AN: Hey guys... sorry for the time between chapters. I've just been kinda down, with school coming up soon.

Disclaimer: I neither claim nor own anything from Sega or Sonic '06. All music is purely suggested and is not mine. Nobel Six has sole ownership to Chameleon, Ghost, and Imperious.

Claimer: I own this plot and characters not affiliated with the above mentioned.

XXXXXXXXXX

Seprember-20-2506

8:16 Mobius Time

[Now Playing: "Blind" by: Korn]

Knuckles blinked. A sign that he was alive… unless he was waking up in the other world. He saw no light but a few lonely blue torches. Surely this wasn't Heaven, was it? Or any other deathly existence for that matter. He felt cold with his only warmth being from the nearest torch. Not even Hell was this cold, he figured.

He shuddered from the cold, feeling himself rock slightly back and forth. He found though, when looking around in the dim light, that he was in a suspended, spherical cage. Though he thought about the sphered design, he shrugged it off and tried to analyze his situation.

He had already assumed that he was captured by the chameleon who'd assaulted him. He, however, could not feel the power of the Master Emerald from anywhere. He assumed that his assaulter hadn't taken it… but why not? The Master Emerald was of great power; why wouldn't he want it? Was it not the reason he'd come in the first place? Or was it for the reason he claimed: to capture him?

So many thoughts buzzed through his head, he didn't even notice the red eyes that were glaring at him, just beyond the cage. "Do not try to understand your situation, echidna," a deep, almost growling voice spoke to him. At this, Knuckles snapped out of his trance and stared into the malicious eyes of the speaker. "What I need you here for is nothing you would comprehend. My plan is much bigger than what you could imagine."

The echidna glared at him though unable to see him; angry for having been confined to his small space. He hated small spaces, especially when he was perfectly capable of seeing outside… always there, but just outside his grasp. "Well then, what is your big plan?" he questioned, attempting to get some information. "Maybe then I'd be able to grasp it better?"

"That seems unlikely," his captor spoke again in his chilling tone. "With your track record of commonly mistaking others and your poor placement of trust, I doubt highly that anything I say to you will become an inkling's worth of your knowledge."

"Why you…"

"Make no mistake, echidna. I am not judging you," he spoke while pacing around the cage. "I am merely taking into account all your previous attempts to understand and I'm turning them against you.

Slightly annoyed, Knuckles raised his brow. "Saying things more intelligently doesn't make its meaning different," he argued. "In a sense, you are still judging me."

"No. It's more like I'm…" the figure paused, trying to recall better words for the situation. "… Testifying against your say."

Knuckles breathed a sigh, sorting through his anger as he gripped at the curved bars. "I don't care if I won't understand it," he said angrily. "Just tell me."

The figure appeared to shake his head while walking away. "Maybe my next target will understand the predicament better. You can chat with him when I catch him," he suggested while retreating.

"Wait!" Knuckles shouted in his one last attempt to try and make sense of things. "Who are you?"

The figure paused, turning back to the echidna with a sly grin. Though his features were shadowed, the echidna could still pick up a glimmer of excitement hidden in his eyes. He could see the many scheming thoughts that ran around inside his mind through those eyes, even if he hadn't a clue what those plans were. The figure then turned back around. "I am Imperious, echidna. It'd be smart of you to remember that."

[Stop Music]

^/\^|v\/v

~ ("I thought about how there are two types of secrets: The kind you want to keep in; and the kind you wouldn't dare let out."—Ally Carter) ~

Syaoron the Fox presents

Following the Events of Sonic '06

Accompanied by Various Music and Themes

Remnants of the Past

Chapter 3

Let and Leave Be

^/\^|v\/v

Castle Town, Soleanna

September-20-2506

12:16 Mobius Time

In the light of the next day, Silver ran through the small Castle Town portion of Soleanna, desperately seeking a certain companion of his. A specific two-tailed companion.

Surely Tails would know what to make of the situation. Surely he could make heads and tails of Knuckles' disappearance. He was smart, right? This was the kind of thing he was supposed to be able to figure out. And thus, he searched onward attempting to recall the location of his workshop.

