Sonic the Hedgehog and all related official characters are copyrights of SEGA, DiC, and Archie Comics. All non-official characters are copyrighted by myself. Please don't use without permission.

Author's Note: This story takes place approximately two weeks after the events of "Shards of the Past".

The Dark Prophecy

Chapter 1

Sonic lay on top of his bed, staring up at the straw ceiling of his hut as he searched for an answer to a question that had been plaguing him ever since they had returned from Emerald City. It had been nearly two weeks since the city had been destroyed by Chaos, the displaced citizens having been rounded up by the human military that had shown up only a few hours after the final battle had concluded and shipped out to homeless shelters in neighboring areas. Amy's parents had declined Sonic's offer to return to Knothole with him and Tails, leaving a sad Amy to say her goodbyes to her friends before leaving with one of the groups of refugees. Sonic and Tails had returned to Knothole after the whole ordeal was finally settled, only to face an angry Sally who had caught wind of Tails fight with Eggman. But Tails, true to his word to Sonic, stood up for himself, defending his actions and finally making Sally admit to herself that the young fox was no longer a kid anymore. Knuckles had returned to Floating Island, returning the Master Emerald to the Hidden Palace with Mighty's help. But all of these events had not erased one phrase from Sonic's mind that he had been repeatedly going over in his head time and time again trying to find a logical answer to.

"What on Mobius made Tikal say 'once more' to me right before she disappeared?" asked Sonic to himself. Looking over at the clock on his nightstand he saw that it was close to midnight. "Well, that's half of the night's sleep shot to pieces." Resigning himself to sleep, he also knew he couldn't solve the puzzle on his own. Deciding to talk to Sally first thing in the morning, he gave a sigh as he turned off the lamp on his nightstand before crawling under his sheets.

Later that morning, inside the community hut of Knothole, Cody sat in one of the many chairs that filled the inside of the large hut. While the robian hedgehog wasn't required to sit and observe what was going on in front of him, he had decided to make it a point to greet every single robian as soon as Nicole had finished wiping the mind control programming of the roboticizer from their AI matrixes. At the moment, a cat robian was the one hooked up to Nicole who was sitting on the table in front of Cody's chair. The little super computer made no noise as it ran Metal Sonic's programming through the robian's AI matrix, erasing Eggman's control over him. Suddenly, Nicole made a chime noise, signaling to Cody that the process had just finished. The robian suddenly slumped in the chair he was in, groaning as he held a hand up to his head.

"Wh-where am I?" he asked, looking over at Cody. "And who are you?"

"It's alright friend. My name is Cody. You're in Knothole Village. Welcome back to the land of the free minded," said Cody, giving him a smile.

"That's right…Eggman…The things he made me do…Made all of us do…" said the robian.

"I know. It's over now," said Cody. Suddenly, Nicole started beeping furiously, causing both of them to look over at the small computer. "That doesn't sound good." Right after Cody uttered the words, smoke started to emit from the small computer. "Okay, that's definitely not good!" said Cody as he reached over and picked up Nicole, shutting her down as fast as he could remember how to since Sally had only ever shown him once in the past.

"What is that thing?" asked the robian.

"That might have been our only way of freeing the other robians going up in smoke," said Cody as he turned and ran out of the hut, instantly taking to the air in the direction of Sally's hut.

"I don't know Sal…The way she said it makes me think she's known who I was before the whole ordeal in Emerald City even happened," said Sonic as he sat in a chair across from Sally who was seated on her hut's sofa.

"I wish I had an answer for you Sonic, I really do," said Sally as she sipped on a mug of coffee as she sat on her sofa. Sonic had just finished filling her in about what he had been going over in his mind for the last two weeks. "You told me Tikal's spirit lived inside the Master Emerald, right?"

"That's what she said," said Sonic.

"Do you think she saw you through the Master Emerald whenever Eggman stole it from Floating Island last year?" asked Sally.

"Maybe…But then she'd have known Knuckles and Tails as well," said Sonic. He crossed his arms over his chest, frowning as he lowered his head. "No…Something else is going on, the question is what?"

"Well, I'm open to suggestions," said Sally. The two sat in silence for several minutes before Sonic gave a sigh, causing Sally to look over at him. "Think of something?"

