(A/N) Well here you go, second chapter. Thank you to everyone who favorited, followed and reviewed this. I wasn't sure how this would go down, it's nice to know there's a few people who've enjoyed it so far. Now then, onwards to the story.

The door to Sally's room was thrown open as Maximilian rushed inside. He moved around the room in wasted hope that his daughter may still be there. Finding no trace of her, Max sat down on her bed in complete shock. He couldn't believe it, she was really gone. When he'd first received word that Sally had left the kingdom, he had originally thought it was someone's idea of a cruel joke. To his dismay however, the story was true. Max heard footsteps approaching the room from down the hallway, it was quickly revealed the footsteps belonged to Shadow as the hedgehog entered the room. He simply stood in the doorway and stared at the King.

"She's really gone," Max said glumly.

Shadow didn't reply, he just continued to watch. Max stood up and walked over to him.

"I want you to find her and bring her home," he stated.

"If I could I would, but I'm no tracker my King. I don't have skills we'd need to find her," Shadow replied.

"Then we'll find someone who does have the necessary skills, and then you will accompany them."

"I'll go speak with Sir Gawain. He knows a few hunters around the kingdom, if they can't do it then maybe they'll know someone who can."

"Very good, come see me once you've completed your task," Max replied, walking past Shadow and leaving. It was likely he was going to check on his wife once again.

Shadow left Sally's room and closed the door behind himself. If he knew Knuckles, then the echidna was probably already searching for anyone who could help find the Princess. He exited the castle and shortly found himself on the streets of the city of Mobotropolis.

It was a little bit after noon by the time he finally managed to find Knuckles, the echidna was just finishing up a conversation with three men. Knuckles caught sight of Shadow, he said his goodbyes to the small group before approaching his fellow knight.

"Who were they?" Shadow asked.

"Hunters," Knuckles replied. "I asked a few of them if they could track where the Princess went. They didn't get far before they lost her trail."

"Is there anyone else we can look into?"

"Those three I was speaking to just now are the best I know. There's no other trackers we can look in to."

A feeling of defeat began to wash over the two knights, a feeling they were not at all used to or comfortable with.

"Actually, there might be one last person we can talk to," Knuckles said, remembering something he'd heard that very morning.

"I'm all ears," Shadow replied.

"I can tell you, but you're probably not going to like it," Knuckles cautioned.

"Just tell me already, I don't see any other options," Shadow nearly growled.

"Alright then," Knuckles sighed. "I was talking to a friend of mine in the guard this morning. Apparently, The Wolf, arrived in the city last night."

"The Wolf? I don't think the King will be very eager to hire his services."

"I don't see any other choice here, we either hire him or hope we can find someone else."

"I'll go talk to Maximilian, see how he feels about your suggestion," Shadow sighed. "You keep searching for someone else, just in case."

"Sounds good, I'll hear from you later," Knuckles replied before walking off.

Shadow turned around and started walking back towards the castle.

"Well Max, let's see how you react to the news," Shadow muttered to himself.

"No! Not a chance in hell!" Max shouted. "I will not have that brute endangering the life of my daughter!"

It would seem that King Maximilian wasn't very interested in hiring The Wolf to help track down his daughter. The Wolf had made a name for himself for being able to track down or find just about any person in almost any situation. With this fame though, many rumors had surfaced. Wether they be about his methods or his lifestyle.

"He may very well be one of the few people who can truly help us here," Shadow explained.

"But he is not a man we can trust," Max countered. "Have you not heard the stories people speak of him, they say he once murdered five innocent people just to get to one guilty man."

"They also say he's called The Wolf because of a night during a full moon, he shifts into a horrible wolf shaped monster and prowls the land devouring the souls of anyone he comes across," Shadow explained, a deadpanned expression on his face.

Their was silence between the two of them as Max mulled over his choices. He could try to hire The Wolf, a man he didn't know and trusted even less, and hoped everything worked out. Or he could continue trying to find someone skilled enough to fill the job, an option that was quickly crumbling before him.

"Fine then, speak with him and see if we can come to an arrangement," Max finally said. "But if he does take the job and something happens to my daughter, I'm holding you responsible."

"Very well," Shadow replied. "I'll find Sir Gawain and we'll speak to him together. I trust this man just as much as you do my King, but at the moment he's our best possibility."

