PoC: PenFullofChaos819 owns neither Sonic the Hedgehog nor any of the other stragglers from Sega!

Metal: Stragglers? I'm your co-host like it or not. Hyper Metal Super Sonic Mark II stays and goes when he feels like it.

PoC: *Groans* Look, I'm okay with you being here Metal, but really what brought you here?

Silver: Man does everybody have to hate on me? I just thought I'd drop by, seeing how you didn't bother to put me in your story.

PoC: Listen, extra hedgehog, I've got nothing major against you, but I do have a story to write.

Silver: Can I stay and comment? I promise to keep it short and sweet!

PoC: …I'll let my reviewers decide. And if you do get to stay, only one of you can comment per chapter. You guys are filling up my word count (PoC favors Metal).

Silver: I heard that!

-l-

For what it's Worth

-l-

"Sonic…" the fox began "You've made it really hard for me to trust you."

Sonic's quills sank back as he replied "I know…"

"You said you started a fight with Knuckles your first time here. And later, you told me how he left a note saying he'd captured Rouge specifically, not just to obtain the emeralds, but to get revenge on you." Tails' implications were very, very harsh.

Amethyst couldn't believe her ears. Had Tails just implied that this Sonic was the reason Rouge was captured to begin with? Was he really…blaming him?

"Knowingly or unknowingly, you deceived Amy, Rouge, Cream, Vanilla, Amethyst, and I." Tails spouted yet another accusation.

"Tails…why are you doing this…? Just stop, please…" Amethyst almost had no voice to speak. She was not taking the slow, torturous dismissal well at all.

Apparently neither was Sonic…

Every new sentence was like the lash of a whip; each one stung more than the last. Sonic knew Tails had every right to be angry, if not furious, but Sonic questioned why the fox had to list every single mistake he made.

"And…your being here probably means the Sonic I knew isn't alive, or at least, isn't reachable anymore." now even Tails didn't seem to like his own words, but he still persisted, if only to do what he'd set his mind on.

"Because of this, I'm going to have to ask you to…"Tails halted, then tried again "To…" but something inside just didn't permit him to finish. His mind was willing, but his heart didn't follow.

Sonic on the other hand wasn't able to listen anymore. His head and quills rose up as he locked gazes with the vulpine "What's wrong with you? Are you enjoying this or something? Do you like throwing everything on me because it makes you feel better? I'm sorry! Alright? I didn't mean to come here and mess up everything! I didn't mean to get Rouge captured! I didn't mean to deceive anyone! I didn't…" Sonic's eyelids pulled shut and his jaw clenched. He almost didn't have the ability to keep going. Forcing himself together, he eventually continued "Look this is a waste of time! If you want to get rid of me, then do it! Every second you wait makes it harder for us to help Rouge." he made good sense. There were more important things at stake while they were busy arguing. Tails, however, had nothing to say. He seemed to be too preoccupied with his own conflicted thoughts.

"I won't hold anything against you." Sonic went on "Just say the word and I'll go." After getting no answer for a while, the vexed hero decided to let himself out. He wasn't going to wait for Tails to put another nail in his coffin.

"I can't do it Sonic…"

His hand had reached the doorknob, but didn't turn it. Those words had somehow frozen him in place. Almost resenting his hesitation, Sonic turned an ear towards his former friend "Say again?"

"I said…I can't do it…" Tails spoke with great effort "As much as I miss the other Sonic, I can't throw you out…for telling me the truth. I'm nothing but a coward…for placing the burden all on you. You didn't ask to get tossed into this world. You didn't make Knuckles the depraved psycho he is. You didn't force me to overreact. You didn't do…anything wrong…"

Sonic's mind went blank. The words seemed unreal, so much so that he nearly forgot he heard them. He was only sure when he felt a presence behind him, and heard the words "Stay with us." spoken.

Still not looking directly at him, Sonic said "Sorry I'm not the 'brother' you were hoping for." he seemed bitter, but this was a ruse to hide his crumbling composure. He only hoped he could handle the vulpine's response.

"No Sonic…on the contrary," Tails answered with some shakiness "When you first needed help, I'm the first person you thought of. And when we finally met, you had the guts to tell me the entire truth, even knowing how upset I'd be. You put your trust in me, and I failed you. I'm the one that doesn't deserve to be called 'brother'."

That did it. That was too much. A searing flow of hot tears slipped down the strong hedgehog's cheeks, as he pulled his friend, his brother, into a powerful embrace for the second time that day. The first time was just a knee-jerk reaction, but this was more real. This time, Tails returned the embrace even knowing who he really was.

"Tails, you're wrong." Sonic mused "You, in this world or mine, are someone I can always depend on. Sometimes, I don't know what I'd do without you bro."

The vulpine had his own thoughts "This is going to be a lot to get used to, so I can't say I fully accept him yet." Tails confessed mentally "But I need to focus on the present. I'm still worried about my buddy, but that's no excuse to not help this Sonic." he reasoned "He needs me right now, and I…sort of need him too."

