I do not own Sonic or his friends. I also do not own any of Sonic's enemies (besides the robots in the story excluding Metal Sonic and Omega).

Chapter 11

Miles "Tails" Prower leaned back into a tree and sighed. They stood hidden among bushes near the castle of this world. The fox told them he had a plan and brought them here, but they were having trouble with someone. He rolled his eyes and then spoke "The castle has information inside that might help us against Alpha One."

Blaze clenched her fists "Like I said. I looked around it before I met you guys. They set up a major base there. Going into it may be the worst idea in history."

Tails tossed a stick in the air and caught it "Their bases are not exactly major. It's more like an information center. They're probably just trying to get info out of the castle. Does it have any computers with any important information?"

"Yes! It's a castle! It is supposed to have important info on the kingdom."

"Well, if they had hacked your system then all we have to do is get me in there. I might be able to retrace their steps and get information from their computers. With that info we can find out what they have, what they are planning, what this strange "moving base" is, and where they set up bases. We'll gain the upper hand with that kind of intel."

Blaze crossed her arms "I will not allow this. Only royalty and servants are allowed to enter the castle."

Sonic rubbed his forehead "Like that matters right now."

"But-."

"Would you rather let the world die instead of letting us in a castle?"

"No!"

"Then why are you trying to fight us?"

Eggman looked up from his computer watch "I can't tell if you have satellites or not."

Blaze looked down and placed her hands on her hips "We have satellites, but to turn them back on is in the castle."

Silver looked confused "They're off?"

"I turned them off when the robots defeated my army. I wasn't going to let them use those machines against us."

Amy nodded "Smart move."

Eggman shut off the watch screen "Why didn't they turn it back on?"

Blaze lifted a card "This is the only thing that can turn it back on."

Tails took it "You'll need to turn the satellites back on so I can access your computers."

Blaze nodded and took the card back when the fox was done examining it.

Rouge looked at Tails "How do we know we can trust him?"

Knuckles rolled his eyes "We can't."

Ralph slapped Knuckles head "Says who?"

Tails almost rolled his eyes "I can't believe this is the enemy. Look, I'm the only one who knows how to hack these robots. Eggman can give it a whack if he wants."

Eggman shot his hands strait out "No-no-no-no-no-no. I have already tried before at Knothole. That completely failed. They took over my computer and nearly located us. I had to destroy the computer before they found us."

Shadow cocked a brow "They beat you at hacking?"

"I'm not the best."

"That's not what you told me."

"Would you like to admit you have been outdone by someone else? How about you are proved not to be the actual "Ultimate Life Form"?"

Shadow shifted his feet, but gave no reply. Rouge crossed her arms "Isn't the castle count as a lot of things: the major intel center, defense protocols,-?"

"It has to have special jewelry inside it." Tails spoke "That'll get Rouge in."

Rouge ears twitched from that, but otherwise no one could see her expression change. Blaze didn't notice however "Yes, it has all of that, but why does a jewelry have anything to do with this?"

"The robots might think that you might have something like a master emerald similar to ours. They could be looking for it. Do you have any special jewels in there?"

"Err… no. I don't think so. They're the best jewels in the entire kingdom-" Rouges eyes sparkled "-but nothing that could be as powerful as the sol emeralds."

Rouge shrugged "Well, is this our best chance to go in?" Tails could tell the bat was trying her best to appear calm when she was actually excited to get some jewels.

Tails looked over the bushes. Two robots were standing guard. "Well… yah. Looks like they detected something. They only leave two guards if they found or sense something worth interest."

Sonic looked over the fox's shoulder "Those two would raise an alarm when we attack. A swift spin dash won't do anything to them now."

Tails shrugged "Don't have to do anything. Stay here."

The fox knelt down and crouched away. Knuckles shuffled his feet "I don't want to stay now!"

Eggman leaned toward Knuckles "You want to follow him instead?"

"…No!"

Wave rubbed her forehead "This is pathetic."

Jet only looked above the bushes. Tails appeared next to the castle and slowly came up behind the robots. He pulled out two needles and jabbed both at the same time. Both erupted in electricity, but it was unusually silent. The robots fell crashing down causing everyone to flinch including Tails who tensed up.

