Corrupt TE here with an early update.
Reason being, I've got a busy weekend ahead of me.

But enough of that.
Different perspective this week, bringing its own challenges and rewards.

So enough of me, what you want is the chapter below.

Enjoy

Nothing but the adrenalin pumping swiftly through his system kept him going. He pushed the small two-man aircraft to new heights of speed, causing the engines to work fast and harder than they ever had. The wind whipped past his ears as the little aircraft thundered through the night sky. He hurtled above the clouds, the glittering starlight reflecting a calm which he did not feel.

He continually tried his long-range communicator but got the same white noise each time. Thumping the hissing speaker the twin-tailed pilot resigned himself to reach his destination as quickly as possible. Manipulating the controls, he dipped below the cloud line and scanned the rolling landscape beneath him. Sighting his destination on the horizon, he brought his plane down from its lofty heights and began skimming along at low altitude. He switched his communicator to broadcast to any open frequency.

"This is Tails Prower, contacting anyone within the vicinity of Castle Acorn. Are you reading me? Over." A crackling sound was his only answer. "I repeat. This is Tails Prower, does anyone read me?"

His modified Tornado III swooped through the air as he neared the still erect walls of Mobotropolis. With a press of a button, the small aircraft began to fold in on itself. Its wings folded down flat against the sides of the cockpit; the tail folded down, retracting into itself and four wheels emerged from the undercarriage.

Because of his close proximity to the ground, the newly transformed Tornado III barely bounced when it landed wheels down on the tarmac street. Not even considering slowing down, the golden fox gunned the engine and roared past empty buildings and abandoned vehicles. Although Mobotropolis had changed considerably during his absence, Tails could remember the city layout well enough to speed through with little worry.

Despite the city being seemingly abandoned, Tails couldn't see any reason or evidence of a mass exodus of people fleeing for their lives. The only thing that was amiss was the faint column of smoke that drifted skyward from the castle ruins. He switched his communicator back on to attempt radio contact again.

"This is Tails Prower. I am on my way to castle Acorn, is there anyone out there? Respond!" The crackling that followed was permeated with broken syllables of speech. The fox's eyes narrowed and he began fiddling one-handed with his receiver. "Say again? Transmission is extremely weak."

"-oody chaos dam- machine!" A feminine voice growled over the radio waves.

"Hold that frequency!" Tails exclaimed, boosting his own transceiver signal. "Are you reading me now?"

"We are now. Loud and crackly! We've only got the old short-ranged radios which haven't seen use since the days of the Freedom Fighters!" Tails slowed his vehicle to a stop.

"We? Where are you, this place is a ghost town?" The voice snorted in amusement.

"It would be up top! Entire populace has been evacuated to the bunkers and shelters below ground." What sounded like a slight scuffle followed by a brief argument sounded over the clicks and whistles of interference, before the girl came back. "Sorry about that. Boss man wants to know if we can trust you. What's your name and purpose in Mobotropolis?"

Tails rolled his eyes. "My name is Miles 'Tails' Prower, I'm a friend of the ex-Freedom Fighters and came to offer my help. Is that good enough for your boss?"

The voice laughed. "Probably not, but it's good enough for me. You'll be heading to the castle then?"

"Yeah. They would've been in the Panic Room right?"

"They were when we last knew about it. That was before the EMP took out the communications grid." Tails heart began beating faster.

"What of Nicole, Rotor and the Freedom Fighters?" He asked shakily.

"We don't know. We've barely been able to keep order down here, let alone organise a rescue party."

"Well I'm going in there to try and find them!" The young fox snapped.

"No need to get testy! Just give a girl a second to grab her things and I'll meet you on the castle steps." Tails was taken aback and it took him a second to respond.

"Thanks! I'll uhh… see you there."

"It's a date then!" The radio cut off, leaving only fizzing white noise rasping through the speakers. Tails blinked a few times, his mind slowly digesting what he heard.

"Did she just say a date?" He thought aloud. He wasn't surprised when he didn't get an answer. He shrugged, switched off the communicator and revved the engine, setting off once again for the ruins of the Acorn throne.

The emergency recall function of his matter transporter sent Dr. Robotnik back into his long hidden secret laboratory. His face was pale and he was sweating profusely, but despite this he wore a toothy grin. The knowledge he had gained and the information his miniature hacking device had obtained from the Professors' electronic database would be invaluable to his research.

He practically skipped to his portable mainframe as he pulled the tiny memory chip from his wrist device and slotted it into a jury-rigged reader. As the information began flashing upon the dusty, cracked screen, Robotnik turned his attention to the only early warning system he had; a single hidden security camera poised at the hidden entrance to his domain.

Although he had the element of surprise on his side, there was always the annoying fact that the retched anthro were both luck and tenacious, meaning he had very little time before they found him.

"Maybe this will slow them down!" He cackled. Pressing a series of buttons on his wrist device, he sent a signal to the missile which had ferried him here.

"Any luck Bunny?" Elias demanded as he scrambled over more fallen debris. They had been turned around time and again by collapsed corridors and dangerous paths, and it was all starting to tell on the young Kings patients.

"I'm afraid not your highness." Replied the partially roboticized rabbit. "Even with Sugah-Rotes upgrades I ain't getting through."

Elias Acorn kicked a small piece of rubble, sending careening off the walls and into the semi-darkness beyond.