But… maybe he wouldn't need Tails for this. He was just thinking too deeply into it, right? Silver knew that he had a tendency to overcomplicate things; simple things. What if this was just a normal kidnapping for ransom? He shook his head; Knuckles wasn't one to be kidnaped easily. Anyone who went through the trouble to take him down was clearly looking for more than money.

The Master Emerald? No; they'd have just taken it after taking out Knuckles. Instead, they took the guardian and left the Master Emerald. No, their target must've been the red echidna. It was just too clear.

But then, if all these variables were correct, why would they want Knuckles? He was a stubborn person and no amount of interrogation would get him to talk. Surely they at least knew that… so why Knuckles? If Tails, or even Sonic, could've told them what they wanted, why Knuckles?

No, it was clear to him that Knuckles wasn't being interrogated… what then? He shook his head, unable to make sense of the predicament. Perhaps it really was as complicated as he'd imagined.

When he came upon Tails' shop, he was surprised to find that it was closed. Funny, it's not even Saturday or Sunday, Silver mused while looking at the bold sign that read CLOSED. It was odd to find a store closed in the midst of the working week, especially for those such as Tails.

He then looked across the street and down the block, noticing a small mechanic's store. Tails surely went there for supplies. Maybe the owner would give him some information on the kit. "Hello? Drake?" he shouted as he opened the door to the shop, hearing the jingle of the bells, notifying the owner that he'd entered.

The dark-skinned manager moved out of a back room and appeared behind the counter, smiling at him. "Well, if it isn't Silver; hedgehog from the future," he mused with an amused smirk. "I have a little kitsune friend who came looking for you yesterday."

"Well, I'm actually trying to find him," Silver explained. "Tails' shop is closed down, but it's the middle of the week. If anyone, I thought that at least you might be able to tell me where he is."

Drake leaned his head back, gritting his teeth. He shook his head and sighed to the white hedgehog, giving him a disheartened look. "That's something personal of Tails' man. I was surprised when he told me about it," he reminisced while cleaning up his shop. "If I told you, it would be a betrayal of his trust. He'll need to tell you himself."

Silver shook his head slightly and glared a bit at Drake. He felt as though the human was stalling him, but he only huffed in breaths. "Listen, this is a matter of life or death," he tried reasoning with Drake. "I don't want to know about his past, or anything that happened. I just want to know where he is."

At this, the human nodded. "He's at the cemetery," Drake directed him, pointing in a general direction. "Depending on his mood this year, he might've already left. Or, you might still catch him… if you're lucky."

"The cemetery?" Silver questioned. It was against his knowledge that the kit would go to a graveyard. Why would someone so bright and cheery be spending their daytime in a cemetery? "But, why would he—"

"Ah, ah, ah," Drake mocked him with the shake of his finger. "You said you wouldn't pry."

Silver put up his hand to retort, but he dropped it, giving only a fleeting glance as he dashed right back out the door he'd come in. Drake merely stared back at the flapping door, a blank expression on his face. "What's wrong with him?" he asked himself while returning to his work.

^/\^|v\/v

Soleanna Cemetery

September-20-2506

12:30 Mobius Time

[Now Playing: "Here Without You" by: 3 Doors Down]

It was a typical day for mourning. With a sky of clouds and a wispy wind filling the air, it would be another dreary day. The perfect day to waste away with tears in your eyes and a heart of heavy sorrows. And yet, there would always be that bit of light shining through the dense clouds. Sometimes, it just didn't shine on the right person.

A young kit knelt before a memorial; a stone of marble placed atop a grave. Aside from a flower he had kept in his shop, this was his only physical attachment to her now. All he had left to remember her by. He treasured the small memento to her death, but it was nothing close to the real her.

He had long since given up on the flower. That too had become a simple memento of her passing, rather than a hope that she would return. His twin tails dropped to the grass as he heaved a sigh. "Hey Cosmo, it's me," he solemnly muttered as he pawed at the dirt before her grave, digging it up a bit. "I miss you… but, you probably already know that."

