Chapter 10

A purple hedgehog knocked on the door with one free hand, balancing a basket full of clothes in her other. A fox woman answered the door.

"Here's your laundry, miss." The hedgehog said, handing the basket over.

"Thank you, Aleena. So what do you think about the new Mobians?" Aleena shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know."

Knuckles sat across from the minister and the mayor of Knot hole, the town. The only person he had brought with him was Shanks, because he at least sounded sensible. One of the kids would probably do something stupid.

"So, what are so many Mobians doing way up North?" The mayor asked. His accent was much thicker than Tails, and unusual for the town. He probably moved from farther north during the take-over.

"Really, this is just over a misunderstanding with the law."

"In the sense of the law thinking it was in charge?"

"More of the law trying to execute three kids."

"Devils." The minister said under his breath.

"During a concert."

"Oh! Is the band still with you?" The minister's ears lifted instant.

"Father, I really don't think they would be in the mood…"

"Really, I think everybody needs something to lighten them up a bit."

"They haven't really practiced."

"Unrehearsed music sounds more natural."

"And it's a rather different style…"

"I enjoy cultural exchange."

"And the lyrics tend to be a bit… modern."

"Well, we can't stop progress."

"I agree with Father. Sounds like a good way for you to introduce yourselves, seeing as you won't be going soon." The mayor said.

"You could tell?" Knuckles asked.

"This is the safest place to be. Where else would you go?"

"Well I was planning to keep going, and see if the North was planning anything." Knuckles said, standing up. "But yeah, I was planning to leave the kids here."

"They'll have to work for a living."

"Well, that's their problem."

The three were currently teaching themselves about Mobian military history, with Sonia instructing them. They literally had even less to do than when they were marching.

"So, the king during the Great War was… Vandemar?" Sonic said.

"Vandire; Vandire. V-A-N-D-I-R-E. It can't be that hard to remember."

"Okay so, the king was Vandire, his older son fought, whose name was-"

"Okay you three, get up and start getting ready." Knuckles said as he walked in.

"For what?" Manic asked.

"The mayor and the minister both want you to do a concert tonight, to help introduce yourselves to the town."

"I really don't think these two are in the mood." Manic said, pointing to his siblings. Sonic winced as he remembered the event of yesterday.

"They said it would help lighten everyone up."

"And we haven't practiced in a long time."

"Apparently the worse you play the more natural you sound."

"And the style's probably a bit different than they're used to."

"They are looking for cultural exchange."

"And the lyrics tend to be a bit… modern."

"'you can't stop progress'"

"Well then, if the innuendos make their heads explode, it's not our fault." Knuckles started to walk off, but turned at the last second and said.

"One more thing."

"What?"

"Cover the gems. They look suspicious."

Aleena rubbed the pants vigorously, before pushing them back into the wash bucket. Taking a moment of pause, she groaned and straightened her back. She really should be more grateful about her life: managing to stay ahead of Ivo's invasion, surviving the journey up to the North, and being able to fit in. She had heard so many horror stories about how racist people were in the North; she really shouldn't have been surprised that they weren't all true.

That fact left a bitter taste in her mouth when she thought about how they treated Miles. His dad ran off in shame, they kept calling him "the mutant" or "Tails". She had been planning to adopt him after his mother died, but he ran off to the Mounds after the funeral, and refused to come back with her. Even at four the fox had started to become too heavy for a grown hedgehog to carry. She was left just supporting herself, and bringing him food whenever she could. Really, her life had been good.

As dusk crept closer, Sonic began readily tuning his guitar. He made sure that every note played perfectly before he got up to go to the town hall, where his band was expected to play. As he saw the rest of the crowd leaving, (they had, after all, gone to the first concert), He noticed somebody who wasn't moving.

"Hey, ya' coming or not?" Manic asked seeing Sonic walk in the opposite direction.

"I just need a sec'."

"Shoulda' gone earlier."Manic muttered as he walked away.

"Hey, don't you wanna' come?" Sonic asked, leaning against the metal fence.

"They wouldn't let me." Tails replied looking up from the box that he appeared to be poking.

"They're hosting about five hundred Mobians. I don't think they'll really mind you being there."

"Yeah, they will mind that there is a 'perversion of nature' there."

"Look, I promise you that if anyone starts messing with you, I will personally deal with them.

"Pull the other one, it's got bells."

"Look, I personally attacked a robot once, using my bare hands."

"You wear gloves." Sonic took the time to look at his gloves. His wounds had healed during the march, but by then he had gotten rather used to wearing them. He carefully pulled the right one off, and showed it to Tails. The hand still had a scar where he had cut himself on a sharp edge of the robot's head.

"That's why I wear gloves." Sonic said. Tails walked over to the fence to get a closer look, and his face lifted as he imagined the hedgehog throwing himself at a robot, tearing it apart with nothing but ferocity to rely on.

"Do you wanna' know why I did that? Because it was attacking my band mates, whom I had only known for a month. Are you still sure you don't wanna' come?"

"I might think about it." Tails said.

"Okay. Just didn't like seeing you stuck in this cage." Sonic said, before walking off, putting his glove back on.

"What took you so long?" Sonia asked.

"I was talking with Tails." Sonic said.

"Oh… that's very nice of you."

"I just thought I needed to do it, you know?"

"Hey, are we playing this gig or not?" Manic called.