After a while of no response Tails sighed in relief and called the group over with a wave of his hand. Sonic led the charge. They quickly got in and hid behind the walls in time. A three point nine came from the tree lines. It searched the area, but thankfully it didn't notice the downed assassin robots. It soon stomped away.

Everyone relaxed and ran on ahead. They soon came upon a door marked "Computer terminals". Blaze scratched her head "Whu-what?"

Jet shot her a look "What?"

"The computers should be upstairs."

Tails opened the door. Big machines were placed on the sides of the room, and cords stretched from the machines and hung up toward the ceiling. There was a massive hole up there. Beyond that hole was a bunch of computers. Tails knelt next to one of the strange machines "These must be the hacking devices. They might have already done their job and download everything." The fox whispered.

Blaze shook her head and whispered back "Not possible. The satellites have to be on to get the intel. The reason why I turned them off."

Wave looked at the cat "Do the satellites have to be on to use the computer?"

"…yes. This is the room to control them."

Tails looked around the room "It looks more like a dining hall."

Blaze shrugged "It is, but it's a hidden panel."

Sonic nearly slapped himself "Just turn them back on!"

Blaze walked up to a wall and pushed it. The wall moved slightly and then the cat shoved both parts of it in two directions. The wall split like such and then a computer was revealed. The cat turned a knob and inserted the card. There was a sound like power just turning on and then the cat pressed a button. The wall slid back to normal.

Tails smiled with a nod and twisted his tails like a helicopter. He flew up and landed in front of a computer. He began to type away. He soon flipped switches looking left and right. He then turned around and pressed his hand against a scanner. It scanned his hand to identify him. Blaze rolled her eyes, but her eyes shot opened as did everyone else's. The computer screen said "ACCEPTED".

The ceiling's hole was filled in with a force field, assassins came pouring in from the doors that soon slammed shut with a thicker metal door. Sonic looked up at Tails. The fox looked down at them and waved with an evil smile "Tails?"

The fox doubled over chuckling hard "I can't believe you all fell for that!"

Rouge clenched her fists "I knew we couldn't trust him!"

Knuckles ran at the robots, but five grabbed him while two others pounded on the echidna. Storm grabbed the caught hero and pulled him away. The robots didn't fight. They only watched him get pulled away and then stopped as if nothing happened.

Blaze looked around angrily trying to see an opening, but they were completely surrounded by these robots.

Ralph looked up at Tails to see him taking his original coat and hat from Alpha One who wore something similar. Tails twisted it on him and looked down at the group. Shadow growled "I knew something was fishy. You were the Mysterious Villian."

Tails shrugged "Well, yah. Not so "mysterious" for a long while."

"Then how come I never knew who you were for a long time?!"

"You never asked the right people. Right, SONIC?!"

The hedgehog only looked up at the fox with disbelief "Tails? Wh-what's going on? You changed, why are you-."

Tails snapped at him "Maybe because I'm tired of everyone! TIRED OF EVERYTHING THAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME! THE INSULTS, THE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS, and every damb time I save some ones' life they run in fear as if I were the actual threat!" Tears streamed down the fox's face "Well… No… more!"

Blaze rounded on Sonic in a fit of rage "He was the bad guy THIS ENTIRE TIME!"

Tails rolled his eyes "I have been the bad guy the entire time. Think about it. Eggman, you of all people should have known that every master plan requires a backup one in case the first fails. This is my back up plan." Tails lifted his arms indicating to everything in the room.

Eggman looked around "You planned all this?"

"Not all of this, but a portion of it. Plan B was I pretend to become Sonic's friend and gain his trust so I can exploit his weaknesses. The other part was for Alpha One to go into hiding to rebuild my army without anyone knowing. It was quite exceptional when he went to this world to gain the sol emeralds for a power source. I didn't plan this room and not coming to this world. That's too detailed. A plan that is too detailed can easily come off course. One slight problem can mess up the entire thing."

Eggman rubbed his glasses "I predicted that there was a Plan B, but I thought you changed."

Tails scoffed "You thought wrong. I did give it a go though. Be happy I tried."

