilot so far, so she just has to trust him, since he was the one flying after all.
"I said don't worry about it Lara. Now be quiet for a moment so that I can land the plane. I need to concentrate." says Tails grumbling a bit hearing Lara complaining about looking for Sonic. Tails didn't care how long it would take, he would find Sonic. If it took days, then it was going to take days. Tails had food packed away in his satchel, and he even picked up a little more in town before he left. He had also somehow managed to sneak a few of his mother's cookies into his satchel as well if they were needed. Tails was prepared if this took a long time.
Tails' plane slowly makes its way towards the clearing getting closer and closer towards the ground. He does have to move around slightly to even himself out, but Tails does just what he does best as his wheels finally touch the ground. Unlike like time, Tails lands much softer this time. The plane was simply pushing back the grass and only left a small hole where the wheels first hit the ground. He wasn't in as much of a hurry as the last time, since he might have been shot down if he didn't get down fast last time.
Tails continues to drive through the grass for a moment before cutting the engines as they get to the tree line. Tails just lets the plane glide silently until it finally enters the edge of the forest. The moment it hits this point, Tails slams on the breaks so that the wings don't hit any trees. "Well I think that was a smooth enough landing." says Tails grinning as he presses the button to pop the roof of the front and backseat cock pits upwards. Tails sits his headset down before he starts to stand up to climb out of the plane.
Tails lands on the ground a moment later with a thud, before turning and seeing Lara jumping down to the ground next to him. "We need to hide the plane now under some brush so it is not easily spotted. If the plane is taken then we will have a hard time getting out of here later." says Tails going to some nearby bushes to start to gather sticks and branches for the cover. Lara didn't seem too amused with having to do this, but she gets to helping Tails cover the plane with sticks and brush like he asked.
It was a rather slow process, since this was a big plane, but Tails and Lara do eventually get the plane pretty camouflaged into the brush. The plane does look like a rather large bush now, but Tails prayed that would be good enough to hide it. He was sure he did better at covering the plane than he did last time. Last time it wasn't as big of a deal, since he hadn't done anything yet. Now that Tails has done something wrong, it was more important to stay hidden.
Lara sighs and leans up again a nearby tree looking very tired and bored from having just done that. "Remind me again why I had to do that and waist all that time?" asks Lara still not sounding all that amused with this. She wasn't used to doing that much manual labor all at once. Most of the labor that her father had her doing was in the weight room, when they would do their workouts.
Tails smacks his hand to his head hearing Lara say that. He didn't know she was going to be like this when he got forced into bringing her along, but he didn't seem to have much choice with how she was back at the airport. "I told you before. We have to hide the plane, or risk being spotted easily and losing the plane. If we lose the plane, we will be in big trouble." says Tails repeating himself yet again to Lara-Su.
"Well I just hope this hiding the plane doesn't come back to bite us later. Now which way do we go?" asks Lara once again sounding like she didn't want to be out here roaming around for nothing. It was certainly obvious that Tails had grown up in the woods and she hadn't. Tails has been out in these woods for a good portion of his younger life, so he was pretty used to being out here. Lara, on the other hand, has been raised in the city or on the floating island country sides. She didn't go through the things Tails has been through when he was younger.
Tails grumbles yet again and points to the north of their current location. "I think we go this way. We will probably have to hike for a couple of miles to get there, but we will get there eventually. We have to go slow now ok. If we run and run into a Dark Legion patrol, then we will be very easy to spot. Let's take it slow now. Follow me, I will be sure and get us there. Just keep quiet now ok." says Tails hoping that will shut Lara-Su up for awhile. This mission was all about stealth and sneaking threw the woods without being caught. Tails knew there were troops out here in the woods, but he had not a clue where or how many people were out here with them.
Lara finally just nods to Tails and begins to follow him as the two begin to make their long trek through the woods. It only took a few minutes of walking before Tails grabbed Lara and thrusts her up against a tree putting a hand up to her mouth. Nearby was a small patrol of Dark Legion soldiers just like he had said. It looked like there were about five of them, and also a recon hover bike soldier as well with the troop.
