Notes: Welcome back, guys! Who's ready for a chapter filled with intense inner conflict? You are (hopefully)! Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, you guys seriously make my day sometimes. Now, on to the next chapter!

"S-Sonic?!" Scourge stammered, staring up in disbelief at the hedgehog standing in front of him. "The hell are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you!" Sonic gasped. He couldn't believe that his arch-rival, his enemy with whom he was evenly matched, had been getting pounded on by a group of goons. "I needed to ask you something, but I think I'm more curious as to why those lugs were able to lay the smackdown on you like that. You haven't really gotten that rusty since our last fight a year ago, have you?" he asked, his voice slightly sing-songy on that last part.

Scourge growled and wiped away the blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. "Shut up. Like you even give a crap, you're just glad that someone else can beat me up now. Free up some time in your oh-so-busy hero schedule."

"Oh, come on. That's not the case, and you know it. I just saved your butt, so I think you owe me some answers, at least." Sonic held out his hand to help Scourge to his feet. The green one flinched instinctively at the outstretched hand. Sonic quickly withdrew, and Scourge got to his feet on his own.

"Scourge, are uh... Are you okay?" the blue hedgehog asked.

Scourge stared at him, dumbfounded. "What?" he asked, cleaning his ear out with his finger, in case he heard Sonic wrong. Which he must have, because there was no way his good twin, his arch enemy just asked if he was alright.

"I, uh, wanted to know if you were okay. That looked like some beating you took there, and..." Sonic licked his lips, looking for the right words. "I don't know, normally I'd be the first one to knock you into the floor, but that just wasn't a fair fight."

The green one nodded slowly and brushed the dirt off of his orange jumpsuit, wincing as his hands passed over bruises. "Well, okay isn't the word I would use, but I'll live," he said hesitantly. "Look, whaddaya want? Must be important if you came all the way here."

"It is," Sonic said, his face grim. "My world is in big trouble."

"Ooh, really? Sweet. What kind of trouble?" Scourge said with a toothy smile.

"The kind that'll spread over everything in existence if we don't put a stop to it!" the hero said harshly.

"So... what possessed you to come here and ask me for help? Maybe it slipped your mind, Blue, but I kind of hate you, and your stinkin' planet. Not to mention, I'm in jail right now, thanks to you."

"Believe me, I know. You think you're my first choice, lawnhead? I asked everyone else I know for help. No luck. I'd love to handle this on my own, but considering how much is at stake here, I need to play it safe and get as many people on board as I can."

"You're playing it safe by asking your enemy to help you?" Scourge laughed. "How freaking desperate are you? Wittle Sawnic's fwiends won't come out to pway?"

"Scourge, I-" Sonic grabbed his look-alike's arm and dragged him off to the side of the yard, where they were less likely to be heard. "The time stream is falling apart," he said slowly, putting emphasis on each word. "It's crumbling, even as we speak. There are already certain areas of my world that are frozen in time, completely still, and infested with monsters. We need all seven Chaos Emeralds to fix this mess. We have two. That means we have to get the other five, and fast."

Scourge gulped. "So that's why you came to ask me," he said, starting to understand the gravity of the situation. "And this time stopping whatever... It'll spread to other Zones?"

"According to Zonic, yeah. And you know him, he's not usually wrong. That means No Zone is in danger, Moebius is in danger- all of them! The multiverse could be wiped from existence by the end of next week." Scourge rubbed his hand over his short quills.

"So what happened, why the hell is time falling apart?" he asked.

"There's this monster, called a Time Eater. Eggman used it for his last big scheme, and I thought we'd taken it down. Apparently all we did was make it mad," Sonic explained.

"We?"

"Me and my past-self. This thing basically eats up time and erases space, so when it ripped me and my friends out of the time stream, it ripped my twelve-year-old self and Tails' six-year-old self out too."

"So you want me to team up with two Sonics and two Tailses? To save Mobius?"

"Zonic might tag along too."

"Oh, that's just great! Really, that's fantastic. Well, thanks for the offer, but I'm going to have to rudely decline. So screw off, and have fun with time falling apart or whatever." The green one briskly turned and started to walk off.

"You'd really rather stay in this place than team up with me?" Sonic called after him.

"Uh, yeah," Scourge yelled back, holding his middle finger up in the air at his other-self.

'But I do want to get out of here,' he thought bitterly as he walked away. 'Hanging around Sonic and the Bozo Squad, though? I'd rather stay here.' He started walking faster, trying to get away from Sonic. He didn't need this today.

