Claw scratched the back of his head as he saw Tace and Cayla dissapear into the darkness, then continued toward the village. He was growing tired of traveling in a group, he was a loner. He glared at Rico, he didn't seem to be the type that would open fire so erraticaly, Claw must've really gotten under his skin.

"Uh, Claw... Aren't we gonna go help him?" asked Cj in attempt at unity.

"No, they can take care of themselves and Tace knows where this village is," muttered Claw as the troupe continued forth.

"H-how-" started Zak.

"We're almost there, then we can wait till they get back. We need to lay low for awhile," interrupted Claw.

The group walked in silence, trying to avoid the occasinaly glances Claw made, especially at Rico. About thirty minutes later they arrived.

"Split-up, don't draw attention to yourself, meet at that statue in about an hour," explained Claw as he pointed toward a small stone monument of raccoon and an axe.

Claw, who was mostly bald from the acid, dissapeared into a small clothing store...

NOTE: This village is kinda of like a post 50's type place but with more modern products such as modern guns, armor, food, arcade etc.

Cj watched as the group split up into their different ways and before long he was alone, he decided to explore and see whether there was some where that he could rest his battered and half tired body, and also if there was somewhere where he could find some food.

He enterred a building conveniantly marked food shop and looked around. It seemed a nice place, small but it had the essentials. He walked up to the main desk.
"What can I do for- what happened to you?!" the crocodile behind the counter asked
"Nothing much" Cj replied "I was injured on a travel thats all. Do you have any food with your basic nutrients and vitamins in?"
"Yes, hang on" the crocodile replied before walking out back, he returned moments later with a package in his hands
"Its on the house" he said
"Thank you very much" Cj replied gratefully taking the package. He looked inside, there was food and drink in there, enough for one ravenous and worn out kitsune. Cj slowly turned and walked out of the shop.

Cj looked around, there was no sighn of the others, he turned to his right and saw a building marked inn.

Cj walked off toward the inn. Inside he got himself a room and went to it. Sitting down on the bed he opened the package and began to partake of the food. Saving the other half for later he placed it in his bag and lay down on the bed and closed his eyes, his thoughts again drifted off to McEvlaw, he couldnt get them out of his head...

***

"My lord Megaxis sir, our spies in the village have reported that Claw and his sidekicks have enterred the village on the outskirts" an aid said "Reports state that Claw has entered a clothes shop while the Kitsune has entered the inn and is upstairs, both are alone"
"Interesting, what of the others?"
"We are still waiting for reports sir"
"Prepare the forces staioned there, we shall take Claw and the Kitsune before the others have the chance to realise it"
"Yes my lord"

CjT

CjT

Claw admired his new fedora. His old one must have been lost when South Bridge blew up and his trenchcoat was in rags when he awoke. Although he couldn't find a new trenchcoat he wasa ble to find a long, dark blue robe that clashed horribly with the black fedora. Claw didn't posses much fasion sense so he bought the ensemble anyway. As the clerk checked out Claw caught his eye.

"Will that be all-" the clerk was cut-off.

"How many of you are there here?" demanded Claw gruffly as he grabbed the clerk's neck.

"I'm afraid I don't know what your talking about," gagged the clerk.

"You didn't take off your badge, rookie. Tell me how many or I slit your throat," growled Claw as he extended his claws.

"There's another spy, in the village square," choked the clerk/spy.

Claw slammed the clerks head into the counter, knocking him unconscious.

Rico had been silent the whole time starting at his gun, his eyes locked on the gun in a wild fear. As though he thought the gun would shoot him next. He slowly walked straight to the statue and sat down. Toby sat down beside him worriedly, "Rico? What happened?" The fox looked down, at his gun, "I did it again, a screwed up again. First I lost Adi, and we'll probably never find him alive now. I finally started to trust one of these people and now I'm probably going to have his death on my hands. Who's next? I mean everything I do hurts someone I consider a friend. Maybe I should just kill them all and forgot it... or better yet, instead of wasting all the those bullets, I should just use one... On myself." Toby's eyes widen and teared up, he lunged foreward latching unto Rico crying, "NO! You can't! Please!" Rico looked down his eyes straining to hold the tears back.

