Chapter 3: The plot thickens (and so does the water)
After searching for what seemed like forever, Sonic finally was able to find Tails, unmoved, on the ground. Sonic's first impression was that Tails was resting, but then he realized that Tails was whispering something. He flipped Tails over ever so carefully, looked for a second, and then started to tremble. Tails was getting worse. It appeared, that he had also been hiding a deep stomach wound that that sliced him right across the middle.
"Tails, buddy, please. Are you okay?" Sonic asked helplessly.
"Sonic….where did you go?" Tails muttered out weakly.
"Look, I don't understand what is going on but we are going to get you out of here right now."
Sonic had decided that his only way of helping tails was to get out of this place was ignore Silver's warning, and so he knew what he had to do. He did not care about what happened next, he had to save Tails. He picked Tails up and carried him in his arms as he sped to the familiar dying tree. There he looked up once more at it, noticing the fine details of this once majestic being.
"Wait, Sonic you shouldn't, you shouldn't do th…" Tails said in a muffled voice before he passed out.
Then, without second thoughts, Sonic put his hand on the burned in letter S. As his skin touched the trees old dying trunk, the tree started to shake. Everything else surrounding Sonic was not moving, only the tree, by itself. Sonic could do nothing but stare as the tree begin to unbend, began to grow in size and…blackness.
Sonic was out cold.
"uhhh…wa..Tai…I…ohhhhh, my head" Sonic groaned as he tried to stand up.
As he rose to his feet, a cold, icy chill ran down his spine. It took him several seconds for his surrounding to sink in. In front of him lay and island, no more than a couple miles either way. In front of him was a path, and in the distance he could make out what seemed to be some sort of building. The sky was now a midnight blue, unfriendly and dark. The Earth below him was barren and lifeless, except for a few weeds. As he peered down the edge of the island, all he could see was darkness. Looking around once more he saw several pools of water tinted green and he shuddered. And there, standing next to him was the dying tree, back to its original desolate state.
"Well we ain't in Mobius any more Tails." Sonic laughed nervously.
Looking around he realized for the first time that Tails was not next to him.
"Tails…Tails where are you." Sonic called out "come on, your parents aren't going to be happy if I lost you."
…or got injured" he said to himself in a saddened whisper.
But the moment passed and Sonic set out to find Tails. "Better stick to the path" he thought to himself.
As Sonic sped down the rickety, dusty old pathway, he went into deep thought. Out of everything he had seen and heard today, this island had to be by far the weirdest.
Sonic thoughts turned in another direction "…and Tails, poor Tails, why did I drag him along on this mission. I shouldn't have put him in this danger. I know that he is growing, and he can handle himself, but how could I have let him get hurt."
Drawing nearer, the blurry building in the distance was blurring no more, as it got closer and closer to Sonic, the picture before him was clearer. It was a mansion. A really tall, overshadowing mansion. But except for that, nothing out of the ordinary. It looked pretty new, covered in a beige-colored paint. There were ten levels, five windows on every level, with very shiny glass. The only thing that seemed out of place was everything else that was surrounding the mansion. Sonic's dash slowed down to a slow pace as he walked up the steps of the mansion.
"Wow, the steps don't creak. At least it's not a cliché." Sonic muttered to himself trying to boost his own morale.
Sonic look at the front door and stared. The door was plain and simple, except for the golden stamp in the middle that read S-1.
"Okay, so am I supposed to knock or something?" Sonic pondered for a second. "Eggman, if this is another one of your lame traps, well considered yourself foiled."
"This isn't Eggman we are dealing with." Whispered a familiar raspy voice in Sonics ear.
"AHHHhhh!" Sonic screamed, startled by the fact that Knuckles was standing one foot away. "What the…why are you here again….why did you send me here? What do you want?"
"Look, I can't tell you much, but you must get to the top of the mansion. If you want to save Tails."
Sonic, angrily looking at Knuckles said:
"Look, Knuckles, I can't just take your word. I don't listen to Silver and I end up…"
"…not in forest anymore." Knuckles said frustrated. "Don't you see you can't trus….I've said enough. All you need to know is follow along the path. And don't trust anyone close to you. Chaos Control."
With that Knuckles vanished into thin air.
