A New World
Chapter 1: Unknown Transport
It's a dark and rainy day in New Mobotropolis, as the inhabitants of the city are sitting around enjoying a well deserved day off from fighting Dr. Eggman. Eggman was currently backed in deep at his headquarters after his last two big machines he built to take down the dome shields to the city failed miserably. Eggman was going to be busy for quite awhile fixing things, before he makes another attempt at trying to destroy the city where his enemies live once again.
On this day, the Freedom Fighters are all staying indoors to work and relax on a day when it was well earned. Sonic was sleeping late at his home, while Sally was staying at the castle to catch up on some of the work she has to do with being one of the main leaders of the group of fighters that live in this city. She also had many diplomatic duties to be performing as well, this being the part she doesn't like working with at all.
Down below the city a little bit, in a lab, stood both Tails Prower and Rotor the Walrus working on fixing up their dimensional portal machines. A long while ago, the machines had shorted out and have been broken for awhile now. Nothing had seemed to be wrong with the portals originally, but one day, without them even being powered up, the main circuit board of the machine blew up. The two smart workers of the city had been working on these machines for a few days now trying to repair the devices. Today, they were finally finishing up with the last few parts of the circuit board and were installing them.
"Have you finished installing the final circuits Rotor?" asks Tails smiling as he watches Rotor leaving over a console that he had been working on for a few hours now. Tails just wanted to make sure everything was ready to go before he tests the machine out once again.
"Just finished installing the circuits now Tails. This was quite a job. You should be lucky I had a few days off to assist you in fixing up this portal. I'm still not sure why you wanted it fixed so fast, but it is fixed none the less." says Rotor shrugging as he closes up the hatch to the circuit board when he was finished.
"Good. If everything is ready, I'll test it quickly to make sure it is working. I'm not setting a destination, so we won't have to worry about someone jumping through. I just want to see if it works." says Tails as he starts pressing buttons on his control console on the other side of the room.
"Alright, test it then. It should be working now." says Rotor as he makes his way across the room to where Tails was standing behind the console. Both of them knew to maintain a respectful distance from the machine while it was firing up, just in case something did go wrong with it.
Tails presses a few more buttons and finally hits the power button to the machine. The portal immediately powers up, and a spiral of many colors soon appears in the middle of the large ring at the back of the room. Tails grins and can't help but look excited when the machine finally starts come to life and work.
"Finally, the machine is working again!" yells Tails in victory at his and Rotor's work. Tails could have done it himself, but he was thankful for the help. It got the job done, in easily half the time it would have taken him to fix it on his own.
"Glad I could help Tails. I just hope this version you had me help you build won't end up like the last model. That model was very dangerous to us all." says Rotor remembering what happened with the last portal. It had let people in from another universe, and those that came through, posed a great threat to the city and everyone inside its walls.
"Don't worry Rotor. This time, I installed a program that makes the portal unable to be accessed by outside parties from other universes. If someone wants to get through this portal and into the city, they will have to have the same exact program installed on their portal jumper. This should keep all unwanted people." says Tails grinning at his computer genius.
Rotor chuckles a little bit and nods to Tails when he hears the fox's new design and planned. He couldn't help but be very impressed with the young fox. "Brilliant idea Tails. That is a good design plan for sure, but um, how if one of us uses it, are we suppose to get back through it? If someone were to go to a universe without a portal or that program, they are now stuck there." says Rotor pointing that out right away.
"Don't worry about it. I figured that little flaw out long ago when I was designing this on my computer. I have these little devices here, that when stuck into a portal in another world, will allow access back through our portal. It let's authorized people through, and no one else." says Tails showing the little sticks that contain the code and program to gain access to the portal.
"Very good Tails. You have thought this through perfectly. I see no problems with this, and will give the reports to the council later on the new portal being up and functional, as well as its new security measure." says Rotor sounding very proud of Tails at this moment.
"Thank you Rotor. When you go up, could you report to Sonic that I'm done and to come down soon so we can hang out together?" asks Tails as he presses a few more buttons to shut the portal down for the moment.
"Sure thing Tails, I'll go tell him on my way back to the council hall. Aren't you done down here though?" asks Rotor as he turns to start to leave now.