"Coming." The three walked up to the front of the "hall", which had turned out to be nothing more than an outdoor amphitheater. Sonic centered himself as Sonia set up her keyboard, and Manic positioned himself behind a drum set consisting of two over-turned buckets, a tambourine, and a well balanced sword. Sonic took a step forward and began to talk.

"I would like to dedicate this concert to Sam, who died trying to help another person." He couldn't think of a better way to say it. He began hitting the notes for the first song, something soft, slow, and thoughtful, trying to reflect the mood that everyone had.

Tails edged up to the back of the watching crowd, going closer to the Aleena. He knew she wouldn't mind him.

"Oh, hi Miles." She said, noticing him.

"Tails." he mumbled.

"Sorry, Tails." She said. They listened as Sonic and his band brought the song to a close. They said something about how the next song was old, but not really that old, and finally gave up trying to explain it and just played. The song was upbeat and bouncy, and much more happy-sounding than the last. Apparently Aleena knew the words, and she began dancing randomly. Tails stared for a few seconds, before just letting her have her fun. As the song came to an end she slowed down and sighed.

"I love that song. I had it played at my wedding." Aleena said as she rubbed her eyes. "They remind me of my kids." Tails just nodded. Aleena had told him about her kids before. He had yelled at Aleena the first time for doing exactly what his father had done to him, but he eventually understood that she had been scared, confused, and couldn't see a better choice. "Enough crying about the past, let's just enjoy the show."

"Hey!" Sonic yelled as he dove into a guitar solo. He hadn't played in far too long, and had almost forgotten how much he loved doing this. Heck, most of the townsfolk were actually enjoying the music.

Knuckles pace around the edge of the Mounds, looking south. The town's minister came up from behind.

"Not what you expected?" Knuckles asked.

"Yes. Say, I had wanted to ask this before, but have you been here before? You look familiar, and there aren't a whole lot of echidnas that come through here."

"I passed by here when I moved to Mobius. It's how I knew this place would be safe."

"It must have been an odd path you took."

"I wasn't heading anywhere paticular, just trying to…"

"See someplace new? I know the feeling." The minister flexed his legs. "Well I should do something. Maybe see if the church windows have broken yet."

"Hmph. Bye, Paul."

"Bye."

The Robotnik personally monitored Annihilator as it navigated through the dark streets of Knothole. Somehow the locals were letting such a raucous performance happen, and it helped cover Annihilator's journey. The machine had been designed to utilize stealthy movement and the highest level of coordination of any machine he had ever built. Still, it was a large robot, which would no doubt be suspicious.

His force was prepared to take the town, but doing so would break the treaty he had made with the North. They had agreed to follow him as long he didn't actually rule them. He had known the pact was mocking him, but he hadn't wanted the North looming over him so early in his empire's career. He would start treating them to full assimilation soon after this, probably, but for now he needed them happy, which meant he didn't want them knowing about this little assault.

The town was small and backwater, meaning there would be a single radio at most. He could form a circle around the town to stop people fleeing, but he needed the radio to be out. Thus, Annihilator had been called to action early. After surveying most of the city, the robot found the radio tower in a small building next to the second biggest house in the town. The door was locked. Bending one claw, Annihilator sent out a lock-pick from its hand, and quickly disengaged the padlock.

Going in it stopped before the radio set. Even such an precise robot was not designed for working delicate machinery. Sighing, the Robotnik told it to stick a claw through the set. Annihilator then left the building, redoing the lock on its way out. People were beginning to trail away from the performance, making the maneuvering harder. Annihilator reached the edge of town, but an echidna was apparently keeping a look out in the area. He hadn't been there on Annihilator's way in. The robot could kill him, but that would give the rebels more time to prepare. The Robotnik told it to wait until it could leave undetected.

Tails leaned on Aleena's arm as she walked him home.

"Can't you carry me?" he asked, yawning.

"Ha. Your almost as big as I am."

"No; I'm just a midget."

"Your ten years old. You'll be bigger when you grow up." She left Tails at the gate and hugged him before saying goodbye.

"Hey, Tails." The fox turned to see Sonic, guitar slung on his back again. "See, coming wasn't such a bad thing. You got to dance with a girl."

"Ah, she was just some woman who likes to look after me." Tails said, rubbing the edge of his snout.

"No, the other one." Tails rubbed the back of his head and tried to look away.

"Don't know what you're talking about. Must have been someone else." Sonic chuckled at the embarrassed expression on the fox's face. Sonic took a look at Tails' home.

"I know this isn't important, but where did you get the parts build all this." Tails stood up straighter, glad to have something else to talk about.

"Oh. I got them from the Mounds of course."

"These things?" Sonic asked pointing at the giant green knolls around him.

"Yep."

"How?"

"They're junk!" Tails said with a grin knowing something the hedgehog didn't.

"How would trash do you any good? And why is it covered in grass."

"It's trash from before the Armageddon."

"You're joking."

"No. Ask any one in town. Archaeologists used to come through here all the time, spending quite a bit of money while they were at it, just so they could look at the stuff in here. Stopped being worth it when the Robotnik took over the country.

That was before I was born. When I started living here I… didn't have a lot to do, so I started looking in them. Nothing works, of course, but most of the stuff below the first few layers is very well preserved. Found a few books, after a while figured out how to read Old English, and started teaching myself how to build stuff."

Tails yawned.

"Well, looks like we should be going to bed." Sonic waved bye as Tails went to his ramshackle home, and then Sonic went to find a comfortable patch of grass.

Author's Note: Yep. Nothing happened. The stuff people were talking about is important though. Oh yeah, and someone was introduced.