Chapter 4: The falling Hero

Sonic pushed the door forward, and saw a shadowy figure lying on the ground. As Sonic crept up towards it, he began to see the outline of a yellow creature.

"T-T-Tails!" Sonic spit out as he rushed by the side of his fallen friend.

There was no reply. Tails just laid there, motionless.

"Tails, are you okay? Tails, please answer me!" Sonic began to shake Tails violently. A tear trickled down his cheek. He then paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and slowly turned Tails over.

He was fine. Not just fine but cured. All this cuts were gone, his arm had healed, and even his tails were back to their former status. As Sonic examined Tails body, his eyes shifted to Tails head. Tails eyes were open. Wide open with a grin. A nice big grin that was unmoved and not shifting. His mouth zigzagged around the bottom of his face and curved up at the top in just the faintest of ways. To add to the mix, there was no blinking either, no nothing from Tails but that grin.

"uhhhhh…" Sonic tried to speak but the awkward expression on Tail's mouth made him swallow his words.

Then the smile got longer as it creeped up Tails face, into a position that Sonic did not know was possible. Or ever want to.

"Oh no," Sonic started to walk back in fear "not you too. Please Tails, stay with me. I need you to help us get out, come on."

Tails body stiffly, without any bending, began to rise from the floor. A loud thud was heard as he stood upright, looking straight into Sonic's eyes.

"Hello Sonic the hedgehog, there is no need to fear." Tails said without any change in a cold, mocking tone. "I have come to help you. Do you not recognize your loyal friend Miles Prower?"

"Tails, listen to me." Sonic pleaded "I know something has come over you, you just need to snap out of it. You're strong, you can free yourself from whoever is controlling you."

"Your statements are meaningless and have no value. I am perfectly fine and I am not being controlled. You need to just relax. All your questions will be answered if you just put on this ring."

Tails extended his arm and laid his palms flat to reveal a small ring, made of a blue sapphire. The ring itself was plain excluding the Green symbols that was carved in the middle that read Silvr.

"Try it, it's liberating."

"No." Sonic said decisively "I'm n-nn-ot gonna fight you, but I'm not going to listen to anything else you have to say."

Sonic looked at Tails and took a firm position, trying to anticipate what Tails next move might be.

"Fine then, you may pass." Tails motioned towards the back of the room. The back lights flickered to life and the rest of the room was visible. In the back lay a column. It was white, five foot column, with a tanish slash that ran across its front. At the top of this column, was a golden circle. A warp ring.

"The ring is your ticket out of here. Choose now. Put on the ring or leave."

"Tails… if this is a trick…" Sonic said as he slowly walked around Tails, never keeping his eyes off him.

Sonics thoughts were racing.

"I have to use the warp ring, but I can't just leave Tails. He needs help, and I don't know what I can do at this point. Think Sonic think, you're know for your speediness. So why can't I decide what to do? What is this place…what is it doing to me? I just need some help!"

"Times up hero."

Tails snapped his fingers, and the floor started to dissolve. Faster then Sonic could realize or react to. And he started to plummet. Down, down, down he went. Everywhere the images blurred past him. Sonic frantically tried to grab on to the spiraling staircase but to no avail. He was hurtling to fast. Time felt slowly to Sonic as he raced down towards certain doom. With one last thought of survival, Sonic tried to curl himself into a small little ball. The floor got closer, and closer, and….

PING!

And then blackness…

Once again Sonic woke up. His body ached more now than ever, his energy was depleted, and he was unable to get up. Pricks of pain course throughout his furry body. He sat there, in agony, for what felt like ages.

"Sonic get up." Shout a familiar voice not too far off in the distance.

"Uhhh… Wh… I… Tail..?" Sonic managed to spit out.

"Sonic, what have you done. You didn't listen to my warning. Now please, you need to get up."

Sonic's eyes began to focus and he started to see a blurry figure come into focus.

"Silver, what… I need help. Please help." Sonic finally said coherently. Sonic was starting to crack. He had kept his cool, but Tails pushed him to his limit. He couldn't calm himself.

He realized he was back to where he had begun, by the old dying tree.

"Sonic, if you had just listened and not gone here, none of this would have happened. This is all your fault."

"Silver, if you would just tell me how to get out." Sonic said, taking back the faintest amount of courage in his tone.

"Sonic, I don't know, I just don't know. I'm really trying, but I suspect I don't have much time left before…"

"… You try and deceive Sonic again." Shouted Knuckles emerging from a cloud of black smoke.

"Knuckles, what are you…" Sonic began to question, but Knuckles interrupted as he said:

"Sonic don't believe that faker. There is a way out, get to the top. Use the warp ring."

"But Tails… how can I save Tails…"

"You can't…" Knuckles interrupted again "just forget about him."

Then Silver joined back in again.

"How can you call me a phony when you don't want to save Tails?" Does Sonic want to know what you did…"

"How dare you try and bring this up. Sonic is troubled enough without you confusing him. I know what you want. "

"Yes," Silver temper started to flair, "I want to help free Sonic and Tails from this place. I need time to think. It is you who is confusing Knuckles…"

"Enough of this, I'll take you myself you filthy little rodent."

And with that Knuckles took his first punch into Silver. It pressed into his gut hard and then shot Silver back. Silver grimaced, then got back to his feet. He then took a step towards Knuckles and his body began to have a greenish glow. He shot a concentrated stare at Knuckles, and preceded to lift up the old dying tree using his psychokinesis powers. He flung it at Knuckles and it smash into him. Knuckles managed to rise up again, angrier now more then ever. More blows where exchanged, the fighting escaladed, all while Sonic stood there in shock.

"Knuckles… Silver… me… THAT'S ENOUGH!"

Both Silver and Knuckles halted their fighting and turned towards sonic, staring at him for his outburst.

"I've had enough. Just tell me how to get out. I can't take much more. Why do you keep leaving? Why is everything so gosh darn mysterious? I want answers!" Sonic breathed in heavily as he finished his shout.

"I…." Silver started to say, but he suddenly began to tremble. "Oh no, no no nooooo." Silver wailed as he quickly threw to the ground another warp ring. The portal open, sucked him in, and he vanished.

"Sonic," Knuckles said turning his attention back towards Sonic, "listen to me know. I know your confused and lost, but I can't tell you where you are. You aren't ready. Please try and understand that you need to leave quickly. More horrors will be unleashed unless you get out. But mark my words Tails will be your downfall. Whatever you do, DON'T TRUST HIM. Chaos Control."

Sonic sat down onto the ground, trying to take in everything.

"Now what?"

End of Chapter 4

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.