Finally done with this chapter *whew* I know this one took super long but this thing was a monster, I mean it's a long chapter lol. But every bit in here is important. I still am very sorry for the long wait, but I hope that it will be worth it for you guys after you read the chapter ^^;

So I won't keep you any longer, here we go!

As always, Enjoy! ^^

Chapter 46: Trust; Part 2

Narrator: None, third person format.

The G.U.N. mech fired a machine round at the hedgehogs. Crash ducked behind the desk where he was and cringed as he heard the gunfire where his friends were moments ago.

But Nikki and Dark were safe, they managed to dodge it easily, using the desks for cover.

Nikki shot the midnight hedgehog a shocked look. "What? But how? It doesn't at all look like the rundown ones we've seen before, it's way too big."

What Nikki said was true. Out of all of the inactive G.U.N. mechs that the two hedgehogs have seen in their abandoned base raids, they have never seen one as massive as this. The top of the mech scraped the ceiling of the lab. If Nikki had to compare it to anything, it was like the first Exus Beast she fought back when she lived at the Stern Orphanage when she was little, which towered over her at least five times her height back then. This thing made that Beast look like a toy Chihuahua.

Her midnight comrade scanned the mech in the far room, being extra careful not be seen as he replied. "I know, also, I'm not sensing any signs of life in the cockpit…it's piloting itself."

Nikki give him a confusing look, keeping her voice hushed. "But they can't do that, right? At least that's what I thought."

Dark nodded. "You're right, they do need a pilot."

"Then how is it doing that?"

The midnight hedgehog answered his blue-furred comrade. "Not sure." He then glanced toward the robot, which was scanning around the room.

Dark then continued. "This does work to our advantage however. Since there's no one inside, we don't have to hold back."

"Yeah." Nikki nodded. "I mean, it's just like an oversized feral bot, right? We can deal with that easy."

Dark turned his gaze toward her, Nikki could tell by his look that he did not agree with her. Seeing this, she then added. "I'm…missing something here, aren't I? Cuz you're giving me that look and one of the few things that I don't like, is that look."

"Are you crazy?" Crash wanted to yell, but instead, kept a hushed tone as to not alert the massive robot. "That thing is huge."

"We've fought bigger bots than that, Crash." Nikki reminded. She then slightly peeked around the desk she was using as cover. "Besides, it hasn't found us yet, we can take it by surprise."

The meerkat looked nervously to his female comrade across from him. "Yeah, why hasn't it? I mean, it's a high class machine right?"

"It's probably damaged." Dark answered.

"Um…what do you mean 'probably'? You're a ro-" Crash quickly corrected himself and shook his head back and forth. "I-I mean, you can scan it right?"

"Already tried…and I can't sense anything about it."

His female comrade blinked twice when she heard that. Dark's scanning ability was amazing, how was it he couldn't pick anything up except that it was a G.U.N. Mech? "Say what now?"

"So, what are we-…g-gonna do then?" Crash asked as he jumped in mid-speech when he heard the steps come closer. "It's gonna find us in here at some point."

As his female comrade answered him, the blue hedgehog readied herself. "Then we're just gonna have to hit it first."

"Take it you're ready then?" Dark asked her with a small smirk.

Nikki returned with a nod, she then looked toward where she knew the robot was. "Right, let's roll."

The blue hedgehog leaped out from her hiding place behind one of the overturned desks. Quickly spinning in mid-air, the now whirling chainsaw like blur dashed for the mech.

The machine saw her, but didn't fire. Dark found this odd, since Nikki was coming at the robot at blinding speed, it's natural instinct should be to defend itself and fight back…so why wasn't it even trying?

But the midnight hedgehog realized why once his comrade got close enough. As she came in for the attack, the blue blur smacked into something hard and a ripple begin to distort around the mech.

A shield.

Nikki recovered quickly and landed on her feet, skidding backward from the momentum. She then looked to the mech in front her, giving a slight unimpressed look. "Well…that's different."

"Nikki!" Crash yelled when he saw the robot aiming it's lasers at his friend.

The meerkat's yell brought Nikki's attention to the danger and she quickly dodged.

Without missing a beat, Dark quickly leaped into the fray and fired a Chaos Spear at his target. But just like with Nikki, the attack met with the powerful shield and had no effect.

The midnight hedgehog cursed under his breath, he was sure that attack would've broke through the robot's shield…this wasn't going to be as easy as they first thought at all.

Dark's eyes widened for a brief second when he realized the robot was scanning him. He quickly moved to dodge an attack, red laser bolts licking at his heels.

Both hedgehogs began attacking again, using just about everything they could think of against this adversary…however, nothing seemed to phase it at all.

"Dark!" Nikki called out to get her comrade's attention as a green laser whizzed by. "Whoa!...Nothing's working!"

"I can see that." The midnight hedgehog muttered, he was getting really annoyed that nothing they have thrown at this mech worked at all. He couldn't even scan it to find out what it was made of either.

Even though the two hedgehogs hated the idea of just getting out of dodge, it was looking like they didn't have much of a choice.

Suddenly, a red laser came dangerously close to hitting Dark, just barely nicking his ear. The midnight hedgehog growled. "This is pointless."

He then turned to his two comrades. "We have to retreat, we have no choice."

"But Dark, we haven't found what we came here for." His blue furred comrade protested.

Dark shot her a look, but before he could open his mouth to counter, Nikki shot him a determined, stubborn look back as she continued. "I'm not leaving without it."

"Gah!...Seriously, can't we come back for it or something?!" Crash shouted as more shots whizzed by and cringed in recoil at the sound of lasers hitting metal. "When a giant robot's not trying to kill us?!"

"There's no time for that." Nikki shouted for the meerkat to hear over the noise.

She then looked back to Dark. Her look was still determined, but the midnight hedgehog could see in her emerald eyes that she was pleading with him to not force them to leave just yet.

Dark knew the reason why. The plan was for them to find the research that could help Jodi with her condition. Even if they were to leave and come back, they might not be able to do that in time to save her from another attack. The truth was, if they didn't find what they needed now, they might not get another chance before it is too late.

The midnight hedgehog was interrupted by the strange moment of silence, suddenly realizing that the robot had stopped firing. As he turned and looked at the robot, Nikki thought that she noticed something in his eyes. She couldn't recall a time when she had seen Dark so fired up, there seemed to be so many things running through his mind that even though she couldn't read his mind, it was showing in his fiery crimson glare.

Suddenly, the blue hedgehog was brought back by her midnight comrade's yell. "Move!"

Right after that yell, Dark ran into Nikki and in the same motion, grabbing Crash as he passed. Not a moment later, a large flash lit up the room, followed by a sonic wave. Remnants of chairs and tables were thrown in every direction. As soon as the two hedgehogs hit the ground, Dark held Nikki down, covering her and protecting her from the blast, while Crash rolled a little ways away from the force.

The young meerkat quickly found a place behind an upturned desk up against the wall. Curling up and cringing, he closed his eyes and pulled his hat over his ears. "Oh Chaos! I just wanna go home!"

Both Dark and Nikki shot a glance back at where the blast had hit. It was right where the midnight hedgehog was standing just moments ago.

Nikki blinked and hollered for him to hear. "Dark, I think this guy really hates you!"

Dark replied with an air of sarcasm in his tone. "Oh really? I haven't noticed!"

Revelation filled the small meerkat and his eyes snapped open, the shock still lingering in his earth toned irises. "Wait a minute…" The robot was only firing green lasers at Nikki and me…while Dark was nearly getting hit by red lasers…and just now…he was almost hit by that attack…

He then took off his hat and pulled out the folded paper once again, quickly opening it with shaking hands as he tried to look for something that would make sense. He then realized what it was he had in his hands.

Knowing the danger that was out there, Crash swallowed hard and then leaned out from behind the desk. "Dark! That G.U.N. Mech! It's an EX Reaver, the same one on the blueprint!"

Hearing the small meerkat, the robot turned and faced him. Instantly terrified, Crash froze, the fear echoing in his expression.

Suddenly out of nowhere, a desktop telephone smacked into the robot's head, the force of it was so strong that the phone broke on impact with the robot's armor. In reaction, the mech turned toward the direction it came from. There was Nikki, her eyes glaring at the mech. "Leave him alone you oversized can-opener!"

Dark's eyes widened, putting together what had just happened. How was she able to do that? The mech has a shield, how did that get through?

Both hedgehog's quickly noticed it was going to fire lasers again and dodged. Dark was paying close attention, taking note to what Crash had yelled out to him.

