15:00 HOURS LEFT / THE VANISHING

Antoine knocked on Sally's door. It opened slowly, and he peeked in. "Ma princess?" he called.

No response.

He closed the door and turned to look around Knothole. Still nothing. Nobody had been around for the past five minutes or so, causing him to believe there had been some sort of meeting and he hadn't been invited. Quickly, he scurried over to the river and took another look around. Where was everybody? It troubled him that he wasn't considered important enough to be let in on what was happening. What would the freedom fighters do without him?

A thought crossed his mind, and he looked up at the sky. No; it was still early afternoon, the invasion was happening in the evening. He decided to go and poke his head into Rotor's workshop, Sonic's hut and even the power ring pool, only to get more and more frantic and worried as he discovered each was empty. As he started running back to Knothole, he began to hear people's voices again, much to his relief, but still he couldn't see anyone around. To check if the freedom fighters were suddenly all in the meeting hall, he walked towards it, only to find himself inexplicably bouncing off some kind of round invisible wall and landing on his backside.

"Hey! Watch where you're going, Antoine!" came Dulcy's voice from apparently nowhere.

Antoine shook his head and blinked a couple of times, then stared up at Dulcy, standing directly in front of him and looking down with contempt.

"Oh! Dulcy, I am sorry but I am not seeing you before," he managed to say, despite the complete confusion in his head. He stood up and brushed himself off. Now his trousers were all dirty.

"Well pay more attention next time, right?" Dulcy snorted.

"Dokie-okie!" Antoine said, putting on a bad smile, before quickly scuttling off. As he moved out from around her, the other freedom fighters had suddenly returned, walking about and talking, as well as in the huts. Rotor was even standing in the door to his workshop, looking puzzled. He walked his way over to Sally's hut once more, and knocked on the door. It opened shortly, and although Sally was sorely tempted to slam the door shut on Antoine his expression made her reconsider.

14:30 HOURS LEFT / THE ENEMY

Sonic felt, for some reason, that he hadn't been given enough attention over the past day or so. It wasn't fair, 'cause heroes don't exist to love themselves. They need to get loved, and Antoine's 'fascinatingly underexaggerated' story of how everybody had disappeared wasn't helping the love to flow in. Sonic was sitting down near the ring pool and kicking the dust. Unusually for him, he thought, he was sitting still. Even thinking. If Sally had said it, though, he would have denied it. Modesty is an important part of being a hero, even if he forgot about it occasionally.

Sonic was confused. Mostly about the time-traveller, but also about Robotnik. He'd been keeping himself so quiet and holed-up in Robotropolis since the meeting at the lava pits and the destruction of the fake Deep Power Stone, so much so that Sonic was beginning to think something strange was going on with regards to the Power Stones. And the increased defences he'd seen, too... either Robotnik was scared of the Power Stones and he'd been bluffing at the lava pits, or he had been telling the truth and he was just making sure he kept himself super-safe so Doomsday could go ahead as planned. It seemed like the first was more likely, though, and either way Rotor's new gadgets were so great that he was almost convinced they wouldn't need the Stones.

He realized his mind was wandering, so he put it back on track. Robotnik. There was something more going on, behind all this Doomsday stuff, he just knew it. Robotnik never did one thing at a time... although the smoke plumes... He put his head in his palms and sighed. It only made it worse that Uncle Chuck hadn't written in forever except that one letter about the time-traveller, cause it didn't make sense that he would know the time-traveller, meaning the time-traveller could get into and out of Robotropolis easily. That would explain how he got Snively, maybe, but it didn't explain why the letter came so suddenly out of nowhere, and why the time-traveller shouldn't be trusted. The only solution he could think of was that the time-traveller was a double agent, working for Robotnik.

Hold on... that made a lot of sense. He could go into and out of Robotropolis because Robotnik allowed him to, and maybe Uncle Chuck got kidnapped when the time-traveller found him, but he escaped to send the letter. The time-traveller had a robotic part, they knew that, so maybe Robotnik had him programmed all along! He must have delivered Snively to the freedom fighters to buy their trust, and when he told them that Doomsday would start today... It must be a trap! Sonic stood up, proud of himself, then realized that Sally had probably already thought of that. He sat back down. Anyway, Chuck would have told them straight that the time-traveller was evil.

Sonic felt useless. Heroes came in 2 types, he thought. The clever ones and the cool ones. He was a cool one, but he wasn't clever.

"Hey, Sonic!"

Sonic jumped out of his seat as he heard the time-traveller's voice coming up from behind him, and span quickly around. "Oh, yo. Where ya been?"

The time-traveller frowned. "Looking for Bunnie. She's gone missing..."

Sonic flinched in surprise. "No way! Seriously?"

"Nobody's seen her for a couple hours, and everyone's been told to stay in Knothole until plans are finalised for the invasion tonight. It... is happening tonight, right?"

Sonic nodded suspiciously, eyes fixated on the time-traveller. "Yeah... sounds real fishy that she's gone though. Speakin' of fishy, I've been thinking about 'buttnik."

The time-traveller tried his best not to look surprised. "Have you come to any conclusions?"

"Yeah," Sonic said, with a little proud smile. "I think he's bluffin' about the Deep Power Stones. He's put up extra defences just so he can hide behind them. But I don't think we'll even need to use the Power Stones to beat him!"