Claw walked hurridly through the streets, looking for the other spy, he would no doubt be better disguised then the last fool. Then he spotted Rico toying with his gun. He recognized the aura of dispair around Rico, he had once experienced it himself.

"Damn," Claw muttered as he realized he was about to give a pep talk.

He walked over and flopped down next to Rico who was noticeably startled.

"Tell me... who are we looking for?" grumbled Claw.

Rico looked over at Claw with slight skepticism.

"With out your aim, we'd still be in the forest hacking away at Yuotsh 3," admitted Claw as he straightned his blue cape, "so I owe ya one."

Rico scratched his head as he debated whether or not to spill his guts.
***

Megaxis's gunship soared over Installment D, the new base of his operations. Now that he had Knothole cut-off, he planned to reserect Dr. Robotnik's ancient technology and re-enslave the Robian race! Soon he would have the perfect army of organic and robotic war machines. But why would Megaxis want an army? To conquer the world? No, nothing as so trivial as that. Domination was only a objective that had to be accomplished. Megaxis planned to end war with war. He would create the perfectly conformed society. Everyone would share the same religion, same currency, same clothing, same dances, food, friends, army, technology, medicine, and most importantly the same ideology, the want, the desire to worship him as a god! It would all begin in his base in Downunda, Installment D.

Cayla instinctivly drew back to cover as she looked at Tace's rifle, this would do her no good, she could use her pistol but not a rifle, Rifles were too big and unwieldy for her to use, she put it on the floor beside her and waited a few moments before pushing a stone out into view with her foot, she smiled as two bullets ricocheted off of it. She quickly popped up and unleashed a spray of fire towards where she judged the sniper to be.

***************************

Colt watched the gun fight with interest as he snook up behind the first sniper and hit him with the butt of the Uzi he still had, the last weapon in his possession, for now anyway. He then withdrew back into the shadows, but not before sailing a bottle over to the general area They were in. Those two could handle the second sniper

***************************

Cayla watched the bottle sail over, she cautiously used a stick to raise it out of the water and took out the blood stained note inside.

Don't come bac into the cite, Megaxis has the place on red alet, its to dangerus

Colt

Cayla Recognised the writing and poor spelling instantly and looked up hopefully as a bullet tore through her left arm, she screamed in agony as she rolled back into cover and took a bandage from her pack.

Rocky, Jeremy and Zak walked through the quiet village.

"So you guys hungry?" asked Zak. "We should find some place to eat."

The two readily agreed.

"Um, you have money, right...?" inquired the rat hesitantly. Rocky and Jeremy glanced sideways at each other then looked at the older furry. "Hey c'mon, I just bust outta jail - Where am I gonna get cash from?"

"Good thing I brought a few bucks then, huh?" Jeremy chuckled and dug a small wad of notes out of his pack. It wasn't much, but at least it would buy them breakfast.

As the three ate in a small cafe, Zak savoured the return to sanity while it lasted. No creeping around forests in the dead of night, no fighting super powered mutant creatures. Just taking a leisurely breakfast.

Rocky began to pull out the set of papers he'd tried several times to show the group, so far without any success. "While we have a moment to think..." began the rabbit.

Zak rolled his eyes. So much for our moment of normalcy, he thought with a groan.

For about the fourth time in the space of only a few days CjTails was once again lost in the world of the spirits, sorrounded by his friends and standing next to McEvlaw. Only this time however, things seemed a little...different.

Cjs spirit glowed brightly showing his belief in all of his friends, while those of the party who were in the village glowed strongly signifying their strength as unity. Colts image was faded and not glowing and Cj watched as slowly Caylas image began to fade and then a short while later Taces too.

"Whats going on, whats happening to them?"
they took it upon themselves to go on with your mission, they believe that working alone they have the ability to complete their goals. However a separte spirit has little strength, its power is lost, and this is evident by their image fading
"So what are you saying?"
Their spirits are separate and weak, look around, yours are together and strong, can you understand?"
"I dont know"
You will]/b] understand CjTails...

