Next Generation

It has been 19 years since the final fall of Robotnik. Planet Mobius is finally starting to heal from all of his destruction. The Freedom Fighters have all gotten on with their lives, living in peaceful times. However with Robotnik gone, it only leaves a hole, for which a new evil can enter.

Chapter 1: Unknown evil

In a hidden underground base somewhere on Mobius, a figure sits in the shadows watching multiple monitors of Sonic and the Freedom Fights in action. "I can’t believe it, all this data, all this knowledge, and that fat fool failed to finish them off. Oh, what was that?!" said the man after watching a video of Sonic getting out of a trap. "You had him; all you had to do was pull the trigger! I swear, the doc was an idiot."

"That’s where you come in, right sire?" Behind the man was a humanoid dressed in red and black armor. "Where Robotnik failed you will correct?"

"Correct, Hunter. Robotnik had dozens of chances to finish off Sonic and win, but he was too determined to see him as a robot serving him. I will not be so soft." said the man. "Robotnik did have a strong foot hold, and his robots were very impressive. So impressive I have taken a few of his ideas and taken them to the next level. Are my new "Enforcers" ready?

"Yes sire. Your new army is awaiting the order to move out. We have a fix on all three targets, give the order and they will be yours."

"Proceed, but send only one squad, to Downunda. I don’t wish to tip my hand just yet." Hunter put his fists across his chest, bowed, and left the room. "Soon Hedgehog, very soon. I will teach you pain, that Robotnik never could even on his best day." Laughter filled the room as dozens of large silver Robots, led by Hunter, headed outside.

* * *

Several Hours later in the forests of Downunda, a familiar Two-tailed Fox, now all grown up, is making his way back home. The final battle with Robotnik was spread throughout the entire planet. Tails had once again found himself on Downunda, fighting with his friends "The Downunda Freedom Fighters". Just before the war ended, Tailed finally admitted his feelings to Barbe Koala. A few years later, he left Knothole to follow his heart. Downunda had healed up completely and then some. Thanks to the ARK incident, Tails had discovered Chaos emeralds could be created, and base on that ability, he had helped Downunda build a large capitol city almost as beautiful as old Mobotropolis. 

Tails had reached the city limits; he was in no hurry so he walked. The people knew him quite well, everyone waving hello or saying "Hi" as he past. It had been about 3 weeks since he had been home. When he got home, he slowly opened the door, but before he could say anything he was almost immediately tackled.

Tails found himself on his back with a young two-tailed, blue eyed, fox clinging his chest. "Daddy, your home! You’re finally home!" Tails smiled and hugged the young fox back. "Sorry I’ve been gone so long kiddo, I’m glad to see you too." From inside the house, a female voice was heard. "Alright Allen, that’s enough. Let your father up." The young fox got off of Tails and helped him up. "Sorry dad, I’m just happy your back." Tails bent down and lifted Allen up onto his shoulder. "It’s ok son, I deserved that for being gone so long."

"That’s not all you deserve." Tails looks over to see Barbe standing there with her arms crossed. "Oh really" said Tails "What else do I deserve?" Barbe uncrosses her arms and walks up to Tails. "Just this." Barbe gives Tails a quick kiss. Allen makes a face and hops down. "Ewww." Tails looked down at Allen. "You’re young, you’ll understand one day. But right now I’m looking forward to a nice quiet day at home."

Suddenly there was a huge explosion from the back of the house. The shockwave knocked everyone off of their feet. Tails grabbed on to Allen to shield him from debris. Tails got up and went to the back to check the damage. He found himself staring down four energy gun barrels from two large silver robots. "And I thought Insurance salesmen were pushy."

"Well, we like to try and make a good first impression." said Hunter leaning against what was left of the wall. "You did that. Now who are you and what are you doing in my home?!" Tails tried to take a step forward, but was stopped when one of the robots fired just in front of his foot. Barbe came up behind Tails after the shot was fired. "What going on here?" Allen poked his head from around the corner. "We’ve come to make a point, your coming with us." Tails and Barbe got into defensive positions. "Fat chance of that happening." said Tails. Hunter raised his hand up. "You talk like you have a choice." Hunter snapped his fingers and another Enforcer robot came down from the ceiling behind Allen. Before Allen had a chance to run, he was grabbed by the enforcer. "HEY! Let go! HELP!" Tails and Barbe turned around and started to help Allen, but one of the enforcers near Hunter fired and cut them off. "Don’t even try it." said Hunter as he made his way between Tails, Barbe and the enforcer holding Allen. "We’re the ones holding all the cards."

Everyone then heard the sound of metal clanking metal just before the two enforcer’s heads exploded. Outside, Walt Wallaby was standing a few feet away, tossing one of his "Bomberangs" up and down in his hand. "Sorry mate, we always carry an Ace up our sleeves." Tails quickly jumped kicked Hunter in the chest as Barbe went for the third enforcer and cut its arm off, releasing Allen. She grabbed him and dove out of the way as Walt threw the other Bomberang straight into the robot chest destroying its upper body. Tails turned to Barbe and said "Get Allen out of here, Walt and I can handle this." Barbe ran out the front with Allen in her arms. Hunter pointed his right arm at her and a energy gun popped out of the top. "No one leaves without permission." Before hunter could fire, his arm was hit by another bomberang followed by a flying double punch from Tails. Hunter fought his way to his feet and look at his arm, smoking and sparking from the blast. He looked at Tails and Walt and shouted "This isn’t over!" Hunter hit a button on his other arm and he disappeared. Tails and Walt quickly went out front.