Tails stood there next to Lara peering around the tree and does let her see now why he did what he just did to her. Lara does immediately go wide eyed when she sees just how close they were to walking right into a group of soldiers like that. She stays as still as she can possibly be now, not wanting to get caught out here with Tails. She does figure she would fight if she had to, but she really didn't want to right now.
"Shhhh, if we keep quiet they should just pass on." whispers Tails to Lara. Lara didn't have to think twice about that as she holds as still as possible and didn't say a word. Tails was planning on the guards just moving along, but instead they stopped and seemed to be taking a break right there in front of them both.
"Let's take a break here. I'm getting tired of patrolling in these woods. There is never anything going on out here." says one of the foot soldiers immediately sitting down on a nearby rock. The other four foot soldiers nodded and sat down on the ground in random spots to start taking a water break. The soldier on the bike wasn't as happy about the others taking a break and seemed to be grouching at some of the others.
"Oh come on you lazy bastards! We still have to continue our patrol! We have another hour of patrol before we can be relieved out here! We don't have time to rest." says the soldier sitting on the bike. This echidna was most likely the highest ranking of the soldiers, but the others didn't seem to be listening at the moment. The others wanted a rest, and they are taking that rest.
Tails sighs hearing this knowing they won't be able to move during the entire time they take their break. If they so much as move from the spot they are standing at, they are most likely going to be spotted there behind that big tree. They hadn't even gotten a mile into the forest before this happened. Things were not going as Tails planned them at all.
"Do any of you even know what we are looking for out here? We have been just roaming around out here finding nothing for at least a month now." says one of the soldiers starting to complain to the other soldiers. The others all do start to nod as well and look up at the soldier on the bike. The soldier on the bike also shrugs when they look to him. Even he didn't know why they were out there. All he knew was that they needed to patrol this forest and look for hostiles that might be sneaking around it.
"Well, whatever it is that we are looking for, I hope it is found soon, so we can get the heck out of these woods. It's creepy out here." says a different soldier as they sit there on their rocks. They are all drinking from water canteens they are carrying with them. Tails does continue to peek around the tree watching these guys having their drink, but just keeps silent wanting them to move before he has to find an alternate way around. They didn't have to stay there all day long while a group of complaining soldiers takes a water break in front of him.
Tails reaches down and starts to fiddle through his utility belt hoping to find something that he could use to sneak around the guards. When Tails was about to choose something he hears a small woosh and then one of the soldiers yell out, like something had just happened to him. Tails immediately peers around the tree seeing one soldier lying on the ground face first and the other four all standing there with their laser blaster in hand looking around the trees. "What was that! Something just hit one or own! Whatever that was I didn't see where it came from!" says one of the soldiers sounding very nervous as he scans for whatever just took out one of their soldiers.
Tails had not a clue what was going on, but he had to keep watching to see whatever happened was going to happen again. Tails' question was soon answer in that he hear the sound again before seeing three other soldiers falling down flat leaving just two soldiers left. "What's going on! What is happening to the others!" says the last regular foot soldier starting to panic now. The soldier bends down to check on one of the others that had fallen onto the ground before something hit him as well making him fall to the ground face first as well.
Tails doesn't see anything happening around him, which does have him concerned since something was happening to these soldiers. Tails does grin when he sees this, thinking he might have a clue what it is. However, if Tails wasn't right, he now has something else to be s cared about. Whatever was getting these soldiers was fast and efficient. Tails continues to watch as the last soldier tries to get onto his bike to get away before yelling out just the same as the others had and falls to the ground.
Tails continues to watch for a moment seeing nothing happen now that the soldiers have all fallen to the ground. Tails didn't want to just run out there and see what happened, because whatever was around might still be here. Tails immediately pulls out his blaster and motions for Lara to follow close by him as he makes his way over towards the downed soldiers. Lara didn't really want to follow Tails at first after seeing what she had just seen, but seeing how serious Tails looked, she figured he knew what he was doing.
Tails creeps very carefully over to the group of soldiers, seeing them all lying on the ground looking to be unconscious. Tails kneels down next to the commander and starts to look for bumps on them, to see if they have been knocked out. What Tails found was completely the opposite of what he expected to find. Tails finds a tiny syringe shot into the side of the echidna's neck. Apparently someone had shot them all with very strong tranquillizer darts.
