When we left our friends on earth to return home after replacing all of the chaos emeralds, we had left one of us behind. Tails had insisted on staying behind to help Chris with the X Tornado. He had big plans to create build and invent to help everyone we had left back home. To make life better and create weapons that would end wars without people dying. He had plans to work with the men of science to create cures for terrible and lethal diseases as well as ones that were thought to be without cure. Cancer, Mesothelioma, leukemia, and any other number of diseases we could barely remember.
While we were home things were great at first. Everything was great. And everything was wrong. We lived in paradise, but we couldn't help wondering what had ever happened to Chris and Tails. How were they doing in a world more dangerous than ours?
After much debating, we convinced Knuckles to activate the Chaos Emeralds. As we passed through the void, I couldn't help remembering Cosmo, the only one Tails had grown close to. Amy had joked about it once and gotten an earful of silence. She felt terrible about it. Now I wondered if things had ever changed.
When we arrived we made sure we had all of the Emeralds together before heading to the Thorndyke estate. When we arrived, it was entirely different.
"Why are the fences so high?" Cream asked nervously in her innocent high pitched voice.
"Gee, I dunno." I replied. I was as dumbfounded as she was. Knuckles walked down the side walk to the gate.
"Hey, get a load of this." He mumbled and we all ran over. When we saw what was on the other side we all gasped. The unusually large mansion was somehow BIGGER. The vaulting windows were grand and huge, larger than before. Suddenly a man ran from the large doors of the mansion to the gate.
"SONIC! Is it really you?" The man asked over joyed.
"Mr. Tanaka!" We all replied overjoyed and he opened the gate to let us in.
"Sonic, you and your friends couldn't have come sooner!" He had said and my heart sank. He was older, weaker almost. He wasn't the same Tai Kwon Do fanatic full of energy. Now I didn't show it since Amy was right behind me.
"How are things Mr. Tanaka?" I asked good naturedly giving him a thumbs up.
"Wonderful!" He replied shaking Knuckle's spiked hand. I could tell something was off but didn't say anything about it. No one shook knuckles hand on account of the spikes. "Follow me if you will. Master Christopher and Charles will be overjoyed to see you! Not to mention Tails!"
He led us through the Mansion. It was much larger and there were far more rooms than when we had once lived in it. I would have gotten lost in the maze. He brought us to a large living room filled with lavish furniture. As we walked in, a young red haired teenager in a lab coat turned and smiled while an elderly man holding a cup of steaming coffee smiled.
"Sonic! You came back?" The teenager asked.
"Chris, you've grown!" Amy remarked.
"Unfortunately we all have." noted the older man smiling.
"Professor Thorndyke?!" We all said in surprise. The once spry man of science had weathered time while we had been gone.
"Yes, I'm afraid." He replied smiling warmly."Retirement came before I stopped being payed for my work. Doesn't take me away from my work though. Besides, didn't I tell you to call me Chuck?" He said with a mischievous wink and .
Neslon and Lindsey walked in arm in arm, and were overjoyed to see us. The elation continued until I asked the question that killed the mood.
"So how is ol' Tails?"I asked. I never understood how grave my remark was until I saw the looks on their faces.
"Chris, what's wrong?" Amy asked her voice peaking. Chris smiled wryly."Did something happen?"
"I guess you could say nothing happened." Chuck said sadly.
"Fill me in, I have some loose ends that don't seem to be tying themselves." Knuckles grumbled.
"Well at first everything was great." Chris began. We sat down sensing an elongated story."The Thorndyke Corporation boomed. With Tails, Grandpa, and myself spear heading new discoveries in science. We discovered efficient cures for cancer that would cure the disease in matters of days as a pose to months. The international life expectancy rate rose with our new methods, medications and developments. We expanded into weapons, creating weapons that were nonlethal and more effective than ones previously designed to kill. The stun packets were faster, the balance of the guns was unrivaled. Wars were shorter with our disarming weapons on the line. The money came rolling in. We ended up paying our employees better than ourselves and we still we drowning in riches. And that's when we stumbled onto something that changed everything. Genetic regeneration. Returning dormant beings to life as if nothing had happened. We had unlocked the secret to reincarnation. Not just a copy in the form and actions of the original. The real living being returned to themselves."
