The Secret of Chao

Dawn was breaking over Green Hill Zone as Tails awoke to a crackling fire at his makeshift camp-site, seeing charred fish continue to burn over the fire. With a short yawn, he dragged himself up to a sitting position. Shooting pains soon coursed through his body as he gave out a yelp. Everywhere was aching, and his face and tails felt like they were being slowly cut through with a rusty butter knife. Emerl was quickly at Tails' side, only able to look at his friend rather than offer assistance.
"Don't worry." Tails grunted through gritted teeth. "I just sprained something. Adrenaline must have covered the pain."
Rather than pursue the topic, Emerl decided to move over to the fire and pick up one of the burning fish, offering it to Tails who quickly refused
"No offence Emerl, but that is so burnt I'm afraid it might burn me." Tails announced, eyeing the crispy black fish. Shrugging his reply, Emerl dropped the fish onto the fire and let it smoulder.
"For a little guy, Cheese really got me." Tails mentioned, looking over his wounds. "But right now we need to find help."
Emerl was fast to disagree, shaking his head and pointing to Tails.
"Yes Emerl, I know I need help too. Perhaps I could find a doctor, but they ask too many questions." Tails replied, understanding Emerl's concerns. "I guess I could hide in my Mystic Ruins lab, so long as you can get us there. We need to stay presumably dead right now."
Emerl nodded, acknowledging Tails' statement whilst he stamped out the camp-fire. He begun to carefully pick Tails up, ensuring to support his tails, before jetting off to cross the zone.

Meanwhile back at his previous base, a crowd had begun to gather around the remains of Tails' base, held only by a thin line of police as others slowly searched the wreckage, dishearteningly turning up parts of the Tornado 2 covered in splotches of blood. Rumours and theories begun to circulate the crowd on how Tails died, or if he's dead at all. All were wild speculations, and quickly died among the crowd.
As if to answer the questions (but most likely a coincidence) a well rounded metallic craft quickly descended , bearing the emblem and the man himself, Dr. Eggman, laughing as he so often does.
"Eggman! Defensive line, aim to kill!" The commanding officer ordered, followed by a flurry of activity from both the police at the crowd and those searching the ruins, forming ranks and aiming handguns at Eggman.
"Plan to shoot already?" Eggman simply retorted. "And this time I'm not even here to take over. The nerve."
"What are you doing here, Eggman?" The officer demanded, glaring at Eggman down the iron sights of his handgun.
"If you must know I'm here to bid farewell to my rival." Eggman announced, faking a sympathetic face. "The poor boy went mad before blowing himself up. I'm sure most of you remember his little rant about Chao's being evil. Poor, mad fox." Whispers begun to circulate among the people who remembered to those who didn't know. "Perhaps I could take advantage of this, but why ruin the moment? Farewell, Miles Prower!"
And as quickly as he had appeared, Eggman flew away again to continue what he was up to, where ever he came from.

As the day begun to close the crowd dispersed, finding no signs of Tails' corpse but declaring him deceased, expecting nothing would survive the explosion. Little would too, unless they were inside a box of reinforced metal.
As night fell, a well known blue blur begun to rush around the ruins, lifting rocks as he searched for his prize.
"Aha!" He called as he prized a red gem from the ruin. "I knew he'd have one. That just leaves five to go." As quick as he came, he dashed away from the ruin and into Green Hill Zone, pursuing his goal.

Time passed slowly for the next few days for many people, some expecting Eggman to attack, others mourning the loss of one of the heroes who had saved them in the past. All thoughts of Tails still being alive had swiftly faded among the appearance of Eggman. He himself however did not know the grief over his death, as Tails was in his base at the Mystic Ruins, resting his wounds.
"This sucks." Tails moaned from his bed. "I should be out there, gathering the emeralds to prepare for fighting the Chao, not lying around in hiding" Slowly Tails pulled himself out of his bed, hardly letting out a yawn or grunt. "Only if I could use Chaos Energy, I could heal myself like Shadow does."
Hearing the movement coming from Tails' room, Emerl quickly headed over and entered the room to ensure Tails was all right and not moving around too much.
"Well I don't know until I try." Tails noted, heading to his drawer. "Emerl! We're going out to find a Chaos Emerald. No arguing it either. I've decided!"
Listening to the order, Emerl lowered his head as a sign of his disagreement, but made no move to stop Tails.
"My emerald radar will take us to the closest one. It worked when we were going to fight Chaos, it should work again." Tails announced, raising it from the drawer. Emerl nodded in acknowledgement, moving to take it off of Tails' hands, who quickly retracted them. "I'm not sending you Emerl, I'm going. I need to try and use Chaos Energy. You either come with me or stay. Choose, but I'm going now."
Tails moved from his desk and quickly around Emerl, stumbling down the stairs with grunts of pain as he flexed his damaged muscles. With a short shrug, Emerl turned and quickly begun to follow.