Amethyst stood back to give the two their space. A faint-hearted but relieved smile was her only contribution.

L

*Underground Prison*

L

Maasawd walked past the cells at a methodical pace, carrying a tray of what seemed to be food. Having arrived at a specific door, he was getting ready to open it.

"Going to feed the woman again?" a voice that belonged to Knuckles asked "Afraid she might die from going on a diet?"

"This does not concern you." Maasawd replied darkly, but the echidna didn't seem affected in the slightest.

"Heh-heh…what's the matter? You got a crush or something on the poor bi-" the red echidna was stopped from finishing when a brutal backhand connected with his right cheekbone. A tough guy he might've been, but even Knuckles had to admit that Maasawd had unearthly strength.

Shooting back a twisted, bloody smile, the echidna taunted "I guess I struck a nerve then? Ha-ha, well at least enjoy her for me." spitting into his mitt, he pulled out a piece of tooth "Ah now look what you did. You stained my new gloves."

Not about to waste another minute on him, Maasawd unlocked the door "Suits you well, 'Bloody Knuckles'." he said stepping inside.

Upon reaching her sleepy form, Maasawd shook the bat gently "Wake up, you need to eat." when she didn't rouse, he tried rough jostling next, but that only earned him some sleep-talk.

"Shadow…" she said in a hazy voice.

"…Get up." Maasawd ordered stiffly.

"Shadow…where did you go…" Rouge mumbled in reply.

Left no other choice, the dark figure gave Rouge a small shock of Chaos energy "OW! What? Who?" she found herself face-to-face with her concealed captor "Oh…it's you again." she said with some spite.

"Here, take this." he handed her the tray.

"Thank…you?" she said confusedly. She was still discomforted by Maasawd's presence, but he had, admittedly, come to check on her periodically throughout the entire day. And more than that, he never once let the echidna near her.

Rouge resumed eating as she thought "I wonder what his game is? What does he hope to get out of me?"

After she was finished, he took the tray from her and started to leave. However, his pace was suddenly cut short. Rouge saw this and stared at him curiously. Her curiosity soon turned to fear as Maasawd came up and stood over her.

"Oh God no…He can't be thinking of…NO!" she attempted to throw kicks and punches, but found the shackles too tight to break. With her lower lip quivering in fear, Rouge didn't dare look at him. She just braced herself for the inevitable assault.

His hands grabbed her bound wrists. She strained in his grasp, but his grip seemed to be stronger than iron.

"Why does this have to happen…" she said, starting to cry "What did I do to deserve th-Hmm?" she held back the tears long enough to see that the shackle had been removed. Too shocked to launch a counterattack, she just watched as he released the other. Once both were undone, he backed away.

"That should be more comfortable." he said. This time he did actually exit, leaving behind a dumbstruck Rouge.

Her hands touched the area where the cuffs had been. Though she couldn't fully understand, her attention went back to the door, as she mouthed a small word of appreciation.

L

*Amethyst's Apartment*

L

Having that load off his shoulders greatly revived the cobalt hero. Granted, while the two cross-dimensional friends had, to a small degree, reconciled, there was still much to be done. With the emotional time behind them, Sonic, Tails, and Amethyst spent the next hour or so trying to come up with a plan to save their friend. Sonic suggested heading for the Derelict Ruins right away, but Tails and Amethyst warned how that might jeopardize Rouge's safety.

"I don't want to leave her there either, but we're dealing with Knuckles here. He's been known to let his temper rule his actions, to the extent that he's even disobeyed his client's orders in the past. In this case, we can assume his orders involve keeping her alive, at least until the Chaos Emeralds are in his client's hands. We can't guarantee her safety without them, or at least, without the fakes." Eventually Sonic gave up debating. Amethyst had meanwhile been working on locating any emeralds nearby.

"Let's see." the vixen said staring at her monitor "Yes! I'm picking up some emerald signals! One is really close by too."

Tails took a look at the screen for himself "In the Ivory Mountains region, huh? Good work."

"Is that the nearest one?" Sonic asked.

"Yes, apparently it's one of three on this island. Not counting ours of course." Amethyst confirmed.

"So after we get those three…we're going to have to cross the ocean?" Sonic shuddered. He hoped this Tails had a plane.

"We'll take care of that when we get there." Tails typed the location into his wrist navigator "For now, let's get this emerald while we still can. It's the one Knuckles is most likely to nab first, given its location."

Shrugging, Sonic decided to take his advice "Okay, so you and I will do the searching while Amethyst backs us up, right?"

"Yes and that reminds me, wear this." the vixen said, handing him an earpiece "This will allow me to communicate with you and vice versa."

"Hey why don't I get one of those?" Tails complained.

"Because your phone works the exact same way. You don't even need to dial my number, I can contact you and mark your location as long as you have it." she explained "Consider this a lesson on 'staying in touch'." she added in evilly.