Max turned and walked away, not speaking another word to the knight. With everything that was happening, it was understandable as to why the King wasn't feeling very sociable. Shadow once again left the castle and began searching for Knuckles. He found the Echidna standing out side one of the taverns throughout the city, it appeared as though he was waiting for Shadow.

"So, how did your talk go?" Knuckles asked him.

"He wasn't very eager at first, but once I explained it was our best option he ended up coming around," Shadow replied.

"So we need to find The Wolf now do we?"

"Yes, we do. Any ideas on where he might be?"

Knuckles nodded his head towards the tavern they were currently standing out front of before speaking. "Already found him. I couldn't find anyone else that could help us, I figured I'd spend my time doing something useful instead."

Shadow gave him a simple nod and the two of them walked into the tavern. Business seemed to be relatively quite within the building at the moment, things were bound to pick up once the sun set for the day though.

"Over there," Knuckles said, pointing towards a table in the corner of the room.

Two people were seated at the said table. One of them was a man. He wore what appeared to be a set of lightweight leather armor. The pitch black color of it gave it an almost intimidating look. It seemed the armor also had a hood attached to the back of its neck. The other person at the table was a woman, a grey lynx to be precise. She giggled at something the man said as Shadow and Knuckles approached the table. The lynx noticed the two knights approaching and started carefully watching the two.

"We need to speak with this man," Shadow said to her once they made it to the table.

The lynx rolled her eyes before standing up and walking over the bar. Shadow took her seat while Knuckles pulled over another chair to sit down. The man watched the two knights with an amused smirk on his face.

"You The Wolf?" Shadow said to him.

"I don't know, do I look like a wolf to you," the man replied.

The man was far from being a wolf, he wasn't even a Mobian. He was actually a human. He had Caucasian skin and dirty blonde hair. His hair was averagely long, the back of it growing down to the back of his neck. An interesting feature were his eyes, his left was blue while his right was red. Lastly there was a scar gracing his face, it appeared as though someone had gotten a lucky swipe in at some point in time and sliced his left cheek wide open.

"Very funny," Knuckles said sourly. "We know who you are and we've come to talk to you."

"Well then," the man said, leaning back into his chair. "Fill my mug for me and we can start talking," he added, pushing his tankard towards the knights.

Knuckles let out an annoyed growl before picking up the mug and walking towards the bar.

"We have a job for you, one that you're best suited for," Shadow explained.

"You're going to have to be a little more specific than that," came the chuckled reply.

"We need you to help us track someone, this mission comes from the King himself."

"So old Max wants me to find his daughter for him now does he?" The man laughed.

"How do you know it's his daughter he wants us to find?" Knuckles asked, setting the tankard down on the table and sitting back down again.

"You can learn a lot things if you know where to look," The Wolf said, taking a long drink from his mug. "So, what sort of payment are we looking at?" He asked as he sat the now empty tankard back down the table.

"Gold or jewels most likely," Shadow replied.

The Wolf mulled it over for a moment before replying. "Alright then, we'll set out in a few hours if that works for you."

"A few hours? Why not right now?" Knuckles asked.

"I need to restock on some supplies. I also have someone waiting to see me," the man replied, standing up from his seat.

He left the table and walked across the room to a set of stairs. The grey lynx from earlier was standing there waiting for him, a smile on her face. She took his hand and led him up the stairs to one of the rooms available on the top floor. Shadow and Knuckles both watched as he walked up the stairs with the woman, an unimpressed look on both of their faces.

"Is she a whore?" Knuckles asked.

"No, she's one of the barmaids who work here," Shadow replied, standing up and walking towards the door to leave the tavern.

It was two o clock in the afternoon by the time they were all ready to leave. Shadow had spoken with Maximilian after their discussion with The Wolf. The King still wasn't very happy that they were hiring him to help with the search. As Shadow had explained to him though, they didn't really have any other options. Shadow and Knuckles both had their weapons in the sheaves on their hip and back respectively, they were both now wearing their helmets as well though. As for The Wolf, he currently had a shield on his back and a sword on his hip. A bow and a quiver of arrows was also being secured on his horse above its saddlebags. He was also wearing some black leather gloves. The top of the gloves were covered in metal, the metal was shaped in a pattern that almost looked like dragon scales. They finished strapping the saddles onto their horses and jumped on, they were now fully prepared to leave. The three of the hunters from earlier were also with them, they were going to lead the others to the point where they lost Sally's trail. They were all just about to leave when the sound of galloping hooves caught their attention. Turning towards the noise, they found Sonic riding his horse up to them.