Tails looks back up to Lara and back at the soldier on the ground very confused by this. "Someone shot these guys with a tranquillizer. If someone shot these guys, that means they are most likely nearby. I don't know if they did this to help us, or just because they don't like the Legion either. Whatever the reason, we better get out of here as soon as possible, but I do have a new idea if you are willing to go through with it?" asks Tails grinning over at Lara now. Lara sees that grin on Tails' face and does wonder what the fox has thought up for her do to now.
"What is it?" she asks wanting to know now. Lara hoped whatever it was, wouldn't be something that was going to put her in danger, but since they were already in danger by being out here, she had little choice. She was going to have to go along with it most likely.
"Get this soldier's clothes off and put them on over your own clothes. If we run into any other soldiers, you can just play along with the role that you are a soldier escorting me back to town, because I got lost during a hike." says Tails. Tails figured it was a good plan and would allow them to get by other patrols a lot easier. As long as none of the soldiers got too suspicious of them, they should be able to walk through the forest without much effort at all.
"I would rather not Tails. Do you have any idea where that soldier may have been? Who knows what is on or in his clothes." says Lara sticking her tongue out in disgust now. That wasn't exactly her idea of a good plan, because it meant she had to wear some strangers clothes. It sounded disgusting to her, and she really didn't want to do it.
Tails smacks his head yet again hearing the girl starting to complain yet again about something he said. "Lara, I know you might be the Guardian's daughter and I know you might be the stronger one. I'm not really sure about that one, but you might. However, there is one thing you have failed to realize. I AM THE ONE IN CHARGE HERE!" yells Tails angrily not wanting to yell like that, but he really had to choice at this point. He was starting to lose patience with her constant complaining since they landed out here. "Now, please go get that soldiers clothes on now, while I raid some supplies from some of the others here." says Tails grumbling pretty steamed at the moment.
Lara is rather shocked when Tails suddenly takes charge like that, but seeing as he was the adult in the situation she had little choice but to listen to his orders. It was that and the fact that she didn't want to hear him yell at her like that again. She has been yelled or fussed at enough for goofy off during training by her father. She didn't want to be yelled at anymore, so she does just as Tails asks and picks up the echidna to start to take his Dark Legion robe off him.
Tails picks through a few pocks of the legion soldiers nearby, and he does take a few blaster batteries from them. Tails figured he might new a few extra shots for his blaster if whatever took out these soldiers came back. This probably would put the other soldiers in the area on alert when they are found, but Tails just hoped his plan to dress up Lara would work.
Tails turns and stands back up from his pocket searches to see Lara standing in the Dark Legion robe that she took. Lara had the hood down still at the moment, but even without it up, she pretty much fit the description of the typical Dark Legion soldier. The legion wasn't gender discriminative obviously, since their main commander was a female, so a higher ranking officer being a female was nothing new at all in their ranks. "Wow, you fit that part rather well Lara. Just pull up the hood and we will get going. We have no reason to stick around here any longer than needed." says Tails trying to get her to hurry up so that they can get moving again.
Lara did smile slightly seeing as Tails didn't yell at her this time or complain about her. She quickly putting the hood up and walking right up next to Tails and grabbing onto his arm. Tails looks up at her immediately when she grabs him like that, wondering why she was doing it. "I figured if I am actually escorting you around. I should at least have a hand on you to make sure you aren't running away from me. Wouldn't that make more sense?" asks Lara.
Tails is a bit shocked when she said that, because it made perfect sense to him. "Hmmm, that actually makes sense. Good spotting Lara. Yes, keep an arm on me for now. That should help any other soldiers think I am simply being escorted back, and you are just keeping a close eye on me. If I was a prisoner I would most likely be in cuffs, not just grabbed on my arm." says Tails nodding. Tails didn't fight to make Lara let go him, but he did hurry her along away from the group of downed soldiers to keep hiking through the forest.
