Sonic the Hedgehog and all other characters don’t belong to me, they belong to Sega and some other companies that I don’t know. Don’t bother suing me, I’m just a broke high school girl. Carmen and her mom do belong to me, so no stealing! Although I might be flattered if my characters were good enough to steal.

Prologue

Laser blasts rang through the darkened forest. A mother and child ran in fear from their metallic pursuers. The tall, powerful woman stopped and took out a long gold staff, with a large amethyst jewel on the end. The jewel began to glow, lighting up the woman’s face, revealing jet-black hair and purple, angry eyes. She raised it high in the air, shooting out a violet beam that destroyed a robot on contact. That gave them time to find quick sanctity in the shadows. The woman turned to the child at her side.

" Run Carmen! Get away from here!"

She began to protest. " Mother, I can’t leave you! What if they –"

The woman brushed back her daughter’s brown hair and kissed her on the forehead. She knelt down and looked deep into her child’s sea green eyes.

" That doesn’t matter now. All I care about is you being safe." She got to her feet and looked out. " I want you to run as fast as you can. Run and don’t look back." The girl nodded and sped away into the darkness, away from the sounds of staff on steel, away from the battle her mother couldn’t win, tears running down her cheeks, not looking back as her mother had ordered. She sped on and on, until she finally collapsed.

Newcomer

Tails strolled languidly through the forest. He had woken long before any of the other Freedom Fighters in order to enjoy the peaceful hours of the early morning. He flew up and sat in the branches of a tall tree. Finally, the young fox thought to himself. Some time to relax. He sighed contentedly and closed his eyes. Suddenly a chilling scream pierced the still air. Tails sprung from his branch with a start. So much for relaxation! He sped off in the direction of the scream.

"Get off me, you suped-up excuse for a trash can! Ahhhhhhh!" The voice belonged to a young otter girl, struggling in the clutches of a flying SWATbot and she seemed to be losing the fight. It had her by the arms, high above the treetops. She swung back and gave it a vigorous kick in the face, causing it to lose its grip on one of her arms.

She gave an internal shudder as she stared at the ground far below her feet. Oh please, please don’t let it drop me! she thought nervously, closing her eyes in pure trepidation.

" Hey! Leave that girl alone!" Tails had arrived on the scene and not a moment too soon. The girl let out a squeal of pain.

" Help me!" she yelled. " This thing feels like its going to rip my arm off!" She looked helplessly at Tails, her ocean green eyes willing for his help.

Tails had had all he could take. He jetted off the ground at full speed, aiming straight for the SWATbot. Just as it looked like he was going to have a head-on collision, he pulled up and bounced right off its head. Its head jammed in like a button. It reached up to unstuck his head and let go of the girl, sending her plummeting through the air. He pulled into an aerial power dive and caught the surprised girl right before she hit the ground.

"Are you alright?" Tails asked as he touched down to the forest floor. She looked up, panting. "You saved my life!" she said breathlessly. Her eyes sparkled with admiration.

Tails looked back up at the sky, where the robot was still struggling to get its head from between its shoulders.

" Don’t thank me yet. I still have to take care of Big, Bad, and Stupid up there." He smiled shyly and hovered lightly into the air. " Stay here while I make that tin soldier into scrap metal."

He rose quickly into the air and flew right into the robot’s face. " Come on rust-bucket!" he taunted. " Come and get me!" He stuck out his tongue, angering it even further. It began to pursue him through the treetops, shooting lasers everywhere. Tails flew on ahead, until he found himself in a dead end. Nowhere to run!! He stopped in front of a tree and turned to face his attacker. It would catch him in seconds. 1… The young fox closed his eyes as the SWATbot sped closer. 2… It would mean disaster if he couldn’t think of something. 3! Tails bolted upwards out of its way at the last second, causing it to crash into the tree and explode. Tails let out a breath of relief and wiped the sweat from his face. He flew back to the clearing where the girl had been watching the aerial battle.

"How did ya like my flying?" he called down to her as he began his descent.

She answered back excitedly. " Wow! That was amazing! Where did you learn to fly like that? It was so cool!"
He sat down to catch his breath and finally got a good look at his rescuee. She had tan colored fur, chestnut brown hair pulled into a somewhat disheveled waist length braid, a white tank top and light blue skirt, and warm green eyes that reminded him of the ocean. Wow, she’s pretty. Tails thought to himself.
He smiled at her and offered his hand.