"I will be shortly. I have a few things to work on to secure the portal, and I'll be up to meet Sonic outside." says Tails as he gives Rotor a few waves and turns to start pressing buttons once again on his console.
"Alright then, see you soon Tails." calls Rotor as he turns and starts up the stairs to head back to where he was needed more. Tails would be just fine down here on his own while he waited for Sonic. Tails did work like this all the time, so this was nothing new at all.
Tails just gives a sigh of happiness as he hears the door closed and he was on his own with his machines. Tails couldn't help but be very happy right now, after a job well done. Things have been going very well for him lately, and finishing this portal right on schedule was just the needed boost he wanted for today. It would keep him in great spirits when he and Sonic went out to do things today. What they would be doing while it was raining was another story all together.
The room was very quiet, other than the tapping of Tails' fingers against the keyboard of his console. Tails was just adding in the last of his program, so that the portal would work properly and all additional options within the computer were functional as well. This portal did have many side functions within its computer, but most were just keeping data on what was happening with it and where it was going to when on.
After five minutes down here alone, he does start to wonder where in the world Sonic could be at the moment. Knowing Sonic, if he wasn't running somewhere right away, he was most likely eating. Unless it's a dire emergency, Sonic's food usually took priority over everything else that was going on at the moment.
Tails simply gives a shrug as he starts to power down his machine so that he could go look for Sonic on his own. However, the moment he powers down and starts to turn all the lights off in the room, there was a rather big spark and then a blinding light that shoots out from his portal right at him.
Tails immediately covers his eyes and stands back defensively when this large light coats him. The room was way too bright to see out of at the moment, and whatever this was, it likely wasn't good. Tails just holds his ground, in case something bad was about to happen to him or around him.
A moment later, the light dies down, and the portal to his machine was actually open and swirling, but without its power supply even being turned on at all. Tails was definitely in shock at this as he starts to run towards his console to turn the machine off. Before Tails could sit down on his stool, a female voice soon is heard all around him.
"Young fox, you are desperately needed in a distant place, far far away from your own. There are groups of people that need you and many that will have their lives in your hands, if you come to help or not. You are one of the chosen few from a great prophecy that will help the Freedom Fighters in their journey for a free world. Please come through the portal while it is open, there is not much time, and great danger is approaching." says the female voice sounding like it was very close, yet no one was visible or even around him.
Tails immediately looked worried as he starts to run towards the door to escape from whatever was going on around him. He heard the lady that was speaking to him, but what she was saying made absolutely no sense and he really didn't want to find out what was going on around here. This looked too dangerous for him right now.
"Come, and help us all." says the female voice slowly starting to fade away as the console nearby him starts to spark and buzz. It sounded like it was about to explode and if Tails couldn't escape the room, he was going to be blown to bits. This machine had many things that would definitely make a large explosion, however, the door seemed to be jammed.
"No! Someone help! The door is stuck! HELP!" yells Tails as he starts to beat on the door to try and get out of the shop.
Tails got no response as he continues to try and get out of the shop. Wherever Sonic was right now, it definitely wasn't right here where he was needed. Tails continued to pound on the door, as black smoke starts to fill the room around him. His visibility was starting to be cut off, and he was starting to hack repeatedly from the thick smoke all around.
Tails could no longer see the door as smoke was slowly filling the room all around him. All Tails could see, besides smoking and sparking machines was the still open portal at the back of the room. It too was starting to flicker, looking like it may be getting ready to close. Tails really didn't have much choice. Sonic was nowhere to be found and if he stayed here, he was either going to choke to death or be blow up.
Tails tries the door handle once more before he kicks the door and turns and starts to sprint towards the portal at the other end of the room. Tails had one of his program sticks in his hand as he runs full speed right at the portal. Just as he is about to run into the portal, the main console behind him finally explodes. Tails didn't get a chance to jump, the shockwave of the explosion pushes him through the portal, just as it closes around him.
On the surface of the city, there was a bit of a rumble that did get the attention of the nearby citizens as well as Sonic, who was finally on his way to pick up Tails. The rain had died down to only a small sprinkle, so he was barely getting wet at all. The moment Sonic feels the rumble nearby and sees the black smoke, right in the direction he was going, his heart skipped a beat.