"Tails was elated. Before we could inquire why, he took the X Tornado out into deep space. When he returned, he came back with the Tree of Cosmo. It only took him eight months of searching for her." Chuck said taking over for Chris."But things haven't worked out."
"How so?" I asked.
"You will have to see for yourself." Nelson said.
He led us down a series of stairways deep into the basement. We all marveled at the strange and unusual equipment. As we rounded a corner we came to a large steel door marked "Danger!" and had a small knob. It was red but turned to green after a few minutes. Nelson opened the door sadly and walked in. We followed him into a massive amphitheater, a large spherical contraption lay in the middle and Tails stood behind a monitor. As we approached I could see his hands were shaking as he gripped the sides of the keyboard pad.
"...it didn't work." He growled but we didn't hear him too well.
"Tails, I have some friends of yours who came to see you." Nelson said gently. Chris walked in behind us but kept his distance. Tails looked over his shoulder at us and sighed.
"Hey guys." He said and what startle me was his voice. It wasn't the cute defeated little voice of his when he was down on his luck nor the peppy one when he was elated. It was deeper, not in tone but in severity.
"How's it going Tails?" I asked obliviously. That was possibly the worst thing I could have done.
"It didn't work," He said looking up at the enormous vat that held the large tree of Cosmo in it."I've tried everything. Cross radiations, genetic re-assemblies, stem cell injections, Electro fusion, DNA regenerating, but NOTHING WORKS!"-He was sobbing now-"She wont respond to treatment, or transfusing or ANYTHING! SHE WONT RESPOND! I'VE DONE THE PROCEDURE COUNTLESS TIMES! FLAWLESSLY! EACH TIME YIELDING RESULTS! BUT EVERYTHING THAT SHOULD WORK DOESN'T! WHY WONT SHE REACT TO INPUT? WHY WONT SHE LET IT WORK? WHY WONT SHE WORK WITH ME?!" He screamed finally and collapsed in a heap on the floor.
"Tails-" I began.
"WHAT?!" He barked back over his shoulder. The look in his eyes is something I will never forget. It was a sheer rage of an animal. Cream and Cheese whimpered.
"I... I wish I could help." I replied realizing there was nothing I could do but say something as well as feeling kind of embarrassed. Tails looked away and sighed.
"I'm sorry everyone. This was terrible timing for a reunion. Things have been going downhill recently." Tails sighed and closed the monitor on radiation levels so that all there was were the basic genetic readouts. Chris walked over and patted his shoulder.
"We'll figure something out." Chris said reassuringly.
"I hope so. Lets head back up to the others. Uncle Sam should be arriving for supper tonight." Tails said.
"Tails, you were up all night for the past week. It's ten in the morning on a Thursday." Nelson said sadly.
"Oh... I guess it is." Tails replied emptily.
"You need a break. The fresh air will do you good." Chris added solemnly. I was surprised to hear the happy go lucky pair of engineers both so somber and mature. They were almost like different people from who they had once been.
"You're right. Lets go. I've just been on edge lately." Tails replied and headed across the room to the door, fists clenched in frustration.
As we headed back to the massive steel door, I said something absentmindedly. To this day I wish I never had.
"Its okay Tails, I know how you feel."
I said absentmindedly to alleviate the sad mood he had. I couldn't stand when everything was so slow and depressing. Yet those words hung in the air like a specter. He turned to me and there was a look of sheer rage in his eyes.