Once he had gotten some distance between himself and his heroic counterpart, he realized he needed somewhere to go. Nothing ruins a cool exit like stopping twenty yards away and just sitting on a bench in the corner, which is what Scourge did almost every day when they let him out of his cell to get some air. He didn't have anyone to hang out with, besides Cal and Al, that wouldn't try and beat him to a pulp again. He was nervous about wandering around any of the populated areas, like the basketball court or the exercise yard, for the same reasons. He shuddered a bit, remembering the last time he'd strayed too close to the basketball court. Some hulking guy had picked him up by the back of his shirt, rolled him up into a ball, and used him as the basketball for a few rounds.

'On second thought, maybe this is the chance you were waiting for.' He slowed down, occupied by the thoughts flying through his head. 'You did say you'd like to try out the whole hero gig, after all. Even if it'll mean working with Sonic and band of losers, at least you'll get out of here. Face it, being stuck with them is probably a way better deal than being here, no matter how much you try and convince yourself otherwise.' He came to a full stop, staring down at the ground. What should he do? He could stay in Zone Jail and keep what little dignity he had left. He could keep right on hating Sonic, just like he always had. Keep being the evil doer he was meant to be. But... he could also get away from here, escape the daily beatings, be a hero for once in his life. Was he cut out for it, though? He couldn't really be a good guy, could he?

"Why'd you stop? I thought you were ditching me," Sonic said, suddenly standing next to him.

"What?" Scourge breathed, having been caught off guard by the blue hedgehog's surprise entrance. "I'm thinking. Maybe you've heard of it."

"Uh oh, snark attack, close the beaches!" Sonic said, waving his hands next to his face in fake panic.

"You're really not helping your case here, Blue."

"At least I have a case to begin with. Must be rough in this place if you want out that badly." Sonic walked in front of Scourge and turned to face him, his hands behind his head.

"Yeah, THAT'S the understatement of the year," the green hog grunted. "You saw what those jerks were doin' to me. I can't even defend myself in this place, not with this stupid collar on." He tugged at the metallic collar around his neck.

"An inhibitor collar?"

"Yeah," Scourge nodded, his icy blue eyes refusing to meet Sonic's warm green ones. "Suppresses my abilities. I'm not strong, I had to kiss my agility goodbye, and I can't even run in here. My legs have been itching for the past year and I can't even scratch. But of course, the other lugs in this joint don't need super speed to cream me. They can't have their muscles sapped away."

Sonic hesitated before he replied. Scourge seemed... pretty sincere, which was probably a first for him. Sonic's mind came up with six jokes on the spot that he make about his evil-self's predicament, but he had to hold his tongue. He wasn't going to win Scourge's trust by making fun of him.

Just as he was about to open his mouth in reply, he could hear someone shouting towards them.

"Hey, Snot!" the person yelled from about fifty yards away. "You and your boyfriend gonna start making out or what?!" Whoever was yelling started cackling obnoxiously, like they just made the best joke ever. Sonic raised an eyeridge.

"Snot? Is that all they got?" He asked rhetorically, setting his hands on his hips. "I thought this was a prison, not a middle school..." he added under his breath.

"Yeah, you try putting up with these knuckleheads day in and day out. It ain't easy ignoring all the crap that they spew!" Scourge scoffed.

"Man, I hear ya," Sonic exhaled. "Bullies suck."

"Got that right."

The blue one made a small grin. "Not so nice being on the receiving end of it, hmm?"

"What? I haven't- dammit. Not cool, Blue," the Moebian said with a scowl. Sonic couldn't help but laugh at the hole his twin had dug himself into.

"Sorry, but that was too funny. Oh jeez, your face was perfect," the blue hog said. "Look, what I'm trying to get at is that you don't have to be a righteous, heroic good guy. Just don't be a bad guy."

"Don't tell me what to do!" Scourge shouted. "I was a king. I don't need this crap."

"So you'd rather stay in jail? You're not making a whole lot of sense, Scourge."

"What, you expect me to just run off with the guys who locked me up here in the first place? To save the world, no less? It kind of goes against everything I know."

"But you're still considering it. There's obviously some part of you that wants to try teaming up with us."

"I... Just shut up a minute, okay?" the green hedgehog said, massaging his temples with one hand. Sonic nodded and took a few steps back, giving his counterpart some space.

