Chapter 2: Grave Tidings

Forest near Angel Island Village, 15:45 pm…

Miles 'Tails' Prower sensed both coming towards him, one to each side, closing in on him like a pack of predators on its prey. Only this time, he was ready for them.

Snapping his eyes open, he rapidly leaped into the air, calling his lightsaber to his hand via the Force as he did. Landing deftly on his feet, he ignited his lightsaber, watching the blue blade flare to life, just as three other lightsabers descended upon him. Blocking all three with just his blade, he kicked the one wielding one lightsaber in the gut, sending them away while he focused on the more challenging opponent first: The one wielding two lightsabers.

The dual-wielding opponent charged, a whirlwind of movement as he attacked Tails aggressively, using the fourth form of lightsaber combat, Ataru.

Tails fended off all of the attacks, albeit with some moderate difficulty, before ducking another slash, using the momentum to sweep his foe's legs out from underneath him. Spinning his lightsaber, he made to deliver a coup de grace, but as he brought his weapon down, he sensed his other opponent attempting to attack. Quickly blocking the first strike, Tails managed to fend off the assault that followed before cutting his opponent off with a kick to the knee, followed by a loathsome knee strike to the face. Seizing that one's lightsaber, he quickly blocked the attacks from his dual-wielding adversary, before managing to kick both lightsabers from his opponent's hands in quick succession.

Satisfied of his victory, Tails pointed one lightsaber at the person he was facing, and the opponent he had downed with the knee strike. "I win." Tails said, smirking triumphantly.

"And in pretty convincing fashion, I'll add." Said the opponent whose lightsaber he had stolen. "Though you could have defeated me without smashing me in the face with your knee."

Tails smirked, handing him back his lightsaber. "Yeah, but I needed to finish you off quickly so I could deal with Seth."

"He's got a point, Rome." Seth Kerran said as he retrieved his lightsabers. "Had he not hit you with that move, I would have taken him from behind and he'd have lost."

"Kay, I'll give that to you." Roman the Fox said as he rubbed his jaw. "Geez, you hit me hard, Tails. Try to ease up."

"Will Elias, The Second Sister or the Third Brother ease up their hits when we face them again?" Tails asked.

"Oh, shut up." Roman replied as Tails and Seth laughed. Walking over, he patted Tails on the shoulder and nodded. "Regardless, you did good with that one, buddy. Next time, try and see if you can beat both of us with just the lightsaber you have. Sound like a plan?"

"It sure does." Tails replied. "So how about we head back to the village and catch a bit of a break? It isn't like we want to hang around for too long."

"Yeah." Seth replied. "Ahsoka would kill me if we did."

Roman and Tails both smirked. Ahsoka was Seth's heavily pregnant Togruta girlfriend, due to give birth in a month's time. Ahsoka also happened to be a bit of a prankster, and whenever Seth was out for too long, she'd usually rig up a prank to surprise him when he returned. It seemed that pregnancy brought out a more mischievous side to Ahsoka.

Roman clapped his hands together and said: "Well, no use standing around here like statues. Let's get back to the village."

"Yeah, let's." Tails agreed, and with that, the trio quickly departed and headed for the village.

Angel Island Village, 16:00 pm…

The first and only two people to greet the trio at the village outskirts were unsurprisingly Ahsoka Tano herself, and the simply stunning girlfriend of Roman the Fox, Ashley the Cat.

"You're late." Ahsoka said as her boyfriend and his fellow Jedi approached, eyeing Seth with a smirk. She hadn't changed much in the three months since the Battle of Artika Base, save for the inescapable sight of her expanded womb, which had swollen to the size of a small boulder to accommodate the life growing within her.

"Late?" Seth asked rhetorically, greeting his girlfriend with a gentle kiss.

"By approximately thirty-eight seconds." Ahsoka replied.

"Uh, that isn't really enough to constitute getting angry about." Roman pointed out as he kissed Ashley.

"See? I told you they wouldn't agree with you on your ideas of lateness, Ahsoka." Ashley said, turning to Ahsoka. Ashley hadn't changed much either since the Battle of Artika Prison, save for seemingly grow infinitely more beautiful. At least, that's what Roman believed.

Ahsoka shrugged. "I guess I can let you off this time, Seth." She said, attempting to kiss him. She was thwarted as Seth ducked quickly and nimbly, giving her rounded belly a quick kiss, at which she smiled.

Popping up, Seth shrugged and said: "Couldn't help myself."

Ahsoka chuckled and kissed Seth passionately, as the others watched.

Roman smiled at his friend's happiness before he felt Ashley pull him closer, saying:

"Getting any ideas, Roman?" Ashley asked.

Roman smiled and shrugged. "What if I was?" He asked as he faced his girlfriend.

"Well, then we've got something planned for tonight, then." Ashley said in a 'nudge-nudge-wink-wink' tone.

