Out the Forest, In the Castle.

"So exactly where are we heading next?" Lunar asked, twirling his bo staff in slight boredom as he followed the others on the dirt path that traveled through the Deep Woods. Sonic pulled out the map that hid in his quills and unfurled it. Closely examine the region they were, he pointed to a spot on it.

"I believe our next destination is in the south-western region of the Outlands. We'll set up camp at the Molten Mine." the blue hedgehog replied before returning the rolled up map to its earlier spot among his quills, "If we keep up this pace, we'll get their by sunset."

"And the quicker we find the other four knights, the quicker we rescue your friend, Tails?" Nate said, lazily walking beside the hedgehog. His eyes dashed around in their sockets as their owners surveyed the area in boredom, hoping for some excitement to occur. Sonic nodded in response.

"Exactly, and maybe Nimue or Merlina has found a way to send me and Tails back home." he said.

"Molten Mine, I remember that place." Percival said, a slight chuckle escaping through her lips, before turning her attention to Sonic, "That was where I actually got the chance to meet you, though, not in the best circumstances." Sonic chuckled at the returning memory of their encounter.

"Yeah, that's where I beat you," the blue hedgehog paused as a slight growl emitted from the lavender cat.

"Don't push your victory, Sonic." she replied, her tail slightly twitching with irritation.

"Hey, it was that victory that made Caliburn finally decide that I was ready to be a knight." The mentioned sword moved slightly in Sonic's hand, wishing to be released from his grip. Sonic did as so, and Caliburn landed on his hilt. Adjusting his balance so he would not fall to the dirt ground, he hopped along with the group with unknown speed.

"Well of course I would. To defeat King Arthur's three strongest knights is an unimaginable feat, especially for a squire such as yourself. Especially defeating Percival when she was in area that best fit her abilities." he said, as he looked at the hedgehog. Sonic glanced at the sword before rolling his eyes in slight annoyance.

"I knew it was a bad idea not to place you in that rock again after the Dark Queen was defeated." Sonic replied, earning a slightly irritated 'humph' from Caliburn.

"If you had placed me in that rock, where would you be? A king is indeed not again a king without his sword." Caliburn thought he outsmarted Sonic yet again, but was wrong as the hedgehog replied to his rhetorical question.

"Okay, one, I didn't want to be king in the first place. You were just the only sword I could use that would be able to defeat King Arthur, I could always practice with another sword, it possibly won't be as strong as you, but it will be less annoying." Sonic said with a smirk as Caliburn remarked with another 'humph', but said nothing else otherwise.

Seconds have passed into minutes, and minutes have passed into hours as the group finally reached the outskirts of the Outlands. Pausing their journey for lunch, Sonic spotted some clouds floating high in the sky in the unfelt breeze. Having finished his food, which, of course was a dozen or so chili dogs baked by the castle cooks, he leaned against a large boulder, shifting several times before getting comfortable, before returning the gaze of his emerald eyes to the slightly clouded sky. He occasionally disrupted his cloud watching to glance at the group, who were catching up on old time, finishing their meals, or waiting for the others to finish theirs. The clouds' shapes reminded the blue hedgehog of his world. One had looked like a hammer, which reminded him of his number one fan. Another looked like a chaos emerald or a diamond, either way, it reminded him of a red echidna who needs a chill pill every once in a while, an albino bat with an addiction to jewels and an ego look-alike of himself, or he could say a more destructive and tolerable Lancelot. One, however, caught his attention for a good couple minutes, unlike the others that received only a minute or less, and half of it was spent remembering good memories. Okay, it was actually two, but both clouds were similar to each, and both were related to only one person. The cloud he saw was the cloud that reminded him of his currently captured and possibly tortured friend. The shape of the clouds was almost exactly like a fox's tail, and it happened to be positioned right over the sun, the tip slightly off, giving it a yellow tint to it.

Tails, I promise I'll rescue you. Sonic thought, closing his eyes as the cloud drifted away out of sight.

"Hey, Sonic." a soft nudge woke the blue hedgehog from his small nap. His eyes opened lazily as to find Percival, slightly nudging him to wake up. Noticing that he was indeed awake, though not wide awake, the lilac cat continued, "Get up. We're about to set out again." She pointed behind her to prove her statement as the others were waiting to head out. A yawn escaped the teenager's mouth as he stood to quickly stretched.

Note to self, find a tree to sleep in instead of lying against a boulder. Sonic thought as he felt a slight pain in his back and a little crick in his neck from the position he was in earlier. "Alright, Molten Mine, here we go."

~ King Arthur's Castle Dungeon (Tails P.O.V.) ~

Ugh, another day in this stinking place, well things couldn't get any worse. I have been placed through several torture treatments, including the old fashion whipping, and still fail to crack. Seems like those days of being bullied on Westside Island before meeting Sonic was helpful. However, being here wasn't a total waste.

