Chapter 10: Information

They were taking no chances. All of Naval Base San Diego's sixteen destroyers, as well as four of its cruisers, had been deployed to face the spaceship. The crews had already gotten their missile launchers armed, ready and pointed straight at the target.

Overall, they had over 1000 surface-to-air missiles to spare. Not to mention, the Air Force had various F-22As on standby just in case, with pilots eager to use their birds against an actual enemy for the first time since they entered service. The commander aboard each ship dearly hoped it would be enough. Ideally, of course, they wouldn't have to fire even one shot.

However, given that the spaceship continued to move in the direction of the strange island flying over their territory, it was not going to be likely. Even the commander of the Stockdale had felt silly while giving that warning, as there was no chance whoever piloted this thing understood English or any human language…except for one. One that was presumably used not just on Earth, but universally as well. And it was communicated with the press of a button or two.

The commander ordered his men to keep their fingers on those buttons. If things really came to that point, they were more than ready.

Sonic marveled at and was thankful for just how tall the buildings in this city were, as he was able to use them to his advantage. After getting tired of avoiding endless amounts of cars and people on the streets and in the alleyways, he decided to simply dash up the walls of one of them and hide on the roof. He was sure he couldn't stay here for long though, since this roof was the kind typical of skyscrapers that people could access via a nearby door.

Far below, the hedgehog could still hear the sirens of police cars, though fortunately they were getting further and further away, not nearer. Looks like no one had been able to see where he had run off to. His training in the jungle applied equally well in an urban one, it seemed.

Having managed to escape attention for the time being, Sonic focused on the next step. He didn't know anything about Earth beyond what Alan had told him, which wasn't much at all. That was something he'd have to change.

But how to find out? After thinking for a while, he decided his best option was to follow the news. He remembered that there was a lot of media coverage in large cities. At least, that was the case on Mobius, but so far he saw no reason to doubt Earth wasn't the same in that way. There were an awful lot of large TV screens down there. Could one of them be a news channel?

Sonic shook his head at the suggestion. No way was he going back down there to check. He wasn't sure if he could get a good vantage point from which he could see the screens anyway. The buildings were just too tall.

Before he could come up with other plans, he was startled by the door next to him suddenly opening, and even Sonic wasn't quick enough to jump out of sight. He cursed himself for standing so vulnerably in the open instead of hiding somewhere, like in the spot where the door would cover him when it was fully open.

The hedgehog ended up being face-to-face with a human male in brown overalls. Both froze and stared at each other for what felt like forever, but was in fact only fifteen seconds.

"Holy crap!" the man exclaimed, his face white with shock. "Aren't you that…thing that appeared on TV? How'd you…how'd you come all the way up there?"

Sonic analyzed the situation, thinking as fast as he ran. Sure, he had been discovered, but only by one person. No need to be alarmed. As long as he said the right words, he could benefit from this. He already had an idea. "Well, you saw me on TV, right? My running trick? I can do it vertically too," he casually replied as if he were being asked his name or age.

"Damn, so you do talk!" The man seemed overjoyed now. "I knew you said something down there. This is just-"

"Shh," Sonic vocalized as he put a raised finger to his mouth. The guy was talking way too loudly. It's understandable that he would do so given his excitement, but Sonic had to keep this under control. Getting another crowd here would mean going back to square one. He continued silently, "look, I know you're excited to meet me, but…I need your help. Could you promise not to tell others about me until after I'm gone? It won't be long. Please."

The man looked at Sonic in confusion for a moment before replying, "um…okay. But, what do you need?"

"You said you saw me on TV. That means you have one, right? Actually, if you don't mind me asking, what do you work here as?"

"I'm just a superintendant for this apartment, and yeah, I have a TV. Even I ain't that poor, man. After all, we're in New York."

"Has the news said anything about other things happening?" Sonic asked, letting concern creep into his voice.

"Huh?"

"Long story short, I'm not the only one who's come to this planet. Have you heard about anyone or anything else that's showed up?"

"Hmm, I heard some folks talking about something like that, but I don't know myself. The TV's still on though downstairs though, maybe they're reporting on it now, if you really wanna know."

"Really?" Sonic smiled at the man's offer. "I'd appreciate it. Thanks."

The man smiled back. "No prob. Though, uh, running ain't allowed in the corridors. Just so you know."

Sonic remembered something Alan said when he first met him, and couldn't help but rephrase it. "To be honest, I thought you'd be more scared of me or something. But you sound like you trust me."