"You two alright?" said Tails "We’re ok, Allen wasn’t hurt." Said Barbe as Allen left her side and jumped into Tails arms. "Daddy, I was so scared." "It’s ok, son." said Tails as he looked back to Walt. "Thanks a lot Walt. We owe you one." "It’s alright mate, but what do you think that was all about?" Tails got a determined look on his face. "I don’t know, but I’m going to find out."

Chapter 2: Silent Attackers

An hour after the attack on Downunda, Hunter returns to the hidden base of his master. He finds him in his main chamber with a map of Mobius on his computer screen with 7 locations flashing. "My lord," said Hunter as he walked back in holding his arm. "I failed my lord, the robots were easily destroyed." Laughter filled the room at hunter’s comments. "Of course you failed, I was expecting you to. It wasn’t the Enforcers job to get him." Hunter stepped back in confusion. "But sire, if it wasn’t the enforcers’ job, then whose job is it?" A hand came from the dark and pointed towards the far wall. Hunter looked over to see three figure dressed in black. "Sire, with all due respects, I thought there were six in that clan? I only see three."

"The other three are being lead by Gades, to the floating Island, where they will get target 3." Hunter turned to his master. "And what of targets 1 and 2?" The master simply replied "don’t worry about them, I left a little gift for Tails with one of those bots and knowing him he’s already found it. In fact, I wager right now, he’s already packing for his trip to…"

* * *

"KNOTHOLE!" Barbe was shocked as Tails said he was leaving again. "Why in the world do you have to go there?!" Tails was in the main living room, putting a few items into a backpack. "Barbe, we were just attacked by a bunch of robots, and judging by this plate I found, I think I know who sent them. I need to go to Knothole and warn Sonic, this could be trouble." Tails threw the pack over his shoulder and started for the door, but Barbe quickly stepped in his way. "And what about Allen? You promised you’d spend some time with him."

"If this is who I think it is, it will be dangerous. I don’t want him hurt. It’s best if you two stay." Tails tries to go around, but Barbe cuts him off again. "You forget, they’ve already been here. And last I checked, knothole was still somewhat hidden. It would be a lot safer there then it will be here." Tails looked down and thought about what she said. "You’re right. Ok, you win. I’ll take him along. Where’d he get to, the usual?" Barbe nodded and pointed outside. 

Tails went out and walked to a tall tree near the house. Allen was laying on one of the branches with a troubled look on his face. "Hey kiddo, you ready to go?" Allen looked down in surprise. "I’m waiting on you." said Tails in a sonic pose. Allen’s face lit up with excitement as he leaped from the branch, slide down the tree and ran into the house. About 5 minutes later he came out with a small pack on. They walked to a storage hanger where Tails had been keeping The Tornado. Tails got it out and started the engine. Barbe came up as Allen got in the plane. "You two be careful now." Tails smiled "We will, don’t worry." Allen looked back and waved good bye. "Bye mom." The plane sped up and took off, north east towards Knothole.

* * *

At the same time, on Angel Island, a small ship lands on the edge. The door opens and a tall, muscular bull steps out. "Perfect, the cloak kept us from being noticed. Remember, the master wants the target ALIVE." After the bull got done, three spider-ninja’s stepped out of the craft. "You don’t need to worry about that, Gades. We’ll do the job. You better come through with the payment." The ninjas began making there way into the forest.

Meanwhile, on the edge of the city of Echidopolis, Knuckles was out with his daughter Lara-Su. "Where are we going, papa?" said young Lara as they walked through the woods. "Mighty and Espio are waiting for us. We have a surprise for you Lara." A few minutes later the two of them come to a small open area with a 12 foot stone pillar in the center. Mighty and Espio were at the base talking when Knuckles walked up. Mighty turned to see him coming and said "It’s about time you two got here. I could have learned to fly myself by now. Oops." Lara’s face lit up with excitement. "Fly!? You’re going to teach me to fly?!" Knuckles gave an ugly look to Mighty. "Don’t get too jumpy Lara, We’re going to start you off with "Gliding", but yes, I did bring you out here to start your flying lessons." Lara jumped into Knuckles chest. "Thank you papa."

Espio leaned against the tower and said "Your mother already teaching you to shoot, you might as well learn a few things from your old man." Knuckles turned around towards Espio. "Now don’t you start Espio. Well Lara, shall we get started?" The two of them began climbing up the tower; Mighty and Espio began watching as they reached the top. "You think she’ll make it?" said Mighty. "No one makes the first jump, you know that." Espio replied.

At the top Knuckles kneeled down and began his instructions. "Now Lara, you’ve shown great potential so far. Your power has already begun to show itself, you’ll do fine. Now, all guardians have a connection to the chaos emerald’s powers. All of our powers come from that energy, including flight. Basically all you need to do is tell that energy to hold you up. I want you to close your eyes." Lara stood still and closed her eyes. "Now, do you feel that force, that pull?" Lara nods. "That is the energy, now concentrate that power beneath you, and it will hold you up." The wind begins to blow slightly as Lara trembles from concentrating. After a few minutes begins to hover off the tower top. She opens her eyes in amazement. "I’m flying!" Lara suddenly drops down. "Well, not quite Lara." said Knuckles with a smile on his face. "But I’m proud of you. You’ve gotten step one down faster then anyone else. Now for the next part, Gliding. I want you to jump off this little tower here and glide down to the ground." Lara looks at her father. "But I’ll fall." "No you won’t." said Knuckles. "I’ll be here to catch you, and if I miss then Mighty or Espio will catch you. Just concentrate and you’ll do fine." Lara steps to the edge and looks down. Nervously she takes a gulp and a deep breath. Lara jumps off the edge and begins to float down to the ground. When she realized she was still up, she began to circle the tower. Lara finally got on the ground and turned to see Mighty’s and Espio’s reaction only to find them laying on the ground.