Tails, who was watching, heard that little snippet of information, and groaned. Oh brother, he thought. His house was next door to Ashley and Roman's home, and whenever they had explored one another's bodies in the manner they were planning to do that very night, they had oft kept Tails awake, which had led to some rather cranky moments from Tails the morning after. Determined to change the subject, he asked: "Moving on from talk of sexual intercourse and the planned creation of children, is there any reason why I see no-one milling about town at the moment save for civilians and lower-ranking Freedom Fighters?"

Ahsoka and Ashley both frowned. "We were sent to inform you that Sally's called an inner-circle meeting to discuss a distress signal we received." Ahsoka said.

Roman scowled. Since their successful destruction of Artika Base three months prior, several separate rebel cells had sprang up around the planet, fighting against the Empire. He remembered working with several of said groups to take down Imperial targets on several occasions. But the Empire had been quick to destroy said cells before they could become a major problem for them. Roman suspected that the Imperials had now just claimed another victim. "Where'd the signal originate from? He asked.

"Somewhere in Eastern Efrika, according to what she told us." Ashley replied.

"Fuck." Roman sighed. The Freedom Fighters had worked with a cell from that area about a week ago, led by a wise old Caracal named Caleb, who Roman had come to like. "If it's Caleb's cell, then that's bad news."

"Tell us about it." Ashley said. Caleb's cell had been one of the best organised cells besides the Freedom Fighters themselves, and their capabilities in combat had not been lost on the Freedom Fighters. If it was indeed Caleb's cell, then the Freedom Fighters had lost a very valuable ally.

Seth sighed. "Well, no use sitting around. Let's go find out who got hit this time."

The others nodded, and together, they set off for the meeting area, at the Master Emerald Shrine.

Master Emerald Shrine, 16:15 pm

"Glad you could join us, you five." Sally called out as Roman, Ashley, Tails, Ahsoka and Seth all entered the shrine. She was surrounded by the other Freedom Fighters as well: Team Rose, consisting of Amy Rose, Cream the Rabbit, Big the Cat, Sasha the Wolf and Blaze the Cat; Team Dark, that being Shadow the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat and E-123 Omega, The Chaotix, those among them being Knuckles the Echidna, his girlfriend Shade the Echidna, Vector the Crocodile, Mighty the Armadillo, Ray the Flying Squirrel, Espio the Chameleon and Charmy Bee, Roman and Seth's other team members, those being the clone troopers Shatter and Tusk, and finally, Sally's husband of the past two years, Sonic the Hedgehog; The Hero of Mobius.

Roman and the rest of his groups stepped further into the room, the former folding his arms. "So what's this about a distress signal from Eastern Efrika, then?" Roman asked.

Sally sighed. "We've traced the signal to its origin, and it isn't good news: The signal came from Caleb's village."

Roman blew his stack: "FUCK!" The vulpine Jedi shouted, which suddenly drew the attention of Cream, who chastised Roman:

"Roman! What do I keep telling you about that language of yours?"

Roman turned to Cream with a look that made her back off, followed with a steely comeback of: "Once you find yourself in a position superior to mine, then you can tell me to watch my language. And besides, given what I just heard, I'm sure I'm allowed to cuss at least a few times."

"Roman's got a point, Cream." Sally said. "Remember that Roman views Caleb as a good friend. Imagine how you'd feel if this was Amy we were talking about."

Cream frowned and folded her arms. At eleven she had started to blossom into a fine young girl, with curves forming in all the right places. But moreover she had started to become almost like her mother in terms of her stance on etiquette, although she was not as much a hardliner as her mother had been. Which had spared her the fate her mother had suffered in terms of being a favoured target for Roman's pranks.

Turning once again to Sally, Roman asked: "So, what're we going to do?"

"I'm leading a small team over there to investigate. Said team will consist of Sonic, you, Seth, Shatter, Tusk, Tails and Ashley. We need to go down there and search for survivors. That is if the Empire hasn't rounded them up already."

Roman nodded. "When do we leave?" He asked.

"Within the hour." Sally said. "Were I you, I'd best get ready."

Sorry for the slight delay. Only recently got back from watching the new Assassin's Creed movie with a friend.

Good film, although they could have done one or two things better. Such as separate the ancestral fight scenes from the modern fight scenes, which just made the whole thing seem disjointed, and, actually have a proper Animus. Not that convoluted contraption we saw in the movie.

Regardless, thank you all for taking the time to read this chapter. If you enjoyed it, then please, leave a review in the appropriate section to tell me what you enjoyed and what you think I could have done better, and if you really enjoyed it, then favourite and follow this fanfiction, so that you will be notified whenever I get a new chapter uploaded. Which will be daily, so keep a lookout.

Regardless, thank you all again for reading, and I will see you tomorrow (Hopefully!), with the next chapter, which has the Freedom Fighters arrive at the scene of the crime, so to speak.

T-Rock14