The Prower Chronicles:

The Crucible of Truth

Chapter One

What Dreams May Tell

The headquarters of what had been a seemingly invincible alliance now stood as an empty tomb to the horrors that could have been and the terrors that still could be. In its main chamber Sonic the Hedgehog stood before his master Tomomo Mae, having failed in his mission, and waited for his queen to seek her violence upon him. In his dark heart he feared his blood offering wasn't enough to atone for his display of weakness. But, surprisingly, the nogitsune ruler lifted her hand as an indication for him to rise to his feet.

"I accept your offering and pardon you for not completing the task I ordered. Having spent a millennium plus a few hundred years corrupting the offspring of my sister I have learned patience and timing if nothing else. Your work will bear fruit, I assure you, just not as soon as I had hoped." Tomomo Mae said with a deceptively kind tone as she looked behind her.

Sonic the Hedgehog, in chains attached to the wall, hung; his head slumped to his side as if he were sleeping. Every part of his body bore either scars or fresh wounds inflicted by the nogitsune soldier standing next to him with bloody whip in hand. The Sonic now behind Tomomo Mae transformed back into his original form: a nogitsune.

"You can return to my domain and stay there until I need your services again" Tomomo Mae instructed. The nogitsune bowed before his master and descended down a set of stairs to his right. "As for you, Sonic, its time to go back to your cage until I need you again. Take him away!" she laughed as she lifted his chin with her finger.

Meanwhile, on the planet of Fichina…

Cosmo and I arrived on the planet and we were surprised to see Peppy Hare and his daughter Lucy waiting for us at the airport. He was holding a small clipboard with several pages on it and Lucy was leaning on what I assumed to be her navy blue convertible.

"This is a pleasant surprise. What brings you to Fichina?" I asked as Peppy showed me what looked to be a rental agreement. It could only mean one thing: we weren't going to have to spend hours and days trying to find a place to live.

"I own a three bedroom house and forty acres of meadow near the city limits which I don't use anymore. When I heard you were coming to live here, I knew that living arrangements would be the first thing you would worry about and so here you are: a rent-to-own agreement between friends." Peppy told Cosmo and myself as I smiled at him and started to look over the five pages filled with the details of rent and conditions and other legal mumbo jumbo. One thing I noted in my mind was a section which gave me the strip we were on free of charge.

"Cosmo, you want to read this too? It looks good to me, at least." I asked as Cosmo walked up to us and took a quick look.

"It is sufficient…but I think we should take a look at the house before we sign anything."

"My daughter and I wouldn't have it any other way…I should mention that I've given you this airport strip free of charge. This way, you'll be able to leave the planet at a moment's notice without having to go through airport procedure and all that. The hangar that the strip comes out of is yours as well if you want to go ahead and dock your ship. When you're ready, you can follow us to the house." Peppy replied as Cosmo and I nodded and went back into the Blue Typhoon.

After we docked the ship, I drove my all black Mazda RX-8 out of the ship with Cosmo sitting quite happily in the passenger seat.

"That's a nice ride, Miles. Where'd you get it?" Lucy asked as I started thinking about the answer to that question.

"I bought it on the planet Earth a few years back. It's been a guinea pig of sorts since then due to all of the modifications I've made on her." I replied as Lucy pointed toward the hood. I knew what she wanted and I complied with her request.

She could only whistle in awe at the custom-built engine that I'd installed and the neon that surrounded the other parts. Her gaze soon gravitated to the wheels and the spoiler in the back and everything else.

"This car has parts from the Lylat System, Earth, and my home planet. I've worked hard to try and reverse engineer all of the technology involved and it's given me some new ideas which I've put to good use on the car and on my ship." I told Lucy as Peppy whispered to Lucy.

"Well, um…if you'll follow us, we will show you the house." Lucy told Cosmo and I with a little bit of embarrassment on her face.

After about a half an hour's drive on a road cutting through a mountain range, we arrived at what was a serene meadow with a blue and white, two-story house sitting in the middle of the field. I could tell by Cosmo's expression that she was impressed. We signed the agreement, waved goodbye to our friends, and entered the house.

The first thing we noticed was that the house was completely furnished with a sofa and a recliner in the living room. A brick and mortar fireplace graced the wall facing the furniture and to our left a hall with rooms on both sides caught Cosmo's attention. She quickly left me in the living room and opened up the first room and looked inside before going in. I walked to the end of the living room, noting the staircase going down, and went into the kitchen which was also fully prepared for us.

