Sonic said as he walked past them.

“Wait, I said that was the last anybody heard of his family.” Sonic stopped “But three or four years ago we started getting reports of a new treasure hunter going about. Most of the time he would just be paid to search a ruin or cave for an artifact or gem for whoever hired him, but sometimes the highest bidder who wanted a little bounty hunting or even theft would hire him. And it doesn’t seem to matter who hired him or what they wanted him to get for them as long as they paid him.”

“So, what are you saying exactly?” Sally asked.

“I mean, what if it isn’t a coincidence that you met him last night. What if Robotnik hired him to find us?”

“He sure picked a weird way to do it.” Said Sonic. “First he falls out of a building and Tails has to catch him, then he leaves before we can even ask to come back with us. Not exactly the way to gain our trust and find out where our base is.”

“All ve are saying is that maybe ve should be careful if he shows up again” Antoine to both Sonic and Sally.

“I don’t think that he was faking any of what happened last night.” Tails said, speaking quietly.

“What do you mean Tails?” Sonic asked turning to him.

“I mean that when I got to him in the air he was definitely unconscious, he was too out of it to save himself” said Tails with more confidence “Plus he sounded sincere when we got to the ground” Tails said remembering how Kytan treated him after he saved him. “Also that injury he got was real.”

“He has a point there St. John” Sally said turning back to the officer “I cleaned and dressed his wound, it was real. And fresh too, it hadn’t begun to coagulate at all; he must have got it a minute or two before. Those are some very big risks to take just to get near us.”

“Sure makes him seem clumsy to meet us falling from a building.” Said Sonic “Seems with his record that he was up there looking for something then—”

“Then he could have found one of Robotnik’s traps” Tails finished for him.

“Still seems very convenient,” St. John said “We had better be on our toes, just incase he shows up again.”

“Yeah, and if he does show up make sure that you don’t let on that you suspect him of anything.” Said an amused voice from behind them.

M.A.X. waited at the same spot for Kytan to return, either calmly walking out of the bushes with good news one way or the other. Or for him to come calmly running out with a mob or some creature hot on his heels, (which was always bad news).

~Both of which have happened~ he thought sadly

He started to pace back and forth wondering what could have happened and whether he should just throw caution to the wind (which for these two was usually like spitting into the wind) and go after him. He had just gone over the pros and cons of this plan for the 7^th time when he heard a sound that he couldn’t have made himself; the snap of a twig from a footstep. Turning around he saw a young feline kit hiding behind a rock.

~Looks a lot like Kytan~ He thought looking at the child ~except for the fact that this little one has black and white fur, is about 11 years younger and is a girl. Plus she obviously doesn’t know what I am or she would be running for somebody~ He sighed to himself ~probably somebody with a gun the way things have been going lately~

She was looking at him with a confused expression, like she didn’t know exactly what he was. M.A.X. decided to at least introduce himself (at least he’s a gentleman, unlike most of you guys.)

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you”

“Hi!” She said perking up at the idea that she had found somebody to talk to, and that he wasn’t just some silent robot. “Its nice to meet you too” she said this remembering all the times her mother had told her to be nice to people who are nice to her. (How many of you ladies would be that nice to a robot you just found pacing in the woods, hmmm?)

“My name’s M.A.X.” he said wondering what anybody would think if they walked into this conversation, especially Kytan. “What’s yours?”

“Oh, my name is Ka—”

“Katrina!” A voice rang out making them both jump. “Come on Kat, enough hide and seek, its lunchtime”

“Oops it’s my uncle Quatrain, I guess I forgot how long we had been playing.” She leaned forward with a smile on her face and whispered “He’s not very good at this so I usually let him find me after a while.” She laughed and turned around.

“Uncle, Uncle I’m over here I just met a talking metal toy. Come and meet him.”

M.A.X. ignored the toy remark and instead said, “I don’t think its such a good idea that I meet your uncle.”

“Don’t worry its ok, he’s a member of His Majesty’s Secret Service. He won’t be surprised at how you look. He’s seen everything!” She said with admiration in her voice.

