Less than happy about how Tails was trying to protect Shadow, Sally took for a walk outside the village, accompanied by her 'self-appointed' bodyguards, friends Joe and Antoine.

"This is insanity," Sally complained, walking through the Great Forest. "Sonic has been acting...wrong...ever since he was kidnapped by Shadow. Am I the only one who doesn't see this?!"

"Ze hedgehog is nothing but a swine, moi princess! He does not appreciate your incredible intellect like I do!" Antoine spoke up, anything to get attention from her.

Joe cleared his throat. "Now now, my comrades! Master Sonic may know something that we do not. We have to give the situation time to unfold more. We were not there to witness what happened to Sonic in the time he was gone."

"You may be right, Joe. Patience is important. But we have to make sure that we don't wait too late to take action," Sally pointed out.

Joe couldn't help but emit a chuckle at what Sally said. She looked at him with a strange glance. "What's funny?"

"For a moment, you sounded a bit like Master Sonic!" he grinned. "You two seem to have a balance for each other, patience and action. It does you both good to keep each other in check like that."

She sighed as she folded her arms. "Maybe. But I'm worried about him!"

"Try not to assume that this Shadow character is up to no good. The more you push that point, the more you might wind up pushing Sonic away. As you have said, just be patient. Things will become more clear in time."

Sally was about to say something else when something in her pocket started beeping. She reached in and pulled out what looked like a hand-held computer that could flip open. "That's odd, NICOLE is picking up a signal on the radar that just entered the Great Forest."

A mechanical sound from over the tree tops was enough for Sally to wave for the two boys with her to duck down behind a tree and looked up as a blue metallic robot flew overhead.

Sally inhaled. "Metal Sonic?!"

Immediately next to her, Antoine began to shake fearfully. "Zat is not possible! Ze robot was destroyed yesterday, was it not?!"

"How could that fiend Robotnik have repaired the robot so fast? It looks upgraded too!" Joe hissed.

Suddenly the robot whirled about in the air, and its eyes began to glow a brighter red, and a light began to sweep over the tree tops.

"It can hear us!" Sally yelped. "Scatter!"

The three dispersed in separate directions in the nick of time, as laser fire shot from the robot's wrists, zapping and burning the spot the three were once in. Antoine yelped in fear from the fire blast.

The three regathered on the far end of the area, keeping a close eye on the robot. Joe grunted. "Its so close to Knothole. We have to stop it before it finds the village!"

"We'll have to distract it while NICOLE sends a signal for help," Sally said as she began working on her handheld.

"We?!" Antoine yelped.

NICOLE began to make lights on the display flash, while speaking aloud. "-Signal being blocked by the presence of Metal Sonic. Suggest executing distraction. Metal Sonic will have to divert power towards it, allowing for me to put signal through.-"

Sally inhaled. "Well, there's only one thing we can really do!" She reached over and grabbed a handful of dirt before darting out into a more open area. "Hey, Metalhead! Over here!"

Metal turned his attention towards Sally and began to fly right towards her at an incredible speed. She dodged to one side when it got close, and threw dirt into its visual sensors.

"That's it?! That's your plan, princess?!" Antoine yelped.

"I thought you believed I was smart!" Sally glared at the coyote. "I know what I'm doing! NICOLE, now!"

As NICOLE began flashing again, Sally grabbed Antoine's hand and the two, along with Joe, began to make a run for it. "I know it can't be blinded, but that dust is clogging up the small air intakes I was aiming for. Its diverting power to keep them clear, leaving the signal dampener down long enough for NICOLE to send the signal!"

"So what now, Miss Sally?" Joe asked.

"Keep running! We need that robot to continue chasing us until help arrives!" Sally said, huffing as they circled about the area, pulling Metal Sonic to follow them, as it continued to shoot at them.

"I...I can't keep this up, moi princess!" Antoine huffed.

"We...we have to!" Sally panted. "Help is on the way!"

"-Incoming radar signal, Sally.-" NICOLE announced, causing the princess to grab the boys and pull them behind another tree, dodging another laser blast.

"Another aerieal assault, where?!" Joe looked up.

Sally grinned and pointed to the sky. "There!"

All the sudden, Metal Sonic was slammed from the sky by a metallic arm, dropping like a rock to the ground. Bunnie hovered in the air, holding out her metallic fist. "Why don't you jus' get down like a nice badnik and LEAVE THEM ALONE?!"

As she landed a safe distance from the metal monstrosity, it began to stand up, and for the first time since its arrival, it began to speak up. "-Analyzing situation. Key freedom fighters within range. Proceeding to capture for robotisization!-"

"Ain't gonna happen, tin-can!" Bunnie yelled out. "Y'all couldn't even hold me down! There's no way y'all can capture and robotisize all of us! Sonic would never let THAT happen!"

"-That threat has been eliminated!-" Metal Sonic responded, and suddenly surged forward to attack Bunnie.

Bunnie yelped and took off into the air before Metal Sonic had a chance to tackle her. "Nice try, but Sonic's took quick to be taken out by Robotnik!"

Sally couldn't help but stare, watching the fight between Bunnie and Metal Sonic as she was trying to run information through her head.

Bunnie flipped up her energy shield to block a laser attack from Metal Sonic. "That was too close!"

Sally was so deep in thought that she only snapped out of it when Joe shook at her shoulers. "MISS SALLY!"

Sally gasped in startlement and flipped her head around to stare at Joe. "What, what?!"

"What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost!"

Sally shook her head. "I'm not sure yet. Just everything that's been happening today, trying to add everything up. Wasn't Metal Sonic making a bee-line for the village before it spotted us?"

"It looked that way, yes!" Joe nodded. "But why?"

"It was like it knew EXACTLY where the village was, but how could Robotnik gain a hold of that information?!"

"Are you suggesting someone leaked that information to that fiend?"

Sally nodded and held up NICOLE. "Yes, and I have a feeling that I know EXACTLY who!"
---

"-I still can't really explain why I'm here, Tails." Shadow said. "And...yet...I feel guilty cause I know something's about to happen."

Shadow and Tails were continuing to talk to one another. While Shadow was being rather mysterious about his presence, Tails could somewhat understand what the consequences of time travel can be. "It's okay, Shadow. I know you're cool, because Sonic thinks you're cool. I know you're really good inside!"

Shadow offered a bit of a smile. "Heh...I'm...kind of glad to hear you say that."

Suddenly, the computer started beeping. "Oops, incoming signal!" Tails said, pressing a button. An angry looking Sally glared on the screen. "Whoa, Aunt Sally, what's going on?!"

"What's going on, Tails, is that your new friend just sold Knothole out to Robotnik!"