" I’m Tails, what’s your name?" She looked at him nervously, afraid to trust, and afraid not to. Can I let him know who I am? What if he’s one of them? One look into Tail’s blue eyes told her all that she needed to know. She put her hand into his and shook it.

" My name is Carmen."

" There you are, little bro!"

The two children had made it back to Knothole Village, Tails telling Carmen all about the other Freedom Fighters on the way. Sonic had poked his head out from the doorway of a hut, only seeing Tails, as Carmen was coming up behind him.

" We’ve been looking all over for you! Where have you been? " Sonic questioned. "And who’s your friend?" Carmen had stepped into view.

" Oh, this is Carmen. I was taking a walk in the morning and I found her getting attacked by a SWATbot."

Carmen hugged Tails around his neck. He blushed, embarrassed yet happy. " Tails rescued me. He’s my hero!" she said appreciatively. The two grinned at each other.

Heh. Look at how cute those two are. Sonic thought to himself. " My name’s Sonic, kid. I’m the fastest guy on the planet! " he bragged. Carmen raised an eyebrow.

" Really? How fast are –?" Tails covered her mouth before she could finish. " Don’t get him started, please," he whispered in her ear. The duo walked on to another hut to find the others.

" Aunt Sally! Aunt Bunnie! We have a visitor!" Tails called out to his adoptive aunts, who were sitting on the bed talking.

"Oh! Hello, my name’s Sally." She got up from the bed to greet her. Carmen stared incredulously.

" You mean, Princess Sally? I never thought I’d meet you in person, a real princess!" She said, astonished. Sally smiled understandingly.

" Don’t worry. I’m really just a regular girl, you’ll see."

Bunnie, who had been watching them talk with interest, swung her legs to the edge of the bed and offered her left hand to Carmen.

" Ah’m Bunnie. Pleased ta meet ya."

The young otter girl looked at Bunnie’s metallic legs and arm with a mixture of confusion and shock.

" Umm, I don’t want to be rude or anything but…" she trailed off, not sure if she should finish.

" Go ahead, Ah don’t mind," Bunnie prompted. She smiled, pleased at the girl’s politeness.

Carmen continued, reassured. " How did you get like that? What happened to you?" Bunnie told her the entire story, about when she had been captured and nearly roboticized, and how Sonic and Rotor had come to her rescue before the process could be completed. Carmen seemed in awe of Bunnie’s courage, and listened to the story with rapt attention. Afterwards, they went on to meet Rotor, Antoine, and to find some lunch.

" Your friends are really cool, Tails! That walrus guy, Rotor, he’s so smart to be able to build all those machines and things. Antoine’s neat too, I wish I could speak French." Carmen paused to pick up a smooth rock from the edge of the power ring pool. Tails grinned and shook his head; she had been incredibly energetic since lunchtime.

" What are you doing with all of those, Carmen?" he asked curiously, since she already collected a small pile.

She knelt to pick up a stone, examined it, and put it back. "Do you know how to skip stones?" Tails shook his head. " You haven’t? It’s easy, I’ll teach you." She picked up a stone from the pile, and with a neat flick of her wrist, threw it at the pond. It bounced neatly three times across the water before stopping.

" Cool!" Tails exclaimed. " Can you teach me how to do that?" He picked up a rock and threw it at the water, where it splashed and sank.

" It’s more like this. Don’t just toss it, glide it." Tails picked up another stone and looked at the pool.

" All right! Here goes nothing’!" He swung his arm back in a wide arc, causing the stone to fly out of his hand.

"OW!" yelled someone behind them. Tails turned back nervously. " Whoops. Sorry." Sonic rubbed the bump on his head gingerly. " Its ok. Come on you two, dinnertime. And afterwards there’s a meeting in my hut." He walked off, rubbing his head.

Tails and Carmen began to walk away from the pool.

" Y’know, that was a pretty good throw," Carmen said with a mischievous grin on her face. "All we have to do is work on your aim." She laughed and ran ahead. Tails scowled at her.

" Funny! Very funny! Hey, wait for me!"

