Chapter One

Sonic and Antoine carefully removed a banner from two of the many trees in the forest of Knothole. Bunnie silently let the air out of many balloons crowding the area. Sally and Rotor sat side-by-side on the step of Rotor's workshop.

"Tails grew up," Sally sighed. "And he's gone, I guess." Rotor nodded.

"Never thought I'd see the day…I always pictured the little guy growing up along side the Freedom Fighters, but…" As Antoine folded up the banner, Sonic joined the two.

"Well, guess that Tails is gone for good," he commented with a sigh. "This is mondo-uncool." Sally looked surprised. She had never seen Sonic this upset about something before. Sally smiled.

"Yeah, but at least we've got your Uncle Chuck back."

"And it's good to be back, Princess," Chuck's old voice came from behind the group of Freedom Fighters. Sonic looked up pleadingly at his uncle.

"Unc, we've gotta get Tails back right now!" he said. "The Freedom Fighters just aren't the same without him." Uncle Chuck nodded understandably.

"I see," he nodded. "But how? I'm afraid that Tails has his mind made up, my boy. But don't worry too much. I'm sure you'll get to see him soon anyway." Sonic sighed and looked out in the forest, wondering what his little buddy was doing right now.

Blue and Geo stood with their dad in the Liberator HQ hollow. Tails plugged in the derobotizer he had built, and looked up at the robot cat anxiously.

"Are you ready, Mr. Cat?" he asked. Kris nodded, his two children nervous. He sat down inside the machine.

"Are you sure that this will work, Tails?" The cat asked the fox. "The last time I was in one of these things…" Kris shuddered at the thought. Tails gave him a thumbs-up.

"You have my personal guarantee," Tails smiled. "I'll start up the machine.

Surrounding Tails, Blue and Geo were Krystal, Marilyn and Steven (Krystal's parents), Robbie and Hunter (Robbie's father). Kris blinked nervously as the glass door shut in front of him. Tails pressed a few buttons on the derobotizer as it heated up. Suddenly, a low groan was heard and when the door opened up again on the machine, Kris was no longer a robot. Tails was pleased that his machine worked, but Geo and Blue were thrilled.

"Dad, you're back!" Geo cried as the two cats hugged their father. Kris chuckled and looked up at Tails.

"I can't thank you enough," he said. "Even though I still wasn't obsessed with Robotnik when I was turned into a robot, I still hated being mechanical. Thanks to you, I can breathe again.

Tails blushed. "No thanks needed, Mr. Cat. Just doing my job."

"Please," Kris replied. "I owe you my life. Call me Kris." Krystal smiled at Blue and Geo.

"As co-founder of the Liberators, I couldn't be happier for all of you. Blue, Geo, you two have stuck with the Liberators ever since you joined. Thank you for your dedicated service." Blue looked puzzled.

"You act like we're leaving," she said, confused. "Why are you talking like this?" Tails shuffled his feet.

"Well," he started. "Krystal and I were talking last night, and…the reason we founded this team was so adolescents like ourselves could fight against Robotnik…that means no adults. So, we figured that you would want to stay with your dad, and…"

"Nah." Geo was the one to speak. Tails, Krystal and Robbie gasped.

"What do you mean?" Robbie asked. Blue looked up at her dad.

"Please try and understand," she said. "But we're part of a team. A team of liberators that we can't just drop. So…we're gonna have to stay here." Kris ruffled his kid's hair.

"I COMPLETELY understand," he assured. "Don't worry, I'll find some sort of refuge around here in the Great Forest, along with everyone else's families…" he looked up at the other adults in the room "…if it's OK?" Marilyn smiled and grasped her husband.

"Of course," she said. "Krystal told us last night. We're both so proud of her…" Hunter tapped Robbie's head.

"As I him," he replied. "OK, if we're going to get shelter before it gets dark, we'd better hurry." So, the four parents walked out of the room. Everyone except Tails waved their good-byes. He sighed and tapped his fingers on the table nearby. Krystal glanced back at him sympathetically and went to join him.

"I wish I would have found my parents," he sighed as Krystal drew near. The fox rubbed his back.

"I know," she said. "I really am sorry." Tails felt a tear drawing to his eye, and he angrily wiped it away.

"It's just that…I came to the Freedom Fighters as an orphan. I never met them…at all. Sonic says he did, but I know he was lying just to make me feel better." Krystal blinked.