He's right. As he was dodging, he managed to scan one of the red lasers that went passed him. That one is deadly, it has a high voltage. What was it that Crash said its name was? EX Reaver.

The midnight hedgehog quickly found cover behind an overturned dark metal cabinet, the robot pelting the side of it with lasers. He then tried to scan through his memory, trying to find that blueprint that he had barely managed to glance over. There's something about that name, EX Reaver…why didn't the name register with the blueprint?

As he forced himself to remember it, something seemed to make the midnight hedgehog freeze up. Waves of familiar, yet unfamiliar images began to overwhelm him. The midnight hedgehog cringed and closed his eyes tightly shut, his fingertips gripping into his quills and let out a short agonizing yell that he quickly cut off.

Across the room, Nikki had heard him yell and thinking he had been hit, stopped suddenly out of shock. "Dark!"

The blue hedgehog suddenly realized where she stopped was in the open and barely had the time to look back before seeing a green laser heading right for her. She attempted to dodge out of the way once again, but it was too late. The laser hit her left arm, causing her to scream out and as a life-saving reflex, roll up and spin.

Hearing her, Crash called out desperately. "Nikki!"

Also hearing Nikki's scream, Dark suddenly snapped out of it in time to see the female hedgehog stop spinning and skid across the metal floor. He shot an angered glare in the mech's direction then swiftly and effortlessly, kicked the broken cabinet into the air and then kicked again, sending it rocketing toward the robot. The twisted metal case flew right passed the shield and slammed into the robot's chest, forcing the massive mech to slide back and dig it's feet in. The midnight hedgehog then ran to Nikki's side and without skipping a beat, picked her up and ran for cover once again. The mech quickly recovered and then charged its cannons.

Seeing this from where he was; Crash cringed. "Chaos, not again!"

That yell drew Dark's attention to what the mech was doing and forced the hedgehog to swiftly change direction. The cannon fired, aiming for the spot where the dark hedgehog would've been if he didn't turn around when he did. The blast blew debris around the room once again, slamming it into walls and throwing it into the air. Crash was forced to mad dash out of his hiding spot; the force of the blast then blew him across the room.

As the blast began to die down, Dark's focus went straight to Nikki. She was breathing heavily for a second; the female hedgehog then looked to him and asked, "You okay?"

"Am I- are you kidding me?" the midnight hedgehog responded, raising one of his eyebrows. Inside however, he was thankful that she wasn't dead. "You're the one who got hit."

The female hedgehog blinked. "You mean you didn't?" She sat up and then tried to move her arm that had been hit with the laser, but the arm refused to move and was completely numb. "What?!"

Nikki, then gave her arm a curious look. "Huh…that's new."

Inwardly startled, Dark quickly scanned her arm. "It's paralyzed."

"Um, Yeah, I noticed." Nikki said raising an eyebrow. "One of those lasers hit me, thought I was gonna explode or something. But this happened."

Suddenly, the midnight hedgehog had a realization. "That's it, that's the difference between the lasers. The green one is a tranquilizer, and the red one will kill you instantly."

Nikki blinked and held her arm with her other hand for support. "So the whole time it was trying to knock us out?"

Dark shook his head. "Just you and Crash. You were right, it only wants to destroy me, and I think I know why."

Suddenly realizing something, Nikki's quills stood up. "Where's Crash?"

The midnight hedgehog's eyes widened, he had completely forgotten about the young meerkat. He quickly looked around the debris he had used for cover for Nikki. The place where Crash had been hiding before was gone, desk fragments scattered about the room. His female comrade leaned forward and peeked out from the safe corner as well. She then saw something that made her eyes widen. "Crash!"

The young meerkat heard his name and stirred; he sat up and rubbed the back of his head. He had hit it on something hard. "ugh…my head."

"Crash!" Nikki repeated more urgently.

This woke the meerkat right up and caused him to look around. His fur stood on end when he realized where he was…he was right underneath the mech, just barely to the right of its left leg. "Gah-haha!"

Seeing that the meerkat was about to make a break for it, Nikki hollered. "No! Stay there!"

Even though the meerkat obeyed her, he yelled back protesting. "Are you completely insane?! Why?!"

"Crash, how did you do that?" The female hedgehog asked, shouting the question so that he could hear her.

"What?" The meerkat hollered back.

To answer Crash's question, Nikki added "How'd you get passed that shield?"

Crash yelled back to her quickly. "How should I know!"

While Nikki and Crash were shouting at each other from across the room, Dark had pieced it together and got the answer. "Crash."

The meerkat's attention turned to Dark. "Huh?"

"You can't use Chaos Energy." Dark answered bluntly.

Instantly taking it as offensive, the meerkat yelled back, his fur bristling, or was it him shaking from what he was about to say to the intimidating hedgehog. "Oh great, so your picking on me for not having any powers now?!"

Knowing that the meerkat would just take what Dark said as an insult again, Nikki interrupted. "No, it's because you have no powers you can pass through the shield!"

Crash looked to her, slightly confused. "…say what now?"

"Crash, see if you can take that thing out from the inside! We'll distract it out here!"

At Nikki's plan, Dark shot her a look, raising an eyebrow. "We? What do you mean we?"

Nikki looked at him and answered. "You don't have to if you don't want to, Dark."

"I was referring to you" her midnight comrade muttered, mentally face-palming himself. He knew her well enough that in her mind, as long as she can run, she can fight. But that still didn't make it any less frustrating to him. The last thing he wanted was for her to get hit again or worse be hit by one of the red lasers.

Nikki gave him a slightly defiant, yet understanding look. "Dark, at the very least I can throw things at it. We know that works. It's my fault we're still in this mess; I'm not staying on the sidelines."

The midnight hedgehog sighed. He then heard the mech start to recover again. There was no time to argue. Crash was too close to the mech and in order for this to work someone had to keep the attention away from the young meerkat.

Realizing that the mech had not noticed him, Crash quickly took out the blueprint again. The meerkat skimmed it over and then quickly folded it up "Right." He then placed the blueprint back in his hat and then found a spot he could climb up.

Dark took a look back to the meerkat and when he looked back to Nikki she had taken off her jacket, wrapped it around and over her shoulder in a sling, and was pulling on one of the sleeves with her teeth, trying to tighten it.

The midnight hedgehog shook his head and then grabbed a part of the sleeve that was still loose. "Let go."

Nikki listened and released her teeth from the sleeve. Her midnight comrade then swiftly and carefully tightened the knot, making sure it wouldn't come loose. She then gave a sheepish smile. "Thanks."

Her midnight comrade gave her a small hint of a smile back, but then quickly turned his attention to Crash, who was surprisingly climbing the mech without any trouble. It was like the small meerkat was invisible. Dark guessed that this was because Crash was already inside the force field, thus was more an innocent bystander than a threat to the mech's already damaged sensors. The mech in the meantime kept scanning for the intruders, but stayed where it was. Crash had moved to the mech's back now. The two hedgehogs knew that the mech would easily be able to notice him if they didn't do something before the young meerkat would try to disable it.

Without hesitating, Nikki ran around Dark and out into the open. "Hey! Robo-chicken! Over here!

The massive mech looked toward the blue hedgehog. Her eyes glared at it defiantly, then the blue blur sped off. The mech shot a barrage of green lasers in rapid succession. After it stopped it was quiet and looked around. Crash gulped, thinking that it had hit Nikki. But then suddenly, he heard a familiar laughter.

"Wow! After all of that you still missed me?! You Rusty, are so bad at this game!"

Crash sighed with relief, but then nearly jumped when he heard a voice inside his head.

What are you waiting for? Hurry up!

Oh right! The meerkat replied in thought, recognizing Dark's voice and remembering that he was supposed to stay quiet.

Crash then quickly got to work, quickly opening the back panel.

The mech meanwhile, kept firing at Nikki, but was still missing her due to her quick turns and using the debris around her for cover every chance she got. But she didn't stay hidden for long, she made sure the attention of that mech was always on her. "What?! This is all you got?! What a waste of Mobiums you are! I've seen toys with better accuracy than you!"

The mech kept shooting, obviously still registering Nikki as just a minor threat, keeping its weapon systems set to stun rather than kill.

Suddenly, as she dove behind some rubble for a minute, Nikki caught sight of something. It was one of the desks that was toppled over, but she recognized it from earlier.

Lance's desk.

Even more importantly…the standby light was flashing on the side of the desk. She realized there was still a chance to get the information they needed to help Jodi. However, she would have to get there without getting hit and she had to make sure that Crash was safe first. But if the desk was hit by another laser, it would fry the system and they would lose that valuable data forever.

Dark had read her thoughts and responded with telepathy. Go ahead, I'll take over.