Tails and Lara continue along together for at least half an hour and a mile later into the forest before Tails sees something ahead that looks very strange to him. "Lara do you see that?" asks Tails as he starts to walk forward slowly to get a better look at what was in the distance. When Tails got a bit closer to see what it was, he is shocked to see a second Dark Legion scouting group on the ground unconscious yet again.
"What in the world? A second squad is on the ground out cold? Tails this is getting strange. Whoever is doing this might come after us next." says Lara looking around them to see if anyone was around. There was nothing but trees and more trees in all directions of the two at the moment, so whoever was doing this was well hidden.
"I think your right. We better just press on and ignore these people. This is getting a bit creepy even for me." says Tails quickly changing direction just slightly so as to go around the fallen patrol. Once the two have make their small trek around the fallen people, so as to not be seen in this group, the two move back to their proper course.
Tails figures he still has at least two more miles of hiking before he gets to the ruins, so he is sure to pace himself and not use all his energy getting too excited as he heads for his final destination. Yet, as Tails is moving his sensitive fox ears do suddenly peak up. Tails stops dead in his track and pulls his arm away from Lara. "Shhhh, I think the person is close. Don't move and keep an eye out." says Tails no moving a muscle at the moment. Lara does just as Tails asks and doesn't move or speak at all.
Tails keeps his ears held high and scans the area still looking for the person. He was about to give up before he looks in the one place he had totally neglected to check, the tree tops. Tails had only been looking at the low branches or the trees in the distance. Tails instead looks straight up and gets a massive shock when he sees a figure standing on one of the branches right above him. "THERE!" he yells out as he reaches into his pocket trying to grab one of his flash grenades that Mina had packed for him. This seemed like the perfect situation to use one of them.
As Tails is going for the grenade the person, wearing a green body suit to match in with all the trees jumps down in front of him and holds up a small blaster. "I wouldn't try anything funny dears. You wouldn't want me getting rough now would you? Now when I'm here to help you." said the person in the suit. Tails had his hand on the grenade, and it was halfway out of his belt pouch when the person pointed the blaster at Tails. Lara was completely caught in shock at all of this and immediately puts her hands up to the person holding the gun.
Tails was rather angry at being caught in such a sticky situation like this by this person. Whoever they were, they were good. They had managed to follow Tails and Lara for no telling how long and stay hidden all that time. There was one statement the person said that caught Tails' attention when they said it. "What do you mean you are here to help us? Who the heck are you?' asks Tails not moving a muscle since the person still had their blaster pointed at him. He wasn't about to get shot when he was this close to hopefully finding Sonic.
The figure in the body suit chuckles when Tails asks them that question and immediately puts the blaster back to their side. "Of course you wouldn't recognize me in this. People don't see me that much ever since I got promoted to full stealth spy. I guess showing you would be easier than dragging you alone for a full hour." says the person reaching up and grabs onto their face mast and beings to pull on.
Tails slips his grenade back into his back and starts to straighten himself back up when the person begins to pull their mast off. Once the mask came off, Tails was very surprised to see who this person was. He hadn't seen her in years. It was of all people Rouge under that mask. "Whoa! Now that's not what was expecting. I haven't seen you in years Rouge. But if what you just said is true and you are a spy, doesn't that mean you work for Shadow?" asks Tails questioningly, since if she was, this would be bad.
Rouge chuckles once again as he keeps her mask off for now. "If I was dear, do you think I would be talking to you like this? I don't meet with my enemy. I simply take them out or capture them if that is my mission. I was asked to assist you by Knuckles. I work for him. I am a member of his super secret spy network. I was in the area watching Shadow's movements when I got this call from him about you being in the area." she says smiling to Tails trying to convince him what she was telling him was true.
From how it sounded to Tails, she seemed to be telling the truth. However, being that she was one of the best spies around, if he remembered her right, if she was against them, she would have taken them out already. Tails figures she must be a spy from Knuckles side and nods to her. "Well ok, if you say so. You are lucky you are so quick on the draw. If it was anyone else I might have been able to get my grenade off and made an escape. You aren't the only one that is quick on their feet or has sneaky little ideas." says Tails chuckling as he starts to feel more comfortable around her now. Lara didn't seem the same, since she doesn't know this Rouge person like Tails does.