“Oh, well if he’s a—What!? He’s a secret service agent?!” He repressed the urge to utter a few words that you really don’t want to say in front of a child. “Maybe it would be better if I left before he arrived, I don’t think he would want to meet me.”

“No, don’t worry” she replied “He likes everybody”

M.A.X. thought that he would be the exception to that particular rule but any response that he had to that statement was cut short by the arrival of Katrina’s uncle. He pushed his way through the same fern that Kytan moved when he left. Easily taller than Kytan by 4-5 inches and older by about 5 years, his long gray and white fur moved slightly in the breeze as he knelt by Katrina and turned her the way he came.

“No more games, its time for lunch.”

“But my friend—“ she said turning back to him.

“Ok, your friend can come too” he said looking around as if her friend was standing behind her. “He can have some too”

~At least he probably wont recognize me~ M.A.X. thought as they conversed.

Katrina sighed and said; “He’s not imaginary he’s right behind you” she pointed over his shoulder.

Her uncle turned around as with a smirk on his face as if he expected to not see anybody or at least some other kid from the village. As he turned M.A.X. noticed the loaded weapon at his waist that only the majesty’s secret service carried.

~What kind of person would wear a loaded weapon at this time of morning while playing a game with a small kit!?~

When Quatrain finally saw M.A.X. his eyes, the same shade of green as Katrina’s widened to the twice their size. Jumping in front of Katrina he pulled out his gun and started shooting.

~Guess that answers my question.~ M.A.X. thought as he hid behind a tree.

“It’s an Overlander probe. Katrina run!”

~And I guess he recognized me~

Ignoring Katrina yelling at him as just a sign of her fear, Quatrain continued to shoot at the tree that M.A.X. was hiding behind.

M.A.X. was about to retaliate when he remembered that all of his offensive systems were still damaged.

~Forget being backup, I NEED backup, as soon as I get a chance I’m going to go find Kytan and we are getting the hell out of here, gun or no gun.~

A few seconds later Quatrain stopped shooting to see if his target was still hiding behind what used to be a healthy tree. As soon as he did, in a blur of gray and silver M.A.X. shot off in the direction that Kytan had gone and Quatrain had come.

~It’s always somebody with a gun.~ he thought as he went in the direction that he hoped Kytan had gone.

Noting what direction that his quarry had fled, Quatrain pulled out his radio and tuning to the emergency frequency, activated it and started yelling; “Intruder alert, an Overlander probe has found its way to the village, I engaged it and it fled towards the center of Knothole should I pursue?” After a few seconds St. John’s voice came back a lot calmer than his had been. “Affirmative, give me your position and we shall cut it off.” Quatrain gave him his location and turning off his radio and replacing it with his weapon started to run after M.A.X. After a few feet he stopped and turned around.

“Kat, go straight to the cellar in your cabin and wait for me to return.” And without waiting for a response ran back the way he came. Katrina just stood there for a moment surprised at all that had just happened in the span of 30 seconds. After gathering her wits she decided to go after her uncle and see why he was shooting at her new friend.

“And I was looking forward to lunch too.” She said to herself as she too dived through the fern that had been used so many times in the past few minutes.

* * *

“Don’t worry, if I see him I wont tell him a thing.” Said the figure in the black cloak, standing 10 feet behind them, he appeared to hear the entire conversation. Though his face was covered it was obvious who it was.

“And just who are you?” St. John said. (Ok, maybe I was wrong.)

“I’ll give you three guesses.” The figure said taking a bite of the Bluebell fruit in his hand, as he did this the sleeve of his cloak slid down and revealed a silver/gray gauntlet with a gem in the center. “And the first two don’t count.”

“Kytan” St. John said, his hand slowly moving towards his crossbow.

“Ding, ding, ding, got it on the first try. You deserve a cookie.” He began to pat his cloak. “Sorry fresh out, but if you do go for that weapon of yours I will give you something, and it sure as hell wont be a cookie.”

St. John stopped reaching for his crossbow but didn’t move his hand away either.

