Hello everyone! This didn't come out quite as quick as I hoped, but it's here nonetheless. Shorter than last time, but hopefully this will be enough to sate you for now! Hope you all enjoy!

The chairman of Drachma rubbed his temples as he read the reports from the army's first successful assault on Briggs. "It's as you said." He said as he addressed the figure in the shadows. "We never would have expected to overtake the Northern Wall of Brigs with our current manpower and technology."

"Well, that's what you have me for." A gentleman bowed. He looked normal enough; tall, dressed in a suit and fedora, and sporting a gray mustache. If one looked closely at his shadow, however, one would see a shape with long ears and a horn. "It's just a matter of having the right tools to accomplish your goals."

"Still, I don't understand." The chairman said. "You have no reason to help us. You have nothing to gain."

The gentleman smiled. "I do have a reason."

"Then what is it?"

"You don't trust me?" the gentleman asked as he ran his fingers across the desk.

"It's hard to trust a man without a motive." The chairman answered affirmatively.

The gentleman sighed. "I simply want to help men of power, such as yourself, take what is rightfully theirs." Looking at the chairman, he could see he wasn't convinced. "Still not good enough?" The chairman didn't notice his partner's hand glow green behind him. "You can't afford to back down now. Your political career; your family. All of it is on the line now. Victory is within your reach." The chairman blinked. He felt rather…strange. He couldn't put his finger on it. But he was compelled to listen to his benefactor. "…Push on forward." The gentleman said.

"Yes, I shall press forward!" the chairman shouted as he stood up.

"So, what now?"

"No more caution. I will send word to start a full-scale invasion!" the chairman declared as he briskly walked out the door.

"An excellent choice." The gentleman agreed. As the chairman left, he smiled. His form flickered, revealing the composite form of Ixis Naugus. "Take the army of Amestris…and make it mine."

"You seem very specific on the materials, young man." The cashier of the general store said as he brought the cost up at the register. "Just what are you working on?"

Al chuckled. "That's my little secret."

"Okay. That will be 293 Cenz." He said.

"Great. Ed!" Al called.

"I've got you!" Ed quickly wrote out the check; though his research account was meant for military purposes, he could use it for other things as well. If nothing else, this was an opportunity to tell Al what was up. He wrote out one check to hand to the cashier. Quickly, he handed the other to Al: ROBOTNIK WATCHING US. BE CAREFUL. Al noticed the paper and looked at it. Looking to Ed, the later could see he understood.

"Hello, young man?"

"Yes!" Al said as he turned back to him sharply.

"Have a nice day." He smiled.

The two alchemists nodded back, and walked off with their purchase. As they walked down the street, the two looked at each other wordlessly. "This just got complicated…" Al thought.

"Sold out!?" Winry shouted as the brothers broke the news to her. Most of those materials were common!

"Yeah." Ed chuckled, shrugging. "Sorry. Guess they're going through hard times."

Winry sighed as she palmed her face. "It's okay." Sally waved nervously. "We can wait!"

Sonic groaned as he rolled on the floor like a ball, bouncing off. Even Tails shook his head; the only thing driving them crazy was Sonic being cooped up himself.

Truthfully, the brothers hid their purchase in the streets for later. With Robotnik watching them, now did not seem like a good time to allow them to go out…

Knuckles tried his best to sleep. He groaned as Sonic was continuing to mutter in his sleep. Knuckles growled as he placed his hands over his ears. If you were to ask him why he would never have Sonic as a roommate, he would give you lots of reasons. He just never imagined Sonic literally going crazy being one of them. The biggest mystery in the room was how everyone else was managing to sleep through this! Knuckles groaned as he got up. "Might as well have a glass of water…" As he got up, he noticed Al standing at the doorway, about to leave. "Hey." He groaned. "Forgot you don't sleep."

"Yeah." Al said. "I'm just going for a walk; I do it occasionally when everyone else is asleep and there's nothing else to do."

Knuckles nodded. He then turned to Sonic still muttering and rolling like a schizophrenic. "I'd imagine we're not helping matters either."

Al shrugged. "It is rather…painful, to watch." Al then opened the door. "Well, good luck." He waved.

"Thanks." Knuckles muttered. Drinking his water, he watched as Sonic seemingly continued to lose his mind. As much as he didn't like the hedgehog, he did feel sorry for him watching him in this state He then noticed Tails huddled in the corner, also watching him. "Can't sleep either, huh?" Knuckles whispered.

"I don't know how the others can stand this." Tails muttered. "That's a mystery not even I get."

Knuckles agreed. They glanced at the mad hedgehog again, and eventually Knuckles hissed. "Dang it, now I'm never going to sleep." Looking out the window, Knuckles only saw one solution. "That's it. We're taking him out."