"TAILS!" he yells out immediately starts to make his way towards the underground lab stairs and stops right outside them. The stairwell that led down to the lab was completely covered in smoke. Sonic might be reckless, but he wasn't stupid enough to go running blindly into a large puff of black smoke. He would definitely either get lost in the smoke and fall, or choke to death. However, the smoke had also attracted the attention of many others around him, as well as Nicole who soon appears right next to him at the entrance.
"Sonic! Watch out. There has been an explosion in the portal lab. You need to stand clear while I divert some water down these stairs to put out the fire. I have already alerted Sally and emergency services right away." says Nicole as she starts to concentrate to bring some water from the city to this location.
"Nicole! Tails was supposed to be in there! You have to hurry and get him out of there, or I'm going in there on my own to get him out!" yells Sonic getting very impatient very fast. If his little brother was hurt down there, he was going to risk it and go down to save him no matter what the cost.
"Sonic! Do not even think of such a thing. You should know better than to do something so reckless!" yells Sally as she and many others start to rush towards the location of the smoke and explosion.
"Well sorry Sal, if Tails is in trouble, I have to rescue him." says Sonic immediately sounding mad that no one was going to let him rush down there to help the fox.
"I know Sonic, but rushing down there right now will only get you hurt as well, if Tails is still down there." says Sally looking over to Nicole as she can see some water starting to gather in a few pots that appear out of nowhere at Nicole's feet.
"After I throw these down the stairs, this should put out the fire that is likely at the bottom. Afterwards, cover your mouth and kick the door open at the bottom. If the smoke can ventilate, that should make it ok to do down further." instructs Nicole as the buckets soon get tipped over and start to push a large gush of water down the stairs towards the door and small fire that was going on against the wooden door at the bottom.
Sonic barely waited a few seconds after the water rushes down the stairs as he runs right into the giant puff of smoke. He couldn't object to at least getting the door open at the bottom, since that would get the smoke out of his way to keep searching. Sonic could see slightly, since the door was still closed at the bottom, but the moment he gets down there and kicks the now black door open, a large gush of smoke and flames come shooting right at him, in a back draft.
Sonic was at least fast enough to sprint back up the stairs as a lot of black smoke comes shooting out of the room, but it also did accelerate the small fire that was going on down in the lab. Sonic immediately hits the ground next to the stairs when he emerges from the large puff of smoke and starts to cough really hard from the amount of smoke he just inhaled to do that.
Sally immediately runs over to Sonic to try and keep him calm as she looks up and sees some older Mobians with masks and buckets start to rush down the stairs now to fight the fire. These were the professionals, and the ones that would put out the fire and make it safe for others to go down there as well.
"That was still very stupid of you to do that Sonic, but it likely is going to save the firefighters a lot of work with that door being open." says Sally as she pats Sonic on the back a few times as he stays there on his knees coughing for the moment. Black smoke could really do that to you when you breath even a little of it into your system.
"I don't care. I just want to know if Tails is ok down there. He is likely hurt down there." says Sonic holding back coughs just long enough to get that out to Sally.
Sally continues to pat Sonic on the back to try and help him out as his parents as well as Doctor Quack come running as well now to get to the scene. Nothing had really been going on at the moment in the hospital, so the doctor had been able to come without leaving anyone that was seriously hurt in the hospital. This was more important anyway.
"Is everyone ok!" yells out Quack as he makes his way over to the large crowd that was already starting to gather around the area of the explosion. It wasn't every day that something like this just happened out of nowhere, especially in an area where most of them are not allowed to go into at all.
"According to Sonic, Tails was down in that lab when it exploded. We don't know if he is ok or not. Sonic here has inhaled a little smoke while helping Nicole out in getting the smoke to vent out of the room." says Sally right away as she looks down at the still coughing Sonic.
"That's horrible! Sonic, you need some water right away and need to just lie on your back for a little bit to let the smoke settle and flush out of your circulatory system. Just don't get up and run around until you stop coughing." says Quack to Sonic, but at the same time to Sally or someone else to get Sonic some water. Quack may as well deal with Sonic, since Tails wasn't around to be treated or at least looked at yet.
During this time, while Sonic was being looked after, the smoke coming from down in the little workshop lab was finally starting to get very thin as the fighters were coming back out, their fur completely black and their buckets empty of water. One of them does eventually take his mask off to them all, showing he was a middle age yellow rabbit.