'Okay Scourge, let's think. What's the most logical thing to do?' The gears in his head were turning, determining a list of pros and cons to his current situation. It didn't take long to come to the conclusion that the most reasonable choice to make would be to go with Sonic. But then there was the matter of his ego, telling him not to give into the temptation, to avoid teaming up with his goody two shoes-self at all costs. He thought about it for a solid two or three minutes before asking, "If I help you out, you're not going to just ship me back here when the job's done?"

Sonic shrugged. "It all depends. I would prefer not to, but it really comes down to how big of a jerk you decide to be."

The green hedgehog gave a small nod and thought about it for another twenty seconds or so. He couldn't believe he was about to do this.

"I'll do it," the green hedgehog said eventually.

"What?"

"I'll help you out, alright?" Scourge hissed. "Just get me out of this place. You CAN get me out of here, can't you?"

"Zonic's working on that now," Sonic said. "When I came looking for you, he went off to talk to the Warden."

"Oh, I'm sure that's going swimmingly, especially with Sergeant Bonehead on the case."

"I think he's a Captain, actually," his good twin corrected him. He rolled his eyes.

"Like I care. Either way, I'm basically the Warden's 'trophy prisoner.' He won't let me go without a fight."

Sonic clicked his tongue. Scourge had a point. The blue one didn't know the Warden personally, but from what Zonic had said, AND the fact that Scourge hadn't escaped on his own yet, he could tell that the big boss around here was one tough cookie. "Well, Zonic's pretty tough, too. I'm sure he's figured something out by now. Come on, we should go check."

"How? What, you think by saying, 'I'm a big hero, Scourge is with me,' they'll just let me leave the rec yard?" Scourge asked. He lowered his voice to a harsh whisper. "FYI, I didn't even want to come out here in the first place. I was perfectly happy sitting alone in my cell, minding my own business, but nooo, if I'm scheduled for recess, I'm forced into recess."

Sonic whipped out an ID card, made of red and white plastic and with Zonic's picture printed on it. "Well, according to Z, this thing gives me all the authority he would have." He flashed a cheesy grin. "Holographic, ultra rare, limited edition."

The green hedgehog stared open-mouthed at the card Sonic held in his hand. "Get out of jail free card," he said in astonishment. His face lit up. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get me the hell out of here, scot-free! Chop chop, move it or lose it!" He took Sonic and shoved him towards the nearest exit excitedly. He was getting out of here, and he wasn't going to have to run from the cops to do it. Could this get any easier?

The two approached the guard standing by the rec yard's exit, and Sonic showed him the ID card. It was a pretty high-level card, so the guard took a few minutes to check if it was authentic. After asking for the fifth time, "and you're positive that the Captain gave it to you for this purpose?" he finally let them out of the rec yard and into the inner workings of the prison.

The hallway they entered into was made entirely of metal, with buzzing fluorescent lights affixed to the ceiling, large letters and numbers painted on the wall help identify which part of the prison one was in, and special walkways on the walls for the Zone Cops to walk on. The place seemed very dull, generally. If the whole prison was as plain as this one hallway, Sonic could easily understand why Scourge would want out. Who in their right mind would want to be trapped in this place?

"So... You wouldn't happen to know how to get to the Warden from here, would you?" Sonic asked nonchalantly, hands behind his head as he walked. Scourge rolled his eyes.

"Jeez, five minutes into this deal and I'm already saving your ass... Turn left here. This place is a freaking maze, I swear," his green counterpart complained. "Stupid Warden, dragging me down to his office every freaking week... And for what, to check on how my "rehabilitation" was going? What a load of bull that was."

"Okay, now you're hurting your argument."

"Yeah, well trust me, if you were stuck in this place as long as me, you'd put the word rehabilitation in air quotes too. No, wait, it was- what did he call it?- aggressive rehab. That was it." It made Scourge almost shiver just thinking about it. Having his quills shaved down (which, since done improperly, was quite painful) and being shoved into the same cell as a guy four times his size? The Warden had some funny ideas of good-ifying a guy, that was for sure.

The two hedgehogs walked past the entrance to another hallway, this one filled with super-thick doors. The doors had no windows or holes, and the corridor was eerily silent.

"Hey, what're those doors?" Sonic asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. He knew Scourge wasn't a tour guide, by any means, but something about the area was giving him the creeps.

Scourge gulped. "Solitary," he said, and kept right on walking. Solitary confinement, where all the inmates who got a little too rowdy were ultimately taken.

"The way you've been talkin' about this place makes it sound like you would enjoy a bit of alone time," Sonic observed.