But Dark… Nikki thought worryingly.

I'll be fine, just get what we came for. The midnight hedgehog reassured confidently.

Trusting Dark, Nikki took a deep breath and released it softly. Her enduring confidence returned, focusing on what she had to do. "Right, let's go."

The midnight hedgehog suddenly dashed out of his hiding spot, stopping in the open in what he guessed was the old mech's scanning range. The mech turned slightly and looked in Dark's direction, scanning him and registering him as an immediate threat. Dark then dashed once again, knowing what was coming. The mech started firing red lasers at the midnight hedgehog, who dodged them easily. Knowing that his blasts wouldn't hurt the young meerkat behind the shield, Dark fired a few Chaos Spears, making the meerkat jump a little at first, but then Crash realized he was fine and continued trying to figure out how to disable the mech while Dark's blasts kept the mech's attention solely on the midnight hedgehog.

Nikki readied herself for a clear path to open up. Once she realized the mech was only attacking Dark, she dashed toward the desk that was against the wall across from her, keeping her head low just in case any stray lasers came in her direction. The blue blur slid to stop herself, but slammed into the desk with a thud from her momentum. She quickly shook it off and then looked for the bio scanner she had found before. The part of the desk with the scanning pad was still there and looked intact.

Not wasting time, Nikki pressed her hand onto the scanner. The light brightened under her palm then the desk responded with a hint of static. "Bio-Scan…pzzt…complete."

The screen came up in front of her; she didn't know where to begin to look for those files and she had no time to waste looking through files, even though she could type rather quickly to find them. Anticipating this, the hedgehog had thought ahead and asked Gyro for help before she left the first time her and Dark had checked this place out. Nikki reached for her cord belt around her waist and reached into one of her pockets. She pulled out the end of the cord from her pocket, revealing a mini flash drive.

"Okay little guys…" She muttered as she quickly took off the flash drive from the cord and plugged it into an access port on the side of the digital desk. "Find those files."

As soon as Nikki plugged the drive in, it fragmented into small pieces, as if it had disintegrated. However, Nikki didn't look the least bit worried about that. It was because she already knew what that flash drive really was. The small nanite robots move quickly, heading straight for the hard drive and then scanned multiple folders at once, searching her anything that had to deal with medical research first, then narrowing it down to heart conditions and treatments.

While the nanites were scanning, Nikki looked behind her, checking onwhat was going on. Dark was still dodging the mech's lasers, but Nikki knew that once it recharged that cannon, it would fire it again. She was sure they didn't have much time until that happened. "Come on, hurry up."

The nanites found what they were looking for and quickly copied the file. They then rushed back to the access port and started reforming into a flash drive once again.

Nikki looked behind her once again, but as soon as she did, she realized the mech was scanning her. Her eyes widened for a second. "That figures."

At the same time that the mech aimed its lasers at her, the nanites were finished with their job. Nikki quickly pulled the flash drive out of the desk then bolted. The mech fired a round of green lasers at her. As she blindly dodged, she didn't notice Dark and she ran right into him. "Whoa!"

The momentum sent both hedgehogs rolling backward. Just as Nikki and Dark began to pick themselves up, the massive mech charged up the cannon again, aiming it at the two hedgehogs.

This time, Dark pushed Nikki away and then moved to dodge in the other direction. The cannon reached optimum frequency and then a loud blast was heard.

Nikki quickly looked toward where she last saw Dark. In that split second moment, her heart skipped a beat and there was a slight look of horror in her eyes as concern for him took her over. As she took a longer look, she was able to see what happened…

Or in this case what didn't happen.

Dark was fine and was as equally confused as Nikki was. He had heard the blast as well and honestly though that we wouldn't have been able to dodge that blast in time.

The two hedgehogs then looked toward the mech simultaneously. It was then that they realized that the mech's cannon had exploded; it wasn't the cannon firing that they heard. Now the mech was struggling to stay standing. Its two massive legs screeched painfully as they buckled underneath its massive weight, sending it crashing to the ground.

Both hedgehogs looked to each other again, trying to piece together what had happened in their own minds. The two then realized something and quickly looked back to the mech.

"Crash!" Nikki yelled for their comrade to hear, hoping that he was alright.

"I'm okay!" The young meerkat yelled back. Struggling a little, he pulled himself up to the top of the mech near the cockpit. He let out a groan and a long drawn out sigh, but then quickly waved to the two hedgehogs once he saw them. "Haha!"

"Hey, you did it Crash!" Nikki congratulated as she waved back.

"Heh, I did, didn't I?" Suddenly, the meerkat almost slipped. "Whoa-whoa-whoa!" But he caught himself, accidentally hitting the emergency hatch override on the top of the mech. The cockpit's tempered glass hatch slide forward sharply.

The Meerkat stared wide eyed at it for a moment and then freaked out causing him to fall backward. "Wah!-haa-haa!"

Nikki watched with confusion. "What?"

While Dark simply sighed and face-palmed himself muttering, "Seriously?"

"Crash, what is it?" Nikki asked.

The meerkat shakily pointed toward the mech's cockpit. "There's-there's a dead guy in there!"

"A what?" Both hedgehogs got up and walked over to the cockpit, at first thinking that they might have accidently killed whoever it was that was piloting the mech. But as they got closer, it was apparent that wasn't the case. The body was a skeleton. Its clothes were tattered and weathered from time.

Dark scanned it, his eyes flashing bright red for a second. "It's Roth."

"Roth?" Nikki asked as she turned to him slightly surprised. She then returned her gaze to the skeleton, remembering the scientist from the video earlier that had ran out of the lab while his two collogues, Phoenix and Lance, tried so desperately to convince their friend from doing so. "Well, now we know where he went. He knew this was coming…and he tried to fix it."

"This is all g-g-g-great and all…but can we please get the hell out of here now?!" The meerkat yelled as he cringed, closing his eyes tightly.

"Yes." Nikki responded. "We can go."

The meerkat collapsed at that news, releasing a massive sigh of relief. "Thank Chaos. I'm sick of this place."

But then Nikki turned to Dark and added to her previous statement. "After we take care of Roth first."

Crash then looked to the ground, feeling terrible that the thought didn't even cross his mind. "Oh…right."

After they found a place for Roth's remains and the service that the group attempted for Roth, the group left the room.

"No offense, but that was seriously creepy." Crash shivered as he remembered the near death battle they had endured earlier. "I really hope we don't have to do something like that again."

"You and me both." Dark muttered, sounding more annoyed by the event than anything. He then turned to the young meerkat and asked, "You still have that blueprint?"

"Oh yeah." Crash took the blueprint out of his hat, he then was about to hand it to Dark, but the midnight hedgehog waved it off.

"No, you hold onto it. Best to let Tails and the Professor look at it."

"Yeah." Crash nodded.

The group started walking toward the lab's exit, stepping around and over debris as they went.

"Hey, you think that Tails will be able to remake one?" Crash wondered out loud curiously.

"He better not." Dark muttered. "I think I've had enough EX Reavers for one life time."

After about thirty minutes, the group made it back to the surface exit.

Crash let out a relieved sigh. "Finally." He then fell to the ground on his back, looking up at the grey sky. "I missed you sky."

Dark rolled his eyes irritably. "You do realize that we will be underground when we get back to our own base, right?"

The meerkat sat back up at Dark's remark. "Well yeah, but that's home, there's a difference. Nothing's trying to kill me there." He then plopped back down on the ground.

Dark raised an eyebrow at Crash's sudden retort back.

Nikki wasn't paying attention. She was able to move the arm that was hit by the green laser again as it had worn off and she was gently testing it, twirling her wrist in the air, and then stopped to look curiously at her hand. Her eyes then lit up. "Haha!

Her midnight comrade looked to her when he heard her short laugh as she then explained excitedly. "Look, my arm's back to normal again."

But Dark simply blinked a few times, he then sighed and shook his head.

This girl is going to be the death of me someday, I just know it.

Meanwhile, back at the Genesis Base, Gyro and Jodi were working together to fix the simulator.

"Alright, I think that should do it." Gyro's nanites emerged from an open panel in the simulator's console and rematerialized into his true form in the control deck next to his ferret comrade.

The ferret laughed at little, giving him a smile. "Okay, part of me is sooo jealous that you can do that."

Her lynx comrade shrugged. "Eh, I try not to. It's actually weird for me to just merge into a computer. I wouldn't have done it if we already had a computer."

Gyro then looked over Jodi's shoulder and asked. "Speaking of which, how is the program coming?"

"Still working on it." The ferret answered a little nervously. "It's a good thing that Tails went and brought Seth here. This is going a lot faster with his help as well."