"PAPA!" Lara screamed as Knuckles jumped down and looked over his friends. "They’ve been knocked out cold. Who did this? WHERE ARE YOU?!" From behind a deep voice said "Now, now, there is no need to shout." Knuckles snapped around and got into a fighting stance. "Who are you? What do you want?" "I’m called Gades," he said holding a large battle axe "and I’ve come for you head." Knuckles stepped to the side, in between Gades and Lara. "Lara, get out of here. Go find your mother, NOW!" Lara ran off into the woods towards the city. Gades took this opportunity to get in a shot and charged. "Like your friends can help! They’ll never get here in time!" Shouted Gades, as he began swinging at Knuckles.

Lara, at the same time, was running back home as fast as she could when she was suddenly stopped and thrust backwards a few feet. She found herself all tangled up in a bunch of white strands, she tried to pull herself free, but the strands stuck to her. Lara then realized what she was stuck in, a web. "LET ME GO!" she screamed, trying to pull herself out. From one of the trees a small black ball hit the ground near her and emitted a purple smoke. She began to cough as the smoke surrounded her, and she passed out.

Back at the clearing, Knuckles was doing his best to fend off the huge bull, Gades, but Gades kept on coming. Knuckles finally took to the air. Gades just laughed and said "Don’t think your safe up there. I don’t fight alone." Before Knuckles could respond he was tied up by webbing and fell to the ground. Knuckles looked up and saw a spider-ninja up on top of the tower. His view of the ninja was cut off by the axe of Gades. "Now, I claim your head. As I promised." Gades brought his axe over his head as knuckles struggled to get free. Gades started to come down, but his axe was shot from his hand before the blade made contact. Gades looked over and saw Julie-Su standing on the end of the woods with her blaster aimed at him. "Not today, ground beef." Julie began firing at Gades rapidly. Gades quickly grabbed his axe and ran into the woods, shouting back to the ninja "Come on, we’ve done our part!"

The ninja swung away as Julie ran up to Knuckles and cut him free. At the same time Mighty and Espio come to. "You alright?" asked Julie. Knuckles replied "Yes, thanks to you. Where’s Lara?" "I don’t know. I was on my way to check on you two when I heard her scream." said Julie. Knuckles quickly got up and ran into the woods. "Lara? LARA!?" After about a minute, Knuckles came across what was left of the web Lara got stuck in, only know there was a hole cut out of it. "Oh no, Lara. Gades, you’ve just made the biggest mistake. The mistake of making me mad."

Chapter 3: Reunion.

Night had fallen over Mobius by the time Tails made it close to Knothole. It was about 10 minutes later when Tails finally reached the old Knothole landing field. He brought the plane down and made as soft a landing as possible, not to wake Allen, who had fallen asleep over the ocean. Tails suddenly noticed he wasn’t alone. Two guards came up to the plane both of them aiming spears at him. "Step out of the plane very slowly." One guard said. Tails didn’t know them, so neither did they know him, so he did as they asked. "This is the airfield of Knothole, who are you to just come out of the blue and land like that? Before Tails could answer he was cut off by a female voice with a southern tone. "That’s enough, now what in Tar’ nation is going on here?" Tails instantly knew who it was. "Sorry, Mrs. D’ Coolette, but this strange fox just landed without permission." one guard responded as Bunnie came walking up. "Fox you say?" Bunnie looked behind the two guards at Tails, who was now standing in a sonic position. "Sugar-Tails?" asked Bunnie, Tails simply smiled and nodded. "Sugar-Tails! It is you!" Bunnie ran up to Tails and hugged him "It’s been too long, how ya been suga?"

"I’ve been just fine Bunnie. I’ve missed you guys, it’s been way too long." replied Tails. One of the guards spoke up with a confused look on his face. "Ma’am, you know this fox?" "Of course" replied Bunnie "This is Tails, the best friend of Sonic." The two guards quickly stiffened up. "Our apologies sir, we’ve never seen your face." Tails nodded in respect as the two guard began to leave. "Why didn’t you send some kind of word you we’re coming sugar? We could have had a welcoming party like no other planned for when you got here." Tails simply answered "I needed to keep a low profile, I think we have problems. But it can wait till tomorrow. You mind if I stay at your place tonight, I want to keep it a surprise I’m back." Bunnie smiled, he was the same old Tails. "Of course Sugar. Me and Ant have plenty of room." "Can it hold two?" asked Tails as he went back to the plane. Bunnie was confused, she had no idea why he’d say something like that until she saw Tails come up to her holding Allen in his arms. "Aw sugar, he’s so cute. Just like you were." Tails blushed as they headed towards Knothole.

* * *

Morning broke over the horizon. The entire kingdom began to awaken with activity. In the D’ Coolette home, young Allen Prower awoke in a room he had never seen. As he got up, he could hear voices from the other side of the door. Allen carefully peeked into the room and saw his father talking with two others people. Tails glanced over and spotted Allen. "Morning son, I wasn’t expecting you up so early. Don’t be shy; these are some old friends of mine. This is Bunnie and Antoine, guys this is my son, Allen." "Mornin suga’, yawl hungry?" "Y-Yes please" Allen nervously replied. Bunnie fixed him some cereal and sat down next to Tails. "So tell me suga, what’s so important that yawl have to fly out here in the middle of the night?" "Oi, zees not like yous to drop in like thees." Antoine said as he sat down. "It will probably be easier if you listen in when I talk with Sonic, but I’ll say this, something’s going on, and I don’t think its good." 