"Well the rooms are nice and all…" Cosmo started to say as she entered the kitchen and saw me prowling through the fully stocked refrigerator. I pulled my head out of the labyrinth of groceries and looked at Cosmo. I guess I forgot that I had a chicken leg in my mouth because she started to chuckle.

As I finished nibbling on my lunch, Cosmo walked into the final, unexplored room. I heard her gasp in surprise and then I heard her start laughing. When I caught up with her, I saw why.

"Do you see this? It's my very own greenhouse!" Cosmo exclaimed as she literally danced in between the rows of plants that were growing tall in the bright sunshine. I noted that the greenhouse was very large and that it was a very good coincidence that we had one…now Cosmo could take a lot of her college work home.

I stood there, watching my soul mate look over the plants, and I breathed in the fresh air. Finally, everything was the way it should be…but a small part of me was waiting for the other shoe to drop. I knew Sonic was going to try and invade my life again. I just didn't know when or how.

"So now that I have my greenhouse, shouldn't you start building a laboratory like the one you had in Star Fox HQ?" Cosmo asked as I suddenly snapped out of my thoughts and realized that I had left all of my scientific equipment on Papetoon. As I nodded my head in reply, I decided to not go back to Star Fox HQ and retrieve my lab equipment and my small gang of nanobots. Slippy could easily reprogram them however he wished and they would probably need the lab in the future.

"I'll rebuild a lab here from scratch…yawn…you mind if I doze off for a bit?" I asked Cosmo as she chuckled again. I think she was starting to see the more private side of me that she hadn't seen when we were younger.

"Go ahead…I'll join you in a little while." Cosmo said in a sensual tone that drove my insides crazy.

I found the master bedroom easily enough and after noting where the restroom was, I threw myself on the large waterbed and covered up with the thick, comfy blanket that had been folded on the end. For the first ten minutes or so, as I started to go deeper into sleep, everything was good. But then, in an instant, things went about as downhill as if I was jumping off a cliff.

"H...he...help me! Brother…help me…" I heard in the darkness of my sleep. I was having a dream, a very blank dream except for the broken, scratchy voice that became louder as the seconds passed. It seemed that I was there, walking down a long tunnel. When I came out, I saw something I could have never guessed.

I saw Sonic handcuffed to the back wall of what seemed to be a room carved out of the rock of a cavern. A chain held him suspended inside a rusty metal cage and he was bleeding from scratches to his face and abdomen. He was still saying the same words as I looked at him. My first thought was that he was getting what he deserved. As that thought stewed more and more, Sonic desperately screamed at me in disbelief at what he must have seen as my betrayal of him.

"NO…I have not betrayed you…someone else posing as me…Inari…talk to Inari…" Sonic gasped as I saw a nogitsune sneak up to him and slash his arms with a whip covered in flames. Then, in the blink of an eye, he jumped at me and covered me in darkness. I woke up from my dream seconds later with sweat dripping from my face. Cosmo was just entering the bedroom and she immediately saw how shaken up I was. She asked me over and over to tell her what my nightmare was, but I just couldn't. I didn't even know what it meant and I wasn't even sure she'd believe me.

I left Cosmo in the bedroom to be by myself, hoping she'd understand my need for privacy. As I went outside and stood out in the field with only nature as my companion, I tried to make sense of my dream.

Was it real…or is this some trick of Sonic's…he couldn't have the power to invade my thoughts…and how does he know about Inari…

"I was the one who sent you the dream." a familiar voice told me as I spun around to see Inari standing in front of me. It looked like I was going to get the answers to my questions.

"What you saw was a glimpse of events that are taking place as we speak. The Sonic you've known for the last few years is an imposter. He is a nogitsune who was posing as your friend in an attempt to further corrupt you. Your inclinations, in other words, were right on the mark. " Inari told me as I got the feeling that she was withholding information.

"I'm sorry you have to be involved in this…I had hoped that at least one of my descendants who accepted their destiny would not have to confront the evil which surrounds us." Inari lamented.

"What is this evil?" I asked as Inari pointed to the house.

"You should go get your soul mate. Come back here with her and I'll tell you all that I can. I'll tell you about Tomomo Mae…"