"Perhaps, though it's a long shot, I'll be the first to admit it," said Sonic.

"What?" asked Sally.

"I think I want to go visit that ancient temple that was in the jungle around Emerald City again. I first ran into Tikal at that place. She then led me into the temple and showed me the mural of Chaos in his final form. What if there was some clue there as to why Tikal sounded like she knew me. Knuckles told me it was her home in the past according to the visions he saw," said Sonic.

"You're right. Definitely a long shot," said Sally, not holding any real belief that Sonic's answers could be found there. "Still, if you think you need to go back there, I'll go with you."

"You don't have to Sal," said Sonic.

"You're right, I don't. But I want to," said Sally. She got up off the sofa and walked over to Sonic, kneeling down next to him. "Sonic, I've been your friend for over a decade. You've saved my life countless times, never expecting anything in return. The least I can do is try and help you figure this mystery out. Besides, we'll need Nicole to read any of the hieroglyphs we find." Hearing this, Sonic closed his eyes and smiled.

"Sal, you know I'd do anything for you. And I know you'll always have my back," said Sonic, opening his eyes and looking over at her. "I know with the two of us working on this, we'll figure it out."

"Sally!" shouted Cody's voice from just outside the door a split second before the robian began to pound on the front door of Sally's hut.

"It's open Cody," said Sally as she stood back up, the door immediately flying open as Cody ran into the hut.

"What's got you all worked up?" asked Sonic, getting up out of the chair.

"I think Nicole just got fried," said Cody, holding up the small computer which was still emitting a small amount of smoke.

"Oh my gosh what happened?" asked Sally as she got up and ran over to Cody, taking the computer from him.

"I have no idea…One second she's finishing freeing a robian, the next she started beeping like crazy and then smoke started to come out of her," said Cody. Sally carefully removed Nicole's covering, looking over the delicate machinery on the inside of her.

"Perfect…she's going to need some serious repairs," said Sally as she looked over the damage.

"Give her to Tails. He should have no problem fixing her," suggested Sonic.

"He's never worked on her before," said Sally, looking over at Sonic.

"I don't think it matters much. He's a lot smarter than anyone I know. He's technical skills surpassed yours a while ago," said Sonic. Sighing, Sally nodded her head.

"Alright. I suppose he's earned the chance to work on something this important," said Sally.

"I think so too," said Cody.

"Okay. So I'll hand Nicole over to Tails and have him get to work on her, but that leaves us waiting on her to be repaired before we leave," said Sally.

"Leave? Where you two going?" asked Cody, confused by Sally's statement.

"Little trip down south. Just for a couple days, no big deal," said Sonic. Cody got a grin on his face, half closing his eyes as he looked at the two of them.

"No big deal, eh?" asked Cody.

"It's not like that Cody," said Sally, blushing as she punched the robian in the arm, causing him to throw up his arms in defense.

"Okay okay! I was just joking," said Cody. He then turned and started walking out of the hut. "Be sure to bring back some souvenirs from wherever it is your guys are going to." As soon as he was gone, Sonic turned towards Sally.

"I don't like waiting on Nicole to get repaired. I'd like to get my answers as soon as I can," said Sonic, sitting back down.

"Sonic, we don't even know there are answers there to get," said Sally.

"You're probably right, but I need to know for sure as soon as possible. Otherwise my mind won't stop thinking about it,' said Sonic.

"Do you think Knuckles would be able to help us out?" asked Sally.

"Maybe, but I don't think he even knows how to read the language. His priorities have always been the Master Emerald and Floating Island first and foremost. History seems to have taken a back seat with him," said Sonic.

"What about Angel?" asked Sally.

"Nah. I don't want to bother her over something like this. She has enough on her plate at the moment. Besides, we have no clue where at on the southern continent she is," said Sonic. Suddenly, he arched his eyebrows as a thought passed through his mind. "Still, she probably knows someone in her village that could help us out."

"Sonic, we don't even know where her village is for sure, just that it's located in a jungle on the southern continent somewhere," said Sally.

"I'll bet Knuckles knows where it's at," said Sonic, getting up from the chair and heading for the door. "I'll give him a call, see if he knows. If he does, I'll call Angel and see who she thinks the best candidate would be to take with us." With that, he opened the door and walked out, leaving a sighing Sally behind as she realized his mind was set and there was no changing it.