"You're not going anywhere without me," he stated.

"Great, more royalty," Wolf muttered under his breath.

"I think it would be best if you stay with your family Prince," Knuckles said to him.

"For all my life Sally has been my greatest friend, if you think I'm staying here while she's out there then you've got another thing coming."

Knuckles and Shadow both looked across at one another. Bringing a member of royalty with them could be a mistake, but if anything went wrong; having an extra sword would certainly come in handy.

"Alright then," Shadow said to him. "But you make sure you pull your own weight, and if you fall behind then you stay behind."

"Sounds fair to me," Sonic replied. "Let's get going shall we."

Knuckles rode up beside Wolf as they left the castle gates, there was something he really wanted to ask him.

"So what's your actual name?" Knuckles asked. "Calling you The Wolf all the time is going to get annoying very quickly."

The Wolf let out an amused chuckle before turning his head to the echidna to reply. "My name's Connor Jenkins."

It had been an hour ride on horseback for the group, they had gone a short way through the forest before one of the hunters stopped in front of them.

"This is as far as we got before we lost the trail," he explained.

"Sally is a smart girl," Shadow explained. "She's covering her tracks because she doesn't want to be found."

"And this is where you come in," Knuckles added, turning to Connor.

Connor lifted one of his legs over his horse and let himself drop off. He started walking around the surrounding area, studying each and every spot of the forest with care. He crouched down a started searching over the dirt, scanning over some nearby bushes afterwards.

"She went this way," Connor finally stated, pointing off in the said direction.

"How can you tell?" Sonic asked.

"Do you want a lesson in tracking or do you want to find the Princess," came the reply.

Sonic let out a sigh, looking over at Shadow. The knight glared at him, almost as if he was telling the Prince to keep quiet.

"We'll need to go by foot from here," Connor continued. "It'll be to difficult follow the trail on horseback, especially if she's been covering her tracks."

"Very well then," Knuckles answered. "We'll grab our packs and follow you."

"We'll take your horses back to Mobotropolis," one of the hunters explained. "We'll make sure yours is taken care of," he added as he looked at Connor, receiving a nod in response.

With all the needed supplies removed from the horses, the hunters left for Mobotropolis; the steeds being led away behind them. Connor checked the tracks again to get a better sense of direction, leading the group along the trail shortly after.

"We've got plenty of ground to cover and not much daylight left," he stated. "So don't expect me to wait if you start falling behind."

"Why does it sound like that was directed at me," Sonic muttered to himself.

Further within the depths of the forest, Sally Acorn continued to make her way towards her desired goal. She had absolutely no idea as to where she was going. Yet for some reason, she felt like she knew exactly where she was going. A sudden jerk from her cloak brought her walking to a halt. Sally turned around to find the bottom of her cloak snagged between two tree roots sticking out of the ground.

"Oh, come on," she groaned.

Wrapping her hands around a bunch of the cloak, she started attempting to yank the fabric free from the roots. Off to her right, a deep throaty growl began emanating from behind the trees. Sally slowly turned her head in the direction where the growl had come from, a shiver working its way down her spine. A short distance away from her, a wild wolf stalked its way out from between two trees. Its growl became louder as three more wolves walked out on either side of it. Keeping her eyes on the four animals, Sally began tugging the fabric harder and more frequently. The moment the cloak came free, she was out of there. Her legs pushed along the ground at an increasing pace as she ran for her life, her arms pumping up and down on either side of her. She could hear the wolves slowly closing the gap behind her, snapping at the air and barking the whole way. One of the beasts leaped at her, missing its mark by mere centimeters. It rolled along the ground a couple of times, extending the gap again as it fell back with the rest of the pack. Sally turned her head to see how far behind her the wolves now were, her heart skipping a beat when she turned her attention back to what was in front of her.