"Like you said, I saw you on TV," the superintendant started explaining, his smile still there. "A guy with powers like that, if you wanted to hurt someone you would've done it already. But you didn't. So, I think you're cool for two reasons now."

That was close, Tails thought as he sat on the orange roof of a somewhat old-fashioned building. He had first flown into the park before continuing north over the nearby river to escape people looking for him among the trees. After flying over several blocks, he decided he was far away enough from the commotion.

Now able to literally catch his breath, Tails could use his vast intellect properly again without any emotional hindrances. He started from the beginning. Find information. But how?

Tails remembered that Alan was familiar with the internet and how to use it. That was it. He now had to use Earth's internet. That meant getting a computer somewhere. The fox frowned, knowing it would be easier said than done. He could hardly go around and ask for one. If his timidity didn't stop him, the language barrier certainly wou-

His thoughts stopped there as he recalled what the people around him had said just now. As he was no longer panicking, Tails could now rifle through his memory to discover that the words, the language...there was a definite familiarity to it.

No one other than Sonic knew it, but English and engineering jargon were not the only languages Tails had learned while he still went to school in New Mobius. It was not the main language there, of course, and sometimes he wished it was, as that way, no one would have made fun of his real name.

It had been some time since he ever had to use it, though Tails was sure he still remembered enough of it. Exactly how much, however, was something he should find out now, as it could get him what he needed.

The two-tailed fox slid over carefully to the edge of the roof, making sure not to fall off or let anyone down below see him. As he got close to it, he realized that one of the people in front of that large gate had actually called him cute. It made him blush for a moment, but no longer than that as he shook his head to remind himself to focus on the important issues.

Looking over the street, Tails saw, to his relief, that it was rather empty, probably due to the time. There were a lot of parked cars, but no people walking around. All of the stores were closed too…except for a corner lot at the end of the opposite block, which still seemed packed with activity. He eyed the name of the shop written on the awning. Ottos Kaffeehaus (mit freiem Wi-Fi), it read.

Wi-Fi? Now that was a term Tails had not heard of before. Maybe mobians called it something else…he looked at the closed stores again. There was a bakery shop, a tailor shop, another restaurant, and…a computer store. Whew! Not to mention, the word Wi-Fi was repeated on its one of exterior signs, leading him to believe it was something relevant to his quest.

Tails looked back at the coffeehouse and saw something new. Some of the customers were casually using notebook computers which weren't connected to anything. Wireless…Wi-Fi?

Unable to help but feel somewhat excited that he may have figured it out, Tails made sure once again that the street was empty and that no one from the coffeehouse was looking in his direction. Even with his flight capability, he still had to look left and right before crossing the road. He wound up his tails to their highest RPM before shooting across. It took exactly one second for his feet to touch on the other side. Not bad.

He ran over to the rear of the building block and lightly dropped down into the alleyway. The front door was undoubtedly locked, as was the back one, though he hoped the latter was less secure. He turned the knob and found, naturally, that the door wouldn't budge.

Tails briefly considered finding a way to pick the lock, but that could likely set off an alarm. He could defeat a generic alarm system easily enough, but he had no idea where it was located here. Maybe he could get in and out quickly so that the police would think it was a false alarm, but he really didn't want to draw more attention.

After scanning the back of the building more closely, he suddenly saw something that could work. There was a ventilation shaft that stuck out of the wall in an L-shape. He examined the size, and then looked down to do the same with his own body. He should be able to fit inside. Hopefully.

He got to work, fitting his fingers into the grating of the vent cover and then pulling at it. After exerting a bit of strength, it came off rather noisily, which caused the fox to look around again to ensure he was really alone in the back alley.

Okay, time to do this. Tails placed the vent cover to the side before climbing into the vent. It was dark, stuffy, and not helping his breath or hygiene, but this wasn't the time to complain. Other than that he could still crawl and climb through without much difficulty.

Almost a minute later, he reached and felt another cover which he gently removed. He could feel that he was in the ceiling, and the last thing he needed was the cover to fall onto and break something below, possibly sounding the alarm.

He lowered himself gently from the ceiling opening, landed lightly on the ceramic-tiled floor, and saw that he was at the back of the store, behind the cashier. It was dark, but not overly so, thanks to the faint bit of streetlight coming through the large front windows and glass door, and the fact that his eyesight had adjusted to it.