"But-"Tails began to protest.

"But nothing!" Knuckles shushed him. "Sooner or later, he's going to make us go bonkers too! I ain't having that! If we have to put up with Sally chewing us out later, so be it!" Nudging him forward, he said "Come on! Help him up!" Both mobians grabbed him by the arms as they supported him up, quickly making their way to the window; there wasn't much of a breeze that night, so no one was stirred awake. "Alright. Let's go over to that building over there." The two flew with him in tow, landing a few blocks away and well above the street.

With Sonic still going crazy, Tails tried to talk sense into him. Leaning in close to him, Tails asked "Sonic? Can you hear- "

"Thanks, buddy!" Sonic said, patting his shoulder as he suddenly snapped back to his old self.

"Huh?" Tails asked. "You're…you're cured?"

Knuckles only clenched his fists. "…OR…" he growled. "…you were faking it the whole time!"

"Bingo!" Sonic winked to Knuckles, pointing at him. Knuckles suddenly lost it and socked him across face. "Oof!" Sonic said as he stumbled back. Rubbing his jaw, he said "Okay. I guess I deserved that."

Knuckles sighed. "Come on. I guess we should head back…"

"Whoa there!" Sonic said, grabbing his shoulder. "You want to be cooped up again!?"

Knuckles stopped, and sighed. "Well, no…"

"Then let's hang out here!" Sonic said. "It's dark out, and everyone except Al is in bed! Come on, let's have some fun!"

"But Sally…" Tails began to say.

"Hey, you let me worry about Sal." Sonic said, rubbing the fox's fur.

"Will you?" Knuckles asked sarcastically.

Sonic sweat dropped at his statement. "Uh, well…I'll figure something out!" Sonic waved him off. "Come on! I need to go for an evening run!"

Knuckles sighed. "Fine! But we're keeping a low profile!" the echidna warned him.

Al had a lot to think about…and a lot to do as he walked the streets. With Robotnik spying on them, their situation became much more dangerous than they could have ever imagined. He had to make sure that he didn't tip off Robotnik to what he really left the apartment for, saying a half-truth out loud. He had spent all morning planting transmutation circles in areas he and his brother frequented. He hoped he was subtle enough; if Robotnik found out, this could go very badly. Once he finished, he saw the sun begin to rise over the horizon. As he made his way back inside, he looked at everyone inside. Ed and the rest of the mobians were sleeping in various corners, Ed snoring away on his couch (Winry took the bedroom), St John leaning against a corner and Sally and Bunnie sharing a chair. Al hoped Sonic and Knuckles managed to calm down…and looking around, he saw the two plus Tails were no where in sight. "ED!" Al yelled loud enough for the few people outside to hear him.

"Uh, wha-?" Ed groggily mumbled.

"Ed, wake up! Sonic, Tails and Knuckles are gone!" he yelled as he shook him awake.

"WHAT!?" Ed yelled, shooting up.

"Sonic is what!?" Sally yelled as she woke with a start.

"What's going on!?" Winry shouted as she jolted out of the bedroom, dressed in a baggy t-shirt.

"Sonic, that idiot!" Ed yelled as he ran for his pants. "He just went and bolted in the middle of the night!" he growled as he pulled them up.

"Idiots." St. John shrugged.

"We better go 'in get them." Bunnie agreed.

"Hold on there-!" Ed yelled, as he pulled his coat on. "You can't just- "

"We have to!" Sally clenched her fist. "Whenever a Freedom Fighter is at risk, we all must put ourselves on the line for them!"

"Careful, luv." St. John cautioned her. "We lost our three best mobians in terms of getting around. Bunnie can't take us everywhere. We can't just run around out there like they can."

"You're right; she can't." Sally agreed. "Which is why you're going with Al."

"What!?"

"Just do it, St. John!" Bunnie pushed him towards the armored boy. "We need to split up!"

St. John sighed. "Fine, fine. You do whatever you think is best, princess." Geoffrey reluctantly agreed. Al lowered his hands as St. John helped himself inside of Al's body.

"I know this is a huge risk, but we need to cover as much ground as possible." Reaching into her vest, she pulled out a small device. "Here!" she said, placing it on Al's body. "This is a homing device! If we find something, Bunnie will come looking for you! Got it?"

"Got it!" Al answered.

"Okay, you two head east! We'll check the west end!" Ed said.

Winry quickly joined them, having dressed in her usual attire but letting her hair flow down, finding no time to do her ponytail. "Let's hurry! Out of all our strange new friends, those three are the most likely to cause a ruckus!"

"Right!" The three humans dashed out the door, while Bunnie carried Sally out the window and quickly flew over to the roof across the street.