" … I flew out of the way at the last second and the dumb thing smashed right into the tree!" Everyone laughed as Tails finished his story. He and Carmen had both told the other Freedom Fighters about her rescue, with a bit of added excitement mixed in.

" There’s one thing I don’t get," Rotor murmured. "How did it get you in the first place?" Carmen shrugged. " I didn’t have anyone to warn me. It was early in the morning, and I had just woken up."

" ‘ Didn’t have anyone to warn you’? " Sally wondered. "Are you all alone? Where are your parents, Carmen?" Sally inquired gently. Carmen looked away, blinking back a sudden stinging at her eyes. "Well, my father, he died when I was very little. I really don’t remember him much. My mother – " her voice failed her and she stopped. The young girl took a deep breath, summoned all of courage and tried again. " A few days ago, my mother and I were chased here by those stupid metal monsters. My mother started to fight them off –she told me to run. I did and – and –" she couldn’t bring herself to finish.

My mind can’t believe that my mother is gone when she’s still so alive in my heart. Tears began to fall from her eyes, and she ran from the hut sobbing. The rest of the Freedom Fighters looked on with sympathy.

"Ze poor child," Antoine said sadly.

"She must feel so lonely right now." Sally whispered. The group murmured their agreement. Only Tails was silent, somewhat worried about his new friend. Finally, he spoke up.

" Hey, guys, do you think I should go talk to her?" He was looking out the window of the hut, where Carmen could be seen at the edge of the power ring pool. Sonic and Sally exchanged a glance and Sonic nodded. Tails rushed from the hut and ran outside.

" Do you think she’ll be alright?" Sally asked as she prepared to leave. Bunnie answered softly, her eyes on the two children by the water. She smiled as she watched Tails sit down next to her.

" Ah’m sure she’ll be just fine."

Carmen stared out at the water, tears still softly streaming down her cheeks. She didn’t look at Tails, who was sitting beside her on the lakeside. She’s gone. The child thought sadly. I’m never going to see my mother again… Her thoughts broke off as she began to sob softly, hugging her knees to her chest. Tails reached over and touched her shoulder.

" Are you all right, Carmen?" he whispered, unsure of what to say. Carmen lifted her head and turned to him.

" Y’ know, I didn’t let myself realize that my mom was gone until they asked me that. I didn’t forget, but I didn’t want to remember." She stopped and brushed the tears from her eyes. " I don’t know what to do; I feel so alone." Tails moved closer and put a comforting arm around her.

" You’re not alone, you have all of us," he said gently. "We’ll take care of you. We’ll be like a family, I promise." Carmen sighed and rested her head softly on Tails’ shoulder.

" I know. But I’ m going to miss her forever."

The next morning, Sonic, Sally, and Bunnie were discussing an idea inside his hut. To be more specific, Sonic and Sally were arguing and Bunnie was watching them quarrel.

" A picnic would be a great idea, Sal. We should raise her spirits a little, get to know her. Maybe we could even give her a tour." Sonic debated. Bunnie turned back to Sally to wait for a response.

"That may be true, but something’s telling me that this isn’t a good idea. Who knows what danger we could run into?"

" Come on Sally, its been quiet lately."

" That’s what worries me. Its too quiet for my liking."

" You think Robuttnik is up to something?"

Sally shot Sonic a glare. " Duh." Bunnie lost all composure and started laughing.

" Come on you two, compromise. We all need a break, and it has been quiet. And besides, we can wait until the middle of the day for anything to happen. Sounds good?" Sonic and Sally looked at her, their faces softening. They both nodded their agreement at the same time. " Now kiss and make up, you two." She left, smiling, but knowing they weren’t going to follow her instructions.

They left around noon, having waited the morning out for any action as Bunnie had suggested. Rotor had decided to stay, working on a new invention. Luckily, they had convinced Antoine to stay also. They wanted to get home sometime before the turn of the century, a hard task considering Ant’s tendency to be longwinded.

They headed out to a spot by the ocean where everyone relaxed after eating lunch. Carmen was happily swimming around in the cool water and trying to teach Tails to swim. Sonic had declined the offer, wanting to fully enjoy the time off. Bunnie and Sally were stretched out on the beach catching some rays. Everyone was totally relaxed and perfectly contented. It took Carmen a while to drag everyone off the beach. She didn’t want to leave herself, but the prospect of a tour was too much for the young otter cub to wait for.