This was enough to allow him to see how dirty he was as he looked downwards. Much of his furry body, especially his tails, and his normally white gloves were blackened by all the dust, dirt and whatever else there was in the vent. Man, and I have to go through that thing again, he thought with a sigh. This also meant that whoever opened the store the next day would know someone had definitely been here in addition to being shocked by the mess. Oh well.

Tails took a look around the store. Various computer notebooks were displayed on the desks. The list of features next to each model was lengthy, but the one that caught his eye again was Wi-Fi. Reading the brief accompanying description confirmed that it was indeed a wireless internet connectivity system. No wonder every model had it.

He reached his hands out to grab a notebook, but another consideration struck him: how was he going to tell which one was password-protected? Just in case, he would need to take more than one with him, even though that meant a more difficult return trip through the ventilation shaft. Rubbing his gloved hands together to get them as clean as possible here, he started taking the notebooks, each of a different brand.

Two minutes later, in the back alley, Tails crawled back out of the vent opening, carrying no less than four notebooks with him, as well as some earphones, even though they didn't exactly fit his large fox ears. His second voyage through the air vent wasn't so easy since he had to carry such cargo along. Not to mention, if he seemed dirty while inside the store, it was downright clean compared to how he looked now.

Tails spun up his namesakes and started to fly over to Otto's Coffeehouse, carefully clutching all of the notebooks with both hands. Getting information was more important now. Taking a bath could come later, though he wondered if he should soak himself in the river before leaving this city.

Los Angeles Field Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation

"Guys, guys!" a Special Agent shouted as he stormed into the conference room. "You're gonna want to see this!"

"Agent Latham, this better be good. What the hell else could possibly be more important than dealing with two UFOs over the city?" the man at the far end of the room, Special Agent in Charge McLaughlin said impatiently. He was holding a conference to discuss possible threats that could come out of both the spaceship and the flying island, and the measures they could take against them.

"Sorry to interrupt, sir, but, you know those aliens that appeared in New York and Berlin? Well, a third one showed up in Caracas, only it's not an alien, sir. My contact with the police down there sent me the info and a picture. Sir, it's…" his voice grew softer, "…it's Alan Doherty."

"What?" everyone in the room exclaimed at once. The spaceship and floating island was currently the main concern of this field office and possibly the whole country, leaving few people to pay attention to the other reports of aliens popping out of thin air.

"I got the email right here," Latham continued, holding out his smartphone as he approached the computer in front of the SAIC. "It'll only take a moment, sir."

"Alright, show it," McLaughlin ordered. He knew that the two UFOs were more pressing matters, but this was one of their own men, damn it. Not to mention there was no way Doherty's sudden reappearance wasn't connected to the other events.

Latham connected a cable to the computer and opened the saved email and its attached image. It appeared for all to see on the projected screen on the front wall, overlapping the map of LA they were looking at.

"Son of a-" McLaughlin blurted out, and the whole room of agents almost went berserk as they saw that the man in the photo was indeed Special Agent Alan F. Doherty. He was seated on a chair, flanked by two Venezuelan cops, and his expression appeared to be somewhat pale.

"My god, he's still wearing the same clothes," an agent pointed out.

"How have the police been treating him?" the SAIC asked.

"Okay so far. But sir, you know how relations are between our country and theirs. We'll need your help to get him out of there," Latham pointed out.

"I'm glad to find out he's alive and I will do everything in my power to bring him back home, but we need to deal with the problems right here first," McLaughlin replied. "I'm sure he'll understand...wait, does he know exactly what's going on?"

"I'm…not sure, sir. But I can talk to my contact and see what he can find out."

"You do that. For now, we have to get back to this briefing. Make sure you keep yourself informed about our plans if things get worse."

"Yes, sir," Latham said before unplugging his phone and hurrying out of the room.

"My God…" McLaughlin murmured to himself. "Looks like Doherty's been making some new friends lately."

The helicopters continued to fly around the island, more precisely the altar, in circles, but made no attempt to land. Knuckles secretly observed them from the tree tops and got visual confirmation that the people inside were indeed humans after seeing the ones that stood at the open rear door of each craft. He thought about how the helicopters were very much like the questions that currently flew around the inside of his head.

What were they planning to do here? Did they work for Robotnik? If so, were they ready to grab the Emeralds as soon as Angel Island was vaporized? If not, did these people know about the grave danger this place faced? And perhaps most pressing of all, how was he going to find out any of this? Ask them?

Before he could think or plan any further, Knuckles suddenly heard various loud sounds coming from the direction of the fortress. Explosions? He turned his head to look, having chosen a vantage point that allowed him to observe both the helicopters and the fortress without the former seeing him, and saw something that only confused and worried him even further.