Tails let a small tear fall in the patch of soft dirt as he let his emotions flow. "Another year's come and gone, eh?" he asked rhetorically, while smiling at the grave. "It's been what… three years? Can you believe it? I'll be thirteen soon… I can't believe I managed to pilot a battleship when I was ten… it's almost unbelievable when I look back on it."

He then pulled out a small potted plant that he'd brought with him: a lovely, healthy rose with no thorns. "I learned how to repot plants recently," he continued to speak to the grave. "I've moved your rose to a couple of different pots… but I don't think you'd like pots. They're confining; preventing the plant from fully rooting itself into the ground. You wouldn't like that. So here I am, releasing you from your potted confines."

The kit then reached around the edges of the inside of the pot, taking the rose out with a clump of dirt and settling it in the small hole he dug. "Does it feel good, Cosmo? To have your only physical root in this world be released before your memorial grave? I hope so… I really do."

He then frowned at the marble stone and brushed it with his hands. "I'm here without you, Cosmo," he murmured. "Though the pain's gone, I still think about you sometimes. I still dream about you. But don't worry; they're all happy thoughts and dreams now."

He was about to stand up before he knelt down again, with tears pouring down his face in rivers. "I'm so sorry, Cosmo," he choked out to the representation of her. "I'm sorry for letting you down. I promise I'll do whatever it takes to protect all my friends. I promise that your death won't have been in vain."

With the last words spoken, he stood back up and walked off, giving one last fleeting glance to the grave. He wiped away his tears; of course he would miss her. Of course he would think about her. Many thoughts were bound to occur to him, and he was bound to deal with them. And that was the way things were. He loved her, of course. If nothing else, she would be a fond memory in his life forever. With those departing thoughts, he turned away, walking back into the forest for a stroll.

He whistled a tune as he stepped through the forest, wondering about how much she would love the scenery. He had promised that she could live back on Mobius with him when everything had been over and done with. She would've loved to see the forests… she had always loved the forests. They were so full of life; Cosmo would've felt like the Hebrews in their promised land… without all the delays the Hebrews experienced.

Tails chuckled at the thought. Relating modern happenings to Bible stories and tales was something he'd come to do after having read the Christian book of their history. A history book, maybe, but he saw something more in it. Cosmo had seen it too obviously; he'd seen her reading it sometimes and smiling at the words and passages.

As he walked deeper into the forest, he began to see a hue shift I color. The colors of the trees began to fade to yellows and reds as he passed them by, and he smiled at their beautiful colors. There was always one tree that was his favorite. It only truly flourished when the weather became colder, and only one was still alive.

He'd come to a clearing, seeing the pink tree before him. A Cherry Blossom tree… that was what some called it. It was known for the pink petals that bloomed all across the tree where a normal tree would have leaves. Each petal was soft as silk to the touch, and beautiful to the eye. It was more popularly known by its Japanese alias, however… the Sakura tree.

"That's what you transformed into on the day you died, wasn't it Cosmo?" he asked as he breathed in the flowers' sent. "You became a Sakura tree… and you saved us all from death." It was in the small clearing though that he sensed a disturbance… like something was there that wasn't supposed to be. He became more wary as he looked to his right and saw a small object: the yellow Chaos Emerald.

[Stop Music]

He looked at the gem, befuddled by its presence on the ground. He searched through his tail fur and picked out his emerald; also yellow in color. It was too suspicious… a trap maybe? There were no other explanations for it, as each emerald was unique in its color. That one was obviously the bait to a trap… a very poorly lain trap.

Why would someone lay such a poor trap for him though? They must've known that he was the only person who even came this deep in the forest, and if they studied him that hard, they'd have seen his emerald at one point in time… so, why yellow?

Why then, when they knew it wouldn't work and that all odds of success were against them, would they use a yellow fake emerald? No, there was more to this trap than met the eye. He walked around the fake emerald, examining it to see just how the trap was set… and unknowingly, putting himself in position for the second trap.