They finally packed up and headed out. They set out at a leisurely pace through the woods, their minds off Robotnik and the war in general. No one noticed the small motion-detecting bomb at the roots of one tree.

Sonic was talking about all the places they could visit. " We can go to Floating Island and visit Knuckles and Julie- Su, they’ll be glad to meet you. Or we could go to the Ice Zone for some winter fun…" That was as far as he got before disaster struck.

The explosion came totally unexpected. No one had time to move or react before they were knocked to the ground. Almost 20 SWATbots came out from hiding in the trees.

" It’s an ambush!" Sally yelled as soon as she could get up. Sonic helped Tails to his feet and pushed him gently.

" Get Carmen and find a safe place to hide!"

Tails began to protest. " But I –"

" No buts! Just go now!" Sonic yelled back before beginning a spin. Tails found Carmen hiding behind Bunnie and grabbed her hand.

" Come on Carmen! We have to move!" He pulled her into his arms and took to the air.

One of the SWATbots saw them escaping and began to shoot at them. A blast nailed Tails in the back before he could reach a safe range, knocking him unconscious and sending him and Carmen hurtling toward the ground. Carmen moved from his arms and caught a tree limb in the air, Tails swinging from her other hand. She jumped safely down to the ground.

She turned to Tails, who was lying on his stomach on the forest floor.

" Tails! Are you all right? Speak to me!" Carmen shook him worriedly. " Please, please say something!" Tails didn’t move. Carmen dragged him under a tree and looked around. The same robot that had shot Tails down was coming to finish them off. Carmen stared blankly, her green eyes taking it all in, memories running in her head.

‘ Run and don’t look back!’ Her mother’s last words echoed through her mind. " No. I won’t run anymore." She looked back at her fallen friend. "No one else will be hurt because of me." She rose to her feet and closed her eyes. The air around her began to glow with a blue light. The otter girl’s brown hair began to blow behind her as if from some invisible wind. Her eye’s shot open now, a frigid, luminous cerulean.

If the rushing robot could think for itself, it probably would have stopped right there. As it was, everyone else had. Sonic stood on top of a downed robot. Sally dropped her gun to the side. Bunnie’s and a SWATbot’s fist stopped an inch from each other’s faces. Everyone was staring in disbelief at whom they had once thought was a defenseless young girl. Carmen raised her hands, a sapphire energy growing and glowing between them.

" It’s time to chill." She said in a calm, deadly voice, and fired.

The blue blast knocked the SWATbot back into a tree, freezing it to the trunk. She shot again, with the speed of a machine gun, icing three others. The other Freedom Fighters broke out of their shock, saw their chance and began to attack again. Sally shot them down with the small laser gun that she carried with her. Sonic bounced off them at breakneck speed. Bunnie smashed them into pieces with her robotic arm. Soon they had all been destroyed, lying in smoking and frozen metallic bits on the forest floor. Carmen powered down, her eyes returning to their normal green. Everyone sat down to rest as she leaned over Tails, who was beginning to wake up.

"Owww, my back hurts." He groaned weakly as he sat up and took a look around. "Whoa!" he exclaimed, shocked at the battlefield, which looked like it had just hailed. "What happened here?" Everyone glanced over at Carmen, who blushed sheepishly. Tails followed their gaze to look at his newfound friend.

" You’re kidding."

It took them a while to reach Knothole Village again. Tails’ back was burnt pretty badly, and everyone was exhausted from fighting otherwise. They all walked tiredly into Rotor’s hut to get some bandages.

" Yikes! What happened to you guys?" Rotor asked as the worn out group arrived. Everyone groaned in response and flopped down in various places around the room.

" We got ambushed," Sonic said wearily. " Sally was right. Robuttnik was probably planning that for days." Sally suddenly smiled after hearing what Sonic said.

" You must really be out of it Sonic. You just admitted to me being right for once." Sonic glared at her, but let the comment pass.

" There were so many SWATbots out there," he continued. "We were totally outnumbered."

He flopped down on a chair and paused for a moment. Rotor looked like he was going to explode.

