Alright, welcome to Chapter 4 of Golden Prevalence. As most every reviewer (and every reviewer that came after 8/14) knows, I like replying to my reviewers. So I don't need to address you guys's questions and concerns here, as I already did by means of replying.
I must say that I'm happy about last chapter's reception. No one seemed to have a problem with it, and it confused a couple of people, but I expected that. I most probably will expand upon the Sonic side of the story, but not too much: the main story has a lot of places to go anyway.
Anyway, this chapter is going to be long, and it's going to encompass 4 acts: Exit Scorpion, Reminisce, Enter Tails, and Survivors. The act format allows me to have a chapter focus on more than one event, and it makes for much longer chapters. I hope for this chapter to be the longest yet, and I want this chapter to sort of set the tone for what I've got planned.
One more thing: SEGA owns Sonic. The characters, the games, the settings, etc. I don't. I own this story's scenario. Disclaimers are boring.
ENJOY THE READ, I'LL MEET YOU AT THE BOTTOM!
Act I: Exit
Scorpion
Golden
PrevalenceChapter 4: Finding Answers
I heard a sound overhead.
It was the first good thing either of us had heard all day.
That murderous creature had finally exited Station Square.
Tails's POV
It was a bit bruised as we saw on TV, the Egg SCORPION robot.
Eggman's POV
"Manual hub, activate."
Tails's POV
I thought that he was taking it to the lab. I hoped that it would remain there in forever disrepair.
Eggman's POV
"Project GOPHEr, open hub center
2-1-9-0-2."
Tails's POV
I doubted he'd be able to make another attack on us with that thing. Thank God - I couldn't fight it, and Cream... well... If I couldn't, then she definitely couldn't...
Eggman's POV
"Activate delivery channels B and D, GOPHEr."
"Project GOPHEr prepared for launch, Master Robotnik."
"Excellent, heh, excellent! Now then: launch beta ii, GOPHEr."
"Channel D still open: need delivery.""Yes, yes - deliver me the Chapter 9 Support System. Make sure it's with beta ii at all times."
"Yes sir, Master Robotnik."
"Excellent. Those stupid anthromorphs have no chance of surviving - especially since I killed Sonic. OOH, THAT FEELS SO GOOD TO SAY!"
"You killed Sonic."
"Yes, GOPHEr."
"I'll setup the balloons and punch."
"Good boy."
end Eggman's POV
Act II: Reminisce
The roaring of the SCORPION'S engines was so loud that it woke the seemingly paralyzed Cheese from his nap. He gazed up a Cream's face, looking incredibly confused by the sound. That Chao was the only person I knew that hadn't changed over the years. That was all that was on my mind at the minute. Sonic had matured, as well as Amy, Shadow had become more sure of himself as a whole and began to live life as a living being and not "The Ultimate Lifeform," Knuckles had started acting even more like an adult but had developed a wild side, surprisingly, but only showed it to a couple of people, Rouge had stopped being a thief and actually got a job for the government - as a thief. A spy, really, but all she did was steal documents, artifacts, and other assorted things that she couldn't talk about. When I thought about her, I realized that she was one of the people that the newscast didn't mention, and I hadn't really thought about her up until this sort of reminiscent moment that I was having. Maybe she didn't die... in fact, I didn't really know who was dead. I mean, I knew for sure Sonic and Shadow were dead, and I knew that Amy and Knuckles had supposedly escaped, but other than that, the newscast was so rushed that they didn't really mention what had happened.