"Yeah, Seth's great." The Nanitan lynx said with a smile as he leaned against the console, crossing his arms. "But he still thinks I'm a threat every time I come into the mother base."

Jodi shot him a surprised look. "Still?"

Gyro simply shrugged. "Yeah, he can't help it, I don't blame him."

"Huh, well, maybe I can figure out a way to fix that." Jodi offered as she went back to typing on her laptop.

Silence filled the air for a short moment, as Jodi was working. Gyro then looked at her, his eyes bright with enthusiasm. "I think we should give the simulator a test run. Wanna help me out?"

Jodi's eyes drifted to him, meeting his emerald-amber gaze both with slight confusion and wonder.

In seeing her look, he added. "It needs to be done anyway and besides, we could use the break after working these past two hours."

The ferret raised an eyebrow, giving him a look that showed she questioned whether or not he thought she could be trusted. "By 'we' I'm assuming you mean me? I'm fine."

"What? No not that-I mean." At that moment, Gyro was mentally face-palming himself. You idiot.

That wasn't what Gyro had meant at all. Jodi's will power was strong, despite the condition that she had. It was never his intention to make her feel inferior or too weak to do anything. He did want to show her something though, something that he had worked on. However, the way he put it was the wrong way and he knew it the instant he got that reaction from her. The lynx sighed calmly and then moved closer to her, he then leaned in close and whispered softly. "Just come with me. You trust me right?"

Jodi nodded while trying to hide a sheepish blush. She realized that she had misinterpreted Gyro's intentions. She took his hand gently and softly replied "Yes. Always."

Swiftly, the lynx typed in a code with his free hand, hitting the confirm button then turning to her. Gazing into her sapphire irises, Gyro grasped Jodi's hand in return. He then started to lead her out of the control room. "Come on, let's go."

The ferret giggled a little and followed the lynx out the door and to the elevator that led to the floor below. For being as old as it was, the two Mobians had managed to get the elevator to run smoothly. It was easy for them since they had the power system online and functioning yesterday. The elevator opened to the next five floors below and the two moved to a sliding door that was right across the locker room. Jodi placed her hand on the scanner, the anti-mech mark glowed as the scanning pad lit up. With a light shwoosh, the door unlocked and then slid open.

Suddenly, Gyro's ears perked up. "Oh, wait a minute."

He then released Jodi's hand as he ran over to the lockers. Jodi raised a curious eyebrow; just what was Gyro up to?

Just after a short moment, Gyro found what he was looking for. "Yes, there we are."

The look on Jodi's face was even more confused when Gyro came back with what looked to be a blanket over his shoulder. She then laughed, still slightly suspicious of Gyro's behavior, but trusting there was a reason behind it, even though she didn't actually understand what it was at that moment. "What is that for?"

"Oh, just in case we need it." Gyro replied with a smile. He then took her hand again. "You ready?"

"I was waiting for you remember?" Jodi reminded with a laugh.

The lynx blinked then blushed. "Oh, heh heh, right."

The two Mobains' grip tightened slightly as they walked inside the simulator. This was the first time anyone had actually ventured into this room since they got to this base they now called their own; it was only viewed from the large glass windows before this. Tiles of white seemed to go on forever into the distance, as it should, they had estimated this room to be large enough to house a city like Station Square. Jodi felt a certain admiration for whoever had designed this, it was truly amazing as it was, let alone what she knew the room could actually do. She remembered how Gyro had showed her and the rest of the group how the simulator could create a realistic looking meadow; however, Gyro had said that there were still things that needed to be repaired so that the simulator would be back to what the designer had originally intended.

At that moment, Jodi could hear something; it sounded like sand being poured into a sandbox, only the sound came from under her feet. Looking down she saw sand forming and rising from the ground slowly. She gasped in amazement and then looked up at the ceiling. The white wall tile disappeared behind a whisping mist, which eventually parted to reveal something she couldn't remember seeing for a long time…a bright, brilliant blue sky. Her sapphire irises stared in wonder at the beautiful sight.

"Oh, watch out."

Gyro's soft, cheerful warning alerted her to a sound that she heard. Waves?...No, ocean waves.

Following Gyro as he stepped back, she looked ahead of her and saw the waves forming from the ground, rhythmically and gracefully washing against the sand as it became the shoreline. Jodi's eyes were wide as she felt the breeze blow by her and the sense of feeling came over her. She was no longer in an old, abandoned G.U.N. bunker…from where she was standing…what she was feeling…the warm sun on her fur, the waves lapping at her feet, the breeze that carried the scent of fresh air…Jodi was by the shore of the Emerald Coast. Jodi herself had never been to the ocean; nor could she remember how beautiful the sky was, or how clear the air was. She took a deep, cleansing breath, taking the site in. "…it's beautiful."

Gyro's face radiated with happiness for her. He had heard how much Jodi had wanted to see the ocean from Nikki. But they all knew that the ocean wouldn't be the same without the clear skies or fresh air. In fact, they were both worried that exposing Jodi to the outside world in her current condition might do more harm to her than good. So, the simulator was naturally the next best thing. Suddenly, he noticed Jodi shivering a little from the breeze and he quickly took the blanket off his shoulder and wrapped it around her.

Jodi was a little surprised to be suddenly covered by the blanket and looked to the lynx next to her; his eyes were bright and he said as he gave her a smile. "See, told you we might need it."

"Yes, yes you did." The ferret laughed in return; then as she looked back to the open ocean, she sighed. "Oh Gyro, this is…I can't even express the words for it."

She then looked to Gyro, her eyes bright with gratitude and wonder. "Thank you."

"Heh, it was nothing really." Gyro managed with a blush, rubbing the back of his head.

Suddenly, something scuttled across the sand and touched Jodi's foot, making the poor ferret jump out of her fur and scream a little. "Gah!"

Gyro wasn't expecting Jodi to fall into him and he fell backwards, but gently caught Jodi before they both hit the sand. "Whoa! oof!"

The Nantain lynx quickly recovered, turning to Jodi slightly worried. "What is it? Are you okay?"

"Oh, yes I'm fine." Jodi reassured, she then glanced over her shoulder. "It's just something crawled over my foot."

Gyro gave her a confusing look. "Something what?"

The two then sat up and looked. There right in front of them was a crab, scuttling quickly toward the ocean waves, being swept away gently as the sea welcomed it with open arms.

The two Mobians blinked then looked to each other, both confused, but not as confused as Gyro was. "I swear to you, I did not program that."

Then suddenly the two of them began to laugh.

"This was a G.U.N. simulator before we fixed it, so maybe it was a part of that program."

"Yeah, that might be it." Gyro then laughed. "Hey, I wanted this to be an authentic day at the beach, guess I should be careful what I wish for, huh?"

"Yeah." Jodi laughed in return.

Then suddenly, they stopped, noticing how close they were to each other. Sapphire blue irises reflected a splash of emerald gold as they gazed into each other's eyes. Gyro placed his hand on Jodi's cheek, brushing some of her hair aside. Lost in each other's eyes and in the moment, the two gently leaned toward each other…softly closed their eyes…and kissed. Time seemed to stand still, it felt as though nothing in the world existed except for the two of them at that moment. It wasn't at all what Jodi had expected, and for a short moment, she felt a little embarrassed for thinking what she had thought before in the first place. Being a Nanitan, she had expected Gyro to be metallic in nature, even though his fur mimicked the look and feel of real fur. However, when she kissed him, she realized that there was no cold metal feeling or the taste of metal on her lips. Gyro was warm and though she hated to think it, he felt alive. As much as she wanted to, she didn't dare try to think of why her hypothesis was wrong and she really didn't care too much. All she cared about was that she was with him.

The two Mobians released each other, gently leaning their foreheads into each other's. Gyro then whispered. "One wish that I would never regret…is wanting to spend every moment I can with you…"

Meanwhile, Tails was in the main hanger working on three computer screens. He was trying to decipher and predict results of scenarios for Jodi's condition. It was difficult, he knew that before starting this; however, he knew he had to try and see if he could help somehow in figuring this out, for Jodi's sake. The ferret was a part of their family now and Tails will do everything he could to help her and balance his duties of leadership.

"Come on…let this be the one." The fox muttered; it was obvious he had been at this for a while.

The scenario played out on the main screen. The combination of digital compounds mixed and then interacted with a digital makeup of Jodi's immune system, which was not only incredibly strong, but also had anti-mech assisting in her body's defenses. Naturally, Tails didn't want to just test this on Jodi. So using a simulation program he came up with was the next best thing he had to work with. As the data interacted with one another, the screen went red and a flash of letters came up.