"Well!? What happened? You're obviously all okay, save for Tail's back, so how did you get out?"

Sonic looked at Carmen and said " I think I should let the person responsible for helping us answer that question." Carmen seemed slightly nervous, but she stepped forward.

"I was the one that helped everyone. You see, I have the power to shoot ice energy out of my hands." She raised her hands gently and let a blue light begin to glow between them. Rotor looked both shocked and amazed, and Tails, who had been knocked out during the fight simply stared on in admiration. Sonic looked a bit confused.

" You’re faster now. When we were fighting it took you a while to do it. Why?" Carmen sighed slightly and continued.

" I had to keep my powers hidden. I wasn’t sure who I could trust yet. It took me a few seconds to pull my powers out of hiding, but now I can do it easily." She bounced the blue energy on her hand like a ball and shot it out the open door. It glided out at top speed and nearly hit Antoine, who was on his way to see what had taken them so long in coming back. Antoine rushed into the hut, a crystal frost glazing his tail.

" Everyone! We are under attack! I-" he stopped short, seeing Carmen with slightly glowing blue eyes staring at him. " Could someone please explain all ‘zis?"

After they finished explaining things one more time, Tails finally asked the question that was probably on everyone’s minds by now.

" Can Carmen be a Freedom Fighter?" The older ones stopped and looked at each other.

" I don’t know Tails, I think we need to discuss it," Sally answered. Everyone else nodded in more or less agreement. Tails sighed and asked another question. " Can I help decide?" Sally shook her head and smiled. "We already know what your answer is, and we appreciate the offer, but how about you go wait outside with Carmen while we talk, ok?" Tails grumbled begrudgingly and walked out with her, closing the door behind him.

"She’s too young to be a Freedom Fighter." Sally pointed out. She was afraid to let a girl who was still a child on to the team. But this was a weak statement, everyone knew.

" So what? Tails is young, and he does just fine most of the time." Sonic retorted. He was sticking up for the younger two, who he believed could learn with time.

" Touché." murmured Antoine. He was still trying to de-ice the tip of his tail.

" And they can learn from each others mistakes." added Rotor.

" And the girl can whoop some Bot-nik be-hind!" Bunnie said enthusiastically. At this point, Sally sighed, knowing when she was losing an argument. "Well…"

Carmen was pacing outside the hut, waiting to hear her fate. Tails was watching her walk back and forth until he couldn’t stand it anymore. He jumped up and stood in her path.

" Quit worrying Carmen, they’ll be out soon." As if on cue, the door opened, and the older Freedom Fighters stepped out. Sally stepped forward and faked a stern face.

" I only have one thing to say, and that’s to Tails." She said in her most commanding voice. Tails stepped forward, fearing the worst. " You’re not the youngest Freedom Fighter anymore." Tails didn’t have a chance to cheer before he was nearly knocked over by an overjoyed otter giving him a fierce hug.

Tails walked Carmen over quietly to the hut where she was staying with Bunnie and Sally. Carmen yawned; it had been a long day for everyone.

"You’re going to like being a Freedom Fighter, I know you will." Tails said somewhat drowsily. Carmen yawned and nodded, too tired to speak.

"Well, good night," Tails said, and quickly kissed Carmen on the cheek. Her eyes widened in surprise and she giggled. " Good night," she said, still laughing, and returned the kiss. They both blushed wildly and rushed away in opposite directions. As the two went to bed for the night, they were both thinking of each other. This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Tails thought to himself. Carmen smiled sleepily as she went to bed for the night. I think I’m going to like Knothole Village…

Unknown to the others, a pair of violet eyes watched the young children from the shadows. She smiled as she watched Tails kiss Carmen, and chuckled as she did the same. She’ll be all right, especially if she stays with that young fox kit. I like his looks. Carmen’s mother looked at her child one final time before turning away. Yes, she will be safe here. Safer than with me… I must let her go. She wiped a tear from her eye and began to walk away softly. Farewell, my Carmen.

"Goodbye, and good luck."

A/N: Well, my dedicated readers, that is my story. Tell me whatcha think! Got any questions, comments, or suggestions for other stories? Just email me: [email protected]. Carmen will douse all flames. Although I have many of my own, I can accept new ideas. And don’t forget to review!