Meanwhile at Eggman's base alarms were going off. Intruder detected alongside a massive loss of robotic forces.
"What is going on?" Eggman exclaimed angrily. "Who's attacking? You foolish robots, tell me!"
"The attacker is." A robot began to reply, only to explode shortly after.
"Damn it. Deploy a Shadow Android!" Eggman commanded, smashing a hand through a panel of glass into a red button labelled 'Emergency'. A short rumble and a set of jet noises and the Shadow Android was past Eggman and headed to find the intruder, being watched through Eggman's computer. Short, stressful minutes of waiting were all it took for the android to reach the intruder and found it to be none other than...
"Sonic! Why is he here? How is he here?" Eggman furiously demanded, slamming a fist into his computer.
"Don't worry Doctor, I'll handle this one." The android commented.
"Well, I can replace it." Eggman groaned, turning to think without distraction.
The android shot its missiles at Sonic, who jumped to avoid them and fired himself at the android in a homing attack, only to be thrown aside by it's robotic reactions. Chips of paint hit the floor as the robot shook his hand, which had been torn open from the attack. Uncaring however, the android begun to fire its wrist mounted machine guns at Sonic, causing the hedgehog to run at rapid speeds. Sonic ran at a circular angle, quickly closing the gap between the two and avoiding the bullets. When he was next to the android, he let out a volley of attacks, beating the metallic shell inwards before Spin Dashing to blast the android away. Dusting himself off, Sonic begun to leave, not even glancing back at his fallen opponent.
"Oh, you'd like to think he was destroyed, wouldn't you Sonic?" Eggman commented. "That will come back to haunt you soon."
Precautionary besides his taunts however, Eggman sealed the door shut, and then lowered a blast door to reinforce it.
"This definitely won't hold him out." Eggman mentioned, evaluating the thick armour. "But it will slow him down and tire him some more."
Eggman sat down in his chair next to the computer and turned away, watching his remaining security and tracking Sonic's progress. It was only a short matter of time until he reached the door, stopping a moment to think.
Bang! The blast door dented slightly, indicating something was trying to get in, by means of brute force. Bang! The dent increased and the door begun to bend. For a thick sheet of metal, it was being beaten down quickly. Bang! The dent increased and the door begun to bend inward. Bang! A bolt flew from the door, thudding dully on the floor beside Eggman. Bang! A hole begun to form in the centre of the door. One more hit and the door would easily break. Wham! The hedgehog was tackled by a well damaged Shadow android.
The android used his initiative to slam his damaged fists repeatedly into Sonic's torso, causing multiple cuts before being kicked off. As soon as he was up at his feet, Sonic jumped into the air and threw down three rings in a straight path. Upon hitting the floor, he sped through the rings in a Light Speed Dash down the path, and through the android in the centre of the path, tearing it in half before it exploded. Sonic dusted himself off once more and moved to the door, not even stopping to evaluate his wounds. He threw two more rings down, one on each side of the door, and used them to smash through the door.
"Welcome, Sonic." Eggman begun, turning his chair to face his adversary. "And to what do I owe this pleasure?"
"Cut the crap, Eggman!" Sonic snapped back angrily.
"The least you could do is call me Doctor Robotnik!" Eggman interrupted. "Now since I'm not taking over the world, what do you want?"
"I want answers." Sonic seethed. "Did you..."
"Kill Tails, right?" Eggman interrupted. "Sorry, you have the wrong man. The door is behind you, try not to break everything on your way out."
"Damn it! Don't you dare treat this as a joke!" Sonic shouted, spin-dashing past Eggman and into his computer, smashing many of the components before standing to face Eggman. "My little buddy is gone! He was like a brother to me!"
"One which you abandoned when he stood on a Chao." Eggman reminded.
"I freaked out, okay?" Sonic continued to shout, tears forming in his eyes. "Now tell me! If not you, who killed Tails?"
"Come now Sonic, your being rash and vengeful." Eggman argued. "That's my job."
Rather than reply, Sonic proceeded to pull out a Chaos Emerald, and then another, until he had four Chaos Emeralds gently floating around him.
"Eggman. Tell me or I'll use these four Chaos Emeralds to perform Chaos Blast." Sonic slowly warned.
"Have you gone insane?" Eggman exclaimed in shock. "No mortal body can hold four emeralds worth of power! You'd be torn apart before the blast begun, if it ever begun at all! Only your super form could handle that much energy!"
"Just tell me!" Sonic cried, the Chaos Emeralds beginning to glow with energy.
"Sonic, this won't bring back Tails." Eggman calmly replied, ignoring his fear a moment before. "And you'll just get yourself killed. Tails wouldn't want that now, would he?"
"But... but I can't just sit around and do nothing again!" Sonic exclaimed, distraught, his tears welling up in his eyes.
"But this time running in head on is not an option." Eggman pointed out. "Now stop trying to blow up. I'll tell you what I know, so long as you will listen without questioning me."
There was a short pause as the tears begun to stream down Sonic's face. All of his memories of fighting Eggman, to come to the point of needing his help. With Tails dead, and Eggman offering to help, his world was beginning to turn upside down, and he had no ticket back.
"Fine." Sonic croaked painfully, the Chaos Emeralds losing their glow. "Tell me everything you know."
"Of course I will Sonic. Not you will not like anything I say." Eggman grinned. "Have a seat, or just sit there. It will still take awhile."