"Okay, seriously Knuckles what is with you stealing Shadow's power." Sonic shouted to the place Knuckles had been a moment ago. "And since when have you been so mysterious. I though you always get annoyed by this kind of stuff." And with that the moment had passed and Sonic resumed his examination of the door. Upon further inspection, he noticed that a few feet above the door was a ringer. One quick spin up the wall, and the doorbell was rang. The tune was light and happy, nothing you would expect from this sort of place.
The two doors opened like an elevator, moving sided to side open. As Sonic walked in, he noted that the doors didn't slam in behind him. The inside the mansion looked even better then the outside. The walls were decorated by beautiful blue and yellow wallpaper that seemed to glisten. The ceiling had many chandeliers covered in white diamonds. There were three stairways that led in opposite directions, and two doors on either side. Just then a creature with brown spots flashed before Sonics eyes and dashed into another room.
"Muttski?" Sonic asked in a questioning tone.
Sonic crept toward the open room and went in. The room was a small kitchen, with a pantry, stove and oven, and several wooden shelves and cabinets. There he saw Muttski sitting beside the refrigerator barking happily. Sonic was overwhelmed with joy. He went down and picked up Muttski. Or at least he would have, had Muttski been there. All that was in Sonics arms was air, and Muttski was nowhere to be found. Sonic started to look around frantically around for Muttski, but to no avail for he was gone.
"I really need to calm down, I'm losing it. What happened to way past cool?"
But talking to himself only got him more riled up. Like the mad speed demon that he was, he and out of the room, up the flight onto the stairs in the center and into the next chamber. Where he entered the kitchen again. Yes, the same exact kitchen.
"Why…is…this…happening?" Sonic sweat was getting more frequent.
He went back out of the kitchen for the second time, and then took the stairs on the right. The room was pitch black dark. Sonic felt around for the switch, as he bumped into several hard and solid objects. As he awkwardly worked his way to the end of the room he felt a switch, and flipped it.
What he saw shocked in. There was nothing in the room, nothing to bump into or lean against….but an old empty shell. Sonics felt his body tingle, the hairs on his skin rise (so to speak) and his mouth spaz a little.
"Soooonic, SONNICCCCC!" Wailed the empty shell.
"What do you want, what do you need?" Sonic cried out desperately.
"You Killed me….sssssss." It shrilled out.
"No please….Tommy, is that you? I didn't…I mean, you sacrificed your life, please I…"
"Silence. You cannot hide from me…I will find you…I will get you…."
"Just leave me alone Tommy, I never wanted you to get hurt." A tear in Sonics eye trickled down his face, partly from fear, partly from sadness. The turtle shell began to stand up, it started to slide towards Sonic ever so slightly until it was right on top of him.
"Go AWAY!" Sonic cried out with the last of his valor. He spun around the shell and ran out the door. He took the remaining staircase on the left and burst into the room. It was long, narrow hallway.
"Sonic, just think, what's happening?" Pondering for a moment and then "Wait, I've got it. This is a dream, it's not real. Just got to pinch myself… Ow, well so much for that theory. Where in Mobius am I?" Sonic thought to himself.
"Right where I want you to be." A voice whispered so that Sonics could just hear. It was cold and cruel, mocking and sinister in voice.
"Hey, I didn't say that out loud, you can read me thought? Cut it out!" Sonic guard was back to its highest. He strolled down the narrow hallway, trying to take every detail he could. A small chip at the paint, a little hole, a hidden door. Anything that would give Sonic some help. But he could find no such thing. Every wall, every surface, everything was identical and unflawed. Sonic approached the door at the end of the hallway and turned the knob.
There, looking up was a spiral stair case. It could go up as far as Sonic could see. With no hesitation whatsoever, ran quickly up the staircase. And up, and up, and up. Sonic noticed after a couple of minutes that there was no way there could be this many steps in a ten story building. Finally, after what felt like eternity to Sonic he reached the top. "One last door." Sonic thought.
As he pushed the door forwards, a figure lay waiting for him…
Thanks for reading. Reviewing is greatly appreciated, so I know how I'm doing.
Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic, Tails or any other Sega Character. All characters are property of Sega or Archie Comics.