"That... that ain't your ordinary alone time, Blue. I've been in there before. Not fun." Scourge dragged his twin away from the hallway and back en route to the Warden's office. "Those rooms... They're almost entirely soundproof. Y'know, with foam padding they put on walls and ceilings to absorb vibrations and crap. You can yell at someone from ten feet away in there, an' it sounds like you're on the other end of a football field. It's so quiet, you can hear your organs working. They can only keep us in there twenty, thirty minutes at a time, because after that you start to go off the deep end." Sonic felt a shiver go down his spine. Aggressive rehabilitation was right. What the heck kind of a guy was this Warden anyway, that he would give something like that the a'ok?

"Well, that's... unnerving." the hero said, lowering his hands back down to his sides. He didn't like the idea of being able to hear the blood rushing through his own veins. That was just a little too creepy for his tastes.

The rest of the trip down to the Warden's office was in relative silence. Sonic was still kind of off-put by the Warden's idea of what solitary confinement should be, and Scourge was busy trying not to get his hopes up too high about getting out of this place. He wanted to get out more than anything, but the Warden just loved the fact that such a renowned criminal was stuck powerless in his jail. There was no way he would give Scourge up easily.

But on the other hand, the guy was all about reforming his prisoners into good people, and seemed hung up on Scourge's progress especially. The hedgehog, of course, barely cooperated when it came to informing the Warden about how good or bad he's been. But Scourge couldn't shake the feeling that the old man knew more than he let on.

He almost didn't realize it when they walked up to the Warden's office, too lost in his own world. He looked up just in time to see the door, and then came to a stop. "This is the place," he said somewhat glumly.

Sonic looked up at the door. It was turned sideways, meant more for Zone Cops to enter and exit than for people from other zones. There was a plaque on the door, and reading it caused the blue hedgehog's mouth to drop open. "Warden Zobotnik?!" he gasped.

"What? Yeah, I thought you knew," Scourge said, raising an eyeridge.

"That an alternate version of Eggman was in charge? No, no one told me that," Sonic frowned. "That certainly explains a lot, though..."

"Yeah. And judging from all the shouting coming from inside there, I'd say he and Chrome Dome are duking it out the only way they know how." It was true- Zonic and Zobotnik could be heard yelling at each other from the other side of the door.

"We should probably get in there," Sonic said. He pulled out the ID card Zonic had lent him.

"Why bother?" Scourge said. He had his ear pressed to the door, and he was grinning. "This is great! I love hearing the Warden so pissed."

"Even when he's the only one who can authorize you to leave?"

"... We should get in there."

"My thoughts exactly." Sonic knocked on the door a few times before sliding the ID card through the electronic lock on the wall. The heavy metal door swooshed open surprisingly quickly, revealing the room inside. The Warden's office was a large, oval-shaped room with an impressive view of the forests and lakes surrounding the prison. The sun was just about to set over the horizon, and the sunset could be seen from the large windows. Sonic was about to step into the room when Scourge stopped him. The room, being designed for No-Zoners, was completely sideways from their perspective. Meaning that the "floor" for them was a seven foot drop away. A precarious fall if you didn't see it coming.

Zonic and Zobotnik turned their heads to the door when it opened. Zobotnik looked, naturally, almost exactly like Dr. Eggman. The main difference was that Zobotnik didn't wear goggles on his head, and that his mustache was much shorter. The Warden cleared his throat and pressed a button on his desk. This caused a metal platform to rise out of the floor, giving the two newcomers a place to stand. They stepped onto the platform and entered the room, the door sliding shut behind them.

"Ah, Scourge! I was just about to send for you," Zobotnik said. The sound of his voice made Sonic frown. This guy was a little too similar to the doctor for his liking. "And you must be Sonic Prime. Pleased to make your acquaintance." He walked over to Sonic and extended a hand, which the Mobian reluctantly shook.

"Warden Zobotnik," he said, trying his best to be polite.

"So," Zonic said, stepping forward, "I take it Scourge wants to cooperate?" The green hedgehog nodded, but said nothing. If he said the wrong thing, he might not be let out. Best to keep quiet for the time being.

"Tell me again exactly why you need Scourge released?" Zobotnik asked, his brow furrowed.

"The time stream in my Zone is currently falling apart... sir," Sonic said, his arms folded over his bandaged chest. "I got hurt collecting one of the Chaos Emeralds, and... Well, I'd like some help making sure we can get the rest of them. My friends back home aren't able to lend a hand right now, so I had to think a little outside of the box."