All of a sudden, he hit the ground and he was looking up, out of a hole. A common pitfall trap, yes, but this one had been used as a trap with a trap… like reverse-psychology, in this case. But, the kit smirked as he spun up his tails, drifting upward with the skill of flight that he had acquired long ago.

He heard a few ropes whip around and he was suspended in the air in an instant. He looked above him, seeing that a few ropes had bounds his tail in place, hanging from a small tree. He looked below again and saw his captor, a black chameleon dressed in ninja's wear. "A trap within a trap within a trap, eh?" Tails mused, smirking at his captor. "You are perceptive of your intended captives, I'll give you that."

Chameleon nodded, flipping a single kunai knife around in his hands. The four-sided blade with a single point was enough to rip through the kit's small body with a good throw. Instead of throwing it at him however, the ninja took out a small hypodermic needle, filled to the brim with a green liquid. "Perhaps you're familiar with anesthetics?" Chameleon asked while flipping it around in his hands. He then gripped it and threw it skillfully, aiming for the kit.

With a grin, the kit began to hoist himself up on the ropes, avoiding the anesthetic and tearing himself down from the suspension. "You're good, ninja. Good enough to catch me well off guard," Tails said while preparing to fight. "But trapping me is going to be a bit harder for you than that!" Without warning, the kit dived at his enemy, entering into battle.

[Now Playing: "Oildale (Leave Me Alone)" by: Korn]

The kit swung around a kick, attempting to hit his target. A swift duck was all the chameleon needed to avoid the kick and he shot his leg upward to strike the kit. Tails back-flipped and avoided the response kick, landing back in his stance. "You are a competent fighter, Miles," Chameleon complimented him while throwing a few shuriken at the kit. "Certainly much better than that echidna guardian."

Tails widened his eyes as he dodged to the side of the shuriken's. "What did you do with Knuckles?" he asked with slight concern as he sprung forward, flipping and attempting to slash at him with his tails.

Chameleon felt the tails whisk by him as he barely dodged out of the way. With such speed and velocity, the kit would've done much more than impact him with his burly tails. "An interesting method of attack, young one," he muttered while launching a fist at him as he landed, sending the kit into a nearby tree. "Too bad you'll need to refine your aim."

The kit stood defiantly though, shaking his head from burry vision in time enough to see a kick coming. He rolled to the side, seeing Chameleon plunge through the tree and completely crush the trunk, leaving the top to fall over. "A swift fighter too, I see," Chameleon mused. In the dust of the crashing tree, he was unable to see Tails flying at him with a kick, and was thusly propelled backward by the force, his feet digging trenches into the ground.

"So, you've beaten Knuckles?" Tails asked while going in for close-combat, throwing punches at his dodging target. "You must be quite the skilled fighter." The kit lunged for an uppercut, but Chameleon only leaned back, avoiding it and planting his hand on the ground, striking a kick into Tails' abdomen, sending him into the air.

"I like to think that I am," Chameleon mused while jumping up to intercept Tails in the air. At the last moment though, Tails' namesakes spun into action and he avoided the lunging strike, kicking him with a fiercely swung heel. Chameleon flipped around, making sure he landed on his feet from the blow. "But I know I'm not the best."

The kit glared at him while dodging a few kunai that were thrown, even catching one out of the air. He examined the traditional knife and smirked back to Chameleon. "Iron-infused carbon-fiber base mineral," he announced. "… Diamond tip from the looks of it. These are some serious tools you're using to take me down." The kit the balanced the kunai in his hand before throwing it back at Chameleon with precision.

Though the reptile assailant dodged to the side, he still felt the blade graze his arm, drawing a drop of blood or two. "Impressive aim, kit. There's more to you than I originally thought," he mused while vanishing from sight.

Tails blinked and looked around suspiciously, turning his body to search for the reptile. It was one detail that escaped him that lead to him taking a harsh blow to the back of the head, sending him off, back into the clearing. He clutched the back of his bleeding head a bit, the one detail about his enemy becoming clear. "A chameleon… I should've known," he murmured while closing his eyes, relying on his naturally astounding sense of hearing.

