3.
The day before.
It was late night when the vulpine managed to regain his previously lost consciousness. He felt reasonably dizzy and confused, the world looked like a blur to his unfocused eyesight. His head still ached, causing him a temporary photophobia. He didn't even bother asking himself what just happened, he already knew he could not answer his own question… Which, sadly enough, was not a novelty. He couldn't care less anyway, nothing really mattered to him anymore, neither his precious logic nor his inventions… Everything seemed to be nothing more than white trash compared to the utter madness of this world, a world that he couldn't understand anymore… Or never did, in the first place.
He felt even more miserable now… And not just because he was an adolescent, he had a real reason to feel that way. Little did he know that, in just a few moments, his prior problems would have become his last ones. Even though, his eyes were yet to regain their balance due to the aforementioned dizziness, he could still sadly well notice that there was something, let's say, different about his body. He wasn't able to guess it with scientific precision but he was feeling a little… Heavier than usual… Even taller. He dismissed it as a simple hallucination caused by his recent commotion, although he was the first one that didn't believe in his own theory. The Kitsune made a few steps forward, only to notice a sudden lack of balance in his now giant canine feet…
"Wait… WHAT!?"
Caught by sudden panic, the boy began to stare at his own features in agitation. Unfortunately for him, his eyesight wasn't blurry any longer so he could very well see what seemed to be wrong with his anatomy. Tails's gaze was now wide open in understanding horror as the view of his brand new spiked paws that used to be his hands reached his knowledge. Something in his soon-to-be-damaged brain clicked ferociously as he darted towards his bathroom with his foreign legs.
Now, I wish to open a figurative window and speak about a very interesting concept that managed to captivate part of our artistic culture after the discovery of Psychoanalysis:
The Mirror Image.
It has been said that our image on the aforementioned mirror is the ultimate confirmation of a one's identity for the individual in question… Therefore, when the individual is unable to recognize his own reflection, the sheer amount of suffering that would come as a result, will probably be unbearable… Such tragedy is usually accosted to people who suffer of amnesia yet, this one is not quite our case. There are other theories about the role of the mirror in our collective imagination, too many to analyze them all, but there is one in particular that could rather goodly fit in this gruesome situation.
The theory of the Alter-Ego.
Encased in the mirror, there is not just a pale reflection of an individual but rather, the image of what he would despise about himself… Almost as if it were another person, separated from himself, mocking him with its only presence.
In Tails's case, both the previous theoretic concepts could be considered awfully literal since, when he looked himself in his bath's mirror, not only he did not recognize his own image… But his image acted of its own, as if it were another person, which, in the vulpine's now screaming mind, was registered as an immense and disfiguring tragedy… Among other things.
As far as reality went, his current one was that he now looked exactly like that blue jackal he'd seen in his dreams (which, logically speaking, were not dreams) and while he could not help but cry his lungs out in terror, his mirror image was the portrait of coldness.
Suddenly, the reflection managed to break the supposed undeniable boundaries of its prison and grabbed the bewildered canine. In just a matter of seconds, Tails found himself forced away from his plan of existence into a whole new one… Just like Alice. The only difference was that, this time, the white rabbit wasn't the pursued but the captor and this journey was not the result of reckless curiosity… Definitely NOT the case.
He was dreaming again… Or maybe he was awaken… Or somewhere in between. He didn't know anymore, not that he'd ever knew, for that matter. All he could register was that (thankfully) his body features were back to their normal appreciable vulpiness and that he was not alone. As soon as he surpassed his initial shock, the fox boy realized where, or better when, he ended up.
8 years ago.
Angel Island.
Hidden Palace's roof.
The last fight against Ixis Naugus.
It was the particular moment in which the old sorcerer was about to unleash the ominous power of Project: Doomsday, the nuclear weapon that would have caused the end of every life form on Terra Firma. He remembered that day with scornful clarity… Sonic, Knuckles and himself were trapped inside ice coffins provided by their enemy's magic. Naugus was absorbing the power of the Master Emerald in order to open a portal between their dimension and his own… Where the nuke resided. Just when all hopes seemed to be vanquished… A rather unexpected twist happened to drastically change the situation. It was totally uncalled for, it looked like a divine intervention or the doing of a crazy writer or both: Shadow the Hedgehog, Mephiles's twin brother (and body sharer at the time), came out of nowhere and entered the opening portal, sacrificing his own life in order to prevent that catastrophe to even begin…
After that, the portal closed and a bemused Ixis Naugus found himself surrounded by three Chaos powered, pissed-off Mobians who couldn't wait to kick his rear end. Naturally, he did not survive that encounter as his rotten corpse was reduced into tiny shreds.