Sonic shook his head "No, no, NO! There has to be something off. There has to be. You changed. I COULD SEE IT!"

Tails shoved a fist into his palm "You were always reeeeaaaaalllly getting on my nerve. Sometimes I wanted to just spin around and sock you in the nose."

Ralph clenched his fists and continued to look at the fox "So… you're the bad guy now?"

Tails sighed "Were you listening? I don't have time to answer your question Ralph. Maybe I will in November. We can play chess if you like, maybe even checkers." Tails mocked.

Sonic shook his head "Tails, please. This isn't like you?'

"HOW WOULD YOU KNOW!" Tails roared causing everyone to jump "ALL YOU EVER THOUGHT OF ME AT FIRST WAS A FREAK, A MONSTER! YOU SAID SO YOURSELF. YOU ABUSED ME AND ONLY GOT TO KNOW ME AS AN EVIL PSYCHOPATH!"

Sonic shook his head with tears falling down his face "No… I knew none of that was true. I knew all of that was my fault. My first and only opinion of you is you being a kind, gentle fox that cares."

"Well not anymore!"

Sonic shook his head faster "No. It's in you. I know it is."

"Shut-up hedgehog just shut-up. Why don't you just go to your camera and delete that damb photo of me."

Sonic clenched his fist "You watched me delete that!"

Tails paused as if shocked "I did? Well… good then. I hated that picture. I couldn't believe you made me laugh!" Tails spun around and waved them off "You can go. All of you haven't suffered enough yet."

The assassin robots backed off and the metal door lifted so the group could exit. "By the way Babylon Rouges." The birds looked up to see Tails drop a suit case at Jet's feet "Here, take that away from here and use it to go back to your dimension. I never wanted you guys to get involved. This has nothing to do with you."

Jet lifted it up and opened it. Inside was a ring with glowing chips of different colors. Eggman saw it "You fed the sol emeralds' powers into that so they could go home?"

"Why not. They're only here because they thought they were forced to." Tails pointed out "Now leave. Unless you want the castle. Me and my robots will take our leave now." The assassins leaped up and climbed the wall, climb the ceiling then swing up to the ledge to follow their master.

The rouges looked at the device then Eggman. The doctor saw the look and then sighed "Fine, you may go. Yes its safe so there is no need of you three to stay."

The three looked down at it and then looked at Sonic and the gang who began to walk off. Jet closed the lid "Sonic." The hedgehog looked back gloomily "its best we leave… We're of no help. We only could save Tails life and together were only able to stop one robot." Jet patted the case looking down "I think once we're gone you guys can start picking things back up faster than with us. Besides you've got Sally and…"

Wave jumped in front of Sonic "Sonic, Tails knew where we were. The camp!"

Sonic's eyes bulged open and then he tore off toward the camp. The group noticed and ran after him. Everyone soon left behind Eggman who was huffing and puffing "I-huhhhhh- need- heehhhhh- to- ik- get in better- hack- shape!"

The three rouges lifted the doctor and then in a flash dropped him off near the camp. Eggman turned and waved and ran off. Above the tree line smoke was seen bellowing toward the sky. Jet looked up at the smoke and then back down at the case. Wave then patted his shoulder "I-it doesn't feel right to leave them like this."

Jet shook his head "We gotta leave. We should tell others about this so they can prepare for the fox's return."

Eggman stopped in shock at what he saw. Fire lit almost every tent. Sonic was running toward the lake and back dumping water on it, Shadow was helping him. Knuckles was using his claws to dig into the ground and shove dirt on more fire. Rouge was flying above to see if the fire was in the forest. Blaze stood back in case she caused the fire to get worst. Ralph was searching the blazed tents for survivors. Amy tried to help Sonic, but the blue blur kept taking her buckets. She soon just stood by the lake and just pulled out water and placed down the buckets to let Sonic and Shadow to grab them.

Eggman knew everyone had the fire under control. He ran toward his carrier and tried to open the door. The power was somehow off. He pulled on it with all his might, but it wouldn't comply. The doctor leaned into it "ANYONE IN THERE? THIS IS EGGMAN!"