Experiment Failed.

Tails growled and slammed his fist into the desk in front of him. "Damn it!"

His body then relaxed, mostly from mental exhaustion. "I really thought I had it this time…"

"Shall we…try again Sir?" Seth asked timidly, he had been working both with Tails and helping Jodi at once, being a master computer and hacker did have its advantages. He was able to truly be in two places at once, something that Tails was both proud of and slightly envious of. Who wouldn't be?

The fox sighed, running his hand through his drooping bangs. "…no…that's enough for today."

"Good idea Sir, you should get some rest." The computer suggested.

"I just don't know what else to do, Seth." Tails admitted. "I mean, I've tried everything…nearly every combination I could come up with that wasn't toxic…and nothing." His eyes narrowed in frustration and he nearly growled as he muttered. "absolutely nothing."

"Um…I hate to be rude, but I was here for that Sir."

Strangely, Tails laughed at Seth's comment a little. But it was more of a defeated laugh of absurd irony, like as if he was just barely a hundred miles from his destination only to realize his plane was falling right out of the sky.

Seth was worried about him. Despite being programed with emotions, the computer didn't understand the meaning behind Tails' reaction. "Sir?...that wasn't meant to be a joke."

"I know; I know…I'm sorry Seth." Tails apologized. "I just feel so helpless…the whole thing is just crazy. In this state, Jodi seems to be immune to everything. Viral, bacterial, her immune system is just in constant overdrive…even attacking anything outside that's meant to help her. Yeah she's impervious to everything…except for what's trying to kill her." He then closed his eyes and cringed, griping his hair and fur between his fingers. "It's so damn ironic."

"Sir…if I may suggest something...this may seem bold to say, but…You must get a hold of yourself."

Tails' eyes sprang open, surprised by what Seth had just said. He then loosened his grip and blinked up at the screen. "What?"

"I'm sorry Sir…I just-"

"No, no, continue." Tails encouraged.

Tails could just hear the frightened tone in the computer's voice. "No, you'll be angry with me."

"Oh come on Seth, you know I wouldn't do that."

"You yell at me for setting off the alarms back home."

"That's different." Tails corrected, his brow twitching in slight frustration at Seth's paranoia. He then calmed himself down. "Just tell me."

"Alright…I don't understand."

"What don't you understand?"

"The feelings you are expressing. You're angry, afraid, desperate, hurt, depressed, and sad all at once and on top of that, you're trying to hide it by laughing? It's really difficult for me to follow and it's not like you at all. To be honest, it's scaring me."

The fox's features calmed. Recapping how he was acting just a few moments ago, he must've seemed both frightening and concerning, especially to someone like Seth, who could feel emotion and do amazing things by a computer's standards, but would be helpless to actually help Tails in the event of losing his mind. Tails allowed a long sigh to escape him, taking in a breath to calm the rest of his nerves. "I see…I'm sorry for frightening you."

"It's alright Sir." Seth reassured. The computer then asked. "But I still don't understand why."

"Well Seth, that's what happens when you know there's someone you care about that is in trouble and you can't help them." Tails explained, knowing that his computerized friend was sincerely trying to understand these complexes of emotions. "I…can't really think of anything as an example that you would remember…"

Then, an idea came to the fox. "You know how Cream used to worry about me all the time-well, okay let's be honest here, she worries about me still, but you get what I mean right?"

"Yes."

"It's pretty much the same thing. She wanted to help me through my injury after that crash a long time ago and the majority of it, she did." He then looked down at the desk. "However, with me and my slight 'obsession' with working…she was always afraid of something happening to me that I couldn't recover from."

"Yes, I remember that."

"I do feel terrible putting her through that."

"But you did what you had to in order to keep Mobius and your team safe."

"Yes." Tails acknowledged. "And Cream understood that and still does. Still doesn't change the fact that what we do is dangerous."

"This is true."

"So basically, the answer is the reason why we act the way we do is because we care about each other and don't want to see someone suffer in any form, both physical and emotional."

"I think I understand…but what good does it do if you suffer as well along with the one you wish not to suffer?"

"Now that my friend is empathy." Tails explained. "It's something we can't help really, and honestly, it's something I hope we never lose."

Just then, Nikki gracefully slid under the door. "Guys, we're back!" She hollered cheerfully.

"Oh, Nikki." Tails looked in the direction of the entrance, seeing his godchild running toward him. He could see that she was in a good mood, which had to mean something good, at least he hoped it was. The fox knew that they needed some good news about now.

"We got it," Nikki reassured with a smile. "We got the info we need from the G.U.N. Lab."

The fox stood up out of his chair in surprise. "You found it?"

"Yep." She answered, nearly laughing at his reaction. Nikki then reached into her pocket and pulled out the end of the cord where the flash drive clip was attached to, gently taking it off the clip and handing it to Tails. "Here."

Tails looked at the flash drive for a moment; he then closed his eyes and sighed. "Alright…"

Feeling hope rising up in him again, he gave Nikki a determined look. "Let's hope this works."

Nikki gave a nod in agreement, returning his determined look with one of her own.

At that moment, Crash came running into the hanger, swiftly ducking under the door as Nikki did before and ran as fast as he could to meet up with Tails and Nikki by the hanger's master computer. The meerkat stopped, trying to catch his breath. "Did…whew,…did you give it to him?"

"Just got it." Tails answered as he plugged the flash drive in.

"Good..." the young meerkat sighed with relief; he then sat himself down and laid down on the floor from exhaustion. "ugh…I'm beat."

"Hey, I said you could walk." Nikki reminded with a small laugh.

"Eh…" Crash simply waved her response off, too tired to actually finish; then allowed his hand to fall back on the floor.

The hedgehog gave a short muffled laugh at her meerkat comrade. Suddenly, her attention was drawn away by the calculations and numbers moving swiftly across the screen. Any normal Mobian wouldn't be able to track the numbers and figures with their eyes and process them, being as this was the computer trying to load the sequences. However, Nikki found herself actually able to follow, though not understanding the complex formulas completely.

Tails was able to look over and see Nikki's eyes follow the movement, as if she was indeed reading the equations as they sped in rapid succession on the screen. This didn't really surprise him since her father, Sonic, had also had this same ability. Everything about that hedgehog was fast, even reading. Sonic didn't spend a lot of time relaxing reading books, because he would speed through them so fast he never really paced himself. In fact, Tails had been surprised before when the hedgehog had picked up the morning paper once and just seemed to flip through it as if he wasn't interested; simply saying that he had finished reading. It was so fast that Tails just had to see if Sonic had actually read and registered it, so he quickly found a page and asked him questions about it. It turned out that Sonic was able to recall every word that was in the paper, even what was in the classifieds. Right now, Tails was seeing that potential with Nikki right before his eyes; however…these equations were a lot more complex than a simple newspaper.

Nikki's look was determined; even though she was reading what was displaying on the screen, she was waiting for something…and Tails knew what it was she was waiting for…the very same thing that Tails wanted to see. He decided to leave the question of Nikki's mad reading skills for now and focused on the screen as well, hoping for the results to be positive.

It felt as though days had passed instead of minutes; the anticipation rising up in Nikki and Tails both.

Ding!

That sound made the fox blink in surprise; an equally surprised gasp followed as he saw what was on the screen. The letters were cloaked in bright green and displayed boldly…

Experiment Successful

The hedgehog looked to Tails, who returned her gaze of surprise with one so similar it was like looking in a mirror.

"It worked…" Tails breathed, his sapphire eyes glowing and his spirit uplifted as he felt the weight lift off his shoulders. "It actually worked! Haha! Yes!"

Hearing the excited shout, Crash quickly sat up. "Say what now?"

Nikki turned to Tails, her eyes shining as she started to ask. "So that means that-"

She cut herself off as she saw Tails look to her. A reassuring smile was brimming on the fox's face, one that Nikki hadn't seen in a long time. It wasn't one that was a front, it was genuine.

Nikki suddenly embraced Tails so quickly that it made the fox's fur stand on end. It wasn't that he was not expecting it; in fact, he thought that he would be used to her quick movements by now, but the hedgehog had caught him off guard momentarily in the moment.

"Thank you." She whispered with gratitude; then excitedly repeated. "Thank you- thank you- thank you!"

When she released him, Tails smiled, rubbing the back of his head in modesty. "Well, you did the hard work. You found just what Dr. Phoenix and I needed to complete the sequence."

Just then, as Dark walked into the hanger after finishing a quick perimeter check, he heard Nikki's voice and his ear flicked with curiosity as he looked toward the small group around the main computer as Nikki answered. "Heh, well it wasn't just me. I couldn't have done it without Dark and Crash."