The wind passed by him as he waited. As he closed his eyes, everything became visible in a new light. A whooshing noise; he dodged to the side. Two kunai landed in the spot he once was in. A whir of sound; he ducked in time to let a shuriken pass over him harmlessly. The stirring of the grass; he snapped his eyes open and spun around, putting a backhanded strike into the block of his assailant.

"Impressive, young fox," Chameleon commended him while reappearing, letting his natural camouflage drop off. The reptile then swung around his leg for a kick, which the kit easily dodged to the side of. Tails then went for a couple of striking combinations, all of which were swiftly blocked by Chameleon. When the kit flung forward another desperate punch, Chameleon simple put up his hand and caught the feeble attempt.

Tails widened his eyes in shock as he saw his fist impact the reptile's palm, simply stopping in its place. Chameleon took his sweet time, drawing out the moment while bending the kit's wrist back, forcing him on the ground. He, however, didn't account for the twin tails the fox had and was reeducated with a swift swat to the side by means of the two spinal appendages.

"You're resourceful, for making use of your mutant second tail," the kit's assailant commented while holding his ribs. "I'll give you that much."

However, when Chameleon glanced back at the kit, he saw only eyes of hatred. He narrowed his own; trying to figure out what had angered the kit so much in the first place. The two glared at each other for a short moment, each for different reasons. "You didn't seem to be this easily angered before, kit," he observed while raising a brow.

The kit flung himself forward with great speed, whipping his tails around and slamming Chameleon into the ground. He stood over the Chameleon, planting his foot right over his chest. "You just have to be messing with me, don't you?" the kit growled before taking the reptile's arms and flinging him into the air.

Chameleon turned around, trying to find the kit that had seemingly disappeared. "You still haven't told me what I—"

He felt a hand grab his arm and he was suddenly suspended in the air. Looking back up, he saw the kit flying in the air, glaring back down at him with malice. "A mutant, am I?" he muttered darkly while tossing him a bit and kicking him in the back, toward the ground. Before Chameleon even hit the earth, Tails flew below him and caught him, throwing him against the ground.

"You don't know how much disrespect I get from that one little word!" he shouted as the reptile. "All these hypocrites trying to tie me down! I do the best I can, and I get no respect! They're all nothing but heretics, feeding off of everything I offer and then asking for more than I can give!"

Chameleon raised his brow to the kit before widening his eyes in realization. Of course; the kit had been given strife early on in life because of his twin tails. To call him a mutant was like taboo. "You know, if you have such a problem with it, then you should—"

"JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" Tails screamed while flinging another punch at Chameleon. With a simple breath, the reptile sidestepped his move and kicked him brought a kick down, putting him in the dirt. Though Tails tried to rolls to his feet, Chameleon planted a foot on his back.

"You are a good fighter, Miles," the reptile ninja commended him. "You're swift fighting skill and fine adaptability surely proves you a better fighter than that echidna. You've become more independent over the years as we've observed, and that is also a good quality for your fighting. However, one little thing brought about your defeat today."

"And pray tell, what is that?" the kit said while struggling against the weight of his assailant.

The chameleon bent low, whispering in his ear, "You're anger." He then knocked the kit in the side of his temple with a slugged fist, effectively rendering him unconscious. As he picked up the kit's unconscious body and walked forward, a small black void appeared before him. He was well aware of where this void would take him, for he'd used it many times before.

He heard the ruffling of grass behind him and he peered back, seeing a tall looking human. He narrowed down the human's basic structure; blue eyes, skinny, ruffled black hair. With a smirk, he spoke to him, "It's been a long time, John."

The man only narrowed his eyes.

"Still as silent and stoic as ever, huh?" he mocked him as he began to step through the gate. "You know, you won't be able to rescue Samantha. Not even if you had some capability of inter-dimensional travel."

John simply glared. Without another word being said, Chameleon stepped through the void, leaving the human to simply wait…