Cj opened his eyes and sat up in bed grimacing as pain ripped through the wounds where Ricos bullets had penatrated his body.
"I think i get it" he said reaching for his pack and fishing out the rest of his food. Slowly he began to finish it off and when he had he put the empty rubbish in the bedside bin. His thoughts turned to the dream again and suddenly something inside clicked
"I get it!" he exclaimed "I know what he was trying to say...I understand"

He picked up his bag and and walked over to the door. Opening it he came face to face with the inns owner.
"CjTails?" he asked
"Yes?"
"Please come downstairs, your party is waiting for you"
"They are?" Cj could swear it hadnt been more then thirty minutes.
He walked downstairs and suddenly saw he had made a big mistake. Standing in the lobby was an entire squad of Megaxis men.

"How did you-?"
The guards moved forwards and Cj...still hurting from the bullet wounds could put up no defence...

CjT

Rico glared at Claw before speaking, "Listen, before I showed up your group seemed to be a team. And it seems like the longer I stay with you guys the farther apart you are. And now I shot Cj, and he's done nothing but try to help us. You tell me this group wouldn't be better off with me"

OOC You may delete this, I'll post a reply later tonight Rico.

CjT

Claw let out a sigh of relaxation as he stretched his left arm out the returned it to his lap knee.

"Call it what you want, but I'm not part of any team. These guys are just some lost sheep that for some reason decided they liked to get caught up in gunfights and conspiracies," explained Claw.

"So what does that make you?" asked Rico.

"Megaxis and I were old friends, when I found out he was still... alive, I had to return to Mobotropolis to see for myself," reminisced Claw.

"Alive? Should he be dead?" asked Rico.

"Yeah, I shot him," telegrahped Claw.

"What a way to end a friendship," exclaimed Rico, feeling slightly better about the incidents in the forest, "but what is he really up to?"

Claw let out a raspy sigh as he studied his cape again.

"Megaxis... always had a dream of... unity. When he was growing up he was picked on, the typical outcast. He dreamed of one day having everybody be equals, conformed to one ideal. I think he may be trying to achieve that now..." thought Claw outloud.

Toby remained silent, playing with a blade of grass while Claw and Rico shared a moment of reflection.

"Whenever we get back to Mobotropolis, I'm gonna hunt down an airship, Megaxis probably isn't in the palace anymore. I'm gonna find him and finish the job," deermined Claw.

Rico sat there listening to the strange beast's plans and realized that this group was going to need all the help it could get. Pushing aside the doubts in his mind and realizing that shooting Cj had actually unified the team further, Rico reclaimed his self-confidence.

"Now answer my question, how did you end up in the middle of the forest at midnight?" persisted Claw.

Rico sighed, "Alright, Alright. Adi, the friend I'm looking for, and I had a fight. He ran off, and I fwe tried to follow him." Rico looked down, "You know the result...."

OOC: When we get down with the conversation C&P your post Cj. I'll remove the other one after we move it.

Further down the river, an armored fox emerged. Pistol out, ready to fire, only three bullets had been used so far. He walks slowly, dripping with water. The autoguns he'd have to take out first, for he saw them starting to get online, not much of a problem.

"This is it..."

Tace went into a sprint, jumping onto the autogun. Claws slid out, he looked for a weakness, but couldn't find any, he climbed further, still looking for a weakness but no avail. Jumping atop, and realizing there was no weakness, he battered at a long silver barrel with his claws. The autoguns fired rapidly at random places, it had detected him, but couldn't see him.

Tace saw a movement in the other autogun, his eyes narrowed, it found him, and it was gonna shoot him. Realizing this, he rand on top of the one he was on, and when the two shots were fired, he jumped off, aiming to get on the other one, for the one he was on got blown up.

The autogun, seeing that it had destroyed Tace, averted its double barrels to Cayla.

"Get out of here Cayla! Now!" Tace yelled out before it began firing.

Cayla, eyes growing wide as it shot, and making missile like explosions on the ground scrambled away, getting as far away as she could.

