Hello readers, Yosep is here! It is kind of strange how my last fanfic parodied the third season of Sonic X, and now I'm writing a new fanfic honouring it. (Let me set the record straight again: I was trying see what would happen if the third season didn't take itself seriously. It was pretty much just for fun.)
But still, quick description of why I decided to do this: If you read my first fanfic "A Flower in Time", you could probably understand why I wanted to write this. Basically, back then I started to get interested in the Tails and Cosmo pairing, even though the only knowledge I had was on Sonic wikis. I didn't know about the depth and potential of this pairing, so I figured a story about Cosmo coming back would be a good start in my fanfiction career (sans that "Super Jackle Party" idea). And what did I do? I ended up with pointless canon character appearances, subplots resolved too quickly, unnecessary pairing tags (and rendering the "Romance" genre tag useless), and "exciting" scenes written solely because my brain comes up with over-the-top scenes too easily. Clearly I could've done much better!
After actually watching the Sonic X Season Three episodes (the original Japanese version, of course), and also reading better Tailsmo fanfics, I felt the need to redeem myself. Now I could've just read the more popular Tailsmo fanfics and favourited some of them, but then I noticed that almost all of them have Cosmo returning from the afterlife, which contradicts my personal beliefs (even though the original show heavily implied at such an afterlife, but I digress). So with this fanfic, I want to be different from the others by showing Cosmo (along with other Seedrians) alive, but still in a world apart from Tails. How are they alive? Well, read to find out! (Fact: I am still trying to figure out a plausible reason). Reviews are appreciated, as always, though I doubt I'll get many (TailsLovesCosmo is still working on the "After the Metarex" series; how do I compete with that?) But I guess that's enough introduction. Let's get through the part that many people seem to have the most trouble with: the beginning.
Breaking Cosmic Barriers
Part 1: Aftermath
Chapter 1: Welcome Home
Several days have passed since the Metarex were defeated at the hands of Super Sonic and Super Shadow. For the previous days, the Blue Typhoon had to soar back toward Mobius while carrying Eggman's ship. Inside the second control room, Chris Thorndyke checked the estimated time to arrive at Mobius. "We should land in about an hour." he told Sonic, who was waiting with Amy, Knuckles, Cream, Cheese, and Rouge.
"Finally! I won't have to spend more time with this thief!" said Knuckles as he gestured to Rouge. "You won't be touching the Master Emerald anymore!"
Rouge crossed her arms and sneered, "Well it's not like I would want the Emerald if it's in pieces! Besides, my life doesn't center around the Master Emerald." She glanced at Knuckles and added, "Your life, however..."
"Save it for when we get home!" interrupted Amy, stepping in between the rivals. Knuckles peeked around Amy to glare intensely at Rouge.
Cream sighed, "They're at it again. At least we'll be home in just one more hour!" She turned to Cheese and continued, "And then our life will be back to normal again! ...Well, almost to normal." Cheese sadly nodded, knowing the same thing Cream was thinking about.
"You're still worried about Tails, aren't you?" asked Sonic. He first noticed Cream's concern for Tails when Sonic led him back inside the Blue Typhoon. True, she and everyone else tried their best to comfort Tails, including Eggman and his robots (which was weird, since everyone thought they'd be much more sadistic). But Cream was the only one that continued to look after Tails. "How was he when you saw him last?"
Cream froze, almost afraid to retell what happened. But Cheese put an arm around her and stared glumly at her, knowing she must tell. Cream then said, "He... Tails was just looking. At the seed." The others nodded in understanding. "And he... he was aware of me. But he didn't say anything. Tails looked at me as I spoke, and I think he understood, but still..."
"We know, Cream. We know." Chris took a quick glance at the computer before telling the others, "I'm not sure how Tails is going to recover from this. It's been days and he still feels horrible."
"We tried to help him get over it." added Knuckles. "But if we keep helping him, we'll eventually have him accept what happened."
"No..." breathed Cream. Now everyone looked back at Cream in confusion. "It won't be that easy. Don't you remember what happened with Emerl?" Already she started getting tears in her eyes at the memory. "I had to kill him, for the safety of everyone else. And he was my friend."
"So?" asked Rouge with a hint of interest. "You pretty much had the same situation as Tails has."
"But I'm afraid he's going to keep being in grief for a loooooong time." added Amy, knowing where Cream was going with this. While Emerl was Cream's friend, the one Tails used to have was evidently much, much more. "You do remember what he said, right?" Of course everyone remembered what Tails said. Everyone heard his words loud and clear, right before he pressed the trigger. "If Sonic was the one that had to die, I would feel just like Tails. Maybe even more so..."