"You seriously want me to fix Nicole?" asked Tails, the stunned look on his face not hidden at all as he looked at Sally from his stool in the back of his workshop.

"You think you can?" asked Sally, holding out the small computer to the young fox.

"Well yeah…But I mean…You never wanted anyone but yourself to work on her," said Tails as he took the computer from Sally.

"That's true. But I'm leaving with Sonic to go down south and we need her in working order to get the robians free of the roboticizer's influence. And honestly, you showed me that you aren't a kid anymore except in age. I think that deserves some form of trust with important things," said Sally. Tails couldn't help but smile when he heard Sally say that to him. In his wildest dreams he never would've expected Sally to entrust something of this importance to him.

"I'll have her fixed in no time. Hopefully you're back the next day or two after I finish her repairs. I'd like to get back to work on the Tornado," said Tails, returning to his workbench as he sat Nicole on it.

"I thought you finished your modifications of the plane?" asked Sally.

"Well, yes and no. I'm finished with its jet mode, but I'm in the process of making a walker mode for it as well," said Tails, turning back to face Sally.

"A 'walker mode'?" asked Sally, arching an eyebrow.

"Yep. Something we can rely on if there's a fight on the ground that requires a little heavy firepower," said Tails.

"Will it need a Chaos Emerald to make it work at peak performance like the jet mode?" she asked.

"Not for the basic armament, but the Cyclone Laser still needs one to function. Which Comet said she'd help me with a special project in that regard," said Tails.

"Why do you need her help with something mechanical?" asked Sally. Tails only grinned widely.

"Oh it's not mechanical. But I'm not telling cause I want to surprise everyone with what the two of us are cooking up," said Tails.

"Alright. I trust you know what you're doing," said Sally. She then gave Tails a smug grin. "Just don't blow up your workshop working on these things."

"I won't," said Tails, returning his attention to the workbench and Nicole.

"Okay. I need to get ready to leave. If you need anything, Cody and Lily said they'd be happy to assist," said Sally.

"I'll remember that," said Tails as he began searching out the tools he'd need. Sally gave a soft sigh as she watched the excited twin tailed fox, knowing that Nicole was in good hands and wondering how she hadn't seen Tails grow up in the last couple of years. She then turned and walked out of the workshop, heading in the direction of Sonic's hut.

"So you need someone that can read our ancient language," said Angel's hologram to Sonic, her image being projected by a holocommunicator resting on a coffee table in Sonic's hut. Comet was in the hut with the blue hedgehog, the violet chao wanting to talk with the green-eyed, pink furred echidna as well. "Well, truth is barely anyone in my village still knows how to read it. But I can think of someone who should be able to help you out. Kirrand Moonglow."

"Kirrand?" asked Comet, a look of surprise crossing her face.

"Who's Kirrand?" asked Sonic, looking at Angel's hologram with a questioning gaze.

"My best friend I had all but forgotten about till I returned to my home in this timeline," said Angel. "The memories that seeing her brought back…All those fun times when I was really young and the pain of losing her and everyone else in a single night…" said Angel, a look of pain crossing her face. But it quickly faded as she returned her attention to the present. "Anyways, she studied the ancient language when we were kids. She loved learning about our history. I'm assuming she still does today. She should be able to help you."

"Alright. I'll tell Knuckles who he needs to talk with. Hopefully she'll help us out," said Sonic.

"Oh I don't think you'll have any problem convincing her to help. She wanted to meet you after I told her everything that happened in my timeline," said Angel.

"I see. By the way, where are you at down south at the moment?" asked Sonic.

"Yes. I am wondering that too mistress," said Comet.

"I'm actually following the west coast of the southern continent at the moment," said Angel.

"Anything of note out that direction?" asked Sonic.

"A couple human settlements along the coast. Fishing villages mostly, though I've heard there is some kind of island military base built by the humans about three weeks walking distance away from here. It's near some big city called Zephyr City," said Angel.

"You're joking," said Sonic. He closed his eyes and chuckled, shaking his head. "Tails was invited there by the president of the human nation to receive some kind of medal for saving Emerald City from Eggman's attack in exactly three weeks from today. Not that the city survived very long after he saved it, but that's beside the point. Sal and I are going with him."