The young meerkat's ears perked up when he heard Nikki mention his name. He was never expecting to get any credit for helping Nikki and Dark, that's just how he was, so it nearly overwhelmed him to hear it, especially from Nikki.

"And you should've been there." Nikki continued. "Crash was amazing."

The meerkat looked to her, his eyes all watery. "R-Really?"

"Yeah. I mean you and Dark both saved my butt quite a bit in there." She replied as she looked to Crash, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment, more out of the fact that she got herself into those situations in the first place and not being able to get herself out, but still thankful that both of her friends were there to bail her out all the same.

"It was that difficult in there?" Tails asked as he blinked away the sense of worry, reminding himself that this was after the fact.

"Oh yeah, once we got down to the 20th floor, we ran into a couple of crazy stuff in there." She then turned to the meerkat on the ground next to her. "Crash, you wanna give Tails that blueprint we found?"

"Oh, yeah sure." The meerkat then got up, taking off his hat and took out a folded blueprint. He then walked over and handed it to Tails. "Here you go."

"Thanks Crash." Tails then gently took the blueprint in his hand, unfolding it and placing it on the table in front of him.

It was then that Nikki looked toward the hanger door that she saw her midnight comrade watching from a distance. "Dark!"

The female hedgehog quickly ran over to him, suddenly embracing the midnight hedgehog. "Guess what? It worked." She reported with excitement.

Not expecting the quick hug at all, Dark jumped, giving her a slightly awkward look.

Nikki then quickly pulled back, stepping back a couple steps with a blush. "Oh right, mind reader thing…and heh heh."

The midnight hedgehog quickly recovered, giving her a slight smile. "Yep."

"Wow this is incredible!"

Both hedgehogs looked to Tails over by the computer, who was looking over the EX Reaver blueprint as he continued. "This was one of G.U.N.'s last, high-end mech models. Obviously still in the prototype stage though…it looks like there is so much wrong with it."

"Pfft, seemed fine when it was trying to shoot us." Crash muttered.

"Hmm? What was that?"

Hearing Tails ask that, Crash's fur stood up. He wasn't sure if he should tell Tails how dangerous it was or how all of them almost got killed. The last thing he wanted was to worry him; the fox already had so much going on and was finally in a good mood. So, Crash quickly decided not to ruin that for him and simply said while trying to hide his nervous tone. "Oh nothing, it's nothing."

Tails gave the meerkat a slightly skeptical look; he then shrugged his shoulders and looked at the blueprint again. He blinked and gave a slight look of surprise. His eyes narrowed as he deciphered and confirmed what he was looking at.

Wait…this is…

"So, what's up Tails? Did you find something?" Nikki asked.

As the two hedgehogs walked back to the computer desk, Tails quickly rolled the blueprint up "Oh it's nothing; I'll have to look at it later to make more sense of it anyway. Right now we have to get a hold of Dr. Phoenix and let him know what we found."

"Oh, right." Nikki agreed.

With that, Tails set the blueprint down gently under the desk as he sat back down in the chair. "He should be available right now…" he said as he started typing on the keyboard, he then added as he double checked the clock "The satellite should be out of range right now as well, it'll be difficult for the Exus to track the call."

"That's good." Crash agreed as his ears perked up and he looked at the monitor.

As the call went through, the group could hear Dr. Phoenix on the other side, shouting. "Alright, alright, hold your horses…" There was a sudden pause; then the doctor asked with a slight shocked tone to his voice. "…Tails?"

"Yeah it's me." The fox answered. "Still can't see you."

"Shit, hold on." Messing with something on the other line, the doctor then muttered. "Stupid, secondhand communication deck."

The group then heard a loud thud that made most of them jump. But they quickly recovered when they saw the good doctor's face on the screen. "There, can you see me now?"

"Perfectly." Tails reassured him.

Phoenix then sighed with relief. "Good." He then looked to the fox. "So, what's up? Did you find something?"

"Actually, we did." Nikki answered. "We searched that place you told us to take a look into and we found the research."

"You did? That's great!-but wait…" The doctor then looked a little apprehensive. "Was it compatible? Did it work?"

Tails smiled and nodded. "Yes, it worked. The simulated experiment worked."

"Even with the anti-mech codes I gave you?"

"Yes." Tails repeated.

The group suddenly cringed when they heard the doctor shout with excitement.

"Whahoo! Yes!"

"Someone's excited." Nikki laughed.

Phoenix continued excitedly. "This is great news!"

The doctor was right, this was great news. For the longest time, their biggest obstacle had been trying to find a solution to not only helping Jodi's condition, but also the anti-mech inside the ferret that prevented any of their attempts from working. Now, there was a real light at the end of the tunnel.

Nikki interrupted the doctor's moment of excitement, hoping for a positive answer to her question as she asked "So, does this mean you can help Jodi?"

"hmm?" Phoenix suddenly stopped, he wasn't fully prepared and he blinked a few times as he regained his composure. "Ahem! Well…help her yes. Cure her on the other hand…not completely. What this will be is something that will give her more freedom that she has had lately. As you know, Jodi's condition has increasingly become worse, limiting her to not travel as far or experience the world as you and I do."

"Not much to see out there anyway." Crash muttered.

The meerkat then suddenly jumped as he felt the doctor's glare through the monitor and heard him nearly growl with irritation as he elaborated. "I was talking about running and long durations of activity."

"Uh…sorry." Crash apologized as he ducked under the desk, his ears flat against his head and his wide eyes and the top of his scruffy hair the only things visible from the doctor's view.

The doctor then sighed as he continued where he left off before. "As I was saying. With what Tails and I have been working on and now with Lance's research as well, we can finally create a serum that can help control her attacks and even lessen their frequency…until we can find a way to fix this permanently that is."

"A serum?" The hedgehog gave a confusing look. It wasn't that she didn't know what a serum was; she was just trying to figure out how something like that would help Jodi in the middle of an attack. Though she hadn't witnessed it for herself yet, she had heard about the experience from Skylar Raven, the new head of the Stern Orphanage that took over after Mrs. Stern had retired. The way how the kind hearted raven had made it sound, it just seemed impossible for someone to give Jodi something while in such a state.

Noticing the slight concern and uncertainty in his god child's voice, Tails then added. "Like an EpiPen."

"Oh okay, that sounds better." Nikki said with a smile, but inwardly thought to herself. Then why didn't you guys just say that in the first place?

The midnight hedgehog next to her held back a laugh.

"Um hello? Have you ever used one of those? They hurt." Crash pointed out.

The three others in the room gave the young meerkat a slightly confusing look.

"How would you know that?" Tails asked with slight bit of curiosity in his tone.

"Because when I was really little I was allergic to a lot of stuff, okay?!" The young meerkat blurted out.

Dark was unfazed and simply blinked as he softly retorted. "And you're not little now?"

"Oh really funny Dark-!" Crash started to shout at the midnight hedgehog, who had remained completely collected. Then, the meerkat was interrupted by Nikki.

"But wait Crash, Knuckles and I found you when you were seven…ish." The hedgehog then scratched her head for a moment. The truth was they weren't exactly sure how old the young meerkat was when they found him. "Or was it six…eight?"

"Get to the point, please." The meerkat muttered.

"Right, well…I'm just wondering how you can remember that being so young is all." Actually, what Nikki had wanted to ask was that she had remembered when she first met Crash that he didn't remember where he lived or where he came from. Before he met Nikki, the poor kid was sleeping everywhere he could that was some form of shelter. But for Crash's sake, she had just went with him being so young at the time before they met instead of possibly bringing up bad memories.

The meerkat gave her a look as he answered. "Trust me, not being able to breathe then getting stabbed in the leg with a needle is not something you forget easily, Nikki."

Nikki was about to say something back. She wanted to know why he never mentioned something as important as this before. But she was interrupted by Tails, who was noticing that time was running out on the window of the call not being intercepted by outside forces.

"Ahem, can we continue this conversation later? We need to make sure we're squared away while Phoenix is able to be with us."

Both Crash and Nikki's attention was brought back to their mentor. "Oh right…sorry."

"So, was there anything else while you still have me?" Phoenix asked. "Did you find anything else?"

"Actually…there was one more thing…" Nikki admitted hesitantly.

"Well what is it?" The doctor inquired.

Dark then responded, realizing it was hard for Nikki to bring herself to actually say what it was they saw in the medical base. "We found Roth."

There was a pause for a moment, they then heard. "…oh."

"I'm sorry…" Nikki apologized with sympathy.