"It's somewhere around here Emerl. Can you start digging while I look around the area?" Tails asked as he put his emerald radar away. Emerl nodded, shrugging off the backpack he was carrying before, searching it for its collapsible shovel. Tails meanwhile attempted to take to the skies, yelping as renewed pain shot through his tails. He would have to walk around this zone, where ever he was. He hadn't really paid much attention to where he was going, only following the signal of his radar. How would he get back after finding the emerald? He could think about that later, for now he needed to focus on the Chaos Emerald. Emerl had started digging his hole to help look, it was Tails turn to search.
However, they were not alone in the zone as nearby, hidden among the hills a small, shadowy figure with a ball of green flame floating above his head was looking down upon them, watching them move before retreating back behind the hill.
"This is Darkness, come in, over." The figure spoke into a radio.
"This is Command, what's the situation? Over." The reply asked.
"The fox is alive and has taken the bait. Awaiting orders, over." Darkness replied, lifting his head to look over the hill at the two heroes.
"Separate the two and end the fox, over." Command ordered darkly.
"Don't worry, it will be over. Over and out." Darkness finished sinisterly, putting the radio away before glancing down at his already separating targets. The attack would be too easy, but a necessary move for the Chao. Taking off and flying low, Darkness begun to pursue the moving Tails.
"How can such a bright gem hide so well?" Tails groaned to himself, his head constantly flicking from side to side as he searched for the Chaos Emerald. "Ugh, I really need to upgrade the tracker, it's too vague."
"Oh Tails... Come out, come out, where ever you are." A dark voice mocked, a shadowy Chao descending from above him, floating just behind him.
"What the?" Tails begun, turning to see the location of the voice, giving out a small yelp of fear as he saw his opponent. "But you should think I'm dead!"
"We were suspicious why Cheese didn't report back. We figured you'd need the Chaos Emeralds." Darkness goaded, grinning, revealing a set of sharp, jagged teeth. "And you followed the scent like a dog, just to die."
Darkness swung a clawed hand at Tails, tearing his cuts on his face back open. With a yelp of pain, Tails jumped back, turned, and begun to flee, fuelled by adrenaline. With a short laugh, Darkness pursued. Rather than chase Tails directly however, he turned and left sight. Tails ensured to be a good distance away from where he saw the Chao, he begun to halt slowly to a stop, bending over and panting as he did. Taking only a short moment to breathe, Tails raised his head to look for his pursuer, however he found him closer than he had expected, and received a large slash across his chest, knocking him to the floor.
"Would you like to suffer, Tails? Or do you not fear death?" Darkness mockingly questioned, scratching a claw over Tails' wrist, drawing blood but not cutting the flesh.
"You won't win!" Tails grunted defiantly. "Sonic will find out and stop you!"
"I think not." Darkness grinned. "He won't know until it is too late."
"He'll find out, he always does!" Tails argued, crawling back slowly.
"Oh I think not." Darkness replied, slamming his claws through Tails' wrist, forcing him to call out in agony. "Eggman announces his goals. We will not, and the only other person to know is bleeding to death, by a slit wrist, stomach and head."
Darkness let out a menacing laugh as Tails slowly turned his head, looking for options of escape, to buy himself time and run to find the Chaos Emerald. He could try and heal himself, or at least try and beat his foe. But it was of little use, his arm was pinned to the ground, and he was beginning to get dizzy. His sight had begun to blur, and his eyelids were heavy. This really could be the end. Falling darkness... and ensuing silence.
"Chaos Spear!" A voice called out, a bolt of yellow energy flying and hitting Darkness in the face, knocking him across the floor.
"Who threw that?" Darkness demanded, throwing himself into the air to see his opponent.
"Chaos Rift!" The voice continued, a bolt of black energy flying to and engulfing Darkness.
"Curse you! I'll be back!" Darkness furiously called, disappearing within the darkness as it disappeared itself.
"Hmm. He looks a mess." The man spoke, looking down on Tails. "The power of one emerald will only delay him, I need to take him with me."
Acting as quick as he had moments before, he picked Tails up and jetted from their position, leaving only bloodstains behind which indicated anything had been there.