"Damn Robotnik to the deepest depths of Hell!" Both rabbit and coyote cringed at the kings' outburst. He continued to grumble as he stalked off in the direction of the still clattering debris. He turned the corner and pause in mid-step, a small smile creeping to his face. "Finally!"

Antoine and Bunny caught up with their king, their expressions mirroring his. They had finally found the missile.

"Antoine, have a look around. Try and find anything to tell us what the Fatman's up to this time. Bunny, seeing as Rotor's not here, you're my tech expert. What do you think of this?" As the coyote began gingerly searching the area Bunny clambered into the modified rocket. She gnawed at her bottom lip as her eyes swept across the innards of the large projectile.

It had been one of Robotnik's larger and more devastating warheads, but as she explored the intricacies of the workmanship, it became clear that the missile's payload had mean removed and replaced with a simple, roughly constructed metal chair. There were miniature screens installed which she could only assume would have provided the maniacal human a viewpoint during his journey.

The controls were simplistic, a steering stick and various switches and pedals for acceleration and defence. But what caught her attention the most was the high powered dampening system, reminiscent to that of the roboticizer and the experimental de-roboticizer Rotor had been working on during their Freedom Fighter years.

"Eggman must have been planning this thing for some time." She mused out loud.

"Why do you say that Bunny?" Asked the King, stepping forward for a better look at what she was doing.

"I'm no Rotor or Tails, but this thing was upgraded with some serious tech. I'm not sure what most of this is meant to do but Eggman wanted to come here. This would have been a one way trip." King Elias stepped back and scanned the area thoughtfully.

"Then he must've had a reason to come all this way. And I'll bet my crown that it's nothing good."

"Your Highness! I've found something." Bunny and Elias went over to the coyote who was knelt down in the dirt and dust. He pointed at a set of scuffed footprints in the dust. "He went this way."

King Elias smiled and gripped his twin daggers with renewed vigour.

"You'd better watch back Robotnik. 'Cause I'm going to bury my blades in it!" As the trio followed the footprints in the dust, none of them noticed the small flashing light within the silent converted warhead.

The purple skinned walrus picked his way carefully through the fallen cables and sparking wires. He no longer cringed when a loud crackle went off nearby, the sound being far too common to take much notice of. He had managed to get Nicole's handheld computer with out much trouble and she had been assisting him with alternate directions and suggestions whenever he needed them.

"The damage here is extensive. I recommend acting swiftly and with caution, any further disturbances could very well bring this entire complex to the ground." Rotor gulped at her words. The heat emanating from the various cables and wires, not including the electrical fires which were blazing fitfully in some area, were making him sweat heavily.

"Thanks for the warning Nicole, but I'm not planning on doing anything to make this any worse."

Tails pulled up to the stairs of the castle. The statue of the late King Maximillian Acorn had toppled over, breaking the proud looking image into pieces which scattered across the courtyard. The walls of the castle itself were still standing, but it was clear to the fox that whatever had happened had rendered the structure unstable and in danger of collapsing.

He stepped out of the tornado, eyeing up any potential entrance and thinking of what he could do to help, wishing that Sonic, Amy or even Knuckles were with his. He hated to admit it, but he had come up with the majority of his plans by either bouncing ideas off his friends or adapting their ideas into something less perilous and more likely to succeed.

He turned his head at the sound of footsteps. Out of the shadows of an empty building came another fox, a vixen to be precise.

Her fur was bright red, the tip of her tail; muzzle and chest fur was white like newly fallen snow. She wore a long heavy brown jacket with the sleeves rolled up above her elbows, a pair of short brown shorts with light brown fur trimmings, a pair of thigh high brown walking boots and a pair of black fingerless gloves.

"Hey there." She called waving. She jogged up to him with a smile on her face. "Tails right?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm Sakura McCain, we were talking over the radio." Tails raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"I didn't think you'd actually come." Tails admitted.

"What? And spend my time surrounded by complaining plebs and royal guards with no idea what to do? No thanks Fuzzy!" She put her hands on her hips and looked at him, her head cocked to one side. "If I'm reading you right, you're planning on diving heal long into there."

She gestured towards the castle entrance. Tails folded his arms.

"I came to help my friends. I'm not about to sit back and do nothing!" The vixen, Sakura grinned at the ice in his tone.

"No argument from me Miles." Tails bristled at the use of his name, mentally cursing himself for broadcasting it. "So lets get-"

"Tails." Sakura stopped in her tracks and looked at the golden furred fox.

"What?"

"Call me Tails. I hate Miles." He put as much emphasis on the word 'hate' as he could. A moment of silence between them came and went.

"Okay. Tails it is then." The red vixen and golden fox began walking towards the stairs. "So Tails, what exactly have you go-"

For the second time, Sakura failed to complete her sentence. This time however, she was interrupted by the loud, echoing explosion that sent them both to the ground.

Tails stared in horror as the walls of the castle began tumbling down in a roar of bricks, mortar and debris.

"Sweet Chaos!" Breathed Sakura, her own eyes not believing what they saw as the iconic centre of Acorn rule came crashing to the ground.

All Tails could think was that he was too late.

Whoo! Cliff Hanger! Don't you just hate 'em?

Anyway, haven't fully decided whats going to happen to the freedom Fighters yet, so anything could happen!
(Just realised that sentence is rather redundent... oh well.)

As usual, hope you've enjoyed the latest chapter of my madness.

-Corrupt TE-