The time-traveller nodded. "I agree, the Deep Power Stones are too valuable to him to throw away. We'll win easily with them, if we need to use them."

Sonic noticed a piece of paper in the time-traveller's right hand. "What's that paper?" he asked. The time-traveller looked at it, his expression brightened, and he held it up and gave it to Sonic.

"It's a letter from your uncle. While I was out looking for Bunnie, I found it on the floor near the Robotropolis perimeter. I think Bunnie was taking it out of Robotropolis but got captured, and dropped it."

Sonic froze. There was no way that the time-traveller had made his way to the Robotropolis city edge and back in such a short time. It took at least a few hours to get there if you weren't a supersonic hedgehog, and he would definitely have been seen by the border patrol. And on top of all this, Chuck would never send a letter on foot, it'd be way too dangerous. Yeah, Sonic was now almost certain that the time-traveller was working for Robotnik.

"Go on, read it," the time-traveller insisted. "I saw the name at the bottom and kept it for you."

Sonic looked back down at the paper. It wasn't Chuck's neat, formal handwriting, nor was it the type of language he used either. There was also a spelling mistake that even Sonic could see. Definitely not the work of his uncle... but he read the letter aloud anyway.

"Dear Sonic, Sally, and all the freedom fighters,

The Doomsday Project and all the information I've collected about it is unreliable. Robotnik has been taking extrordinary precautions to keep the information under wraps, but this morning I beleive I've found your weak point. Robotnik is building a Robotisizer inside the core of the Project, which would make the perfect point to strike!

However, there is a major problem. The Deep Power Stone Sonic threw into the lava was, apparently, the real one. I sadly must advise that you should not rely on the Stones for your victory over Doomsday.

Hopefully this letter gets to you before time gets too short. I'm writing this at midnight, and I predict there's about 26 hours until Robotnik will launch the Project at 2 or 3 AM tomorrow. You should be there a few hours before it launches, though.

I have to wish you all good luck, because if you don't assault in the next day, then the planet is doomed.

Chuck."

Sonic looked suspiciously at the paper. "Weird. Doesn't look like Uncle Chuck's handwriting... doesn't sound like what he'd write, either."

The time-traveller showed a hint of worry. "Is it possible that Robotnik could have forged this to throw us off?" he suggested. Sonic shook his head, feeling smart all of a sudden.

"No way. Robotnik doesn't know about Chuck, and we have proof, cause he sent us a letter earlier today."

The time-traveller was paling. Sonic took advantage of the situation, and quite cleverly, he thought to himself. "So, where'd you get Snively from, anyway?"

The time-traveller breathed heavily and rubbed his nose. "Sonic? Old pal, are you... doubting me?"

"Are you... answering my question?" Sonic returned snarkily.

Sally and Rotor suddenly appeared out of the bushes, running, and stopped as they saw the time-traveller, and Sonic's smug grin. "Sonic, Bunnie's gone... Wait, what's going on?" Sally asked.

The time-traveller gave Sonic a desperate look. Sonic ignored it and turned to Sally, holding up the letter. "Our friend the time-traveller delivered this to us! It's from Uncle Chuck, and he found it right outside Robotropolis perimeters. Isn't that right?"

Sally snatched the letter, not bothering to pay attention to the time-traveller's reaction, and read through it quickly. "This isn't Chuck's... it's not his handwriting," she exclaimed, to which Sonic smiled, and pointed an accusing finger at the time-traveller.

"You're working for Robotnik!" he shouted. The time-traveller, Rotor, and even Sally were all taken aback by the sudden claim. Despite the fear clearly obvious in the time-traveller's face, he remained silent, and Sally looked at Sonic, confused.

"Are you sure about that, Sonic?" she questioned. Sonic nodded.

"Yeah! First off, Chuck knows him! So he must have got into Robotropolis, which would be easy if he was working with 'Buttnik. Second, the chip. It must've come from him, so he's part-robot, which means he could be controlled by 'Buttnik. and third-"

"You've got my chip?" the time-traveller suddenly interrupted, seemingly calmly. Sally groaned and ran her hands through her hair.

"Yeah, and, uh, if you want it back, then you better come with us!" Rotor demanded, stepping forward with his hands on his sides in an attempt to look heroic. The time-traveller stepped back, but not because he was intimidated.

"I don't need it. I just ask for your trust, please. I'm no traitor," he pleaded. Sally shook her head defiantly.

"I don't wanna hear it! You're keeping far too many secrets! Snooping around with your robotic body, and even disappearing the same time Bunnie did!"

"It's called curiosity, Princess. And yes – I have a robotic foot, but does that make me your enemy?" the time-traveller admitted. He was still avoiding argument around the possibility that he was working for Robotnik, because he realized the evidence was stacked against him. It was better to keep quiet about it and try to regain their trust in other ways. Sonic, meanwhile, stepped back, feeling quite proud of himself.

"There's a line between curiosity and snooping, you know," Sally pointed out.

"I moved a few chairs," the boy pleaded.

"You've been disappearing constantly when we need you."

"You're looking in the wrong places for me."

"You're keeping secrets from someone who's supposed to be a friend!"

"You're interrogating someone who's supposed to be a friend!"

"You're running out of counter-arguments."

The time-traveller stopped, and looked at his feet. He had lost again.

"You aren't going anywhere for now. Hand yourself over, or risk losing the little trust I have left for you!" Sally announced.