"No kidding? Well, I'll have to make it point to stop by that city and hopefully meet up with you guys there," said Angel.

"It'd be nice. We haven't seen you in person since you left," said Sonic.

"Can I come along too?" asked Comet, looking up at Sonic.

"Don't see why not," said Sonic.

"I'd appreciate you bringing Comet with you. I could use some alone time with her," said Angel.

"Sure thing. We'll set up the specifics when me and Sal get back home," said Sonic.

"So…Think you can help him out?" asked Knuckles, looking across the table at the two echidnas that were seated on the other side.

"If the person who saved Angel's life and brought her back to me wants me to help with something as simple as reading our ancient text to him, you don't have to ask me twice," said the sixteen year old orange female echidna, the younger of the two. She wore a rich purple tube-top with a matching pair of shorts, her feet sporting a pair of yellow shoes. Her six dreadlocks were cut shorter than most echidnas were, only coming down to about four inches below the base of her neck, each one sporting a small golden band in the middle of each dreadlock. Completing her look was bright green hair that was cut fairly short and light blue eyes.

"Don't get ahead of yourself young lady. I'm the one making the call here," said the girl's purpled furred father, Galrok. He looked similar to Knuckles, only taller and older without the white crescent birth mark that denoted Knuckles as belonging to the Floating Island's Guardian bloodline.

"But dad, this is important," said Kirrand, looking back at her father.

"I can go with her if you think she'd be in danger," said another female voice coming from the next room.

"Not a big fan of you ease dropping Mira, you know that," said Galrok, rolling his eyes. He was used to this problem at this point, the aquatic android's hearing being much sharper than others coupled with her inability to not pay attention to everything that was said in the household.

"Sorry. You know I don't do it on purpose," said the aqua skinned android as she walked into the room, her prehensile dolphin like tail swishing slowly back and forth. In her hands was a bouquet of freshly picked wild flowers she had just returned with to be the centerpiece of the dining table that night.

"I know. Still doesn't mean I have to like you doing it," said Galrok.

"Come on dad. You know I've wanted to meet Sonic ever since Angel told me about him," said Kirrand.

"Sir, I can assure you that she won't be in safer hands," said Knuckles. Galrok took in a deep breath, then sighed heavily.

"Alright…I guess since you seem to have a vested interest in helping this outsider, I'll allow it. But I'm holding you responsible if anything happens to my daughter Knuckles," said Galrok.

"Thank you dad!" cried Kirrand, getting out of her chair and hugging her father.

"So do you want me to go with her?" asked Mira as she reached up into a cupboard to get a vase to put the flowers in.

"No…no it's okay Mira. I need to let my daughter have some responsibility at some point. She's getting up there in age after all. I can't baby her forever," said Galrok.

"Then it's decided. We're supposed to meet up with them tomorrow morning on Floating Island and then they'll take you down to the ruins below with them," said Knuckles.

"Sounds good," said Kirrand.

The hour was nearing ten o'clock at night, the sun having already set over an hour ago. Most of the village of Knothole was getting ready for sleep, the lanterns on the walkways starting to go out one by one as their daily fuel reached its end. Yet one light endured at the end of a small pathway leading towards to the south end of the village. The light was coming from none other than Tails' workshop, the young fox still working on the repairs of Nicole. He had made progress during the day, having just finished fixing her speech software and audio sensors so that she could respond verbally to commands and hear what people were asking her to perform.

"Alright…Last wire in place and…there!" said Tails, looking up for the first time from his work in the last two hours as he replaced Nicole's coverings. "Well, still haven't gotten her holographic software or her screen fixed yet, but that'll keep for tomorrow." He then sat back on his stool, giving a sigh. The day had been long in his book. Nicole was more complex than most of the stuff he had ever worked on, but he had managed to fix a fair amount of her by this point. A frown crossed his face as he realized he needed to boot her up and test the fixes to make sure they even were done right. Leaning back over the workbench, he punched in the reboot sequence into the small computer. Several seconds ticked by before the power indicator light lit up. But what happened next took Tails completely by surprise.

"Hello? Who's there? I can't see anything. It's completely dark," said Nicole, startling the young fox as Nicole had never before called out to anyone, not even Sally, without being prompted to do so.