A few minutes later Tails and Allen were on there way to meet up with Sonic, but they were stopped by a familiar voice. "What do you get when you mix a two-tailed fox and a pretty pink hedgehog?" Tails let out a laugh and replied, "You get the two wildest students in Knothole High history." Tails turned around to see Amy standing behind him. "How ya been Amy?" "I’ve been well, and you should know, we have competition for that title." said Amy. "Oh really, who would that be?" Tails asked. Amy smiled and replied, "You won’t believe this but its, Kit and Kat." Tails was totally shocked and Amy’s remark. "The Hershey Twins?!" Amy nodded. "Man, that’s unexpected. We’ll have to talk later Amy, I’ve really got to talk to Sonic, we can catch up later, okay?" The two waved bye and Tails finally got to Knothole Castle. "Miles Prower, to see King Hedgehog." "Do you have an appointment?" asked the guard at the gate. "I won’t need one, Sonic would stop the planet to see me." replied Tails with a smirk on his face. "Very well, this way please." The guard led them inside. While they we’re walking, Allen tugged on Tails. "Dad, do you really know the king and queen?" asked Allen. "Yes son, I’ve known them since I was younger then you." replied Tails.

Inside the main chamber, Sonic and Sally where handling some business when sonic let out a large sigh. "Something wrong Sonic?" asked Sally. "Kinda, I’m just bored. Don’t get me wrong Sal, I like the peace with no Robotnik, but there are times I wouldn’t give for some action." said Sonic. The guard that was leading Tails came into the room at that time. "Pardon your majesty, but a "Miles Prower" is here to see you. Do you know this gentleman?" Sonic instantly sprang up. "TAILS! YOU BET I KNOW HIM! LET’EM IN, LET’EM IN!" The guard left as Tails walked in the room. Allen stayed behind him. Sonic sped up to Tails and they began high-fiving each other. "It’s been a long time Sonic." said Tails. "No kidding, its been what, four years. That WAY to long." said Sonic as Sally came up behind him and gave Tails a hug. "How you been Tails?" "It’s good to see you again Aunt Sally. I’ve been well, Barbe says Hello." Tails replied as Sonic spotted Allen hiding behind Tails. "Hey Tails, have you got a mini-you hiding behind your back?" Sonic said joking. "No, come on Allen it’s ok, don’t be shy." said Tails as he helped Allen into sight. "Sonic, Sally, this is Allen Prower. My son." Sonic and Sally both looked in shock. Last time Tails talked to them, he never mentioned he had a son. "Oh Tails, he’s adorable." said Sally as she knelt down in front of Allen. Allen looked at the floor blushing. "Hello Allen." she said. Nervously Allen lifted his head and said. "H-Hello Queen Hedgehog." Sally rubbed him on the head and replied "You don’t have to call me Queen, "Sally" will do fine. How old are you?" Allen started counting his fingers. "Six and a half." he said. "I don’t get it," said Sonic "last time you talked to us he would have been about 2, why didn’t you mention him before?" "I wanted it to be a surprise." Tails said with a smile on his face. "Well you certainly got one." Sally said as she got up.

At that time a young female hedgehog walked in from the back. "Dad, is everything alright? I heard you yelling. Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you had company" Tails looked over and saw a Young blue female hedgehog with redish-brown hair, in Sally’s style, green eyes and long legs. Sally turned to her and said. "Everything’s ok honey, your father was just excited that’s all. An old friend is visiting. Tails you remember our daughter Alicia, don’t you?" "Of course, she was barely able to walk when I last saw her, but I remember. Hello Alicia, its good to see you again." said Tails. Alicia came into the room and joined the reunion. Tails looked at Allen and then back to Alicia and said. "Princess Alicia... this is my son..." Alicia bowed slightly before the two Kitsunes showing respect and looked at them. 2 tailed foxes. "Your son Mr.Prower????" She asked "Yes. I hope you two will become good friends..." Alicia smiled at the boy kitsune. "My names Alicia... what’s yours?" Allen paused for a second and answered. "I’m Allen." Alicia smiled and held out her hand. "Do you wanna go out and play?" Allen looked up at Tails, silently asking if it was alright. Tails gave a nod and Allen took Alicia’s hand. "Yeah" he said excited "Come on." Alicia and Allen ran out the door with the three parents looking on. "I think you started something." said Sonic. "Now what’s so important that you have to come all the way here, without any kind of notice, and bring your son along?"

Chapter 4: Ransom

While the kids went outside, Sonic, Tails and Sally went into a meeting room. After a few minutes Antoine and Bunnie entered. Tails took off the pack he was carrying and placed it on the table. "I’m sorry to be the barer of bad news," he started "But I’m afraid we have problems. Yesterday my family was attacked by a group of robots, they are ok, no one was hurt, but I found something might I thought you guys had to see." Tails reached into his pack and pulled out a piece of metal. He placed on the table and slid it to sonic. Sonic caught the piece and looked at it, his eyes widen when he saw the piece. On the metal piece was the unmistakable mark of Doctor Robotnik, however this piece also has a large "E" painted on top of it. "No way! It can’t be Ro-BUTT-nik, he’s gone, his program was deleted years ago." snapped Sonic. Sally stood up and replied "We know Sonic, we were all there, remember?" "We all know it can’t be eggman," said Tails. "But only problem is, we don’t know who it is." 

