Author Note: An update! If you look back you'll see that I changed the species of one OC, Scrat Larkin, to be a weasel. As for this chapter, it's mostly focused on catching up with minor characters, some of whom haven't appeared since Act 3! Anyway, hope you enjoyand please give me reviews so I can know what I'm doing wrong or right.

Chapter 26

"They're so sweet." The girl said, rubbing the belly of the chubby fairy. "I think I'm one of the few people they're not scared of Amy"

Amy's eyes blinked open. She had been dreaming she realized. She rubbed her face to clear up her blurred vision.

"Are you awake yet? It's nearly ten." Amy turned and looked at the speaker.

"Oh. Hi Yona."

"Hey. We haven't talked in while." Yona said.

"There hasn't been much to talk about." Amy said, shrugging her shoulders.

"What about the monster?"

"It's a monster. What else is there to say?"

"I don't know. Where did it come from, what is it trying to do." Yona said. Amy glared daggers at her. Yona suddenly became very serious something Amy had only glimpsed a few times. "Seriously, what' wrong?"

"Nothing." Amy muttered, finally getting off the ground. "I just haven't felt like talking."

"If you say so." Yona said, turning around and walking away.

OOOOOOOOOO

Espio crawled through the grass, the familiar route he had taken to spy before suddenly becoming the road to his first assassinations. His skin tingled with anticipation and fear, and it took all of his mental will to keep his scales their same green and brown. What waited for him at the end of this trail? Would his be one of the assassinations that went onto legend, silent and skillful without a trace he'd ever been there? Of course not. He had already let one of his targets see him, and even let the hedgehog get away.

There wouldn't be any mistakes this time. He would kill these monsters, and by spilling their blood free the child army they had gathered to themselves.

OOOOOOOOOO

Scrat's head twitched and he glanced behind him.

"What?" Dalin asked.

"Something bad is coming." Scrat said, keeping his voice low.

"What makes you say that?"

"We haven't seen a single robot in the past two days. This is one of the most powerful empires in the world and we're maybe four hundred kids-"

"I'm not a kid." Dalin said defensively. Scrat's underlying nervousness exploded into sheer panic.

"What do you think you are then, some kind of legendary mercenary? We weren't trained to fight, we don't have any cause or country or fat warlord with-a-lot-of-money. We are kids, on the run, from a man who conquers countries in a couple of days. The only reason we're still alive after the last fight is because a frikkin' demon showed up. We are doomed." Scrat moaned and curled into a ball, leaving Dalin alone to think. The echidna shook his head and slowly backed away from his high-strung companion to find someone calmer to talk to.

OOOOOOOOOO

Espio nearly lost focus when he looked up from the ground to see that the village of Deppen was already in sight. A few child soldiers were half-heartedly guarding the village limits. He kept his head low, knowing they weren't looking for and wouldn't recognize a chameleon crawling along the ground into their camp.

OOOOOOOOOO

Jet lay back on the pier, his feet still hanging over the edge.

"Man, I'm gonna' kill my girlfriend when I get back." He moaned. Big looked over from where he was sitting with a frightened look. "Not literally." Jet replied, waving off the cat. "Next time she says to go somewhere I am just not listening. Wars, demons- ugh. There is no way this is better than back home. At least I meant to come here." Jet nodded towards Big, who blinked awkwardly before nodding in agreement. "I have to admit I feel kinda' bad roping you into this. I mean, you don't look like a kid." Big turned and gave him a strange smile.

"It's okay. I've seen worse." He said before turning back to his fishing.

OOOOOOOOOO

Espio nimbly crawled up the house's walls, fingers quickly finding each and every handhold to take him to the roof. Once he reached it, he quickly glanced around the village, blocking out the missing fountain-top and buildings damaged from the demon's attack. Would the demon stand in his path again? You failed before it attacked. It took all of Espio's will to suppress the flash of yellow, but the reminder was worth his time. As Master Mil-Lah had said, humility was the greatest virtue. That is what set him apart from the monsters he hunted.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Demons, magic, 'Chaos Emeralds'…" Bartleby started. "My dad said war was hell but I never thought it'd be so literal." He looked down at his cup of cheap tea and swirled it around, hoping that it would magically change its taste.

"I didn't know your dad was a soldier." Antoine said, giving his friend an odd look. Because of their abilities to, among other things, speak French and fake sincerity, the two nobleman had managed to get themselves an unused shack and pay for some tea. They were both fairly certain they had been ripped off both times, but it was better than having to squat with the gang scum that were part of the rebel army.

"He wasn't, but he got involved with some military projects in Neworld when he was younger."

"Ah." Antoine said, taking a moment to sip his cup of tea and regret it. "I think it's interesting in its own way though. I mean, after it's all said and done I wouldn't want to say 'Oh yes, I was alive during all that. What did I do? Oh, nothing, just sat around and let someone else be the hero'." He let his eyes meet his friend's again, and found Bartleby to have quite a quizzical expression.

"Hero?" Bartleby asked. Antoine looked away hurriedly

"Well, it was the first word that came to mind… and…" Antoine narrowed his eyes and turned back. "If I'm getting labeled as a rebel anyway then I want it to be my choice."

OOOOOOOOOO

Espio finally spotted one of his targets, the green hedgehog, walking between houses. Espio suppressed the bubble of rage as he remembered actually leaving the rebel behind. The chameleon began following the rebel carefully, remembering how he had been able to find Espio the first time they met. He would have to be extra careful tracking this opponent. Espio slipped to the house's edge and climbed down, following the green hedgehog on the ground.

