Whats this, another update?! So soon?! Thats right folks, its like a good bag of chips or a fine cigar; once opened, it cant be stopped! And now, ONWARD!

Part Eighteen: Enlisting Support

The day had started like any other day for the golden-orange kitsune. Tails had woken up nice and late after a restful night of dreaming various new inventions and designs. And like many mornings before them, Cream had come over as she usually did to enjoy a hearty brunch of eggs and bacon. His young crush always enjoyed spending time with the mechanic, both in the garage and out. Granted, the tannish rabbit was still learning the difference between a screwdriver and an Allen wrench, but she was also teaching the fox a lot about the world outside the oil stains and welding sparks. She would always bring over a basket full of the latest baked treats from her mother and fresh flowers from her garden he would place next to an all-too-familiar flower pot that yielded but a single budding seed.

Today, the pair had spent the early hours underneath the engines of his X-Tornado, trying to improve the thundering push they would produce when something either powerful, upset or both slammed into his door. Pulling himself out from under the turbine, he went to answer the intrusion, the innocent flower girl by his side and was surprised to see the two least likely of visitors. However the normal cheerful greeting they would normally grant their fellow furred fighters was stuck in their throats upon the very sight. Shadow's eyes were alive and flickering with a furious energy. In fact, most of his exposed covering was radiating an amber power, tracing up around his torso and licking off his up-turned quills. Knuckles looked more battered and broken that angered. The wounds on his shoulder and chest had leaked out a fair amount of vital fluid before the echidna had patched them with leaves and other primitive dressings. His normal crimson coat and looked dulled down, but whether that was from the lack of blood inside, or the thorough coating outside was anyone's guess. Still, his violet eyes were alive and shaking with the rush of battle.

Upon viewing their new guests, Cream's perpetually cheerful expression lost most of its color as her high-tone voice gasped in shock. Her hands were quick to dart over her lips and eyes became as wide as the moon itself. And for as wise and seasoned beyond his years as Tails was credited, he too went a touch pale "Oh my gosh! What happened to you two?!"

"Long story for later. We need to use your computer, now." Shadow replied as he barged past the two younger warriors, the wounded guardian in tow. It wasn't until the hedgehog caught a glance of his passing form in the window did he realize the enraged possession he resembled. As a courtesy to someone from whom he was asking aid, and to be sure the young genius could work faster, Shadow took the moment to calm his racing heart and burning desire for resolution and buried them under so many well trained layers of control.

"Mr. Knuckles sir…are you ok? Let me get some towels!" the rabbit scurried off to help any way she could. He nodded his understanding and muttered something about why the hell hedgehogs needed to be so fast in the first place.

"My computer? What for?" the kitsune asked. Shadow's reply was to toss the remains of the Raptor's brain at him, which the bright fox barely caught. "I need to know where these things are coming from, and what Eggman's plans are."

"This is from Eggman? What is it?"

"It's the core from one of the damm robots that attacked us and kidnapped Amy and Rouge. Now, can you hack this piece of shit?" the ruby-splashed hedgehog could feel the frustration creep into his voice, countering his efforts to remain calm, collected and in control.

"Amy and Rouge were kidnapped by Eggman?! That's terrible!"

"Agreed, and I intend to make him pay for his treachery, but first I need to know where the fat bastard is hiding. Now, can you do it or not?!"

Tails let his eyes and fingertips study the wreck in his grasp while Cream returned with proper first-aid tools to patch the beaten echidna. After an analytical silence that did nothing to soothe the frayed nerves of guests or hosts, the mechanic finally deduced "Well, the LN-20 is still intact, and it looks like most of the memory grid is attached. I should be able to crack into its redundant coding, bypass any latent security subroutines and find out what it was designed for."

Even the crickets were stumped by the fox-boy's explanation. Shadow simply looked more irritated that his question took such an indirect answer, Cream hadn't the faintest idea how to spell half of those words but loved to hear her kitsune sound so smart, and Knuckles was more interested in cleaning the dirt and root from the slicemarks in his chest. He and technology were best kept separate anyway.

"In other words…" the hedgehog asked.

"I can hack it no problem." Tails clarified, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Good. Get started. Time is not on our side."

He nodded, golden-orange bangs almost tapping his nose thanks to their greasy coating of engine sludge. Tails darted off into the next room where his specialized computer was and began to work his magic. His rabbit companion helped her patient to an over-sized couch and was tending to his shoulder, lamenting about how terrible this ordeal had become. Shadow simply stood rooted in place, arms folded, scowl fixated and eyes closed. Not so much the fact he felt half-exhausted, though he would never let anyone present know it. Even beyond the anxiety of the upcoming battle, the midnight hedgehog felt the change in the wind itself. It was like the warmth of the sun's rays were trying to relay a message that the currents of nature would not allow him to receive. To be sure, this wasn't the first time he had felt fate's hand tease his spines before slapping the truth into his face, but now it was showing a trend. However, now was a time of change, and such trends of loss and regret desperately needed to become ancient history.