"There was a small fire down there, but it's out now. We didn't wait around to search to see if anyone was down there though. It was too hard to see, and if someone was down there, they weren't right around the doorway, where the fire was located." says the male rabbit.
"Someone needs to go look for Tails." says Sonic, who was lying on his back on the ground with an oxygen mask on himself at the moment. Even that short amount of exposure had been enough to make him slightly dizzy and cough like that; however, it wasn't long enough to knock him out cold or anything.
"I agree someone should go down and look for my son now." says Amadeus, Tails' father, who had finally arrived on scene only a few moments ago. He had been in the middle of a meeting with someone and had gotten here a little late. The moment he was done with the meeting was when he heard what had happened and who may have been near it when it went off.
"Mr. Prower. Don't worry, if Tails is still down there, we will find him. The smoke is finally starting to dissipate and we should be able to go down in just a moment." says Sally, who was still kneeling down next to Sonic at the moment to make sure he was ok while being treated for the smoke.
"I'm going with the crew, and I'm going down now. Whoever else is coming, will follow me." says Amadeus as he turns and immediately starts to dart to the stairs to head down them to go find his son.
No one really had a chance to tell Amadeus no, but who could really blame him for rushing down so quickly. This was his son he was going to go look for after all. Amadeus was leading the pack of people going down there, most of them rescue crew, and Doctor Quack as well was heading down. If anyone else was hurt from smoke and such, he would defiantly be needed. At the very end of the crew, Rotor was on his way back down to the lab with the rest of them. He could tell them what things were and the most likely places Tails might be down there as well.
The moment the small crew gets to the bottom, they begin to look around the room. The lab, that only moments ago, was a very clean room full of perfectly new machines, now was completely different. A few of the machines were burned and had melted a little bit from all the heat, others were just completely coated in black soot from the back smoke that had been down here before. The portal ring machine was lying on its side at the back of the room, but it still looked to be intact.
After a few minutes of looking around the room, scanning every inch and moving rubble all around to see if Tails was under anything or buried in soot, the crew all come back to the middle of the room empty handed.
"No signs of him?" asks Amadeus as he looks to the others that were around him. He knew someone had to have something to say, but no one had panicked and told him a body was down here somewhere to be found.
"No sir. It doesn't appear Tails is down here at all." says Dr. Quack as he shrugs and looks a little nervous as he looks the older general in the face.
"Then keep looking. If Rotor says he was down here, then he must be down here. Even if something bad happened, there has to be traces of something happening." he says sounding just as serious as ever. He was a father that wasn't about to just drop everything and give up the search for his son.
"Sir, if Tails isn't in here, and he isn't up there on the surface, he must have used the portal to escape before the place exploded." says Rotor pointing that out right away. If this really was the case, it would explain right away, why no one was finding a body down here.
"Then open this portal and let him back in right now!" commands the fox as he points towards the ring that was lying on the floor. He figured that was the portal Rotor was speaking of, and that would be where his son was at the moment.
"It's not that simple sir. If Tails did use the portal, we would have to find out where he went. It will take some time, but Tails likely has a black box somewhere within the wreckage of this machine right here. It should have video and portal records that we can analyze to find out where he is and bring him back. It's really the only explanation of how we can find out what has happened." says Rotor honestly as he kneels down in front of the charred control panel Tails had been working at when he left before.
"Then get to work. I will go up and report what has happened, and that there are no casualties down here." says Amadeus as he turns to head back up the stairs with the rest of them.
Rotor watches as the others turn and start to leave and can only give a bit of a sigh once they leave. He really didn't understand this, because everything had seemed normal before he left. Nothing looked wrong, and all the readings and tests had come up crystal clear. Something had happened down here other than this machine shorting out to make it explode like that. Nothing had been wrong with these machines before he left. Both Rotor and Tails had double checked everything to make sure nothing could go wrong while they weren't there. Something else was up down here.
Rotor didn't know it, but something big was going on now. However, none of them would be a part of it. They were going to be left totally in the dark, as Tails makes his way through the portal to the other side, to a whole new world. A new world full of mystery, wonder and likely new kinds of danger was in store for Tails. Wherever he ends up, it was definitely something he was never going to forget for the rest of his life.
To Be Continued….