OOOOOOOOOO

Manic heaved a heavy sigh as he walked over to the shed he and his siblings were currently sleeping in. It seemed ironic, but having to find a safe place in the abandoned houses of Mobius City seemed like easy living compared to this, not even taking everything about the war into account.

"Hey." Manic said as he greeted his siblings and sat down by them. No sooner had he done so than they heard the thump of something heavy falling on the shed.

"What?" Sonic said, and the three stood up to investigate. Sonic and Sonia went to the entrance of the shed and looked up onto the roof while Manic hung back to see what happened. A sudden chill ran down his spine, and the answer came to him in the form of a scaly hand wrapping around his mouth and a keen-edged knife pressing up against his throat.

"I am here." A voice said, its English tinged with a foreign accent. Sonic's and Sonia's gaze fell down to see Manic being held by a figure the color of the shed's stone walls. The figure's skin seemed to crawl, before slowly fading to purple. The first thing that struck the siblings was that it was uncovered save the few translucent straps holding on its spare knife and throwing stars and tiny vials of liquid. Its head swooped back like a pyramid and came to a point at the small horn on the chameleon's face.

"The ninja." Sonia whispered.

"Try to alert anyone and he dies." The ninja said.

"What do you want then?" Sonic asked.

"Drink this. Both of you." The ninja said taking his hand off Manic's mouth to toss a small jar to Sonic.

"Don't bother." Manic said. "It's poison, he's trying to make you look like you committed suicide, and then he's gonna' kill me anyways. Just grab a gun and shoot him now." Manic ignored the heavy breathing of his assailant to glance at him. "Seriously, you really need to get better plans."

"Are you so hungry for blood that you will even take your own?" the ninja hissed. The knife pressed closer to Manic's neck, almost starting to draw blood. Manic turned back to his siblings.

"You might want to stay clear," he said. "I hear arterial sprays are particularly messy." Sonia stared in shock.

"Be quiet." The ninja barked as he pulled Manic into a stranglehold, his scales blossoming into deep black. Manic's eyes widened with fear as he felt the knife draw the first few drops of blood. Sonic's fist clenched around the jar of poison but Sonia put her hand on his.

"Careful," She said. "He's ruthless, trained from birth to kill."

"Very skilled. Able to take on three unarmed, teenage hedgehogs using everything in his arsenal." Sonic said. "A born killer."

"Do you think you are better?" The ninja said. "You use children as your soldiers. Make them fight to bring about anarchy in the place of a stable system."

"We're not the ones shooting at children." Sonia said. "Or force feeding them poison or slitting their throats." The ninja quivered.

Suddenly he screamed in rage and threw Manic into his siblings and ran past, disappearing from sight. The three turned to look where he had run to, Manic rubbing the cut on his neck.

"Not a born killer after all." Manic muttered answering the unasked question.

OOOOOOOOOO

Espio stumbled as he ran through the village, ignoring the shocked glances of rebel soldiers and natives alike. He didn't stop running until he had left Deppen far behind him and only then did he let himself collapse on the ground and his scales to flame pure yellow. Only with the greatest effort was he able to rein in his mind and clear his thoughts. He berated himself with the voice of his master. This triumvirate is clever and blessed with silver tongues, my dear Espio. They persuaded an entire army to follow them, of course they knew how to rephrase happenings to make themselves appear righteous. What matters most is what they will cause, not what they say they intend. And they can only bring chaos. Espio used both hands to push himself off the ground and turned to stalk back towards his camp, his scales a pure purple. When he arrived Sleet and Dingo were as he had left them, asleep on the ground. He walked past and sat down to meditate on the day's event, not hearing the two hunters' whispers.

"Failed."

"Yep."

OOOOOOOOOO

Knuckles swore.

"Why didn't you idiots call anybody?" He asked.

"Did they mention the part that he'd slit my throat if they did?" Manic asked. Knuckles grunted and grabbed his head in pain.

"You're lucky-"

"To still be alive. Yeah, we know." Sonic replied. "But we didn't have a lot of choices."

"He may change his mind." Knuckles said. "You three are going to have to stay under constant guard until the ninja is dead. Constant constant." The three each gave him the same look. "Even while you do that. We don't know where he'll reappear."

"No." Sonia said simply.

"Protecting your life is worth a little inconvenience." Knuckles replied curtly. "I'll let you choose who goes with but you need someone keeping watch."

"This is harassment."

"Maybe if this enemy couldn't turn invisible it wouldn't be necessary, but he can so it is!"

"Then maybe I should just surrender to Robotnik now if you're going to treat us like this." That forced Knuckles to pause, waiting nearly a minute before replying.

"They won't watch, but they'll still be in the room and they'll check everywhere first." Sonia grunted and walked away, with only a quick motion by Knuckles reminding to kids that she still needed to have an eye kept on her.

OOOOOOOOOO

Edward stared for a few seconds at the computer report. Chaos had just torn apart the attack force headed towards Deppen, and its last recorded movement said that it was coming towards him. The boy snorted and stood up from his seat. He hadn't wanted the situation to turn this way, but it seemed he would have to deal with Chaos himself. Fortunately he had already begun assembling machinery for such a situation and with the Chaos Emerald the Robotnik had sent him he would have both the perfect bait and the perfect weapons. With the transport he had "requisitioned" he would be able to reach Deppen in little time, so short that he could wait till tomorrow to leave.