Can You Feel the Sunshine?
Note: This story is set in the SEGA continuity and takes place between the events of Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog. It alludes to the events of Sonic R, and foreshadows the events of Sonic Rivals. The house Sonic lives in in this story is the same house briefly glimpsed at the beginning of Sonic and the Secret Rings. It is located on South Island, in the Green Hill Zone, in Emerald Town. (Emerald Town was where Sonic and the gang lived in Sonic Battle.) As is implied in this story, Sonic and Tails are neighbors. Sonic travels extensively, and Tails often takes trips to his workshop in the Mystic Ruins, so both houses are rarely occupied. All characters are property of SEGA. I think that covers everything. Now, on with the story:
Sonic the Hedgehog was sound asleep. He and some of his friends had held a party celebrating the defeat of Metal Overlord. It had run late into the night, and had been quite lively. As a result the hedgehog had gone straight to bed as soon as he had returned home and fallen asleep the instant his head had touched the pillow. But even in his sleep, he subconsciously remained alert in case of some danger.
He was awakened by a strange rustling noise.
Sonic opened his eyes and sat bolt upright in bed. At first he thought he had dreamed the noise, but then he heard it again. It seemed to be coming from outside his window. He turned his head in that direction, and was startled to behold a glowing red light shining in the darkness. He pinched himself to make absolutely certain he was awake. He rubbed his eyes, but the light was still there. He rose and walked to the window. He looked out. It was a very dark night, with no moon, but the light was present nonetheless.
"Hello?" Sonic called.
A few moments passed. Then a cold, emotionless voice hissed, "Can you feel the sunshine?"
The voice made Sonic's flesh crawl. It seemed faintly familiar, and yet he could not quite place it.
"Who's out there?" he demanded.
"Can you feel the sunshine?" the voice hissed again.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!!!" Sonic shouted. "I'M TRYING TO SLEEP IN HERE! IF THERE'S SOMETHING YOU WANT TO DISCUSS WITH ME, WE'LL DISCUSS IT IN THE MORNING! I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS RIDICULOUS NONSENSE RIGHT NOW, SO GO AWAY!"
He closed the window and went back to bed, but the rustling noise persisted. Sonic tried to ignore it, but it was in vain. Finally, swearing under his breath, the annoyed hedgehog rose again, lit a candle, and went outside. As was his habit, he neglected to close the door of his house, since (as he reasoned) he only planned to step out for a few moments.
"Is anybody out there?" he yelled.
There was no response. Deciding that the trespasser had left, the hedgehog went back inside, closing the door behind him as he entered. Blowing out the candle, he returned to his bedroom.
The red light was waiting for him.
At first Sonic could not understand how this intruder had gained access to his house. Then he realized that whoever--or whatever--it was must have slipped in through the open door when Sonic had gone outside to investigate.
"Greetings, Sonic the Hedgehog," hissed the same voice Sonic had heard outside his window. "Would you like to play with me?"
"I'm afraid I can't," replied Sonic, struggling to conceal his nervousness. "Not right now, anyway. Maybe some other time. You see, I got back from a party a few hours ago, and at this party there was a pretty girl I know, named Amy Rose. Maybe you've heard of her? No? Well, anyway, we both drank from the punch bowl, which I have a feeling somebody must have spiked, and after that...well, she kind of wore me out, if you know what I mean. So as a result of all this I really need to get some sleep."
"You will sleep," answered the voice. "For all eternity!"
Ignoring the threat, Sonic demanded, "Who are you, anyway?"
"Your worst nightmare!"
Sonic knew the comeback was ridiculously cliched--he had used it himself many, many times--and yet there was something about the voice's tone when it had spoken those words that sent an icy chill down his spine.
"What do you want?" asked the hedgehog.
"To feast upon your soul!"
Those words made Sonic shiver, but he did his best to keep up a devil-may-care image.
"You can't have my soul," he told the voice. "I'm using it."
"Not for long!" the voice replied.
Sonic had had enough. He threw a powerful punch at the light. The light moved away from him. Then Sonic felt a stabbing pain in his extended arm. Something sharp, perhaps a blade--or claws--had sliced into his flesh. Already he felt the warmth of his own blood trickling from the wound. He quickly withdrew his arm. He prepared to roll into a ball and spin-attack his unseen enemy, but the light disappeared. Sonic stood there, perplexed, wondering where it had gone and uncertain what to do next.
Then he heard a deep, throaty growl behind him, and spun around to find the light facing him once more. Furthermore, two more red lights--apparently eyes--had appeared beneath the first one.
"I see you, Sonic the Hedgehog," hissed the voice. "Can you see me?"
This was followed by a peel of laughter even more maniacal and sinister than Dr. Robotnik's.
This was too much for Sonic. He did what he did best: he ran. As he did so, he heard more laughter. He knew it was most likely coming from behind him, but it echoed through the house so that it seemed to come from every direction at once.
"You can run, Sonic the Hedgehog," the voice called to him, "but you cannot hide! Anywhere you can go, I can follow--and soon, there shall be nowhere left to run!"
Sonic did not reply. All that mattered to him was escape. He barely even noticed the pain from his injured arm. He ran and ran and ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He felt his heart beating more rapidly then ever before, and still he ran.
He knew every inch of his house like the back of his paw, and normally he would have been able to easily find his way in the dark, but this time terror had robbed him of the ability to think clearly, and he soon found himself at a dead end. Exhausted, he fell to his knees, wheezing. His strength was spent; he could not run anymore.
The light was closing in on him.