The end.
The end???
Tails shook his head… No, this was not the end, it wasn't anything like it, as he realized immediately after.
This time, he found himself in a totally different environment… An environment that he was not familiar with, since it was not his own memory. It was that creature's memory… What was his name again?
Lucario.
Apparently, this used to be his world. It was a beautiful, green land covered in ravishing flowers and lively plants. Rivers and other courses of water went down from fancy rock formations as amusing singing birds performed their antics… All in all, this place was a natural heaven, a literal utopia one could only dream about… The kind of place that was not bound to last forever.
The sunny weather of this land forced the Kitsune to find a proper shady shelter… He found it in the form of a gargantuan statue. A statue of this world's God. A statue of Lucario.
Tails was admiring it in awe when a bunch of people completely unknown to him, approached him and… Began their worshipping. Taken aback by such reaction, the boy was yet to realize that his physical features had changed again into his jackal counterpart's. Initially annoyed by such preposterousness, he sighed in resignation as he finally decided to give up the fruitless wondering and see what his "guest" wanted to show him.
It didn't late to arrive.
Ominous clouds began to appear as the once noisy birds immediately ceased their singing… The weather slowly changed from warm to cold… To colder… To freezing. The sun disappeared behind those black, thundering clouds. Everything and everyone, including Tails (or should I say, Lucario) stood in perfect silence, watching this abnormal spectacle in anticipation and fear.
The thunders started cracking, hitting everything they could… Killing everything they could while they still would have had the chance to do it…
Because, in just a matter of minutes, this world would end.
And thus, it would come… Through the dooming clouds it would appear… And Death it would bring. Tails's eyes widened in utter shock as he witnessed this world's demise by the Doom's Vessel itself…
Project: Doomsday.
Sometimes, it is rather ironical how the Universe works… One would think that its true form is purely chaotic and unpredictable yet, someone else would think that it is ruled by a precise balance… Whatever the inexplicable reason would be, it didn't change the fact that, while a dimension managed to escape from certain demise… Another one paid the price for it. Somehow, the nefarious weapon managed to travel through time and space until it finally reached its final destination… In Lucario's dimension.
And so, there he was… This world's fallen God, former protector of his people and only survivor of the nuclear holocaust that destroyed his home… And his children.
All because of them…
All because of those people from that other world…
All because of Ixis Naugus and his foolishness.
In the midst of the eternal nuclear winter, the jackal stood, on his knees, screaming his lungs out of pure rage and despair… Just like a father who's lost his own children… Just like a Pater Familias who could not defend his most prized possession.
In the end, a God without worshippers was like a father without a family…
Nothing.
The end… For now.
Once the Ragnarok-like scenario dissolved into nothingness, Tails was in his usual form again. His face was the portrait of… Several things.
Shock.
Fear.
Guilty.
Sadness.
Sympathy.
And so on…
He and the others were indirectly responsible for Lucario's tragedy, this was what he believed as those gruesome images would run through his mind over and over again. Like it or not, the cold eyed canine's memory was now his own… And so it would remain, forever.
Slowly, the two-tailed Kitsune turned his head to fix his now blank gaze over the former jackal God, who, by now, had rejoined him. Lucario's ruby eyes didn't betray a single emotion, not that he needed to show any, since his "host" has been forced to experience his own trauma. Then, he suddenly spoke. His words were short but clear. His tone was dead serious.
"I need to find something… Will you help me in my quest, Vessel of Intelligence?" This is what he said. Tails's reply was even shorter but full of determination, as well.
"Yes." And thus, with not so many words to waste, this unlikely alliance was sealed.
Present day.
"What do you mean, 'the Author's Right Hand'?"
"You shall find out soon enough, but as for now… We better move." And with that said, the surprisingly agile form of Lucario darted away from the nearby spot of the murder scene.
His… Their destination? Only they knew it…
At least, for now.