Yesterday, several hours after Arthur left the room, one of those Underworld Knights came to give me my evening meal. I believe the evil king tried to bribe me with a piece of smoked salmon, along with steaming parsley and two slices of bread with butter spread over them. I would have refused, but my stomach started to growl at the sight of the food and my mouth felt like it was watering up. I shook my head slightly, hoping that the knight didn't notice. He didn't look like he did, but he could have since I couldn't see its face, let alone its expression. It walked over to me, making me slightly flinch, thinking it was going to do something else, but instead it unlocked the chains that held my arms and allowed the length of the chains that held my legs and tails to be longer, allowing me to move around just enough to reach a small wooden table and chair that the knight brought along.

"Uh, thanks." I said with suspicion. The knight had said nothing, only pointed to the table before walking into a darker part of the room, practically fitting in with the surroundings. Shrugging, I sat down at the table, picked up a silver fork that came along with the meal and began to eat. I didn't worry about the food being poisoned or anything, knowing that Arthur would have done it already. After finishing, the knight pointed to the wall where I was earlier, trying to not get any more torture for today

That's one of the main differences between him and Sonic, he's patient, Sonic's not.

Well, today that same knight came in to deliver breakfast. Doing the same procedure as its last encounter, I walked over to the small table, my stomach slightly growling. Either tied to the wall seems to make me hungry, or it's late in the day. On the same silver platter were a pancake, eggs, and two large strips of bacon. Like the dinner yesterday, I quickly devoured it. However, unlike the other day, I attempted to start a conversation with my prison guard.

"So what's it like working with Arthur?" I asked as I was directed to the wall again. If I was able to see the knight's face, it would possibly have a confused expression on it.

"It's rough." the Underworld Knight simply said. I was stunned by the fact that the voice sounded familiar, almost like someone back on Mobius. It was surely male, but a bit child-like, and then I realized, it was Charmy's voice. It was a slightly deepened, but still recognizable. I finally took notice to the actual height of the knight. It was just the same as the hyper Chaotix member.

"Why do you stay then?" I continued, hoping to not let this conversation fade away so easily.

"Most of my people are here." he answered with another short reply. If this keeps up this conversation might end up dead in a few minutes. Then the thought occurred to me, most of his people.

"What do you mean?"

"The most of the ones everyone calls the Underworld Knights are my people who were conquered by King Arthur. Before that, we were a peaceful kingdom, only attacking in self defense. I was their prince, my mother and father was the king and queen of the kingdom."

"What happened?"

"King Arthur came riding the same black stallion he does today, a thousand or so knights and cavalry standing behind him. I remembered hearing the horses snorting occasionally, almost as if they were impatient at waiting for the invasion. The battle was a bloodbath, and many people on both sides lost their lives that day, including my mom and dad. After I was captured, being too inexperienced to fight, my people surrounded, not wishing for the royal line to come to a cease. We were drafted into his services. They were not so bad, most of the things that a knight might do on a regular basis, but after receiving Excalibur's scabbard from Nimue and learning of now being immortal, he became a ruthless tyrant. He ran things as he saw fit, and punished those who denied him with deaths. Merlina was one of the many. If she had not denied him, he would have targeted her as a treat, being the granddaughter of Merlin. She summoned you friend and you should know the rest." I nodded.

"Why didn't you rebel?"

"We did, several times, but we were unwanted by society, seen nothing more than mere monsters, a threat. It got to a point when we finally learned that we would never be accepted, to be outcasts among them. So we stayed and followed Arthur's order. It was being around each other that made it worth putting up with him and his orders."

"Maybe, I could help." I suggested.

"How, nobody else has been willing to help us, why would you?"

"Because I believe you and your people deserve a second chance. That what Sonic had taught me before." A warm smile spread on my face as I continued to observe and guess the knight's possible expression, "Anyway, I'm sure I can get Sonic to agree."

"That would be great, but I must go now, or King Arthur would believe I have allowed you to escape or have died. I will, however, try to help you escape. You have brought me and my people hope again." The knight grabbed the silver platter and the utensils before approaching the door. Before he could open it to exit the room, I asked one last question.

"Anyway, I'm Miles Prower, but my friends call me Tails. What's yours?" He turned around to face me, and I swore I could see a mouth twitch slightly, as if wanting to smile.

"My name is Prince Charles Bee the second." He soon left the room. I didn't have to worry much now; I knew I had found my ticket out of here, and a new friend and allies along with it.

Me: This is currently my longest chapter ever. It's over 2000 words. My chapters are usually around 1000 to 1500 words.

Sonic: Why did you choose to have a Charmy look-a-like in the story?

Me: Oh, just because you, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Blaze, Silver, and Jet have a look-a-like means that nobody else can. I just felt like the Chaotix might one in. They don't appear in a lot of games you know.

Sonic: Alright, I was just wondering, didn't mean to make you lose your temper.

Me: Just get out.

Sonic: (shrugs and exits room)

Me: Anyway, the main reason I decided to add some Chaotix look-a-like in the story is mostly because I like the Chaotix. I put Charmy's look-a-like as the prince and most of the Underworld Knight's are his people because I wanted to add I little drama as the story progresses. Also, if you had read the comics, you would know why. Vector's and Espio's will show up later.

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