Tace was on top, viewing the escape, his trouble wasn't over yet. The autogun spun around completely, at a fast pace, trying to knock Tace off, and succeeded in making him fall, and losing his gun.

"Sh*t! I gotta find a way to blast this thing!"

He couldn't get on his feet, and as he tried, he went closer to the edge, until he was finally forced off, landing onto the ground not at all to gently.

The sniper fired a shot, hitting Tace directly in the chest, luckily his armor was there to protect him, his main worry was the giant two barreled thing that was pointing directly at him.

Tace walked backwards as the two barrels followed along, "Come on, thats it, just a little closer!"

He moves closer to the general area of the sniper, he smiles and then jumping forward when it decided to shoot, a scream is heard, and it is not Tace's. The barrels followed Tace, rapidly firing, Tace barely dodging them. Looking at his belt he smiled, a bomb, a time bomb to be exact. Though it could be only set for ten seconds which was a bummer for Tace.

"Eat this!" He shouted out as he quickly set it, and threw it at the base of the autogun, thats all the time he could spare, and the autogun shot him directly on, burying him into a crater.

TBC

Claw suddenly remembered the fact that there was another spy still out.

"Rico, Megaxis knows we're here, we need to get outta this village and make for North Bridge," suggested Claw.

"North Bridge? That thing is still under construction the last time I checked," countered Rico.

"I... have some connections there, she'll let us pass..." shuddered Claw as he realized what he would have to deal with.

"You have friends outside of our little team?" joked Rico.

"She's not a friend," replied Claw coldly.

Tace awoke with a start and struggled to his feet as Cayla ran to help him up.

"We need to meet Claw and the others back at that village. Colt... he's alive," Cayla exclaimed.

Tace looked at Cayla, noticing that despite the circumstances she managed to remain optimistic.

"Alright, let's get outta here. Megaxis's reinforcements are probably already on their way," agreed Tace as they both began the short journey to the village.

Claw burst into the small resturaunt where Jeremy and the others were chowing down. The collective hearts of the small group of voracious eaters sunk.

"Great, just when we get a chance to sit down..." trailed Rocky grumpily.

"We're not safe here," urged Rico, "we gotta go... now!"

"Where Nate and Cj?" asked Claw as he scanned the disbelieving faces of the other patrons in the resturaunt.

Rocky and Zak hastily packed away the plans they were working on as Rico and Claw dragged them out the door...

Rico growled glancing down to make sure Toby was still with him. He looked up and scanned the area again before stopping and speaking, "Wait a minute... Where is Cj?"

Colt made his way through a few alleyways slowly but surely, until he reached a near hidden door, he shrugged as he pushed it open and walked inside.

"You never did hear of knocking did you?" the rabbit sitting in the center of the room said, as her bodyguard's moved from the shadows and resumed what they were doing before Colt's intrusion.

"You ought to know me by now Diamond," Colt replied bitterly "I need help"

"Ain't that the truth" She said looking over Colts Injuries "But we're not Doctors"

"I know that, I just need a coupla guys to help me find something, then they can come running back here to hide"

"Who are you dealing with?"

"Megaxis.." This seemed to get her attention

"He's the reason we've no weapons left other than this" she said lifting a Jewel encrusted Spear from under her desk "We'll help, for now, Revolt, Benny, Go with Colt, make sure he gets patched up"

Claw and the others rushed out in the street just in time to see Cj being carried away by a small troop of Megaxis's men.

"Not in this life time," grunted Claw as he extended his blades and rushed toward the small regiment.

"What the he-" Claw interrupted the guard with a slice to the gut.

Rico covered him with a few distraction rounds. By this time their was mass panic in the streets as Cj rolled away form the fighting, he was still too tired to fight.

"What about Nate?" hollered Rico.

Cayla and Tace could here the fire fight from their postion a few hundred yards outside the village.

"Leave it to Claw to get everything stirred up," sighed Tace and they both ran toward the fighting.

Claw broke the last guards neck then quickly scanned the are and noticed a full sized pick-up truck. He looked at Rico, who had the same idea. Nate suudenly appeared swords in hand.