"Sierra Six, this is Sierra Two-One Actual. Island is clear except for the giant gemstone in the center. Awaiting further orders, over," the sergeant standing at the rear door of the Osprey reported into his radio.

"Copy that. Better get the hell out of there, Harbinger is still approaching the island, over." 'Harbinger' was the current codename for the spaceship, which still showed no sign of slowing down.

"Affirmative, Sierra Six. Alright, let's-woah, what the hell?" the sergeant and his men exclaimed as they saw what was happening between the spaceship and their own ships far away. "What's going on over there, over?"

"Sir, that thing's glowing brighter and brighter every second," the seaman noted nervously. The turret underneath the spaceship had suddenly showed signs of activity earlier as a bright light had formed at its wide mouth, and its glow continued to intensify. Everyone had watched enough science fiction movies to know what it was going to do.

Having watched enough of it through the bridge window, the commander quickly reached for the radio to contact the Combat Information Center. "This is Commander Reynolds. Do we have a lock on that turret, over?"

"Yes, sir, just awaiting your command to fire, over," the reply came, with its tone suggesting the speaker really hoped the commander would give it right now.

Commander Reynolds took a deep breath before answering. "Do it."

INCOMING MISSILE, the text on the screen informed Robotnik. The radar screen at first showed the blip of just one missile approaching, but only for a second as it was quickly followed up by many, many more coming from all present ships.

However, this in turn was followed by the additional magic words that appeared: AGGRESSIVE DEFENSE SYSTEM ACTIVATED. The doctor lay back in the chair grinning. He had nothing to be worried about.

At least, that's what he first thought. Within moments, his grin disappeared as quickly as it formed when various error messages showed up on another screen. His calm demeanor melted away as it gave way to anger, mostly aimed at himself. "Argh! How could I have missed it!"

"What the hell? Our missiles are blowing up before they touch it!" the seaman shouted, his nervousness switching to outright fear due to this observation.

The same, though, did not happen to the commander. "Just keep 'em going! We have to be able to break through this thing! At the very least, it looks like we can stop that weapon from firing," he said calmly, pointing out how the turret's glow was already gradually dying down.

"Aye, aye, sir!"

The ADS was working just fine. The problem was with the vaporizer turret. The real trouble that Sonic's collision with the thing caused had somehow not manifested until now. As the hedgehog had struck it, some of the power recirculators inside had been damaged, causing it to use up much more energy from the Emerald power cells than it should to fire. Energy that the ADS and the thruster engines also needed.

In short, there was no way to keep all three running at the same time. The first idea that came to mind was to just let the Navy deplete their missiles, but there were simply too many of them. Fifteen ships he could still handle, but twenty? And if any of those missiles struck the engines…

There was only one solution left that he could think of, and it made the Robotnik grin madly again. His hands adjusted the turret controls. "Oh well," he commented as he shook his head, "you asked for this!"

"Sir, the turret's aiming straight at us," the seaman noted, not trying to hide his concern, "and it's…it's brightening up again!"

The turret now had the Stockdale in the center of its sights while missiles continued to blow up around it. After the vaporizer reached its maximum charge, it unleashed a thick, golden beam of light that took only a few microseconds to reach the ship. The crew of the Stockdale never stood a chance, and the commander didn't even get to mention how he was proud to have served alongside them before much of the ship disintegrated.

"Oh my God!" a seaman aboard the nearby destroyer, the Wayne E. Meyer, shouted in shock as he observed the destruction from the bridge. "My God, sir, the Stockdale's gone! Not even sinking, just gone!"

And there was even worse news as they noticed how the laser beam was moving. "Jesus, we're next!"

"Unload every damn thing we have on that SOB!" the commander shouted into the radio, trying very hard not to lose his cool, but not really succeeding.

Nearly everyone else in the room was already scrambling to escape as the giant laser beam approached, ready to send all of them to certain doom. Three, two, one…

Before the beam could touch the destroyer, however, it suddenly vanished. "Wait! Wait! The beam's disappeared!" Another seaman who saw it happen called out.

The commander couldn't help but let out a big sigh of relief. "Good job, people," he spoke again into the radio to the CIC, sounding much calmer now, not to mention thankful. "Thanks to you, it looks like he won't sink anyone else here today."

The other crewmen looked up at the spaceship from the window to see what he meant. "Yeah, looks like it," one of them agreed.

Their joy, though, was rather short-lived. "Wait…is something opening up back there?"