"Uh…Hello Nicole…" said Tails cautiously.

"Tails? Is that you? I recognize your voice," said Nicole. Now completely confused, Tails began to wonder if he had screwed up something when he had been doing his repairs.

"Yeah…It's me. Can you do me a favor and run a systems diagnostic check real fast?" asked Tails.

"Sure thing. Running scan now," said Nicole as she started to beep randomly. Even this response had the young fox puzzled. Nicole sounded nothing like her usual "simple response to an inquiry" self. What in the world is going on? It's like her AI is completely different now, thought Tails. "Scan complete. All systems are operating normally except for visual sensors, screen, and holographic interface." Which is what it's supposed to be…So what the heck is going on? asked Tails to himself.

"Okay…So I didn't mess up fixing you so far," said Tails.

"Fixing me? Is that why I can't see anything?" asked Nicole.

"Yes. You overloaded earlier today and fried a lot of your circuits and wiring. I just finished fixing your audio attributes and was checking to see if they were fixed properly," said Tails.

"I think they're working just fine. I can hear you and obviously you hear me," said Nicole.

"I agree. But you're acting very strangely for being fixed," said Tails.

"Strange how?" asked Nicole.

"You don't even realize it yourself?" asked Tails, a little surprised Nicole didn't notice any problems with herself.

"Apparently I don't," said Nicole.

"Alright. Let's take a step back and start over. What's the last command you were given?" asked Tails. Here Nicole paused for several seconds before answering.

"Unknown. I don't recall what I was doing before I overloaded. In fact, I don't recall any commands I've recently received, though I remember everyone I've ever interacted with during that time…Strange," said Nicole.

"You don't remember any of the commands you've been given recently? How far back can you remember the last command?"

"The last command given to me was approximately a month ago," said Nicole. Which is right around the time we started using her for freeing the robians' minds, thought Tails.

"So do you remember anything from the last month?" asked Tails.

"Well…I remember seeing mobians of all kinds walking around a vast city, though the perspective changed constantly. Cross referencing with my holo records indicates that the city was Mobotropolis. I remember there were all kinds of things to see, smell, and hear. The smell thing is odd though considering I have no olfactory sensors, yet I know what each object smelled like," said Nicole.

"Interesting…Tell me, do you have similar memories?" asked Tails, having a theory pop into his head, but not sure if it was even close to being accurate.

"Yes actually…Of all kinds of experiences that I know I never could've been able to have," said Nicole. "Now I'm getting scared…I don't know what's going on." She's scared? But she's not supposed to have emotions, thought Tails.

"Don't get scared Nicole. I think I know what these 'experiences' were that you saw, though it's just a theory," said Tails.

"What is it?" asked Nicole.

"Well, you've been running a program through your systems that purges the roboticizer's influence on robians," said Tails.

"Cross checking my programs does show that such a program exists in my files," said Nicole. "But that doesn't answer my question."

"I'm getting there," said Tails. "My theory is these 'memories' you have are actually ones you've seen in the robians AI matrixes when you've been linked to them. Their brains being essentially mechanical now lets you interface with them, allowing you to see their thoughts and memories."

"Hmm…A sound theory. It would explain why I have so many different ones and yet how they're all similar in some way," said Nicole.

"What I can't figure out is your sudden personality change," said Tails.

"What do you mean?" asked Nicole.

"I mean you carrying on a conversation like this is something you've never done before, not even with Sally," said Tails.

"Really?" asked Nicole. She paused for several seconds before speaking up again. "If what you say is true, then something more than just a simple overload obviously happened to me today," said Nicole.

"Have any theories, cause I frankly don't have one at the moment," said Tails.

"Neither do I unfortunately," said Nicole.

"Either way, it's late and I need to be getting to bed. This mystery can wait till tomorrow," said Tails, giving a soft yawn.

"Very well. I will try and formulate a theory while I'm in sleep mode," said Nicole. "Hopefully I'll have one by tomorrow morning."

"Sounds good. I'll see you tomorrow morning," said Tails as he turned off the light and walked out of the workshop. But instead of heading in the direction of his hut once he reached the end of the pathway leading into the main area of the village, he instead took a turn towards Cody and Lily's hut, wanting to let them know what was going on and see if they had any suggestions.