I dismissed that thought and continued to reminisce about all that had happened the years after we fought Devil Doom. Sonic and Amy had actually started dating, and though he didn't tell anyone, Cream told me she was sure she saw an engagement ring on Amy's finger about a month earlier, but we dismissed it, until, sure enough, three weeks before his death, Sonic told us that they were getting married. I burst out laughing the minute I heard "Amy and I are engaged." come out of his mouth. Obviously, Cream and I had changed a lot - we got older, that's what happens. I became a lot more independent from everyone else, and Cream's personality changed dramatically - for the better. In fact, the only one who hadn't changed for the better was Charmy - he had become a useless prick who was only around to make trouble. He was no longer a bee, or a wasp for that matter, but a lowly mosquito, who sucked on others' emotions to feed himself. He was a bully, a slob, and a nuisance, and at the time, when I thought he may be dead, I thought immediately after that he deserved it. It's not like he could have helped much at the battle, anyway. Knowing Sonic's tactics, he wanted to hide until he spotted the SCORPION's weakness, then attack first by himself, leaving everyone else out of harm's way until the SCORPION was weak enough for them to come in and backup. Probably what wound up happening is while Sonic was initiating his plan, Charmy, being the idiot that he had become, provoked the robot and left Sonic and the others spotted, causing everyone to go into battle at the wrong time, thus... the deaths.
I continued to think to myself until Cream sighed. I immediately looked up to see if there was anything wrong, as the day seemed to be following Murphy's Law to the tee.
"Hmm?"
"Nothing... I'm just trying to get Cheese back to sleep, that's all. He's a bit jumpy right now, and I'm definitely not in the mood to play with him."
That told me something was wrong, and she wasn't really telling me what. I presumed it was what had happened, of course, but that wasn't it - she was worried about something else. She always wanted to play with Cheese, even when he didn't want to play with her.
"You sure nothing's wrong?"
"...well..."
"What happened today?"
"Yeah... kind of..."
"Hmm? What do you mean?"
"N-nothing... I wonder if Knuckles and Amy made it out okay..."
It then occurred to me that she was right - we still had no idea of their whereabouts.
"I guess that's what's wrong then."
"Hmm?" "Yeah - confusion. It can really mess up a person's thoughts."
She smiled.
"Yeah. I guess I'm feeling the way I am because I'm asking too many questions."
"Questions?"
We looked at each other again... one of those moments... there seemed to be a lot of those today.
My face lit up - I had an idea. "Then I guess we should go find some answers, right?"
She gasped and looked up at me, startled.
"What do you mean, Tails?"
"We have to go into Station Square and, first and foremost, find Sonic's body, and see if there was anything he left behind."
"What? That's crazy!"
"Not really - we have to get his body back here anyway, so we can give it a proper send off."
"But that's... disgusting! I don't want to carry his body!"
"I will... but we have to get his body over here before it gets even worse. Plus - we may find something important, we may even see Knuckles and Amy!"
"But -"
"Are you with me or not? I'll go alone if I have to."
"No... I'll come with you... you sure about this, though?"
I smiled, assuringly. "Am I ever not?"
Her face lit up at that remark. Her facial expressions were always so to-the-point, so... mesmerizing, in a way... maybe it was just me.
"Then let's go!"
"Right... to Station Square."
Act III: Enter Tails
I don't know where we were, exactly. I knew it was Station Square. But I didn't know what the Hell it had become. Dead bodies and ruins everywhere. The cries of other survivors surrounded us. Cheese wanted to go after them, screaming "Chao chao!" and pointing in the direction of the moans and the screams. Cream kept trying to calm him down, but she wanted to go, too.
"Tails... can we at least get a couple survivors out of here? Please Tails?"
I sighed. "Cream... we have to get Sonic. Whenever we make contact with Knuckles and Amy, I'm sure we'll form some sort of full-on search party, and we'll get the other bodies and get some survivors out of here."
"Okay... that works better."
"Chao chao."
I looked up at the flailing Chao. It still hadn't left Cream's side all these years, and yet Cream had become independent enough to leave home without him at times when he wanted or needed to stay home. I kept looking.
"I wish I could get the ACIDFiX back," I said, "really hard doing this without going airborne."
"The Tornado -- I mean, ACIDFiX -- has been out of the picture for a long time now, hasn't it?"
"Yeah, ever since I brought Knuckles to Cocoa Island to find Mighty... can't believe the Battle Kukku came back..."
"They... killed your parents, r-right?"