"It's okay…I was aware of what happened." Phoenix admitted as he continued. "He was the only one that knew what was going on and he tried to stop it…but he used a machine that G.U.N. had forced us to design…I never condoned it's production. I also know from what I know of the prototype…there's no way he survived."

"We ran into his machine in the medical lab. It was still functioning." Dark reported.

"Most likely on auto pilot I take it?" As Dark answered his question with a nod, Phoenix sighed. "I thought so."

"I know he was your friend." Nikki added with sincerity. "I wanted to let you know we took care of it. We stopped the mech and found a safe place to lay him to rest."

"You did that?..." The doctor looked at the group of teenagers, shocked and bewildered. "…Even though he wasn't your own and you didn't have to...You still…"

Phoenix then took a deep breath; he was deeply moved by the three teen's actions. The doctor then turned to Tails, gratitude reflecting in his eyes. "You have a good team, Prower. I don't what you're doing, but you're doing something right by them."

"Well…" Tails then rubbed the back of his head. "It's not me really; they make a lot of the decisions themselves…" The freedom fighter leader then looked to the three teenagers. "And I couldn't be more proud of them."

Both Nikki's and Crash's eyes lit up and they both smiled at Tails. They then turned to look back at the screen as Phoenix spoke once again. "Time's almost up, but before I go, I want to say thank you. To all of you."

"Oh it was nothing." Nikki said with a smile.

"Also…"

With Phoenix about to say something else, the female hedgehog looked curiously at the man in the screen once again "huh?"

"If you Freedom Fighters need anything and I do mean anything, give me a call or meet me here at my lab."

"You sure that's wise Doctor?" Dark advised. "You are near the Former Station Square border."

"I act on my own accord. They can't afford to lose me either. I personally believe that us fighting against each other when he have bigger problems to worry about is a bunch of bologna." He then looked at the clock again. "Oh, it looks like I have to go. I'll work on that serum once you send me the information the next time you can, Tails."

The fox nodded. "Alright, talk to you soon, be careful."

"Yeah, you be careful out there too, things are getting crazier out there…make sure you watch your back."

"Thanks, bye."

"Goodbye."

Tails then hung up the call, leaving about 2 minutes to spare on the timer. "And good timing."

Dark then looked toward the hanger entrance, obviously sensing something. "Speaking of good timing."

"Hmm?" Nikki turned around and looked as well and saw Zephyr and Gale gliding in on their Extreme Gear.

As soon as they saw Crash, their eyes widened.

"Crash, there you are!" Gale yelled for the meerkat to hear as she ran over, leaving Zephyr to put away his Extreme Gear. She stopped right next to the group. "We've been looking everywhere for you."

"See? I told you he was fine!" Zephyr shouted from where he was, finally placing his Extreme Gear on the rack.

"You guys were looking for me?" Crash asked, he then suddenly shouted back to Zephyr. "But you guys left me behind!"

"Dude, I thought you were right behind us." Zephyr responded. "Then we came back here and you were gone."

Dark, Nikki, and Crash all looked to Tails, who blinked at the three and answered. "Don't look at me, I didn't see them come back."

The hawk then answered. "Yeah, Seth said you were checking the wiring somewhere."

"Yes, actually I did see them come back earlier Sir." The computer confirmed nervously.

Gale, the young female sugar glider, walked over to Crash. "We're sorry Crash, we didn't mean to leave you behind, honest. I promise, next time, we'll make sure we're all ready before we take off…" She then shot a glare at Zephyr, which as actually more cute than threatening. "Right?"

The hawk's feathers ruffled a little, he then sighed and closed his eyes. "Okay okay fine, yeah. We'll slow it down next time."

"Crash was actually a big help with us." Nikki cut in looking to Zephyr. "he helped us take out a huge mech, actually did most of the work."

Zephyr was skeptical at first hearing this from Nikki, but then saw a nod from Dark next to her and his eyes widened. "Seriously?!"

Tails watched and laughed a little as he saw the group of kids talking with one another.

"And you're going right to sleep, right?" Crash added to Nikki with a laugh.

"Huh? Are you kidding? I'm wide awake now, why would I wanna do that?" Nikki objected.

"Because you were nearly dead on your feet in that base." Dark added with a smirk.

"There, see? Even Dark agrees with me." The meerkat pointed out.

Zephyr laughed. "Wow, that's a first. What exactly happened down there anyway?"

Crash turned to Zephyr as he answered. "Oh you're not even gonna believe what happened, it was crazy."

Tails felt like it was finally all coming together. The kids were getting along and more importantly, they were learning how to work together as a team. However, with the dark secrets that the fox kept hidden and what he knew…he wasn't sure if it would last. And he knew it wouldn't be long when the rest of the group would not only catch on to what Dark or Gyro really were, but something else that he had kept from them for so long…and he knew…it was only a matter of time.

Meanwhile, at an abandoned Eggman base near Former Station Square, Valor's team had found a new place for them to meet up and practice. They were starting to get worried that they were getting the good Dr. Phoenix too involved and didn't want Scythe's goons to find out about their alliance with him or lead the cougar to believe that the doctor was a threat in any way. So, after they found this rundown old base, they decided to use that as their new training area where their plans for ultimately dethroning the tyrant leader would not be easily discovered.

The members of the group, secretly known as the Renegades by the tyrant himself, have already done a lot in stealth to mess with Scythe's plans…and it was starting to become dangerous not only for them, but those involved. In order for them to be able to keep helping the innocent people in Former Station Square, the identities of the members had to remain a secret.

Storms were frequent near the mangled city since it was close to the ocean shoreline. And sometimes with those storms, came Chaos Storms. As they sound, Chaos Storms are storm clouds infused with Chaos Energy that still lingered in the atmosphere from the explosion at Ground Zero. The energy in these storms however, is radioactive and potentially deadly as radiation fall out tends to occur with them in the form of emerald rain and matching mist. The citizens are to barricade themselves inside whatever cover they can find, usually the homes they created from the ruins of the former glorious city.

For the Renegades however, this was the perfect opportunity to sneak away in the safety of the underground tunnels, the same one's that Eggman used to use for his quick getaways out of the city when his plans had been foiled by a certain legendary hero. Since no one even dared to go out during a Chaos Storm, no one would be able to track them or even suspect that they would be leaving their dwellings to conspire against the new empire's order.

It was one of these, cold, dreary, toxic raining nights that had brought the Renegades back to training in the Eggman base once again. They had until the storm arrived and ended to train, and one member of the Renegades wasn't wasting his time in doing so.

Trace had found of Eggman's sparing dummies that the mad scientist used to use to train his robot's with, well at least one of the ones that wasn't damaged from both the wear of time and training sessions that had already taken place before, and was sparing with it. The wolf kept running in and leaping toward the 'opponent', punching and kicking and pushing himself off and landing and then repeating the same form, working on fine-tuning his moves and precision.

For him, this was more letting off steam than anything. He wasn't too happy that they haven't made a move yet and he was getting impatient. But he knew in order for them to be able to overtake Scythe's forces as well as Scythe himself, he had to had to make sure he could stand up to the task.

The wolf landed gracefully, but skidded to a stop. He was breathing heavily, exhausted.

"Eh mate, don't ya think you're working yerself a little too hard?" His friend Caper asked, the wallaby was clearing away some debris in the room, mostly old sparing dolls and rusted metal.

However, the wolf answered with a determined look at the dummy in front of him. "I have to become stronger."

"And wearing yourself to the point of exhaustion's supposed to help with that?"

Trace whirred around to who had said that. It was Rook, the black and white cat who was also a member of his group. Rook had agreed to be a part of the Renegades due to the injustice that Scythe was causing in the city, and also with his teacher being brutally murdered by the massive liger, the cat wanted to make sure that never happened again to anyone else on his watch. He was already an accomplished sniper and strategist, able to come with great schemes to get back at Scythe's goons at every turn. He was also the group's eyes and ears inside since the cat had access to top secret records and background information on anyone that was registered in Former Station Square.

With Rook's remark, Trace retorted back. "Hey! I don't see you training, Checkers!"

Which was true, Rook wasn't training or practicing, but reading what looked to be some kind of book that Trace couldn't decipher. The title was in a different language that he did not recognize, but he assumed it has something to deal with strategy or law or something, since that was what the intelligent cat usually read.

"There are more methods of training, Trace." Rook stated as he turned a page and continued reading. "Training the mind for example."

"Then he must be reading 'how to fight for dummies', eh mate?" Caper whispered, giving Trace a light nudge and a wink.