Rouge is rather impressed with the now grown fox's attitude. Tails used to be such a coward when he was younger or he would rely really heavily on others help. However, these days it looks like Tails has grown a backbone and learned how to take care of himself, without having to rely on his friends so often. "If it had been some of the other agents you might have gotten that off and been able to throw them. I'm the best of my unit. You have to be super fast to be able to outdo me. But yes, I see you now have caught on that I am here to help you. I was the one that took out those guard patrols for you. They were easy pickings with my tranquillizer gun. I can't hurt those soldiers, but I can always knock them out to get past them." she says chuckling as she rubs at a second gun connected to the other side of her waist.
Tails was actually rather relieved to know that he had her help out here in the forest. She would be a big help if they were to encounter any more patrols. She could easily knock them out and get past them without being spotted. It seemed their luck was actually turning for the better, rather than their luck turning to crap. "Well, thank goodness you are here now. Did Knuckles tell you what we were doing out here? If you are really working for him, you should know, since he is the only one I have told." says Tails right away.
Rouge chuckles seeing that Tails still knew what questions to ask to check people's loyalty. It was apparently a trick he has honed over the years, since she last got a chance to see him. "Of course I know why you are out here. You are looking for Sonic. I knew I would be running into you, but I got no information about her being out here too? It was supposed to only be you searching I thought?" she asks. Lara was not mentioned to her at all, so it was a big shock when she originally saw two people instead of one coming from the plane.
Tails is relieved to hear she knows that he is looking for Sonic. Knuckles was the only one that knew about his mission to find Sonic, besides his parents. Rouge probably didn't even know they still were around, so she had to be working for Knuckles. "Yeah, well, Lara here sort of forced her way along on the trip. I had little choice in the matter it seemed. She knew what was going on, so I had to take her along." says Tails speaking honestly now. Lara didn't appreciate the tone Tails was using when referring to her coming along like that, even if she knew it was pretty accurate.
Rouge scratches her chin for a moment before nodding to Tails. "Well if she is coming along, it is fine with me. As long as she doesn't slow the process down, it is no problem here. I was rather impressed at you thinking up to take one of the soldiers uniforms like for a disguise as well. Normal patrols would probably not give you a second look. There are people that occasionally get lost out here and need an escort back to town. That was a very clever plan indeed." she nodding. It was a rather ingenious plan she had to admit, but they would have never come up with it if she hadn't taken out that first patrol for them.
"So are you going to follow along down here with us as I search for Sonic? We still have a bit of a hike till we get there, but it might be easier on you if you walk down here with us instead of up in the trees." says Tails smiling. Tails was in a much better mood now that his luck was looking up like this. He figured that if his luck was coming up now, he might have a better chance at finding Sonic once they get to the ruins.
"I will when we get to your destination. I think I should stay in the trees for a bit longer and stay ahead of you so I can take out any other patrols for you before they spot you. These darts will keep soldiers asleep for many hours. We don't have to worry about raising the alert around here that something might be up. There are some plants around here I think that can knock people out, so people believe anything usually." says Rouge shrugging. In fact she knew the plant part was true, because it was what she was using for her darts. Using the plants to make knock out darts gave her much more ammo for her tranquillizer than she could ever carry in normal darts.
Tails nods thinking that was probably for the best. She had already taken out two patrols for him, so if she could do that, he had better let her stay ahead of him as he hiked. If she walked down here on the ground with him, she might get spotted as well. Having a pair of eyes in the sky would definitely do them some good in the woods. These woods used to be so friendly and nice when Tails was young, but now they are crawling with Dark Legion troops. Actual people are much harder to predict than simple robots that might have wandered in here originally. "Yeah, that's a good idea. Go on and go back up and we will continue along. We need to get going anyway. If we stay out here for too long it will get dark on us and we will never find where we need to go in the dark." says Tails.
Rouge nods and immediately puts her mask back on over her face, she leaving only her eyes open for people to see when she puts the mask back on. "I'll be up in the trees ahead of you. Just because you don't see me, doesn't mean I'm not there. If you need me, just whistle and I'll come back to the ground as soon as possible." she says before spreading her wings and flying back up into the trees.