"Where've you been," demanded Claw as they rushed toward the vehicle.

"Long story," replied Nate as Crystal followed behind him.

"CLAW!" yelled Tace as he appeared from the brush.

"Get in!" commanmded Claw as he motioned toward the truck.

Claw took the wheel as Tace sat in the passenger's seat with everyone else piling in the back.

"Damn... no keys," growled Claw.

"No prob," assured Tace as he punched underneath the steering column, revelaing several collered wires where he then proceeded to hot-wire the truck.

"Hurry it up!" urged Rico as he began picking of Megaxis's advancing troop.

"Got it!" exclaimed Tace as the truck started.

It was left unsaid, Claw was at the wheel, everyone assumed a death grip to the truck. With an improper start, they were off.

After a short while of insane driving, the truck finally calmed down allowing those riding in back to relax a little and think aobut their latest experience.
Cj sighed softly to himself and hung his head, looking down at his blood stained bandages; hed have to replace them shortly.
What puzzled him was why Megaxis men had once again tried to take him, what was so important about him?

Rico, sitting next to him noticed Cjs dispair and decided to inquire why he was so depressed:
"Hey, Cj. Whats wrong?" he asked
"Im just trying to figure out why Megaxis seems to want me, this is the second time hes gone after me, and it seems wherever i go he follows. I'm endangering the group by staying with you, yet i know that if i go, the gorup spirit will falter and dissapear"
"The group spirit?"

"Remember I said about my dreams?"
"Yeah"
The others in the back had started to listen in to the conversation and picked up what was said
"They started after my first experience with death, the explosive. In it was all of you, myself and a shadowy figure named McEvlaw"
"McEvlaw?" inquired Rocky "Whos he?"
"I have no idea, but he kept on stating about the group spirit and belief, strong group belief makes a party strong, and able to acoomplish their goals. The gorup he was reffering to is ours"
"Go on" Cayla said
"Our group spirit, from what i have seen is randomly changing. When we work together i can see it, when we separate it gets weaker and we start to get injured and such like."
"Then why cant we get this dream?" asked Jeremy, "Why just you?"

"McEvlaw said he could only communicate with me, he told me to fix the broken links in our group spirit, thats why ive constantly been trying to get everyone together, so we can stay strong, at the moment, all we need is Colt, nce we have him, the spirit chain is complete and we should be strong enough."
"So whats the problem?" asked Zak
"Me"
"How do you mean?"
"Like i said earlier, Im endangering the group, its like Megaxis is constantly watching me, If i leave you guys are safe, but then without teamwork, we're nothing. I'm at a loss of what to do..."
Cj yawned and hung his head, what was he going to do?

CjT

Rico nodded slowly, "Well I'll tell you one thing, if you guys hadn't showed up back there I'd have been toast. That thing broke off its attack on me to use you as a squeeze toy. I owe you, if nothing else I'll stick with ya..." Rico smirked pulled out his beretta's and checked the ammo, then slammed the clips back in with a loud click-clack before contueing "...and cover your back." Cj nodded grimly then noticed the Fox's smirk fade into a hopeless, blank stare. He looked over saying, "Something wrong, Rico?"

The fox sighed tilting his head back and looking at the sky, "It's getting harder and harder to keep the notion that Adi's still alive in my head..." Toby nodded and huddled closer to Rico.

OOC- Sorry i've been out for so long, but my computer has crashed,and now I am using my parents. I won't be able to be on this computer very much so until my computer is fixed I can't post much. But since I'm here.

Nate looked at the men holding Cj.

Nate- How the hell did they find us.
Claw- Megaxis has some spies in this city.
Rico- Damn, now this is taking up our time.
Crystal- We need to get Cj and get out of here.

The group moved foward towards CJ's captures, when more came out of the INN. The soldiers out numbered the group at least two to one.

Nate- Well, we have had worse I supose.
Trace- Yeah, I guess your right, but we barley come out of these moments alive.
The group attacked the guards, and the battle became fierce.

tbc

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