She nearly tripped over herself as she came to a hard and sudden stop. Before her was a raging, torrential river. With the speed at which the water was running, it was clear it would be difficult for even the best of swimmers to make it across. To make matters worse, the water running downstream found its way into a sudden drop off the cliff; creating a frightening waterfall. With the wolves behind her closing the distance between them, Sally saw no other option. She turned around to take a few steps away before turning again to face the river once more. The wolves could now be heard off in the distance, their barking and howling growing louder with every passing moment. Sally closed her eyes and took in one deep breath, slowly letting it out after she'd inhaled as much oxygen as she could. Her eyes snapped open and she ran straight for the river, a light jog quickly increasing into a full on sprint. She reached the river bank and leapt straight into the air, trying to gain as much distance over the water towards the other bank as she could.

The sounds of paws skidding through the dirt could be heard behind her, the wolves having to come to a sudden stop to avoid falling into the river. Sally didn't even make it half way across the river before she found herself plummeting into the raging waters below, the current took hold almost instantaneously. The Princess was being dragged towards the waterfall at a terrifyingly fast pace. A rock sticking up out of the water caught her eye and she was quick to get her arms wrapped around it. Even with a moment of relief from the stone, Sally was still fighting a losing battle against the river. Panic truly sank in when her arms slipped off the rock, once again finding herself being dragged towards watery drop.

"No no no!" Sally cried, trying to find absolutely anything she could that would help her win this fight.

In the end, there was nothing that could help. The elements had won against her. All Sally could do when she was sent plummeting over the waterfall, was scream for her life.

Further away in an entirely different forest, three men found themselves sprinting past the trees as they ran for their lives.

"Who the hell is this guy?!" One of them shouted to his friend.

"I don't know!" The other replied.

An arrow came flying through the trees and pierced through the back of the head if the third man, he fell to the ground with arrow head sticking out of his forehead.

"Shit!" One of the remaining two cried out.

Another arrow was sent soaring, this time embedding itself into the back of one of the men. He fell to the ground and quickly tried to stand back up again, only managing to get onto his hands and knees. Their assailant jumped over the man, shooting an arrow into his skull as he passed over him. The final runner found himself breaking out into a clearing. Once he'd made it to the center of the clearing, he spun around and drew his sword at the same time.

"Well come on you bastard!" He shouted, shaking with fear. "Show yourself!"

Yet another arrow came flying out from the trees. The bolt managed to embed itself straight through the mans wrist, the reaction was instant. The sword fell from his hands as he dropped to his knees, screaming in agony. Out from the trees came the one he'd been running from. His assailant was a red hedgehog with long spiky hair, a bow held in his left hand and quiver of arrows on his back. He wore brown pants and grey boots, his pants had several metal plates for armoring. Along his arms were a couple more light metal plates to cover sections of his flesh. A simple brown leather vest covered his torso. On his right hand was a leather glove, most likely to help with drawing the string of his bow. Finally over his head was a grey hood. The hedgehog approached the man and drew another arrow from his quiver.

"Who are you?" The man asked.

"The last person you'll ever see," the hedgehog replied.

He drew the arrow in his bow before letting it loose, hitting the man in the chest at point blank range. The man fell straight onto his back, a pool of blood slowly forming underneath him. A slow clapping sounded from behind the hedgehog, he spun around with an arrow drawn prepared for another fight. What the hedgehog found was a red female fox. The vixen wore a simple set of black leather armor that covered most of her body. Her clapping came to a stop and she simply smirked at the hedgehog.

"Very impressive, very impressive indeed," she chuckled. "A friend of mine told me you were one of the best. I didn't believe them at first, but now."

"Who are you?" The hedgehog asked.

"That's not important, what is important is that I have a job for you."

The hedgehog lowered his bow before replying. "What's the job?"

"We received a letter from our spies some time ago, and now there's someone we'd like you to pick up for us; a girl. Anyone with her is expendable of course, but the girl must be brought to us alive."

"Very well then, who's the girl?"

"Princess Sally Acorn."

The fox noticed a smirk forming under the hedgehogs hood.

"I'll take the job," he stated.

(A/N) So what did you all think? I had a lot of fun writing that bit with Sally, so I hope you all enjoyed it :)

On a side note, when I write that an animal's wild; I mean that their not Mobian. Mobian's are anthropomorphic, wild animals aren't. Just in case there's any confusion there.

The Wolf/Connor Jenkins belongs to me

Red Hedgehog (You'll find his name out later if you haven't read my other stories) belongs to sonicepilougelover

Until the next chapter

Catchya :)