Tails turns and looks back to Lara for a moment and motions for her to follow him again. "Let's hurry along. We only have I would say about four hours of daylight left. If we are going to find Sonic we have to do so now. We still have two miles to go, so we should get there in a few hours most likely if we precede carefully." says Tails as he starts to walk. Lara just nods to Tails this time, not feeling like talking to Tails at just this moment, after what she heard him say about her to Rouge.
Lara was a bit grouchy at Tails for his comment, but also she was wondering why Rouge had left so quickly without even saying one word to her. Lara didn't even get a chance to say one word to her really before she jumped back up into the trees once again. Something was up with that woman, and Lara wasn't as trusting as Tails was. She had never met this Rouge person before, but whatever opinion Tails had of her, Lara didn't share the same one as he did.
Tails and Lara continue the hike now through the woods at a slightly faster pace now. They weren't being as careful as they had before they knew Rouge was in the tree watching out for them. They wouldn't need to sneak and could walk normally. If they were to come across another patrol, it was likely to be taken out before they have a chance to spot it. Tails felt a lot better knowing she was up there, but Lara still was a bit iffy of her.
It took nearly three more hours before Tails holds out a hand to Lara once again to make her stop. "Wait, I think we are here. Look up ahead. There is a clearing." says Tails pointing to get her to see. Sure enough, up ahead was a rather large clearing up ahead of them both. These most likely were the ruins that Tails had told Lara about.
"So if those are the ruins over there, where is this Sonic guy suppose to be? Why would he be living in ruins?" asks Lara looking around still only seeing forest all around them. This looked like the last place anyone would be hiding out to her. If Sonic was around, he was likely well hidden, because from Lara's first glances, it looked like no one was around.
Rouge finally drops down from the trees next to Lara and Tails right after she says that. "Sonic is most likely hiding somewhere around here, if what Tails told Knuckles is true. Yet, this area has been searched before I thought. If he is hidden here, he has picked a wonderful hiding spot." she says looking around with the other two now.
"Well, let's get to looking. Who knows, with us being here on our own, Sonic might come out on his own." says Tails as he starts to scour the area looking for any signs of their old freedom HQ area. Tails definitely recognized this area from when he was younger, but things have defiantly changed in twenty-five years. "Everyone keep an eye out for any big trees or hallow areas in trees. That was always the way to get into secret areas in Knothole here." says Tails once again to remind the other two what he was looking for in looking for Sonic. Both Lara and Rouge do start to walk around on their own now to scan the area to see if they could find the hidden place they thought Sonic was in.
The three of them do search for a least half an hour in the area before all meeting back up in the spot they had started searching in. It was slowly starting to get dark out now, so searching was getting rather difficult now that the sun was beginning to go down. "Did anyone find anything? I had no luck." says Tails looking down a bit upset that he hadn't found the entrance to the hideout. The other two shake their heads and look down as well.
"I have looked everywhere in this area Tails. Are you sure this is the area you were told about? I told you before Tails, this area was searched long ago. If Sonic was in this area, he would have been found during normal patrols." says Rouge. She would know being a spy, so her opinion of this area would most likely be the truth. Tails didn't like the sound of that at all.
"I don't know why I can't find it. I just know Sonic is in this area. He has to be. He must just know we are here, or he would have come out to meet us already if he is in the area. We need to keep looking." says Tails not giving up that easy. Tails was determined to find Sonic. If he simply gave up at the first hardship, he would never find Sonic if he was out there.
Rouge really had nothing to say to this. She could easily see Sonic's old influence in Tails at this moment. Sonic would never give up, no matter what, and Tails was now acting the same way. Apparently Sonic's teachings have rubbed off onto Tails more than he realizes. If Rouge knew where to look, then she would gladly tell Tails. However, she was as stumped as he was, since there wasn't even the smallest clue that Sonic might be in the area.