“And why exactly should I trust you? A common bounty hunter and thief, you don’t even have the courage to show your face.”

“First of all; I am not a thief, and I only do bounty hunting when I have to, unlike some people I don’t have an entire village to support me. And second I don’t have to show my face to anybody if I don’t want to. I’m here in good faith and with a good reason too.”

Sally stepped between Kytan and the others noticing that Sonic, Jeffery, and Antoine were giving Kytan the same suspicious look that they saved for each other. Hoping to get to the good faith part before the inevitable fight broke out, and hoping to get a few of her unanswered questions, well answered.

“So what exactly are you doing here then? Last night you left before I could ask you to come with us and I took that as a sign that you had no interest in us.”

“I didn’t.” Kytan said bluntly but noticing the looks of suspicion changing to anger decided to elaborate. “Don’t get me wrong I am eternally grateful for being saved back there.” With a nod to Tails. “But since you didn’t hire me and you weren’t potential customers for what I got in the tower I had no use for you so I left.”

“Why the sudden change of heart?” Sonic asked.

“And what iz this thing you got in ze tower?” Antoine asked getting more suspicious. (If that was even possible.)

“First things first.” He said turning to Sonic. “I realized that part of what I had taken from the tower could be very dangerous in the wrong hands, even though there pretty much aren’t any hands more dangerous than the previous owners, there are still some people who definitely also have the wrong hands. And since trying dispose of it would be too dangerous to the environment and me, I figured the best recourse would be to give it to people who could deal with it responsibly. And if you were the freedom fighter group that’s supposed to be around here, I figured you would be the best people to give it to, now that I’ve met you I’m starting to doubt that.”

“Well, for your information we are the Freedom Fighters.” St. John said “So why don’t you just hand over whatever ‘dangerous’ trinket you found in Robotropolis and be on your way. And just forget where this place is while you’re at it.”

“Your compassion for my well being just warms my heart.” Kytan said with a deadpan face. “Its not like you have convinced me to give you anything anyway.”

Just as St. John was about to yell a retort (read: threat) Sally interrupted him.

“Just what is it that you found? Maybe we can take it off your hands and dispose of it properly if you feel it is too dangerous.”

A small smile crossed Kytan’s face. “Finally, somebody who wants to talk business.”

“Now wait here, don’t think that ve are paying for anything that you—”

Kytan held up a hand to silence Antoine. “Just a figure of speech, I am not going to charge you for this, I’ll be glad to get it out of my hands. I want nothing more to do with it.”

“Again, what is it?” Sally asked getting frustrated at the constant interruptions.

“As I was going to say. If Robotnik perfected it. He would have a potentially deadly weapon on his hands. It’s designed to de—”

“Intruder Alert!” A static voice came out of the communicator that St. John kept on his belt. “An Overlander probe has found its way to the village, I engaged it and it fled towards the center of Knothole, should I pursue?”

“Affirmative, give me your position and we shall cut it off.” St. John said noticing that Kytan was very interested in what was happening. When Quatrain gave his location Kytan’s eyes went wide and he forgot all about the gun. “Oh no, M.A.X.”

“Huh, who is Max? Do you know what’s going on here?” Sonic asked. As St. John ran off.

Kytan turned towards the direction he had come. “M.A.X. is my partner, he was waiting for me outside the village near where the probe was spotted, and he was damaged last night at Robotropolis and can’t defend himself. I have to help him.” With that he ran after St. John. With a quick look at each other, Sonic and Tails ran ahead, finally with a sigh and a roll of her eyes Sally followed. Making sure that he always had an eye on Kytan, Antoine jogged off too.

* * *

Turning a corner M.A.X. was dismayed to find himself cut off by a wall of trees in front of him and cabins on either side. Spinning around presented the fact that Quatrain and a small group of armed villagers had cut off his only route of escape.

“Face it probe.” Quatrain said with a smirk, taking careful aim not to miss the next time. “There is no way out, nobody here to help you.”

“Two things wrong with that” M.A.X. said as he saw Kytan come running up. “ I am not a probe, and” if he could smile he would have “I do have help.”

* * *