"It sounds like you and Sonic are best friends," she said. Tails shook his head.

"I thought that for a long time, but I was wrong. Sonic never cared about me. All he ever did was hang out with Sally, Rotor, Dulcy, Antoine and Bunnie…the last time I remember spending the day with him was when I was about nine years old…and even then he was just bored one day because everyone else was busy. I hate him." Krystal snorted.

"Don't say that," she said. "I don't think that anyone can actually hate someone else…it's all just a state of mind. Deep down, farther down that you can imagine…we all have love for one another." Tails looked up.

"Since when do you talk about love?" he inquired. Krystal looked surprised, and then blushed and started babbling.

"I-I've always talked about love and my mom told me about the hate thing and I should have never brought up anything about love it's just gross and I'll go see what Robbie's doing…" Tails blinked confusingly as Krystal hurriedly walked away to the little raccoon. But he shrugged it off; knowing that Krystal would never go crazy on him.

"Figures Tails would send us out here while he and Krystal go on a mission to Robotropolis," Geo whined as he and Robbie walked into the Great Forest. Robbie shook his head.

"Don't say that," he said. "Tails is a really nice guy, and he wouldn't do something like that. Besides, I like hanging out with you." Geo looked surprised.

"No kiddin'?" he asked. "Well thanks sport; you're not so bad yourself. And yeah, I know that we gotta have food, I was just kidding about Tails." Robbie sighed wistfully.

"What's wrong?" Geo asked. Robbie glanced up at him.

"Well, I love being on the Liberators…I mean, it's pretty much my dream come true. But it seems like that as soon as I got my dad back…he had to leave again. I just don't want him getting caught again." Geo sighed.

"Know whatcha mean," he said. "I was scared to death when my dad was robotized, even though he was still himself. I just didn't want him to leave again…you know?" Robbie nodded, and paused by a tree to pick some apples.

"After we get some produce, let's head down to the river. I want to catch some fish." Geo smacked his lips.

"Mm, that DOES sound good! OK, I'll head down there now. You can catch up, OK?" Robbie nodded.

"Got it Geo. See ya."

Dr. Robotnik gently stroked his pet metal bird, Cluck. He watched the many monitors in the main part of his office while Snively pushed some buttons on the master keyboard. Robotnik blinked.

"What exactly are you doing, Snively?" he asked. The bald assistant turned around to face his uncle.

"I'm sending probes down to the Great Forest sir," he replied. "I'm hoping to find Sonic and his group of Freedom Fighters." Robotnik sighed.

"Excellent," he muttered. "If I find the coordinates to the Great Forest's hide-away, then I can easily exploit Sonic and co." Snively coughed.

"Um," he interrupted. "Don't you mean "we", sir?" Robotnik cackled.

"I meant "I" Snively," he replied. "I!"

Tails wrinkled his nose as he squatted next to Krystal. She gasped.

"The man's daft!" she whispered. "I can't believe that he's actually going to send a spy-let alone a probe." Tails shrugged.

"It's normal," he replied. "He's completely evil; what can I say? Anyway, now that we know his plan, let's jet back to the HQ and see what we can do to intercept it. Kapish?" Krystal smiled and nodded. Tails crept out from behind the chair that Robotnik was seated with Krystal hot on his heels. Suddenly, Snively's head jerked around and he gasped.

"Sir! It's the Freedom Fighters!" Robotnik jumped up, tossing Cluck across the room.

"Where?!" he demanded. Tails reached into his backpack and yanked out a Power Ring. He distinctly remembered what Sonic had said: "Only I can use the Power Rings!" He held up the ring as it glittered prettily.

"Time to see if this works!" he muttered, sealing his eyes shut. Krystal marveled as Tails began to glow a golden yellow as the energy coursed through his body.

"Get them Snively!" Robotnik screamed. Snively leapt up and tried to grab them, but Tails was too fast. Grabbing Krystal, he rushed out of the building.

"By the way," he called back. "I'm not a Freedom Fighter; I'm a Liberator!" Robotnik snarled as the two foxes sped away. He spun around to face Snively.

"I should kill you," he said. "But I won't! Send another probe down to the Great Forest and track down the Liberator's base…" He spun around to face the direction where Krystal and Tails had fled. "I want them destroyed."