"Don't ya worry, Sally girl! We'll find them!"

"Yes." Sally agreed. Her calm demeanor suddenly changed as she clenched her fist and her eyes turned a little more crazy. "AND WHEN WE FIND HIM, I'M GOING TO KILL HIM!" she shouted as her voice dropped a few octaves.

Bunnie backed away as she practically saw flames erupt behind the chipmunk. "Aw lord, Sugar Hog! I'll be praying for your soul…"

"Woo Hoo!" Sonic yelled as he quickly ran from rooftop to rooftop. It was still early in the morning, so barely anyone was out, plus he moved fast enough to run out of anyone's eyesight if someone heard his yells of joy. The architecture and overall make of Central was nowhere near as complex as Robotropolis, but it was still good to get outside, and Sonic intended to make the most of this.

"Yes!" Tails flew close behind him, enjoying the feeling of the wind in his face.

"Hey, where's Knuckles?" Sonic asked. Knuckles then glided up close to them. Though he was not as expressive as the other two, Sonic could tell by the grin on his face that he too was having fun. "Ah, there he is!"

Finally, they came close to the outskirts of the city. Both the buildings and the streets became smaller, and people were crowded closer together. Sonic reluctantly came to a stop as the others joined him. Even he had to admit to continue further was too risky. They could go for another round any which other way, but the hedgehog felt he had seen enough of the city for today. "Well, we've reached the end." Sonic sighed.

"Come on." Knuckles gripped him by the shoulder, pointing backwards. "We've stayed out way late. We have to face the music sooner or later".

Sonic's eyes widened. "Music…right…" He began to sweat.

Knuckles' face just soured. "You're really not ready to deal with her, are you?"

Sonic gulped as he gave out a barely audible answer. "Nope…"

Knuckles palmed himself. "If you're not ready, what am I going to do?!" he growled.

"What's wrong?" Tails asked. "We've gotten on Sally's bad side before. She gets angry, chews us out, and that's the end."

Sonic shook his head. "Tails, let me tell you about the first time I went on a mission…"

"I remember. Sally just formed the club, and you took off against Robotnik on your own before she could even make an official mission. Sally was really mad."

"Yeah…what you don't know is that afterwards she scratched me pretty bad." Sonic explained.

"Ouch." Tails winced.

"And then she flip-kicked me." Sonic added.

Knuckles winced. "Gee, why does that sound familiar." Knuckles had gotten kicked by Sally TWICE before, although in Sally's defense the second time he was a bit out of his mind.

"Rosie gave her a stern talking to afterwards, but still, I was careful about getting on her bad side since." Sonic finished. Tails looked at him questionably. "I was A BIT more careful." Sonic corrected himself, to which Tails nodded.

Shaking his head, Knuckles pulled on Sonic's arm. "Come on. We're in for a screaming at least. Best to get it over with."

Sonic sighed. "Yeah." Turning around, he gulped. "I know I'm not the one to usually suggest this…but would it be alright if we took our time?"

Knuckles nodded. "Smartest thing you said all day." He agreed, as they made their way back by simply walking, only jumping when they needed to.

Elicia Hughes kicked her legs up as she drew on her coloring book in the living room of her mother's apartment. Being a 3 year-old child, she had very few cares in the world. "Morning, sweetie." Her mother, Gracia, came to her with a cup of coffee (for herself, of course). "Whatcha doing there?" she said, picking her up and hugging her.

"Look Mommy!" the toddler exclaimed as she held her drawings up. "I drew a picture!" Gracia was about to gasp in joy at her daughter's creation, but saddened inside upon seeing it. "See?" Elicia asked, oblivious to her mother's pause. "It's you, me, and Daddy!" she said, pointing at the stick figures bearing their resemblance.

It took a while for Gracia to answer. "It's…it's nice, sweetie." She looked to an actual family photo on the desk, where her late husband, Maes Hughes was with them. It was a hard time for them both, learning he had fallen in the line of duty. Being a young child, Elicia managed to get on with her life quite quickly. For an adult who knew the toll of deceased loved ones, it was harder. It was harder still for Gracia, as her husband's killer was never caught. "Listen, I've got breakfast ready! You hungry?" she said, making sure to change the subject before her daughter caught on.

"You bet, mommy!" Elicia hugged her.

"Okay! Let's go; time's a wasting!" she said as she carried her daughter into the kitchen, the drawing falling by the picture.

Little did they know, their apartment was being observed by a third party, seated in a car parked across from their building. "That's where his family lives?" one asked.

"Yup. That's the one." Another confirmed.

"Then we're good to go." The third man began to clench his fists. "I'll get my revenge against Hughes, one way or another!"

Annnd...that will be all for today. I hope to bring the next part out quicker!