The doors to the meeting room suddenly burst open. In the door frame stood Knuckles with about 3 guards on the floor behind him. "You need to tell your men more about me, Sonic." Sonic stood up. "Knuckles! It’s ok, he’s cool. Knuckles what are you doing here?" Knuckles walked in the room and slapped the table. "Someone has kidnapped my daughter, Lara-Su. I was given instructions to come here and wait for more. I don’t know who they are so I can’t go after them yet, but the weird thing is, they said they were after me." Knuckle’s words made Tails remember something, the one leading the attack on him said the same thing, but the only one they went for was Allen. "Same thing happened to me,’ said Tails "The guy said he wanted Barbe and myself but they went after my Son. I think they are the real targets, not us, but the kids." Sonic breathed a sigh of relief "Well if that’s the case, we should be safe here, Knothole is still hidden. These guys can’t know where it is. But we’ll help you get your daughter back my friend." Sally then got a glance of some leftover webbing in knuckle’s dreadlocks. "Knuckles where did you get that? "She cautiously asked, pointing at the webbing. Knuckles grabbed the webbing and pulled it out. "Oh, the punks had some weird spider-like ninja on their side, it tied me up in this junk, I’ve been pulling it out all day." Sally instantly got scared and turned to Sonic. "Sonic, they have the arach-ninjas on their side, they know where knothole is…"Sonic cut her off. "Cause they’ve been here before. Come on Tails, we gotta find the kids!" Sonic, Tails and Knuckles took off as Sally ordered the guards to place the castle on high alert and to help find Alicia and Allen.

Outside, Alicia had dragged Allen to an open field covered in flowers, near the back of Knothole, that she likes to play in. The two of them began to play a simple game of tag, in which Allen was losing badly. "Aw come on Alicia," Allen said panting, "Who am I suppose to tag you when I can’t even keep up with you?" Alicia was running around at sub-sonic speed and came to a stop. "I’m sorry, I get it from my father. He’s always been a speed demon, and I can see why, it’s so cool. How about we do something else?" "Like what?" But before Alicia could reply a voice was heard behind them. "How about you two just come with us." Allen and Alicia quickly spun around to see Hunter standing behind them with 3 arach-ninja’s behind him. "It would be much easier for all of us if you did." Hunter smirked. 

Alicia took Allen’s arm and tried to make a run for it. They didn’t get very far before a web net was shot over them by one of the spiders. Alicia, getting all tangled up, fell to the ground and the two of them began to struggle to get free. However they were unable to get anywhere, the web was just too sticky. "Now, didn’t I say it would have been easier?" Hunter laughed as he knelt down next to them. "You there, stop! Release those children!" Hunter looked up and saw three guards heading towards them, each with their sword drawn. Hunter smiled under his mask and said "Take care of the children, I’ll handle these jokers." Hunter leaped in the air and landed in front of the guards. One tried to rush him, but Hunter side-stepped out of the way, drew a energy sword from his back and slashed at the guard as he passed. The other two looked on in shock as the first dropped to the ground. Hunter looked at the other two. "Next please." Both charged at him but Hunter was two fast. He did two slashes at one guard and a third at the second, cutting his sword in half. Hunter quickly stabbed him in the shoulder. As he shouted in pain and dropped to his knees, Hunter got closer. "You will survive this, only to deliver a message to your king." Hunter got right next to him and whispered in his ear.

While Hunter was having fun, the spider moved in on the kids. "Can’t you cut us out of this?" asked Allen "I can try." Alicia replied and began to do a sonic spin. She began to cut a few threads but one of the spiders shot a web line into her spin. Alicia was stopped all tied up. Two of them continued to wrap her up and the third moved to Allen. It pointed his hand at him and was about to start, when Allen was able to sit up cause of the threads Alicia cut and bit the spiders hand. The spider clinched in pain, pulled out a weapon and hit Allen in the back of the head, knocking him out.

Hunter finished with the guard and saw the spider hit Allen. Hunter pointed at the one who hit him. A small laser gun extended from his upper forearm and fired hitting the spider in the head. "I told you! Alive and Unharmed! Get the kids, we’re leaving." Hunter walked passed the dead spider and looked back at the other two. "My lord doesn’t tolerate those who don’t follow orders." The other two picked up Alicia and Allen and followed behind Hunter. It was about five minutes later when Sonic, Tails and Knuckles found the guard that Hunter had stabbed. "What happened here?" Sonic asked the guard. "They took the children. He left me alive to give you a message my liege. They want something called the Millennium Emeralds." Knuckles was stunned, he knew what the guard was talking about. "Oh my gosh." he said. Tails saw Knuckles face and asked "What’s wrong Knuckles?" Knuckles turned and slowly said "Tails, I know what they want. And if these guys are after the Millennium Emeralds, then we are in deep trouble. Worse then Robotnik could have ever done."

Chapter 5: Breakout and Rescue 

It was about 30 minutes after the children had been taken. Knuckles and Tails were back in the castle with Sally, trying to get some idea of where Hunter had taken the kids. Sonic walked in and joined the others. "How’s the guard?" asked Tails. Sonic went to his throne and let himself fall into it. "He’s fine, he just took a hit in the shoulder. Man, now I know how my parents felt when I was gone." Tails walked over and put his hand on Sonics shoulder. "Don’t blame yourself, its not your fault. Hey Knux, what exactly are these "Millennium Emeralds" anyway?" Knuckles leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. "I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of them, very few have. They have many names, another name for them are the "Chaos Crystals". They are the purest, most concentrated form of chaos energy. It took them a thousand years to gain that much power, hence "Millennium Emeralds". They are so powerful, that rumor has it, that each one has its own power, in other words, if you had just one, you could use it to activate your super forms.