This subject always struck a bad cord with me. Back before I met Sonic, I lived a good life on Cocoa Island with my parents... until the Battle Kukku came. (AN: yes, I'm sticking to canon: this Japanese story of Tails' Adventure... I'm just adding his parents to it.) The Battle Kukku army was sent by their dictator to find the Chaos Emeralds that for some reason were on Cocoa Island and not on Angel Island. I went out to destroy the army utilizing the force of my miniature army of advanced vehicles, and to collect the emeralds in the process. I came back to find my house torn apart... and my parents dead. I packed up all I could and left Cocoa Island for good... until Mighty sent a distress message to Knuckles. He still considered himself leader of the Chaotix, so he got Vector and Espio and asked me to get them to Cocoa. Of course, I asked about Charmy, and he didn't want to go - he had "better things to do," AKA, more slobbing around. He didn't know the way, but I did, and I had the plane. So I flew them over to the coordinates that Mighty gave Knuckles, and as I was dropping them off, a strange-looking bird bombed the plane.
I knew what that was: it was a Kukku soldier. I wanted to help despite what had happened in the past, but Knuckles refused, and said to come back for them when they sent the message. However, they hijacked a Kukku GRUPFLY, a giant machine powered by the flapping of the wings of multiple Kukku soldiers (AN: made-up; the Tails' Adventure story was a very simple one, and allows room for expansion.) and piloted it home. They had to leave the ACIDFiX wreckage behind, and because that plane was so advanced, I couldn't even come close to replicating it: it was a combination of the Tornadoes I-III and the Tornado FIXOuR, a major rehash of the first three that I made shortly after Sonic's adventures in Soleanna. It was so powerful that I codenamed it the Hurricane, as its engines were as powerful as a level 1 hurricane. The FIXOuR was a mere Monsoon. The ACID series planes are what I had been building up to all these years.
But I tried replicating it anyway. And it didn't work. That was a while back. About 3 years before all this happened. Over that time, I had practiced my own primal skills. I had been doing inventing in my spare time, yes, but not as feverishly as before. I had developed a lot of muscle tone, and my strength was assuredly equal to that of Sonic. My tails had especially grown, and were at the point where they could be well-viable as weapons. I had developed the ability to grab an enemy in one or both of my tails and throw said enemy about 20 feet away at about... I'd say a good 5 miles per hour at that time. My flying skills had become as good as they were when I first met Sonic, before I used planes, maybe even better. The fact that my helicopter blade-esque tails would be of use to me hadn't crossed my mind at the time... I never got a chance to really use them in the field, even though flying had once again become my major mode of transportation, as it should have been.
"Y-yeah... they did... that's why I wanted to help Knuckles and the others fight back... for my island..."
"I've never really heard that story fully - what happened anyway?"
"I'll tell you some other time... l-let's just... let's just find Sonic."
"Right - I'm sorry."
"No, it's okay - I just... don't like talking about that really."
Her face saddened. "I... know what you mean..."
That just reminded me... Cream was in the same situation I was. No one knew who or where her dad was, as the official explanation from Cream's mom was that Cream's father was nothing more than a mere donor and could be anywhere or anyone... this has troubled Cream since her mom told her at 11. And now, as far as we knew, her mom was dead. And looking around this desolate wasteland, we were probably assuming right.
"...i-it'll be okay Cream... I mean, i-if she did... well... she's in a better place, right?"
She nodded. "A much better place than here, at least..."
I nodded back. "I think I'd rather be dead."
She gulped. "Let's just... find Sonic."
"Yeah. I'm gonna go airborne - flying's a heck of a lot better than walking."
She giggled, quietly, "Couldn't agree with you more."
I took off. Her flying skills had progressed at about the same rate as mine had - she had become a great aspect to our team now, really, matching Amy's strength.
It didn't take much of a search. We flew through the wreckage, through the smoke and flame - it hadn't become too bad yet - the big buildings had yet to...
And then we saw it. A clearing in the wreckage. Dead center. That's where the battle was.