"This isn't nearly as practical. What If I need to use both hands and get your contact at the same time?" Tails asked.

Sonic let out an immature laugh "No offense Tails but that sounded pretty wrong." the fox rolled his eyes at the uncommonly foolish remark.

"Tails, you know it can attach to your pack, so no more grumbling." Amethyst pulled out another device "Take this too; it alerts you when you get close to an emerald." both accepted these as well "That should do it. You guys are ready to go."

Tails strapped on his gear, while Sonic loaded up his own backpack.

"Not used to carrying extra weight, but I can deal." Sonic said, adjusting his straps.

"You'll get used to it. It really sucks when you're climbing, but it's not so bad otherwise." Tails clipped his phone on the side of his bag.

"Yeah…" Sonic sighed, still feeling awkward about before "Tails man, you sure about this? Are you really cool with me, you know, not being the real Sonic and all?"

The vulpine exhaled "We can worry about that later. You said it yourself, Rouge is our priority." when Tails saw Sonic's look of discomfort, he included "Besides being a bit older and a little bit uhh…bluer, you two really aren't that different. Anyway, you can't help being you, right?" he smiled uncomfortably, as he threw in "I think I'll leave it at that. I've had enough unmanly breakdowns for one day."

Sonic gave a low chuckle as he said "Yeah, if we keep it up, people might start thinking we're sisters instead of brothers." a moment or so later, the two shared a small tension-breaking laugh.

Afterwards, they headed out the door. Once they made it outside the complex (being careful to take a less-than-obvious exit) and to the open field, their communicators went off.

"Can you hear me?" Amethyst said on the other line "Chaos Emerald number one will be directly north of your current position."

"Technically it's number two, dear. Try being a little more reliable." Tails sounded as jokingly condescending as possible.

"Why thank you for pointing that out Tails. Oh that reminds me, did I tell you that I recently installed a self-detonation feature on your phone?" It goes off in ten seconds flat! Wanna see it?" Amethyst asked innocently.

"Nice try Ame, but I know my equipment like the back of my pa-" his phone suddenly went on a beeping frenzy. He then heard the words WARNING. This cellular device will self-destruct in 10…

"Very funny."

9…

"Not buying it…"

8…

Tails pulled it out, just to be sure "Wait, what's with the red and blue wires?"

5…

"Is that a small charge? Ame! Are you nuts?"

2…1…

"OKAY OKAY! I believe you! Just turn it off!" Tails shouted.

"Already did. You're lucky your fuzzy little ever-gloved paw is still intact." she giggled "Now all you have to do is follow the Crystal River, which runs alongside the Ivory Mountains. When you guys reach the mountain's base, I'll contact you again. Good luck!"

"Yeah…thanks a lot…" Tails said with sarcasm, while hesitantly reattaching his bomb-rigged phone.

"Yeesh!" Sonic swallowed hard "And I thought Amy was scary."

-l-

End of chapter Twelve

-l-

I didn't want to get out of my habit of updating on Tuesday, so I really pushed hard to get this chapter out on time. I hope this outcome is acceptable (I couldn't have Sonic and Tails separate). I've got 2 exams and a practical to study for, but I will keep updating weekly (unless lack of sleep picks me off first ;) )

DanceDream: That scene with Tails and Amethyst came out all wrong. I feel it was way too rushed, so excuse my blunder (not proud of it). I agree the cursing was too much as well. I purposely kept it out of this chapter for a reason. P.S. By the way, your comment about oil and water made me lol (I'm easily amused I suppose :\)! I guess T2 and the Chaotix get along a little better than that :)

Ghostkid33: I don't know if this was what you were expecting, but I hope you like it. I tried to make it as believable as possible (eight or nine drafts worth on that first scene 0.o). Please let me hear your thoughts on it. P.S. I'm glad I got the scene between Knucks and Rouge right. Not much love in this world XD.

Serenity: Aww...you're very welcome! It would be nice to keep hearing from you on this story; even though I began the fic you requested (thank you for the review on it by the way :) ). I have decided to update that fic weekly, just like this one, only every Saturday instead of Tuesday. Be forewarned though, I have a slew of tests in two of my classes this week, so I may have to delay it to the following Monday this one time.

Infamousplot: Glad you like my depiction of Knuckles! It was kind of messed up, turning him evil, but originality before personal preferences XD. Yeah the whole 'sit down and discuss' was a result of my hasty writing. The situation didn't make a whole lot of sense now that I look at it. Still, I'm glad you saw some good in that chapter.

knight of the windZ10Z: Well I like writing so it's not insanely difficult (there's a lot of inspiration to draw from). To be honest, it gets much easier when other people appreciate my work. That includes you, so thanks! :)

jakeroo123: I have to agree with you there. That chapter was weak compared to the others. Most of the scenes didn't come out/fit very well at all. Anyway, I'll stop dissing my own work now. Thank you for the firm review.

Kindra Mckleen: Pleasantly surprised? I'm counting on it. Good to hear from you.

Until next time.