Sonic then noticed Sally was standing in the window, a single tear was running down her cheek. Sonic got out of the throne and went up behind Sally. "Don’t worry Sal," he said "Alicia’s a smart girl, and I’m sure they won’t hurt her." Sally wiped the tears from her eyes and said "It’s not that, I’m crying cause I was hoping she could grow up not knowing war or anything like my parents hoped for me. But it seems that won’t happen." Sonic nodded in agreement. " She’ll be fine, she’s got Nicole, she’ll look after her." Sally quickly picked her head up and smiled. "Nicole, THAT’S IT! She’s got Nicole, Sonic you’re a genius!" Sally quickly turned around, gave Sonic a quick kiss and ran out of the room. Sonic scratched his head after she ran out. "What did I say?" A few minutes later Sally came back in with a small device in her hand. "I had this made after I gave Nicole to Alicia," she said "Nicole can transmit homing signals now. All we have to do is wait for Alicia to open Nicole and well have the exact location of where they are. And if I know our daughter, she’s worked out a plan of her own.

Elsewhere in a secret location, the large bull Gades was dropping off Alicia and Allen in a cell. "Heads up missy, you’ve got company." Gades opened the cell door and stepped in. Near the back was Lara-su with her hands bound behind her, and her legs tied together. Gades put Allen and Alicia down and began to leave when Lara spoke up. "I’d let me go, if I were you." Gades quickly pulled his axe and held it to her neck. "Look lass, if we didn’t need you alive you wouldn’t even be here. I’d have cut to up long ago." Gades got up and began to leave. "My dad is going to kick, your, …" Before she could finish Gades spun around and slammed his axe down next to her. "Give it a rest, will you." He pulled his axe out of the floor and quickly left, but Lara smiled after he was gone. She looked into the hole made by the axe and saw two shard’s of metal in the bottom. Gades had hit so hard, he chipped his axe. "Not very bright." She smirked as she got one of the pieces and began to cut her ropes.

It took Lara about 10 minutes to cut her hands free. Afterwards she quickly got her legs loose. She quickly got to her feet and ran to Alicia, who was still wrapped in webbing. "Hold still, I’ll get you out." She said, carefully cutting away the webs around her eyes and mouth. She finally cut enough away so Alicia could speak. "Don’t worry about me," she said "I’ll be fine, please see if my friend Allen is okay." Lara went up to the young fox and sat him up. He was still out from getting hit in the head. Lara looked him over for any other injuries, besides the large lump on his head. She began to shake him slightly. "Hey, hey wake up. You ok?" Allen began to groan as he opened his eyes. "W-Who are you?" he asked "What happened?" Lara sat him up next to a wall. "My name is Lara-Su, you got a nasty bump on your head, but that appears to be it." Allen put his hand on his head and started to look around. "HEY. Where’s Alicia?" "Over here" said Alicia. "You alright Allen?" "I’m fine, just a headache" he said as he tried to get up. "What about you?" Alicia began to wiggle a bit in the webbing. "A little cramped but, I’m ok." Lara couldn’t help but giggle. "Hang on, I’ll cut you out. Think you can help?" She said to Allen as she offered him one of the pieces of Gades axe. Allen nodded and took the piece.

It took the two of them about half an hour to cut Alicia out. As Alicia got up, Lara realized who she was. "Whoa, when he said your name was Alicia, I didn’t think you were THE Alicia." "It’s no big deal" said Alicia "don’t let the fact I’m princess of Knothole go to your head; it is just a title after all. What did you say you name was, again? Lara-Su?" Lara nodded "Yup, that’s me. And who’s our other friend here?" "My name is Allen Prower." "Nice to meet you, wish it was under better circumstances. I’m guessing you two don’t have any idea where we are, do you?" Alicia smiled and reached into the inside of her shoe and pulled out Nicole. "No, but I can find out. Nicole, can you pin-point our location?" "Scanning Alicia. My sensors can not penetrate the wall of this room." "Perfect. What about your homing signal, will that work?" asked Alicia. "Homing signal is functional, however I am unsure if the signal will be able to be picked up." Alicia sighed. "Going to have to take that chance, activate homing signal." "Signal Activated Alicia." "Now, how do we get out of here?" Lara walked over to one of the walls and pointed up. There was a small air duct along the top of the ceiling. "That is the only way I’ve been able to spot in here, but I can’t reach it, plus it’s too small even for me." Allen quickly stepped up. "I can do it." Being the youngest of the three, he was also the smallest. Lara and Alicia boosted Allen up. He pulled the grate off and slide in. "Now remember Allen, "said Alicia "You just need to get to the other side of this door and let us out. Here, take Nicole." She tossed Nicole into the vent. "Got’er. Don’t worry Alicia, my dad told me all about Nicole. I’ll take care of her." "Good luck, Allen." said Lara. Allen smiled and gave them a thumbs up as he began to crawl into the duct.