Sally's voice was soon heard "Eggman. Robots just came out of nowhere and began to group the people and shove them into cages. Cream, Cheese, Silver, and I were forced in here after they came in. They somehow turned off the power."

Eggman stepped back "WHAT ABOUT METAL SONIC, OMEGA, AND SEVEN?"

"They were no match for the robots. They were the first ones out. The robots then knocked Silver out and threw him in here."

"LOOK, SALLY! TRY HAVING YOU AND ANYONE ELSE IN THEIR PUSH THE DOOR! I'LL TRY PULLING IT!"

Eggman grabbed the corner of the door "GO!" Eggman began to pull while on the other side Sally, Cream, and Cheese pushed, but the door still didn't budge.

Ralph stepped up and lightly pushed the doctor. Eggman backed away "What are you-?"

Ralph slammed his hands into the cracks of the door and began to pry them back, still the door fought. The door began to slowly come open. Eggman reached his fingers in the crack once large enough, knowing the risk, and began to pull. Sonic soon came over to help. Everyone else soon ran over, but there wasn't much massive change in till Knuckles came on the scene. The door soon was yanked open with a clang.

Sonic and others ran in, but some stayed out. Actually only Eggman stayed out blowing on his sore fingers.

Sally hugged Sonic "You're okay right?" The hedgehog asked.

Amy huffed in jealousy, but soon she was hugged by Cream and Cheese. Confused at first, but the pink hedgehog hugged back with a smile. Blaze looked around with an expression no one has seen before. She looked as if she wanted to kill someone.

Sally soon backed away from Sonic "What happened?"

Sonic looked down with tears in his eyes "A-apparently T-Tails-." The hedgehog couldn't finish his sentence.

Blaze slammed her fist on the wall "THAT FOX WAS THE ENEMY!"

Cream looked shocked "He was bad the whole time?"

Knuckles growled "Yep!"

Eggman ran in and toward the computer. He pressed a few buttons, but nothing happened. Eggman slammed his fist down "DAMB! Tails must have used the chance to look at the files to his advantage. Nothing on this ship will ever work again."

Sonic shook his head "I thought he…"

Sally patted the blue blur's shoulder "I thought so too."

Shadow knelt next to Omega, MS, and Seven. All three were off line. Rouge crossed her arms right above the hedgehog.

Ralph walked over and pulled up a grey hedgehog who moaned. Silver shook his head and then grabbed it "Ow… Where? Ralph? The robots!"

"They're gone. They left before we came back."

Silver stood "I should have been able to take out one, but they snuck up on me."

Eggman suddenly froze and stiffened. "What's wrong?" Amy spoke.

Eggman turned "I-I don't get it."

Blaze growled "The fox was the villain. What's not to get!"

The doctor soon pressed a button. The screen turned on to reveal a background that looked like a wall of fire flying upward none stop. Eggman turned back to the group "This is literally a firewall."

Sonic shrugged "What's it do?"

Eggman scratched his head "That's just it. I don't know. I never made it. There is only three people besides me who could do that, but Rotor never came with us. Another thing I didn't make…" Eggman Stepped to the side to reveal a strange slot "This-" Eggman knelt down to look at it "-I never made, but the firewall is connected to it. Whatever goes in here is scanned by the firewall and if it's the correct thing the data will enter in it. The only two people who can make it is Wave and Tails." The doctor stood and looked at the group "Wave knows nothing about my ship and has no reason to hide a thing. She is also not fast enough to create it, the firewall, and a connection to both without notice. Tails is the only one." Eggman stood up strait "The fox is leaving clues."

Knuckles flung his hands in the air "No he's not! He's just mocking us and having us waist our time looking for pointless clues while he goes on without us stopping him."

Blaze pointed at Knuckles "That has to be right Eggman. Why would a villain give us clues."

Ralph shook his head "No he's not a villain."

Cream looked at him "How?!"

The dog looked at Sonic "Remember when I asked Tails that question about him being the bad guy?" Sonic nodded "Remember his answer?"

Sonic looked up at the ceiling thinking "He said something like he had no time to answer so he was going to answer it in November while you guys played chess or checkers." The hedgehog then shrugged.