"Damn it!" Robotnik cursed as he slammed his fist on the desk. He had hoped to use the weapon to try and even the odds by removing the extra ships that threatened to overwhelm the ADS. Unfortunately for him, the vaporizer had turned a lot slower than it should. It was that collision Sonic left behind again, it seemed.

As a result, he only managed to blow up one ship before a few of the missiles that got through slammed into and KOed the vaporizer completely. And that wasn't even the only thing that was damaged. The ADS' main hardware was located close to it, perhaps too close, and the explosions had reduced its efficiency by some 50 percent.

Robotnik knew he had to switch weapons now. There were some missile launchers to the sides of the fortress, but then he remembered he had something even better. It was a reason this fortress was so huge.

Within just a few seconds he hastily selected suitable targets that had showed up on the screen, and then, crossing his fingers, he pressed the launch button. Then he turned his attention onto the next step.

"Something's coming out of those bay doors! Small spaceships!"

A door in the rear half of the spaceship had slid open, and two smaller spaceships, each about the size of a heavy cargo helicopter, exited. They were powered by thrusters much like the main spaceship, except it was immediately clear that these moved much faster.

And instead of coming after the destroyers and cruisers, they were headed right towards the city.

"Switch targets, shoot those things down!" the commander ordered.

"New targets confirmed, firing RIMs!" the reply from the CIC came.

Every other ship did the same, now focusing their missile attacks on the two smaller crafts rather the main one. But they seemed to be equipped with the same system that forcibly detonated missiles after detecting them. Avoiding missiles left and right at nearly the speed of sound, they reached and started flying over LA airspace, heading towards just one target.

"They're getting out of range!" a CIC operator said.

"Sir, sir!" a seaman who was listening to another bunch of radios called out to the commander. "We're getting a message from someone. He claims to be from the spaceship. Everyone's getting it too, sir. Do I put it on?"

The commander was stunned by the news. Communication with this enemy has the last thing he expected to get. "Let's hear it," he said, having a bad feeling about all this.

The radio was put on speaker, and an unfamiliar yet unsettling male voice could be heard. "You may find it wise to stop firing on my fortress, because otherwise those carriers I just launched will bring very grave consequences."

"Christ, he speaks English?" someone muttered in disbelief.

"Goddammit!" another who observed the crafts, the city skyline and the maps shouted. "I think they're headed for the airport!"

The commander made his decision. "Stop firing! Stop firing!"

In a rundown New York apartment, Sonic saw the drama with Robotnik's fortress unfold on the superintendant's old television set. His mind was screaming at him to get there right now to 'zoom and boom' rather than just stand here and watch it like it was a movie.

But another part inside kept him here instead, insisting that he should keep watching, as he hadn't gotten the full picture yet. And somehow, that part was winning so far. Something was definitely happening, and he had a feeling he was going to find out what it was soon.

"Man," the superintendant exclaimed, "what the hell are those things he just launched there?"

Sonic snapped out of his thoughts and watched the news again. The camera was showing that two smaller flying crafts had been launched out of the fortress and were heading…somewhere. "I think he's about to give the answer."

"He?" The man sounded confused. "Who's 'he'?"

Sonic answered quietly, "you'll see."

Of the four notebooks, only one didn't require a password to enter, which gave Tails some relief. He was able to connect to the coffeehouse's Wi-Fi after checking the digital instructions that were fortunately included, and felt glad that the connection could still reach him despite him sitting at the top of the awning, where there was a flat area just large enough for him to sit.

After connecting, the fox started off his information hunt by looking up his location, the world map, and multiple news websites. He'd already read about himself appearing here in Germany, Sonic in New York, who fortunately managed to escape, Alan in Venezuela, who unfortunately did not, and of course, the Tornado. It turned out the plane had landed on a grass field mercifully near his location, in the neighboring state of Brandenburg, near a village west of here. The German news website mentioned that it appeared to have suffered only minor damage, and the Army already had been contacted to airlift it to a base for inspection.

Tails really wanted to fly there and take it back before the military reached it, but instead he found himself focused on Angel Island and Robotnik's fortress in Los Angeles.

Using a video streaming service Tails was able to get live news coverage of the event there which he watched with growing worry. The earphones proved useful as he could hear the audio while nobody below could, though he had to hold it to his ear with his hand to prevent it from falling in.

And judging by the two smaller crafts that Robotnik just launched, which Tails quickly recognized as robot carriers as they narrowly blew past the news helicopter's camera, he would need to hold the earphone for a little while longer.