In the main chamber of the base, Hunter walks in followed by the Arach-Ninja’s. "My lord," Hunter said bowing "the spiders have requested their payment." In the shadows, their boss turned to them and said "They are lucky they are still alive, considering one of you couldn’t follow orders. However a deal is deal." The man quickly drew out a laser and fired at the ninja’s feet. At the same time Hunter quickly spun around and aimed his gun at them as well. "AND YOU DIDN’T LIVE UP TO YOUR END OF THE DEAL!" the man said "So I’m not going to live up to mine. Now get out." One of the spiders tried to draw his sword, but Hunter quickly stepped in and stopped him. The "leader" of them clinched his fist and motioned for the others to leave. 

"My lord," hunter started "Was it a wise idea to do that?" "I have no further use of them. They do have skills, but I do not like "wild cards" in my plans. Now what’s our status?" "All is going as you wished it my lord." said Hunter. "Good, then prepare for arrival. I’m expecting company."

Back in the cell block hallway. A duct grate was suddenly kicked out from the wall. Allen poked his head out and looked around. He was in a large open room with lots of pipes and broken machinery. "Wow, where in the heck is this place?" Nicole spoke up "My sensors show we are in the remains of the old scrape brain base." Allen looked at Nicole, he wasn’t expecting an answer. "Uh, thank you." "Your Welcome." Allen looked to the floor, it was only about 10 feet down, which he jumps all the time from his trees back home. He pushes himself out of the duct, and flips down to the floor, landing perfectly. "Ok, when I was in the duct I came from that way, so to get back I need to go THIS way." Allen began to sneak back to the cell, going carefully to avoid any guards. But oddly enough, there was nothing. No guards, no IR sensors, no camera’s, nothing. When he got back to the cells, the whole room was empty, just a long hallway of doors. (This is weird) he thought to himself. He walked to the first door and knocked on it. From behind it Alicia’s voice came. "Allen?" "Yeah. Hold on a minute, I’ll try and open this." Allen looked all over the door for some kind of handle or knob or something. All he found was an old computer panel. "Man, this thing is way out of date. Nicole, can you uplink and override the code?" "Accessing. Code over written." The panel blinked and flashed for a second and the door opened. Alicia and Lara walked out, both of them giving Allen high fives. "Way to go Allen." said Lara. "Thanks. Oh here you go Alicia." Allen said handing Nicole back. Alicia took her and nodded. "Thanks, now why don’t we find a way out of here." The three of them ran down the hall to find an escape route, but unknown to them, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Sally were already on their way.

Chapter 6: Hunter’s Trap

Sonic and company stepped out of the jet and looked around. "Of all the places, this is one of the last I’d look in." Sonic said as he looked around in amazement. "They are close," said Sally "I’m picking up Nicole’s signal perfectly. Start looking for a way in." Sonic and Sally went off in different directions, as Tails and Knuckles took to the air. 5 minutes later, Knuckles signaled the others, he had found a door that had recently been installed. After everyone got to the door, Tails started to look around. "Has any one else noticed that there isn’t any security out here?" Sonic nodded in agreement. "Yeah, and that means either we aren’t expected or…" Knuckles cut him off. "It’s a trap." Sally opened the door and looked inside, everything was wrecked. "Well we can’t let that stop us. Everyone be on guard, we don’t know how these people work." Sonic sped to the door frame and stopped. "Hey, it’s me. Do you have to worry?" Sonic bolted into the door as Knuckles and Tails followed. Sally paused before following them. (With you sonic? Everyday.) she thought.

Inside, the kids had finally run into to a guard, literally. They were running so fast, that they ran right smack into its back. The bot tried to grab the three of them, but they began to run all over. A few seconds later, Allen grabbed a old small pipe piece and tossed it to Lara. Lara twirled the pipe in her hand and then threw it straight into the robots sensors. Blinded and damaged, the robot began to back step, Allen quickly got on all fours behind its legs, as Alicia Sonic Spun it in the chest causing it to trip over Allen. "All Right!" the three said at the same time as they did a three way high five. "Come on, lets split." Said Alicia waving for Allen and Lara to follow. The three made their way into a series of metallic tunnels.

Meanwhile, Sonic and the others hadn’t seen head or hair of anything. The whole place was empty, and this made Sonic feel uneasy. He had never been in a place where there was nothing at all. "Guys, this is starting to get to me. This whole place stinks of "Trap". he said. From down the hall they were in, a voice called out. "And your just now figuring this out!?" At the end of the hall, stood Hunter with his arms crossed. "I was expecting you guys 2 hours ago." Tails hovered of the floor and took off at Hunter. "Where’s my son?!" Sonic dashed after Tails and pulled him to the floor. "Tails don’t!" Hunter began tapping his foot, imitating Sonic. "Come on people, I’m waiting." Knuckles clinched his fist and charged. "That’s it. Your going down!" Knuckles took a swing at Hunter, but Hunter moved to the side before Knuckle’s fist could connect. Knuckles put too much power into his punch and was off balance for a second. Hunter took this shot and thrust his knee straight into Knuckles stomach. Hunter quickly moved away and ran down the hall into a room with a large computer into it. Knuckles recovered and chased after him with Sonic, Tails, and Sally right behind.