"We'd all feel like Tails." Chris noted; Sonic was a big inspiration to everyone, so of course everyone would mourn him. But to be fair, Sonic never had to be born into a race fleeing to survive. He never witnessed evildoers murder his friends and family, nor never had to experience survivor guilt. However, this was all too true for the one Tails had fallen for.
Rouge wasn't as sad as everyone else. "Still, wasn't Tails the type of boy to think girls have cooties and all that?" She should know; Rouge defeated Tails in the Chaos Emerald tournament by kissing his cheek. "I'm no love expert, but Tails is still, what, eight? There's no way he could've really loved her, right?"
All of a sudden, Cream stomped toward Rouge and shouted, "Of course Tails loves her! You think he couldn't know about true love? We've been in life-threatening situations! We had to mature! I had to mature! I had to accept the fact that there's merciless things in the world, in a few days!"
"Sheesh, settle down!" Rouge groaned, though inside she was as shocked as everyone else.
Cream still yelled, "Tails had to fight for his life! She had to mature to survive, even before the Metarex attacked her family! So you say that we couldn't know about true love?" Quickly, Cheese clung to Cream, and she slowly calmed down. Still, Cream glared at Rouge and continued, "I know Tails. He is still in love. That is why it's hard for him to get over it." There was complete silence for a few seconds, then Cream walked out of the control room with Cheese loyally following her.
"...You really have a way with children, Rouge." Knuckles said disapprovingly.
Rouge glared at Knuckles and retorted, "How was I to know that she'd be so... touchy?"
"Come on Rouge. Even I know how unstable kids are these days." grumbled Knuckles.
"Whatever. Eggman must be going crazy without me by now." Rouge said as she headed out.
"And I better check on the Chaotix to make sure they don't leave a mess behind." said Knuckles as he walked out of the room.
Sonic turned to Chris and remarked, "I think things aren't going to be normal for a long time."
"You and me both." sighed Chris as he turned back to the computer.
On the Crimson Egg, Bocoe and Decoe were partying in celebration of finally coming home. "At last, we are coming back from our adventure!" cheered Decoe.
"And we'll be regarded as heroes!" Bocoe added as he turned up the stereo's techno music.
Suddenly, Dr. Eggman walked into the room, and he looked slightly depressed. Bokkun quickly shut off the radio and scolded the robots, "The doctor's sad, so you gotta act unhappy too!"
"Enough, Bokkun." sighed Eggman before he sat down in his chair. "Yes, I'm glad to come back home. But we still need to be respectful; Tails has lost somebody and still hasn't got over it. Partying like it never happened wouldn't be dignified."
"Dr. Eggman? Why do you care so much about Sonic's friends?" questioned Decoe.
"I thought you'd be uncaring as usual!" added Bocoe.
Before Eggman could continue, Rouge walked inside. "Hello Rouge. What have you heard from Sonic?"
"We're about to land in less than an hour." Rouge glanced at Bocoe and Decoe, who hid the stereo behind their backs. "Anyway Doctor, I noticed you've been surprisingly mellow for the past few days. What gives?"
The doctor looked outside and responded, "Do not get me wrong. I still despise that hedgehog and his animal friends. But even I know that someone, a child even, doesn't deserve to lose someone they care about."
"I... never knew you were that deep." Rouge remarked. Perhaps Eggman was sad that he never got to know one of his relatives, Maria, and what happened several days ago reminded him of what happened to Maria.
Bocoe walked up to Eggman and patted his shoulder. "Hey, at least you won't have to worry about anyone else taking over the world before you could!"
"Yeah, this is a time to get back to your genius plans!" Decoe said as he handed Eggman a plastic cup filled with fruit punch.
Dr. Eggman took a sip and he slightly grinned. "You know, that reminds me of the sample of Metarex armour I got when I was working for them. See, I could study the material and..."
"And there's the evil doctor we've all been missing!" commented Bokkun as he started walking away.
"Hold it!" Rouge snatched Bokkun and brought him close. "You still remember our 'deal', right?"
Bokkun cautiously peeked at Dr. Eggman, who still boasted about his new plan to Decoe and Bocoe. "Uh, yeah. The... deal..." Rouge scowled and dragged him to the hallway. "Okay, okay! I still know about the deal!"
"Good." Rouge took out a heart shaped locket and dangled it in front of Bokkun. "So that means in exchange for your future obedience, I shall keep this from being out in the open where anyone can find it."
"Um, just one quick question..." started Bokkun sheepishly. "Why do you still want me to trick Eggman into doing your plans? I mean, he probably will take time to get started on a new plan and-"
"Oh, and how long would that be?" Rouge opened the locket for herself and snickered, "Enough time to have this secret fly about all over Mobius?"