Terminal 3, Los Angeles International Airport

The large groups of people who waited around in front of the gates were of different nationalities, ages and professions, but the one thing they had in common now was that they were grounded. All flights had been grounded due to the massive airborne threat that was almost directly in the way of the runways. They were stuck here.

What they didn't know, though, was that soon enough, they were going to be really stuck here.

A loud noise was heard from far above as a huge hole was suddenly torn into the ceiling, roughly above the center of the large circular room, causing everyone to start panicking and running off to the sides. Within moments, a long, blocky spaceship descended inside and onto the floor, crushing many seats but thankfully no people.

The instant the craft touched the ground, it opened its front double doors and let out a bunch of robot buggies, which immediately roared around on their four heavy-duty wheels to the gates and the entrance to the long walkway that lead to the street while firing several shots into the air with their machine guns, scaring everyone even more. Once they reached their destinations, their weapons were pointed straight at the people. It was clear nobody was going to get out of here.

Two buggies rolled down the walkway to the street entrance. After they arrived, one stayed behind the doors while the other simply crashed through it onto the street, causing several passing cars to swerve or crash. Its optics looked to the left and confirmed that, in the distance, another buggy was stationed there, in front of Terminal 2, having come out of the second carrier that had just done the exact same thing.

Both then deployed a video screen in front to play a message from Doctor Ivo Robotnik. A message that was already sent to be broadcast on the news network.

"So, you may be wondering who I am. My name is Doctor Ivo Robotnik, engineering genius extraordinaire. Most of you probably thought I was an alien, and I don't blame you for that.

"But what I will blame you for is your military's attempts to block me from destroying or reaching the flying island and taking its Master Emerald and Chaos Emeralds, that which that I seek. And for that, I have decided to try something different. I'm going to make you give them to me instead.

"I have taken the people inside the two terminals of the airport hostage. Should you try and mount any rescue attempt, my robots will open fire and kill everyone. Should you try and fire any more missiles at my fortress, they'll kill everyone too.

"You may have noticed that the island and the Emeralds are guarded by a red-furred alien with large fists. You are to get rid of him in any way you desire if he tries to guard his treasures, and he almost certainly will. A warning though: he is rather strong. It won't be as easy as it looks.

"For that reason, and also because I'm rather generous, I will give you three hours to do it, starting the moment this video ends. Failing that, my robots will kill those people. And don't think this is a one-time affair, because they will escape in their carriers, and I can do the same thing all over again somewhere else some other day, and I will keep doing it until you personally give me all of those Emeralds.

"The choice is quite obvious, isn't it? I will wait, and it's best…that you don't."

The video ended on that note, and Sonic immediately got up from the couch. "Okay, that's it. I'm getting over there right now. Tell me how to get to Los Angeles. On foot," the hedgehog told the superintendant, his tone now serious and no-nonsense, not like when they first met upstairs.

"Uh…" the man began, pausing for a while before replying, "take Interstate 78, the highway, you'll see its number on the signs, and head west through the Holland tunnel, then I-70, I-44, I-40, and finally I-15 and you're there. The signs should show you when to turn."

"Thanks. You've just helped save those people. I'm outta here!"

"Hey, just one more thing!" the man added as Sonic turned, which caused a slight breeze in the room. "Who are you, actually?"

The question stopped Sonic, but only for a second before giving the answer. It was somewhat appropriate given that he might never meet this guy again. "My name's Sonic the Hedgehog."

"I'm Chris! Bye! Good luck, and watch out for the traffic jam!" he responded just in time before the hedgehog sped off down the corridor, for some reason heading back up the stairs rather than down.

"Damn, they must have heard that," Chris said silently with a chuckle, "wonder how am I gonna explain this to them?"

The four stacked computer notebooks were gently placed in front of the closed computer store before the person who did it hurriedly took to the skies. Even in his rush, Tails still made sure not to damage those expensive pieces of hardware - the technophile in him simply didn't allow it.

Up in the air, Tails checked his wrist device, which had a digital arrow that pointed in the direction the Tornado was in. Revving up his tails faster, the fox zoomed to the west as fast as he could. His plans to take a quick 'bath' were totally called off. He had to cross over a huge ocean and a huge country within three hours, and there was only one way to do that. There was no way for him to know if Sonic knew about Robotnik's ultimatum, and he planned to pick him up in case he didn't.

But if he does and is already on his way, Tails thought, well, let's just consider it a race. Between me, Sonic…and time itself.