"So I'll lend you a squadron of my men. There, problem solved."

"No offense, but I know Scourge's fighting style, I know what he's capable of, and I know he can keep up with me. Given that he cooperates, working with him would be more productive than working with strangers." Part of Sonic wondered just why he was even fighting to convince the Warden this was a good idea, but, well- he had to admit, he had a point. He and Scourge had very similar fighting styles, and had battled alongside each other a few times. Differences aside, they actually did make a good team.

Zobotnik stroked his mustache thoughtfully, deciding what to do. Scourge held his breath. 'Let me go, let me go, let me go, come on you fat greasy geezer, let me out of here!'

After what felt like an eternity, the Warden took his hand away from his face. "Okay," he said. The tension in the room immediately lifted. "I'll let Scourge out on probation. But if there are any, and I mean any problems-"

"Don't worry sir, I'll keep an eye on him," Zonic said, a small smirk on his face.

Zobotnik nodded and sat back down in his chair, rubbing his temples. "Good. Now get out of here before I change my mind."

"Yo, what about my stuff?" Scourge asked, tapping his foot on the platform. "I'm not leaving without my shades and my jacket."

"I'll send word down to processing to have your things prepared for you," the Warden said. "Once you gather your things, I want you to go right to Mobius Prime. Do you all understand?"

"Yessir!"

"Loud and clear."

"Yeah, yeah."

ooo

It wasn't long before Scourge was out of his standard orange prison jumpsuit and was back in his usual black leather jacket and red sunglasses. Just changing into his own clothes again made him feel great. Even though the bruises on his chest and legs were now visible for the world to see, and even though his inhibitor collar was still tight around his neck, he felt way better than he'd felt in a year. He could do without the collar though.

"I'll take it off you when we have work to do. Not a second before," Zonic said when asked to take the stupid collar off. He clipped a spatial stabilizer onto his wrist and opened up a portal with his belt, leading to Mobius.

"Come on, not even if I'm a good boy?" Scourge laughed.

"Just get in the portal," the cop groaned, shoving the green hog inside. Sonic followed, and Zonic brought up the rear, the portal closing up behind them. The other end of the portal led to the living room in the workshop. They emerged on the other side, finding the room to be empty. There were still embers glowing dimly in the fireplace from when Sonic and his past-self were warming themselves back up earlier.

"Jeez Blue, it's freezing in here. I thought it was summer!" Scourge complained. He zipped up his jacket.

"Yeah, well, take a look outside," Sonic said, pointing to a window. His blue-eyed twin sent him a confused look, but walked over to the window anyway. He parted the curtains and looked outside.

"Holy..." he muttered. The snow was almost two feet deep. And to someone who's not much taller than three feet, that was a lot of snow. "I see what you mean by time falling apart."

"Where is everyone?" Zonic asked, removing his helmet and looking around. "I wasn't exactly expecting a welcome party, but this place is dead silent."

"Yeah, I was wondering the same thing," Sonic said. "Little-Me knows I went to No-Zone though, so they wouldn't be out looking for me or anything..." He looked around. He had a feeling his past-self would be with Lil' T, so he wasn't worried about them. As to where Tails was, though, there was only one logical place. "Hang on, I have an idea. Follow me!" He led Scourge and Zonic through the house, eventually reaching the steps and going downstairs into the basement. Lo and behold, there was Tails, typing away at his computer. The powerful machine had the red Emerald hooked up to it, and a huge map of Mobius could be seen on the screen. Sonic knocked on the wall, catching the fox's attention. "Guess who's home! I got back and it was like everybody'd vanished," he said with a grin.

"Sonic!" Tails said in surprise, getting up from his seat. His eyes widened a bit when he saw Zonic standing with his older brother at the foot of his stairs, and then even more when he saw Scourge coming down the stairs just behind them. "Scourge!" the fox growled, ready for a fight. "I don't know how you got out of jail or what you're doing here, but if you-"

"Whoa whoa, Tails, hold up!" Sonic said, stepping in front of his younger brother with his arms outstretched. "He's with us, he's cool."

"Um, okay..." Tails eyed Scourge suspiciously. "Any particular reason why Scourge is with you? And... Zonic, right? I mean, I've never seen you without your helmet on before."

"It's good to see you again, Tails. It's been a while," the Zone Cop said, stepping forward to shake Tails' hand. "Sonic said things were getting a bit hot to handle around here, so we're here to lend a hand- Both of us are."