"And now, Sonic the Hedgehog," the voice declared, "you shall die!"
At last Sonic could no longer resist the impulse that had been building up steadily within him. He screamed.
Suddenly a voice Sonic knew very well--the voice of Miles "Tails" Prower--yelled, "Don't even think about it! You're going down, you plushy bastard--down to Hell!"
Something went swish, which was closely followed by a thwack. There was the harsh crackle of a laser bolt. There was a screech, something shattered and the red light disappeared. The darkness was temporarily broken by a small but fiery explosion. Then there was silence.
After a few moments had passed, the lights came on. Sonic blinked a few times to give his eyes the chance to adjust to the sudden brightness. Finally, he opened his eyes and looked around him. There were several pieces of what could only be toy stuffing, a partially-melted metal rod about two-and-a-half feet long, and the dismembered arms, legs, torso and head of what had unmistakably been the Tails Doll. One of the arms was still clutching a razor-sharp dagger in its hand. It was stained with fresh blood--Sonic's blood, for that was what had injured his arm. Sonic suddenly realized that the red light he had seen had in fact been the glow from the red gem that had functioned as the Tail's Doll's electronic brain. Sure enough, the gem's broken shards were also amongst the wreckage. Sonic breathed a long sigh of relief. It was over.
"Hello, Sonic!" said Tails.
Sonic looked up and noticed the fox hovering over him. He was wearing night-vision goggles and in his hand he carried a smoking blaster pistol.
"Are you okay?" asked the fox as he helped the hedgehog to his feet.
"Yeah," nodded Sonic. "But I almost wasn't. You saved my life!"
"Hey, that's what friends are for," Tails shrugged. "I was up late reading, you see, and I heard something hit the ground outside your house, so I equipped myself and went to investigate. I found one of Dr. Eggman's stasis pods in the backyard. It was empty, so I realized that whoever--or whatever--had been inside it must already be inside the house."
"Thank the Gods you found that thing before it could finish me off," replied the hedgehog. "You got it right through its brain-gem, didn't you? You know, I might not use guns myself, but I'm sure lucky that you're such a great shot."
"My duplicate wasn't such a bad aim itself," Tails told him, pointing. "Look."
Sonic looked where the fox was pointing, and nearly jumped out of his skin. A dagger identical to the one the Tails Doll's arm was holding was buried up to the hilt in the opposite wall.
"It had two daggers," the fox explained, "one in each hand. It was about to slit your throat with one of them, and when I spoke to it, it threw the other one at me. If I hadn't ducked in time, it would have impaled me for sure!"
"You know, you're getting to be as fast as me," Sonic told his young friend.
"I try," replied Tails, blushing at the complement.
As Tails helped Sonic wash and bandage his wound--which fortunately turned out not to be as serious as Sonic had feared--the fox commented, "Eggman must have had that monstrosity in storage ever since you beat him in the World Grand Prix. I'm starting to suspect he never throws anything away."
"Yeah," nodded Sonic. "I saw it in storage in Eggman's base in the Mystic Ruins, along with Mecha Sonic, Metal Sonic and Metal Knuckles. I assumed it had been destroyed along with the base. I guess it was more durable than I thought. I'm guessing he decided to revive it because Metal Sonic was taken away."
"Well, if Eggman managed to salvage the Tails Doll, I wonder if he managed to salvage Mecha Sonic and Metal Knuckles as well?"
"Not likely. If he had, he would have sent one of them to kill me instead; they're more powerful than the Tails Doll."
"In that case, he's out of robot clones," replied Tails, gathering up the Tails Doll's remains, "because this one won't be causing any more trouble from now on. I'd better go dispose of what's left of it with my home-made atom-smasher. We can't run the risk of Eggman recovering it and building another one. As for you, I suggest you go back to sleep."
"That's a good idea," nodded Sonic. "I need my beauty rest. Anyway, after tonight, I'll feel good when I really can feel the sunshine!"
***
In the control room of his fortress, Dr. Ivo Robotnik slammed his fist down forcefully onto the console in frustration, growling angrily: "I HATE THAT FOX!!!"
When the scientist had finally regained his composure, he pressed a button that signalled his robot army to assemble in the control room.
As soon as all of the robots were present, Robotnik turned to them and announced, "All units, pay close attention. I have a new priority one mission for you, which will begin immediately: find Metal Sonic. Search this entire planet if necessary. When you have found Metal Sonic, bring him to me. Dismissed."
The robots saluted and left the room. Robotnik smiled to himself.
"And when at last Metal Sonic is my possession once more," he thought, "it will be time for a little reprogramming to go a long way."
Then he leaned back in his chair and laughed.
The End...For Now
And there you have it, everybody. That's what happened to the Tails Doll. At about the same time as the events of this story, Shadow and E-123 Omega put Metal Sonic in storage, planning to repair, reprogram and reactivate the robot and use him as a weapon against Robotnik. However, Shadow and Omega put their plan on hold due to the arrival of Black Doom and the Black Arms. During the events of Shadow the Hedgehog, all of Robotnik's robots except for the Shadow Androids and a skeleton crew of Egg Pawns were out searching for Metal Sonic. In the meantime, Robotnik built his robot jugglers, the Egg Breaker, and the Egg Dealer to fill in. After the events of Shadow the Hedgehog, the other robots finally found Metal Sonic and brought him to Robotnik, who reprogrammed him to be obedient and placed him in storage until the events of Sonic Rivals.
Before I close, I must observe that filling in plotholes is not an easy job. But then, that's what you get when you decide to write a story that's set in an established continuity.