"AAAH! Of course not! I mean-" Bokkun gulped and sighed, "Fine, I'll still do your favours."
Rouge bent down to pet Bokkun's head. "Good boy. Well, we shall land very soon. I wonder if Eggman would still need me after the Metarex mess." She walked down the hall, swinging Bokkun's locket into her clothes.
"Y-yeah. Uh, good!" stammered Bokkun. He sat down against the hallway wall and covered his head. Even without the locket, Bokkun could see her face clearly in his mind.
As the Blue Typhoon descended toward Mobius ground, all the members of the ship gazed out the window. Already the population was recovering from the damage the Metarex inflicted. Several people tried to catch up with the Blue Typhoon as it prepared for landing. Of course, reporters raced ahead of the crowds, ready to get first coverage of the journey. And as the Blue Typhoon neared home, the passengers watched wistfully at the regenerating world, knowing that despite the Metarex disaster, life was finally going to get better.
Except for Tails. He knew things were about to get much worse.
Darkness. Everything felt... numb. This wasn't death, was it? Or perhaps this was the feeling you'd get from waking up in the afterlife. But even so, wouldn't you feel painless? There wasn't any pain; just fatigue. Or was it paralysis? She couldn't know for sure, she was just waking up.
She tried comprehending what was happening. What happened previously? There was a light, gentle and sad. And now... this?
Slowly, her body regained the sense of feeling. Apparently, she was lying on several small, slender things. It felt like... grass! She struggled to move her limbs, but they felt like she never used them at all. Still, she strained to lift her arms and push herself off the ground, yet she was too weak. Then she figured if she could still move her limbs, she could at least open her eyes...
A clear blue sky filled her vision. It took a while for her to get used to the brightness, but then she started to love it. She could feel her mouth slowly turn into a smile. Soon, sound started to reach her; it almost sounded like other people were there. She turned her head to the left to see grass and a tree, tall and healthy. Then she turned to the right and saw figures trying to stand up.
She tried standing up again. This time, her strength was enough to lift her upright. She quickly grabbed on to the tree for support. Balance eventually returned to her. Then she looked around again and saw the figures more clearly. Some were wearing robes and had flowers growing on their heads. Seedrians, alive? Either this really was the afterlife, or something else entirely. Her voice felt groggy, so she took a breath of surprisingly fresh air. "Eh... ex... cuuuse... me?" Another Seedrian walked nearly past her, but then that one stopped and turned around. This one was tall, had purple eyes, blue hair and dress, and a single large flower on top of her head. "...Galaxina?"
Galaxina's eyes widened and her mouth opened into a joyous smile. "COSMO!" She quickly hugged her younger sister tightly, sobbing from happiness. "Oh, Cosmo..."
Cosmo too put her arms around Galaxina and managed to speak, "I-I've missed you... so much!"
"Cosmo, I am so glad you could be here..." said Galaxina, still tearing up. "Come, everyone seems to be heading to the clearing up ahead." Galaxina put an arm around Cosmo and helped her walk ahead. As they stepped with the other Seedrians, Cosmo observed the landscape. Everywhere, there was vegetation of all kinds, and every so often there was a river or a pond. In fact, it fit the description of her original planet that the Seedrians talked about. Speaking of which, there were other familiar Seedrians that walked nearby.
At last, Cosmo and Galaxina reached the center of the clearing. When Cosmo looked ahead, what she saw filled her with joy. Another Seedrian was there, having teal hair and one flower growing on her head. Instantly, Cosmo remembered the vision she had before she transformed to stop Dark Oak. "Mother!"
Hertia gazed at Cosmo and Galaxina, and she opened her arms wide to embrace her daughters. "Galaxina, and Cosmo! Oh, thank goodness we're all together!"
Suddenly, a male voice exclaimed, "My daughters!" Now Cosmo was filled with fear. It sounded just like...
"Lucas!" Hertia turned to a male, dark purple Seedrian that was walking toward them. Behind him were several other males that seemed shocked to see females for the first time in years.
Instantly, all chattering was silenced. On one side, the females were mixed between scared and angry at the males. On the other side, the males were surprised to see the opposite gender staring back at them. For several seconds, the groups stared at each other, not knowing what to expect or what to do.
Hertia, however, stood next to Lucas and looked around with a proud smile. "Welcome to New Greengate!" she announced. "...Welcome home."
Well, that's it for now. Was it a good start? Are there things to improve on? Please let me know, and then we'll see more of Cosmo and her new life. See you next time!