"Tails, I think we should set up camp or something for the night. It is starting to get dark out here, and we won't be able to search at all, if night comes in these woods. It looks like it is going to be pitch black out here, with how thick these trees are." says Lara finally stepping in with her opinion. She did know a thing or two about camping, having stayed out on the country side with her dad many times throughout the years. It was part of her training to learn how to survive on her own, and she was rather good at it too.
Tails nods when he hears Lara-Su's advice to set up camp before it gets too dark to see. "I think she's right. If we can't see what we are doing, then we have no business looking during the night." says Tails as he begins to take his satchel off over his shoulder. Tails had some things in there that they could eat during the night, but he brought no camping gear. They would have to make a shelter out of the nearby trees and sticks to make shelter for them all.
Just as Tails sits his satchel down to the ground and bends down to start taking things out of it, there is a click and some footsteps behind him. Tails, Lara and Rouge all look up seeing three Dark Legion soldiers all pointing their blasters right at the three of them. They had appeared out of nowhere and caught them all off guard. "Freeze you three! You are all in a restricted area! You will be brought in for questioning, so get on the ground now and put your hands behind your backs. Failure to comply will result in immediately termination." says one of the soldiers as they all look dead serious in that they will shoot any of them if they move in a way that looked threatening.
Tails was in massive shock at this and immediately puts his hands up as he gets down to his knees. He wasn't about to make a sudden move against these three. Lara and Rouge both do the same as they get down to their knees and start to put their hands up as well to them, to show they aren't going to be hostile. Rouge probably could go for her weapon, but then she risks getting the other two shot. She couldn't do that, so she just complies like the other two are.
The three soldiers start to walk towards Tails, Lara and Rouge with their weapons still pointed at them. They were standing over the three of them checking to make sure they were complying, before all of a sudden something slams into all three of them in the back rather hard knocking them forward. Tails lunges forward without even thinking and knees the soldiers in the groin to make him bend over a bit more before slugging him in the side of the face to take him down. Lara only had to rear back and slam her first into the jaw of the soldier in front of her. Rouge thrusts forward and double chops the last soldier on the sides of his neck and immediately takes him down with the take simple karate technique.
Tails does wonder what just happened as he gets to his feet. Something had just happened to give them each an opening to take down the soldiers before they could grab them. None of them got a look at what happened. It was so sudden that they didn't even have a second to think. Tails immediately starts to look around to see what just happened now. Lara and Rouge were doing the same thing, since it happened so fast.
Tails scans the area for a moment before he sees something behind him standing in the distance. There was a figure standing in the dim light not that many feet from where Tails currently stood. The others hadn't seen it yet, but Tails sure did and his eyes immediately became wide. Right there near him, stood a blue hedgehog, with a few healing scars in his fur. He did look slightly tired, but there was no denying what Tails was seeing in front of him. It was what Tails had been looking for. It was Sonic.
Tails and Sonic just stare at each other for a moment now, this allowing Lara and Rouge to both get a glimpse of Sonic as well. Tails' eyes do become teary a moment later, before he darts over towards Sonic now. "SONIC! YOU'RE ALIVE!" yells Tails not caring who heard as he runs over to Sonic and immediately hugs onto him. Sonic returns the hug smiling as he watches his now grown best friend run over and hug him like that. Sonic was really happy to see Tails once again and was slightly wet eyed as well. He hated to do mushy things like this usually, but he hadn't seen tails or any of his friends in so long that he didn't care right now.
"Yes, I am alive somehow bro. I'm glad you finally came and found me too." says Sonic keeping the hug onto Tails as Rouge and Lara start to make their way over towards Sonic and Tails. Sonic and Tails remain in their hug for a bit before finally breaking it as the two friends just continue to stare at each other.
"I'm glad you are Sonic. I have been wondering what had ever happened to you. After that day when Shadow took over, I never saw you again. I'm just so glad you alive!" says Tails wanting to hug Sonic again, but resisted the urge to. Sonic smiles understanding why Tails would be wondering those things after the disappearing act he had after going into that dungeon for so long. Sonic had often wondered what happened to Tails during the invasion as well. From the looks of it, Tails apparently grew up without Sonic rather well. Sonic would have liked to have seen it, but this was still great in his book.