Suddenly, the door in the end of the room opened and three more Mobians came into the room. Flash Kit, a fiery orange tabby, also a sniper and an amazing quick draw prodigy. Savannah Rain; however, everyone just called her Rain for short. This painted wolf was the group's healer, able to use charged Power Rings on her wrists to be able to channel her healing abilities. And the leader of the ragtag group, Valor Komodo, a fearsome Komodo dragon with poisonous claws and a strong tail that doubled as a whip. Since his kind had forbidden the use of their deadly claws, he also had twin Colts on holsters and was an amazing shot.

"Well, it's about time you blokes showed up." The wallaby acknowledged as he crossed his arms. "We were startin' to get worried about you three."

"Hey, I had to fix a leak!" Flash shot back.

Suddenly, Rook's eyes widened and he gave Flash a look of astonishment. "There's a leak in our house?"

But the orange tabby wasn't worried in the slighted and simply waved it off. "Oh I took care of it, relax will ya? Gesh."

"Flash, a leak in that structure is not a joke. If even so much as hint of that radioactive material gets in our house, we can't go back there." Rook reiterated, giving a serious look to his roommate.

"I said I took care of it." Flash repeated, rolling his eyes.

Knowing they didn't have much time, Valor interrupted. "Let's just drop this and get the training started."

"Trace already started." Rook pointed out as he returned to reading his book.

"And I cleared out the arena." Caper added as he pushed the rest of the heap of metal to the side, revealing that said arena underneath.

"Good job you two." The older Komodo congratulated with a nod. "So have you practiced sparing with each other yet?"

"Yep, Rook and I were sparin' earlier, that bloke is quick." Caper reported.

"Wait." Trace looked to both Caper and rook slightly confused. "So you both spared with each other before I got here?"

"That's right." Rook answered as he turned a page without looking at Trace.

"Then why didn't you just say that sooner?" Trace asked, wondering why Rook hadn't said that he had already practiced and that was why he was reading now instead of training.

The black and white cat simply blinked as he continued to read. "You never asked; you simply assumed that I didn't."

The wolf sighed and face-palmed himself.

Then Rain chimed in with a nervous smile. "Well...you know what they say when you assume."

"I know, I know." The wolf replied.

While the group was talking and bantering back and forth, their leader walked over the arena. "Okay so who's first?" He then looked to Trace and Caper. "How about you two?"

"Wait a minute, both of us against you, Sir?" Caper asked confused.

Valor nodded "Yep, I'll even make it easy for ya boys."

The Komodo then placed his arms behind him. "Both hands tied behind my back."

Caper and Trace look at each other and blinked. Both of them were fairly strong for their age and had seen their leader fight a few battles of his own. But they all looked so easy for him, that they were not sure whether or not challenging him, even without him fighting with his hands, was a good idea.

"What's the matter, too easy for ya?" The Komodo laughed.

"With all due respect, you do that anyway." Trace reminded as he raised an eyebrow.

Caper looked to his wolf comrade. "Yeah, I agree with my mate here. It won't make much of a difference."

"Ha, two against one without your hands free?" Flash laughed with skepticism. "You're crazy." He then turned to his comrade. "Right Rook?

Rook looked up from the book he was reading for a second, but obviously wasn't paying too close attention to what was going on. "Hmm?" The black and white cat then spoke with mild confidence as he looked back to his book. "Oh no, he can do it alright."

The orange tabby leaned in next to Rook, grinning devilishly as he muttered in his ear. "So, is that a bet?"

Rook rolled eyes and sighed, then muttered slightly annoyed. "Do you even have any Mobiums left since our last bet?"

"How about a dare instead then?" Flash offered with a flash of confidence in his eyes.

The black and white cat gave his orange furred comrade an unimpressed look. "Alright Flash, what does the loser have to do?"

"Hmm, let's see…" Flash thought for a second. "Ah ha, I got it."

He then leaned in close and continued as he challenged. "Loser has to mop the training room."

Rook simply blinked at him and returned to his book, slowly turning the page. "Alright, better keep your end when I win then."

"Ha! You better keep yours when you lose." Flash boldly retorted back.

Rain face-palmed herself as she muttered "oh brother."

Trace and Caper readied themselves.

"I don't know about this." Trace whispered to the wallaby.

"Eh, let's at least give it a shot eh?" Caper responded with confidence.

Trace sighed and muttered. "You're starting to sound like someone else I know."

"Oh, ain't that right?" The wallaby smiled and gave a friendly slap on Trace's shoulder. "Sounds like a great bloke to me, can't wait to meet them."

Trace raised an eyebrow at Caper and was about to say something when something swiftly drew his attention away and made his fur stand up slightly from not expecting it.

"Here I come!" Valor shouted as he ran in toward the boys.

Both teens dodged to either side of Valor, planning to hit him from both sides. But Valor was way ahead of them. The Komodo swung his powerful tail, tripping Trace off his feet.

Not prepared for this at all, Trace fell to the floor. "Whoa! Oof!"

Caper quickly reacted, balancing on his thick, strong tail. He then pulled both of his feet in, and then tried to kick Valor with both feet, his steel toed boots ready to collide with the Komodo's face. However, Valor quickly dodged and then swung his tail at Caper, hitting him in the chest just enough to throw the wallaby off balance, sending him to the ground.

Behind the Komodo, Trace quickly recovered, his eyes glowing.

Valor's eyes widened as he looked over his shoulder at that moment, realizing that Trace was trying to predict his movements. Damn!

The Komodo leaped backward, he then ran toward the wolf for a frontal assault, but then Valor's tactic changed when he swung his tail early and brushed it against the ground, stirring up the dust on the floor. Trace was able to see this ahead of time and tried to dodge, but then didn't see that Valor had come around him, using the dust as cover and then hit Trace to the side, causing the wolf to slam into Caper, who was just getting up from Valor's last attack, only to be hit by a flying wolf. Both teens toppled out of the circle that was drawn in paint to simulate an arena.

The Komodo dragon swung his tail valiantly. "Looks like I won."

"Awe come on! You cheated!" Caper protested.

"Actually, he simply used the field to his advantage." Rook corrected, not looking up from his book.

Valor walked up to the two on the ground, he then offered his tail to help the two up. The boys grabbed his tail and the Komodo easily lifted them off the ground and gently set them down on their feet. "Always remember one thing. In the rules of survival or defense, there is no cheating. There is only defensive strategy. No one you encounter out there is going to 'fight fair'."

Both teenagers nodded at their mentor's advice. "Right."

As Trace started dusting himself off, he heard Rain. "Well, how about you two take a break, I brought lunch."

Suddenly, Caper whipped around and looked at Rain. "Did you say lunch?"

"None for me thanks." Rook refused politely as he turned a page. "I should be getting back, they'll figure out I'm gone before long."

"Ah come on mate, you can't spare a few more minutes?" Caper tried to convince him. "This is Rain's cooking we're talking about here."

"If I'm late back and find out I'm missing, they'll search for me. One of the many burdens of being in that inner circle. I'll come back with some valuable information for our cause."

The wallaby leaned closer to Rain and whispered. "Wow, and I thought that Trace was the workaholic of the group."

Flash on the other hand, didn't react at all. He was completely shocked that not only had he lost a bet yet again, but that Valor actually was able to beat both Trace and Caper with both hands behind his back. "…Wha?"

Rook closed his book, then got up from where he was sitting and headed for the exit. As he walked past Flash, he said "Better get started. See you in a couple hours, Flash.

Flash's face was stuck in his dumbfounded state, his mouth dropped in shock. "bu-bu-bu-what?"

Author's Note: Wow so a lot happened in this chapter, so lets recap...

-Crash was very helpful in helping to take out that mech and the group found out what happened to the scientist that left sadly, but that's the way it goes.

-Nikki was able to get what they went there for, even though it nearly got her killed *sigh* -_-;

-Big one! Jodi and Gyro kissed! whoo! Technically the first couple to actually kiss and it's shown in the series.

-Something is up with Tails, don't know what exactly, but something is not right. Probably needs a nap, oh heck everyone needs a nap, someone tell these crazy people to take a nap!

-A new thing to help Jodi, yay! Lots of good things going down.

-Trace's group now has a new name and a new base, still needs renovating.

-And Flash is bad a gambling XD

And...I believe that's about it...Oh! teaser questions! 00!

What is the secret that Tails is keeping from the group other than Dark's true origins? When revealed, will this tear the group apart?

Find out in the coming chapter of Sonic's Legacy: Book 1!

Next chapter is...*drum roll* The-super-late-Halloween-Special-that-is-still-the-Halloween-Special-even-though-it-is-no-longer-Halloween!

(It's still a part of the plot, so deal with it ;) )