Ralph pointed at Sonic "That proves Tails told me he wasn't a villain."

Silver scratched his head "Wait?..." Silver threw a finger in the air triumphantly "I figured it out. The reference to a "Friendly game of chess." I'm so smart."

Ralph looked at the hedgehog "Err… no."

"What?"

"Its code, Silver. You wouldn't know much about code."

Sonic threw his hands in the air "Code? What code?"

Ralph tapped his fingers together "Its Naval Flag Codes."

Knuckles rounded on him "Are you stupid. There were no flags in that sentence moron."

"Didn't have to. There's a flag called November, and guess what the flag looks like. Checker pattern. Blue and white more specifically."

Eggman rubbed his chin "What does it mean?"

"It means "No" or "Negative". So the question I asked was answered. I asked "you're the bad guy now?" He then described the flag so the answer is "No" or "Negative."

"Yah, both mean the same." Shadow said standing.

"Not really. Negative could be an indication of a quantity that is less than zero." Shadow began to walk sinisterly toward Ralph "You know… a negative number."

Shadow suddenly grabbed Ralph by the coat and slammed him into the wall "He didn't mention the blue and white of the flag. SO THAT DOES NOT MATTER!"

Ralph grabbed the hedgehog's arms "If he did that might have been too much detail making him appear suspicious, blowing his cover that he's actually a good guy."

Blaze shook her head "Once a villain, always a villain." The cat turned and walked out of the carrier.

Ralph kicked Shadow causing him to back off and release the dog. Ralph corrected his coat "If no one else thinks Tails is a good guy they can leave so we can talk."

Shadow stood, growled, and then walked out. Rouge then followed. Knuckles, Cream, Cheese, Amy, and the last to leave was Blaze. Sonic placed a hand on her shoulder "Blaze." The cat shoved the hand away from her "Blaze!" The princess stopped "Tails actually fell in love with you. Doesn't that make you wonder if he's a good guy?"

The cat growled "No that makes me think he's a demented, disturbing CREEP!" She then walked out.

Sonic sighed, but his heart sank when he saw Sally going to the door "Sal?"

The chipmunk shut the door behind the leaving people and then turned to Sonic "I wasn't thinking Tails was evil. Now Eggman. What's wrong with the robots?"

The doctor walked over "They were… short circuited? No it can't be." Eggman landed on his knees and began to mess with Metal Sonic. The robot soon turned on "Doctor. I failed."

"That doesn't matter. You were no match."

The robot sat up "I still should have fought harder."

Eggman then fixed Omega who also stood, but the doctor paused at Seven. Silver was perplexed "What? It's not like Tails made him evil."

Eggman looked at Silver "I never made him. If I mess up he'll be permanently damaged or I could mess up his programming. You're talking about trying to fix a robot made by someone smarter than me."

Silver nodded "True."

Sally knelt next to him "Leave him. We have to work on the firewall."

Eggman stood "True. True. He would have been a valuable ally though. He could have told us about what we could do next since he knows Tails better than most."

Sonic clenched his fists. The blue blur would prefer to be known as the one who knows Tails the most, but he let it slide. The hedgehog pointed at the slit Eggman noticed "What can go in it?"

Eggman looked at it "Looks like a memory card or something."

Sonic froze "Wait. A… memory card?"

Eggman nodded. The hedgehog ran off toward Tails and his room. He ran over to his bed and flipped the cushion off. Underneath nestled a briefcase. Sonic grabbed it and with a clip it opened. Sonic tensed up. There laid his camera. Sonic grabbed it and looked at it in awe and repeated what he heard Tails say ""Why don't you just go to your camera and delete that damb photo of me.""

Sonic opened the camera and pulled out the memory card. Sonic smiled as he looked at it. It wasn't the usual memory card. It was different and looked more like a unit holding special memory. Also Tails two-tailed logo was on it. Sonic looked at it and his smiled couldn't help but get bigger and bigger "You're leaving us clues." The hedgehog began to laugh lightly as he continued "You're leaving us clues. You're not a villain."

End of chapter. Is Tails a villain or a good guy? What is in that card? Will they stop the fox in time or will Tails stop Alpha One in time?