Sonic did look over seeing the two other people that were with Tails now. Sonic could immediately recognize Rouge, since she didn't look that much different than when he last saw her, other than being a little older now. However, Sonic didn't recognize the echidna girl that was with Tails and Rouge. She did look a tad familiar, but Sonic couldn't place it right away. "You don't have to worry now Tails. I am here, but who is this here with you?" he asks immediately pointing his finger to Lara-Su.
Lara was a bit shocked at being asked a question like that so suddenly, since this was a meeting mainly for Tails. However, she wasn't about to wait around and make Sonic wait for an answer. "Hello Sonic, my name is Lara-Su. I am the daughter of the Guardian of Angel Island Knuckles. Julie-Su is my mother." she says getting a bit formal with her speech. She was taught that Sonic was someone to greatly respect, so she figured she had better do that with him. He was a big hero, so you better treat a hero with respect.
Sonic does chuckle a bit when he hears who the parents, but more at how formal she was being to him. "No need to be so stiff with me. I'm a normal person just like anyone else, but I can see that Knuckles must have kept himself busy while I was gone." says Sonic immediately laughing when he says that. He can't really picture Knuckles doing that, but he had to take the joke when it came to him. Lara is a bit confused by Sonic's joking like that, but she just lets it go and smiles hearing how friendly Sonic sounded.
Tails does chuckle a bit getting the joke, but he had other things to ask right now than joke around here in the slowly getting darker forest. "Sonic, I'm glad you safe and all, and that your sense of humor is still the same as ever. But how is it that you are surviving out there? I heard from Rotor when I snuck into the castle that you were living out here in the ruins of the old Freedom HQ with a duplicate program of Nicole, but where is the HQ if it hasn't been found just yet from all the patrols around here?" asks Tails. It was the question on everyone's mind right now and they all were looking for an answer from Sonic. If Sonic had a place to stay that meant they all might have a place to stay for the night without being spotted outside camping in the woods by more soldiers.
Sonic looks around for a moment before waving his hand as he turns and walks towards a rather large tree nearby that was completely surrounded by bushes. "This is how I haven't been found yet. Apparently Rotor made it, so that if the main HQ entrance was ever destroyed, this secret entrance to a side HQ would have a group of bushes grow around it so that no one would easily spot it." says Sonic pushing some of the bushes to the side showing a door made into the trunk of the tree. Tails grins and chuckles figuring there had to be some trick to how Sonic was hiding out here undetected. Rotor apparently had planned even for disaster if there was a secret entrance that was still not found after all this time.
"I should have expected as much out of Rotor." says Tails chuckling still a bit embarrassed that he would have never thought of something like this. It was pretty much a genius move to plan ahead like this for disaster. Tails was rather impressed by all this, but he was now curious to see what the insides of the hideout looked like.
Sonic nods as he opens up the door and starts to go inside. "Come on in guys. There are plenty of beds down here for all of you. You guys can catch me up on the gossip over dinner." says Sonic smiling as he disappears into the tree and starts down a flight of stairs right inside the door. Tails and Lara both head to the door immediately, but Rouge stays behind for the moment.
Tails looks back right before he heads into the door and sees Rouge still standing there and tilts his head a bit. "You coming Rouge?" he asks her. It was a bit odd that Rouge wouldn't want to get into the hide out right away, but she probably had a good excuse for not going in.
Rouge shakes her head no right away to Tails' question. "Not just yet, I need a little privacy for something girl related. I would rather do it out here than down there in front of you and Sonic. You don't need to worry. I will be inside in a moment. I just need to take care of that first." she says smiling over to Tails. Hearing this, Tails immediately enters the hideout without asking another question. He didn't want to hear the details about whatever girl thing she had to do. He already had to deal with one girl having girl things at home. Tails didn't want to deal with that with another girl.
Lara entered not long after Tails leaving Rouge outside the hide out all by herself. She immediately flies on up into the treetop above the hide out and perches herself on one of the higher branches inside a thicket of branches. Once she was up there, Rouge reaches into her side pocket and pulls out a radio. She fiddles with it for a moment until she gets a signal and puts it up to her mouth to speak. "This is agent one ten. I have found the targets."
To Be Continued……