"Eggman, you honestly expect me to believe this nonsense?" Sonic exclaimed, pacing around the room irritatedly.
"Of course I do, I have no point to lie right now." Eggman argued calmly. "Tails wasn't an idiot, he wouldn't look at anything illogically, much less go insane overnight. When he stood on Chocola, he must have invoked the wrath of these Chao he has been shouting about. They killed him, not suicide."
"You're insane Eggy." Sonic replied harshly. "You expect me to believe Chao's killed my lil' buddy? How could they do that?"
"If I knew all the facts, I would probably be attempting to fight them right now." Eggman stated. "I can't have someone attempting to usurp my place as evil genius now can I?"
"I don't care about your position in your fake society." Sonic straightly replied. "I just want to know who killed my little buddy."
"Believe me if you want to, Sonic. But perhaps we should move on to what I want of this end of the bargain." Eggman continued, a small grin appearing across his face. "It's simple really. I want you to find Shadow for me, since you won't listen to reason. I would also like you to leave a Chaos Emerald behind, so I can begin to make robots."
"What makes you think I'd do that?" Sonic demanded, glaring at Eggman.
"Because your a honest hedgehog, as always. You'll uphold your part of the bargain as I did mine." Eggman commented, smirking as he looked down on his rival.
"I mean, leave a Chaos Emerald behind. You must be insane to think I'd do that." Sonic argued further.
"Well apparently I'm the insane one, but at least I'm preparing to fight against the bad guys this time, unlike you." Eggman retorted. "Just fetch Shadow then, but be quick about it."
"Hmm... for what help you've been, I should think twice about this." Sonic angrily replied, moving over to the door. "Enjoy insanity, Eggy. Let me know how it help you."
With a short stretch, Sonic ran out of the door and down the hallway, not stopping for anything in his path, rushing as fast as he possibly could to leave Eggman's base, possibly to uphold his side of the bargain, or perhaps to just get away.

"Commander, we have lost two agents in the past two days!" A Chao shouted in their secret headquarters. "How Tails has managed to beat two is beyond possibility! This could have all been avoided if we only didn't have Cheese..."
"Silence!" A menacing voice boomed, silencing the Chao instantly. "They are not dead, as you seem to believe. We do not die that easily! Tails will be dealt with. For now, how is the infiltration?"
"Sir, it's still on course. We have slowly infiltrated the lives of many people, and our numbers are strong. We are even pets to people in seats of power." The Chao replied calmly. "We currently have agents under the Head of Police, one of the Generals in GUN and even the Vice President."
"Then preparations are nearly complete." The voice replied, letting out a satisfied grunt. "Have them acquire the data. Afterwards, hunt for the remaining Chaos Emeralds that may be lying around."
"Sir, Yes Sir!" The Chao stated, turning and flying away from the Commander as to follow his orders. Hell would soon rain over Station Square. Chaos would soon ensue, and nobody in the world even knew that it was going to happen.