"But... Scourge?" the fox whispered skeptically. Scourge's ear twitched.

"I heard that," he said. Tails jumped. He didn't expect Scourge to say anything, and could feel his orange fur standing on end.

"Chillax bro, he can't hurt a fly," Sonic said with a cocky grin. He slapped the green hedgehog on the back. "Not with his inhibitor collar on, anyway!"

"I didn't come along so you could kick me while I'm down, you know," Scourge said, narrowing his eyes at Sonic. He didn't have to put up with this. He used to be a king, for Pete's sake. "I'm getting food." He turned and marched right back up the stairs, not looking back. The room went quiet for a moment, save for the occasional beeping of machinery. Maybe having Scourge on the team wasn't the brightest idea after all.

"What's his problem?" Tails wondered aloud, once he figured Scourge would be far enough away to be out of earshot.

"He had it rough in Zone Jail," Sonic replied, eyes stuck on the top of the stairs. "The guy was absolutely pathetic in there, I actually felt bad for him.

"Whoa whoa, hold up," the younger Sonic said. "You're the sideways guy! From earlier today! You're- you're a-"

"I'm a Sonic, yes." Zonic grinned slightly. "Captain Zonic the Hedgehog, Zone Cop. It's nice to officially meet you two."

"And greenbean, he's a Sonic too?" Sonic asked, ever curious and/or suspicious.

Scourge pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "No," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "I'm a Knuckles. Who do you think I am?"

"Wow, rude much..." the younger hedgehog hissed under his breath as he took off the oversized coat he was wearing. Meanwhile, Lil' T was busy admiring Zonic's armor and gear.

"So you're like a... a space police officer?" the kit asked excitedly. "That's so awesome! That's gotta be the most way-past-cool job ever!"

The Zone Cop chuckled. "It's got its perks," he said, handing the fox his badge so he could look at it. The kid turned it around in his hand for a few seconds, admiring it, before something else caught his eye.

"Hey, what's this?" the young fox asked with wide eyes, grabbing at the silver bracelet around the officer's wrist.

"Wait!" Zonic gasped as Tails removed the bracelet. His altered gravitational field instantly gave out, and he tumbled sideways into the wall. He smacked into a picture frame, bruising his arm and knocking it to the ground.

"Whoa! You okay, dude?" the older Sonic asked, stooping to pick up the photo and placing it on the counter. Zonic huffed and got to his feet, standing on the wall.

"Yeah, I'm good," he said, rubbing his hand over his bicep where it made contact with the frame.

"The heck was that?" Sonic's younger double demanded. "What is up with the sideways thing?"

"My dimension, instead of being parallel to yours, is perpendicular."

"Fewer math words, please."

"My world is sideways," Zonic rolled his eyes. He snatched the bracelet back from the younger Tails. "This is a spatial stabilizer, it keeps me properly oriented when I'm in another Zone. Without it, I'm sideways. Got it?" He slipped the stabilizer onto his wrist and stepped down onto the floor.

Scourge scoffed. "You never needed one of those before."

"I need it if I'm going to be here for more than a day. Being sideways for that long is a pain, even with proper training."

"Seems like a cheap cop-out to me," the green one laughed.

"That's enough, you guys," the older Sonic said, stepping between them. "I'd like to try to hold off on the fighting for as long as possible, okay?" He sighed. This was going to be one long adventure.

Notes: And this, ladies and gents, is where the story really starts to get underway (fun fact: when I first started writing this story, it was little more than a Scourge redemption story! As you can see, it has grown a bit since then)! Unfortunately, this is also the part where I run out of pre-written, chronological chapters. I do have more written, it's just not the part that comes directly after this chapter. As such, I'm going to need to take a break from posting for a while in order to get the next part ready to go! I'll try to get the next chapter posted by January 1st, 2014 at the latest. I'm really sorry about this, guys, but it's just something that needs to be done. I'm super busy lately, and there's no way I'm getting all that writing done by next Sunday.

Another little fun tidbit of knowledge: those super-quiet solitary confinement rooms? They're actually based off of the quietest room in the world. Like, in real life, that exists. I didn't exaggerate- you can hear your own organs, and the longest person to ever last in there went for about 45 minutes. Creepy, but no doubt effective at getting people to stay in line.

Anyway, that's it for now! I'd love it if you took the time to leave a review. If you have any questions about this chapter, or the hiatus, or anything about this story really, I'd be happy to answer! See you guys soon :)