"...know how I feel? You think you know how I feel?" He growled."When did you ever have any IDEA how I felt? WHEN? Was it back home? When you were on top of the world and everyone had to look up at you how can you know how it feels? You laugh at everything! You even laughed at ME! You've NEVER felt what it's like because you don't FEEL! YOU COULD NEVER KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE! THE ONE AND ONLY THING THAT EVER TRULY MATTERED TO ME IS OUT OF MY REACH! YOU NEVER LOST ANYTHING! YOU HAVE AMY! YOU NEVER LOST HER! I HAD COSMO! NOW ALL I HAVE IS NOTHING MORE THAN A TREE! A SHARD OF THE ONLY BEING I EVER LOVED! YOU COULD NEVER KNOW HOW I FEEL! YOU NEVER EVEN TRIED!" Tails roared at me.
I took a step back. For the first time, he scared me. One was the voice. The other was the fact he was right. Everything for me was a breeze. I just sped through my problems. I didn't know what it was like to work so hard and barely keep up the pace with someone who could do everything in his sleep. I didn't know what it was like to have to do everything slowly and carefully just to try to catch up with everyone else. I was at the head of the pack. I never saw him stumbling so hard behind me without making a sound of protest.
"Hey! You Leave my Sonic alone, Ya hear?" Amy snapped sniffing indignantly the way she had always done when putting Tails in his place around me. That place had always been down. I remember how there had been one time, when she had put him on. When she had kissed him but it meant nothing. And I don't think he ever forgot the message she had sent. He meant nothing to her; not compared to me. That was when Tails did something the Tails we knew would never have done. He punched her. One, loud, resounding crunch of knuckle to flesh. She flew through the air and bounced across the ground a few all stood in sheer shock as she slid across the floor. But now that I think about it, I almost think she deserved it after the way she had treated him his entire life.
"TAILS! GET A GRIP MAN!" Knuckles barked grabbing him by the arm to restrain him. Tails turned on him and punched him square in the jaw, sending Knuckles of all people reeling back. I remembered how Knuckles never gave him a second thought, simply shrugged at everything tails did to keep up with the rest of us but was always on the bottom.
"She had it coming! After the way she taunted and ridiculed me when we were younger, she had a LOT more coming. You stay out of this." Tails growled furiously. I was by Amy's side looking at Tails.
"What's gotten into you man?" I had asked stunned. But after reflecting I knew what had happened. Tails had realized that he didn't deserve to be treated the way we had treated him when we were all together. The world treated him with respect when we were no longer suppressing him. He was their bringer of world peace. We were a painful bittersweet memory for him. When we were his family, but never gave him the respect of our own. Tails looked around as everyone had backed away from him. Cream was on the verge of tears. Ella stood in the door, a china tea tray lying shattered next to a sandwich at her feet as she stood in the door way.
"WHAT?!" was his first reaction, the rage still fresh in his eyes. And then it dawned on him. This was the first time he had realized he was angry. He had never been angry. Not until we parted ways. It was then he began to remember who he was. Or at least who he had been.
"What have I done..." he said dumb struck." Everyone..."-there was a long drawn out pause-"I... I'm sorry. All I wanted was to have Cosmo back."
He collapsed to the floor and broke into tears. None of this should have happened. He had never lost control like this. Not destructively. Not at his friends, not at all. Only once when Cosmo left to save us. But he had held it in then. This he had never done. And never should have in his mind.
"Tails, it's okay, we forgive you. You lost your temper was all." Amy replied smiling with new found respect for the young Kitsune.
"Yeah. After what you've been through, you've really worn yourself out. We can cut you some slack." Knuckles added grinning.
"We should head upstairs and catchup on old times with all the others. Do you remember when Eggman tried to..." Mr. Nelson began. He knew what he was doing. When we showed up everything was going downhill and the only thing Tails was running on was raw emotion. The good memories were the things he had forgotten.
The rest of our visit was pretty much uneventful. Even though Tails wasn't the same anymore, it was great to see him again. We've had many visits since then but the first visit was the one that truly sank in to our minds. Later on, Tails planted Cosmo's tree in the estate gardens amongst a bed of flowers he had grown from the seeds she had left him. He joked the fresh air would be good for both of them. That and he also hoped it would help yield better results for further attempts to bring her back. But one thing remains painful and clear to me to this day. The Tails we knew would never be the same.