It took a hard-earned hour's worth of typing, sorting, wiring and calculating, but finally the drone's secrets were laid bare upon the wall-sized display. "Yes! I did it!" Tails howled in excitement, breaking the last of the creeping silence and thoroughly shocking his other guests. Shadow succeeded in looking unfazed, and Cream's ears only perked a little more than usual as she was fixated on watching her fox work; however Knuckles had drifted off into a nap, the interruption of which threw the echidna into the air and onto the ground with a hearty thud "Holy shit Prower! Didja hafta yell so loud?!"

"Got your attention, didn't I?" he beamed.

Knuckles simply shook his head and joined his other compatriots at the massive monitor. The chorus of colors and readings dancing about were enough to make anyone's head spin, so naturally the pint-sized genius had to narrate "According to the information stored in this thing, it looks like the robot came online here," he pointed to a flashing red dot surrounded by terrain etchings ",in the Marble Mountains. My guess is Eggman has a factory there. Now, it's mission was to head here, to K.H.A.O.S and acquire what it called 'Specimen Beta', I'm guessing that's Rouge, and take her to these coordinates" marked by eye-drawing 'x', "on the Sapphire Coast. If there are more of these things, it's entirely possible that they would all rendezvous here." Of course, that little meeting spot that had been so carefully picked had been the complete opposite direction the Shadow and Knuckles had been pursuing them. So much time had been lost already.

The older warriors nodded to each other and made for the still-open door, much to the dismay of the youth of the group "Wait, Shadow! Knuckles! Don't go alone! You don't know how many of these things ol' Eggface has! I mean, look at what they already did to you, Knux!" Tails pleaded with the pair.

"Humph. There's a reason I am the ultimate life-form remember? I think it's time the good doctor was educated as to what that truly means." Shadow replied over his shoulder before thundering off in a blur of darkened color and a burning desire to wreck havoc upon whatever was waiting for him at the distant beachhead.

"Shit, he's quick!" Knuckles puffed, beginning his own sprint to pursue. Yet before he could, a gloved hand connected to a golden-orange arm tried to restrain him "Hang on, Knuckles. If you really want to catch up with Shadow, why don't we take the X-Tornado?"

"Hmmm, that would be a lot…wait a second, what 'we'?" the echidna inquired.

Tails crossed his arms in his best attempt to look serious "Well, I don't think you know how to fly her, so you're gonna need my help. And besides, I want to help out. I've known Amy longer than any of you. She's always been like a big sister to Cream anyway…" and me too he admitted silently.

Weighing his options for only the briefest of moment, the guardian nodded. Most of the day had already been lost in his quest to ensure that Rouge's gem-thieving hands found their way into his spiked ones once more, so Knuckles was already impatient. And if the fox had a faster why to get this done, then so be it "In that case, get your two-tailed butt in gear and let's go!"

Nodding, the trio headed into the massive hanger where the formidable flyer was housed. The echidna repressed a whistle of approval as he leapt onto his traditional spot on one of the ivory upper stabilizers. Looks like Tails has been busy with his new toy… And indeed, the engines were not the only modification the kitsune had made. Shining from its pointed nose were the twin barrels of the laser cannons Tails had recently built for just such an encounter, and sitting dead center on its streamlined belly was the classic ring-providing turret that had saved both Sonic and Knuckles a dozen times over. Not to mention a new paint scheme of cerulean of its slender body clashing with pearly angel's wings and mahogany for their tips.

Still, before the fox took his place at the controls, two light hands latched onto his a simple sign of affection "Be careful out there, okay Tails?" Cream's voice was elevated and unstable, even beyond her normal tone.

"Of course I will" he replied with a cocksure tone worthy of his blue brother.

The young doe nodded "Okay, I'll tell Mr. Sonic as soon as he gets here okay? I know he'll want to help save Amy too."

"Great idea Cream! See if you can get a hold of Silver and Blaze or Shade and Aero on the radio array. Maybe they can help too."

"Okay" she managed a small smile to reassure her sunset canine. He responded with a quick peck upon her delicate cheek "I'll see you tomorrow morning for breakfast, ok?"

Her expression grew just a bit brighter at her mechanic's vow as he leapt into the command set of the X-Tornado.

"Took ya long enough fox-boy, sheesh!" Knuckles shouted as Tails took his seat.

"Oh don't sweat it red! This beauty has plenty of speed to spare" he replied over the whine of twin turbine engines howling to life.

"Then I'm guessing you're still using a Chaos Emerald to power it right? Surprised ol Shads didn't 'borrow' it!"

Tails shrugged as he cast a quick glance to the shining sunrise emerald resting snugly in it's compartment at his feet Maybe he didn't want it, or doesn't think he'd need it…

Too many questions, too little time "Hang on to your dreads, Knuckles! We're taking off!"

The echidna nodded and held onto the angled wing as best he could, but was still almost knocked over when those two massive engines that the young mechanic had been so delicately tweaking roared to their fullest and sent the metallic storm shrieking into the skies to demonstrate the fury of its namesake. Hang on, you two. Help is on the way…

But will it be enough? And will it be soon enough?! OH, soo much anticipation!

Reviews welcome!