Hunter was up against a dead end computer room when Sonic and the others raced in. "Dead end, pal. Now give us back our children." demanded Sonic. "Sure thing, you win. NOT!" Hunter snapped his fingers and a green glow filled the room. Everyone except Hunter dropped to the floor. The four of them were trying with all their strength to get up, but it was no use. Tails spoke up. "Hey, what did you do?" Hunter was totally unaffected. "It’s called a "Gravity Field". As fast or as tough as you are, you can do anything if you can’t move. Right now, you body feels like it weighs about six hundred pounds, more then enough to keep you in one place. I’m surprised the Fat man never thought of this. And now, I’m going to do the one thing Robotnik could never do, kill Sonic The Hedgehog. I have to say, I’m very disappointed." Hunter got at point blank range and pointed his laser right at Sonics head, but before he could fire, one of the monitors came on. "Hunter, STOP!" Hunter looked back at the monitor. It showed a black silhouette. "My lord." Hunter quickly dropped to one knee. "I agree" said the man on the monitor, "I too, am very disappointed. I was expecting so much better. So I decided to be a sport, just this once. Shrink the field to just them, not the room, and start the countdown. Set it for 5 minutes. I expect a good show, don’t disappoint me twice." The screen clicked off as Hunter got to his feet. At a nearby computer console, he adjusted the field so only Sonic and the others were affected. A minute later, he hit a few buttons and a 5 minute timer began to countdown. "This place has enough power left to level the whole place, with everyone inside." Tails tried as hard as he could to get up, but the field put too much pressure on him. "Please, leave the kids out of this." he said. Hunter shock his head and walked to the exit tunnel. "Not my call, and if it was, I’d kill them anyway. HA HA HA." With that said, Hunter dashed out the room, leaving Sonic, Sally, Tails, and Knuckles pinned to the floor. Sonic tried to crawl his way out of the field, but at the rate he was going, and how much of the field was left, he’d never get out in time to stop the explosion.

Out of the silence, except for the digital clock counting, a loud crash was heard from the ceiling. A second later, a panel fell out, follow by Lara-su, landing with a thud. "OW, that stung." "LARA" knuckles yelled. Lara turned her body around and saw everyone on the floor. "PAPA!" She started to get up and run to Knuckles but he quickly stopped her. "NO, WAIT!" Lara paused. "Don’t enter this light, you’ll get stuck. Have you seen a young fox and hedgehog around?" Lara smiled and eagerly nodded. "Of course, they’re right behind me. HEY ALLEN, ALICIA, GET DOWN HERE, IT’S OUR PARENTS!" Allen had landed on the floor before Lara could take in a breath, followed by Alicia. Sally quickly spoke up. "Listen you three, you need to get out of here now! There’s not much time left, you can make it if you run." Allen looked around the room, he was totally confused, but then he spotted the timer. It was down to two and a half minutes. "Sally wait!" said Tails "Allen, I taught you all about these type of computers, you can stop the clock, I know you can." Allen took a big gulp as he pulled and old piece of metal next to the computer. "Dad, it’s a class B, with triple locks. I don’t know if I can do this." Knuckles cut Tails off before he could say anything. "You can do it kid. Just trust in yourself." Allen began to sweat as he began to type. "Alicia, Lara, can you two try and find the source of that light and smash it?" Allen asked as he started hacking the system. The two girls looked at each other, smiled and began looking all over the room.

Time was counting down. They were down to a minute, fifteen. Allen was hacking as hard as he could, he had never been under this much pressure before. "One more" He thought out loud. At that moment, Alicia had spotted what looked like an old camera on the ceiling of the room, hidden from view. It was emitting a greenish glow. "Lara, I found it. But it’s too high." Lara ran up and cuffed her hands. "Maybe alone its too high. Need a boost?" Alicia didn’t even hesitate. She quickly stepping into Lara’s hands and Lara threw Alicia straight up. Alicia quickly began to spin and smacked the field emitter head on. The field dropped and everyone got up. Sally quickly looked at the screen. They were down to 20 seconds, not enough time to run out with everyone. Allen began to repeat "Come on." and he type as fast as he could with the clock counting down right in front of him. They were down to 10 seconds. Allen was still typing, his fur was soaked from all the sweat. 5 seconds. Allen shouted out, "I GOT IT!!" he slammed his fingers down on the final key and the clocked stopped at 2 seconds. Everyone began to cheer as Tails took Allen over his head and started spinning him around. The celebration was cut short as the monitor came back on. The silhouette on the screen began clapping. "Now THAT, was unexpected. I never even dreamed of needing to factor in the children. Well done. That was a move I expected, one of those last seconds saves. I look forward to the next one." "There won’t BE a next one you psycho. I’m going to tear this place apart, until I find you." Knuckles declared. The man simply laughed. "Sorry, knux, but that will NEVER happen, I’m not even IN that place, and by the time you get out, your only led will be long gone." Sonic stepped forward. "I’ve had enough of these little games, who are you?" "Now THAT, is a secret." The man replied, "But if you must call me something, call me, Mister E. The best is yet to come." The monitor turned off, leaving everyone is silence, until Allen tugged on Tail’s arm. "Dad, can we go home?" Tails lifted him up on his shoulder. "Absolutely bud."

Chapter 7: Aftermath

The sun was setting over knothole. Tails and Knuckles had decided to stay the night, cause it was too late to travel. The adults were at the dinner table talking, the kids had finished and had run off somewhere. "You know," said Sally "We owe a lot to those three after today." "Your right, Sal" Sonic replied. "Those three made quite the team." Tails spoke up after Sonic. "Your half right sonic, they made quite the team, and became fast friends." Knuckles got up and walked to a window. "And I have a feeling, that friendship is going to play a critical role with this new enemy." said Knuckles. "Your right about that Knux. This "Mr. E" guy had better watch out, this is their world now." Sonic said as he joined Knuckles at the window. They looked outside atop one of the castle’s towers. Alicia, Lara, and Allen were up there, watching the sun go down. After it set, the three looked at each other and all three did a three way high five, shouting "ALL RIGHT!!!"