And that's where Sonic's body was. We landed. We were left staring at his dead body for about 10 minutes, unmoving. Cheese tried waking him up to no end, until he realized what had happened - he hid inside of Cream's arms, I presumed trying to hide from what he had realized was nothing but a corpse, in which Sonic no longer took up residence. That's how I regarded it, at least: that body, that thing wasn't Sonic: it was just a corpse. Sonic himself had moved onto, as I told Cream, the same plane of existence that Shadow was on, that everyone that had died that day was on, that my parents were on, and that her mom was on. At that point she had no hope left for her mom - she pretty much accepted the fact that she was dead, and I didn't really expect nor want that from her - I couldn't see someone like her, someone so positive, give up hope so easily.
We found three things in the clearing: Sonic's corpse, a big piece of scrap metal that said "RPION I" on it... and a camera. With the battery light blinking. I took Sonic's body, and, due to Cheese's prodding, Cream took the camera. And we left for home. From a bit after we landed until we got back to the Workshop, we didn't talk to each other at all.
She spoke first. "T-tails?"
"Yeah?"
"I hate silence."
I chuckled, "Me too... you have that camera with you, right?"
"Of course! Cheese wouldn't have let me put it down!"
"Figures... is that battery light still blinking?"
"Hmm... yeah. It's red now, not orange... meaning we don't have much time to get that tape out, right?"
"Exactly - I need to go find my... I can't believe I'm saying this... VCR..."
She opened the camera.
"No you don't."
"What, it's DVD?"
"Nope."
"What is it then? Don't tell me Laserdisc, my Laserdisc player is broken."
"Even more obscure - it's Super Video Disc!"
"SVCD? Wow! I've got a VCD-playing emulator running on the computer upstairs, c'mon!"
We headed upstairs to watch that video... but I had one last question - where did that camera come from?
Luckily, the video would turn out to have more answers than not.
Act
IV: Survivors
We struggled with the camera's latch. Turns out, you open it once, it won't open again. We kept trying.
Knuckles's POV"Alright, I have no idea where I am, but I'm sure I'll find the way to his workshop..."
Tails's POV"Oh c'mon, OPEN UP!"
"Tails, maybe we should wait until Knuckles and Amy show up."
Knuckles's POV"Not too much farther now, I'm sure of it."
"Knuckles, I can't do this much longer..."
"Then maybe you should've told us about that earlier, Amy, like during the fucking battle!"
"Knuckles, stop it, you're not helping!"
"Alright, fine - but we need to get out of here."
Tails's POV"It still won't open!"
"Tails, wait! Did you hear that?"
"What?"
I heard something then. A knocking, some type of rumbling... someone or something was moving under the workshop...
Knuckles's POV"I smell metal - we're here."
"Where's the hatch!"
"I'm still looking for that, hang on."
Tails's POV"That must be them, Tails, I'm sure of it!"
"Then let's go open the hatch!"
She nodded. "Right!"
"I'm gonna need some help, you --"
"Yeah, I know - I can handle it."
I smiled. "Awesome."
We ran downstairs.
Knuckles's POV"What is knocking on the metal going to do!"
"How the Hell else am I going to find the hatch, Amy? Fucking ESP!"
"Hey, there's no need for that, Knux, cut it out."
"Just shut up, will you! I don't know how Sonic put up with you! He slept with you, for God's sake, how the Hell could he stand it?"
"Grrrrr! I'm going to slap you so hard when we get in there!"
Two more knocks...
"THERE! I GOT IT!"
"Ugh, finally!"
Tails's POV"Push!"
"I got it!"
"I hear them knocking!"
Knuckles's POV"Open the god damned door, Tails!"
Tails's POV"Alright, two more clicks, then we pull up, right?"
"Right!"
Open the god damned door Tails!
"KNUCKLES!"
"We're trying as hard as we can, right Cream?"
"Right!"
Knuckles's POV"COME ON!"
Amy's POV"Get me out of here!"
Cream's POV
"Tails, the clicks!"
Tails's POV"Alright, pull!"
Cream's POV
"TAILS!"
Amy's POV"TAILS!"
Knuckles's POV"DAMN IT TAILS!"
Tails's POV"Arggghhhhh...! 3..."
"TAILS!"
"TAILS!"
"DAMN IT TAILS!"
'C'mon, Prower, you got this...'
"2..."
"ALMOST..."
"TAILS, HURRY UP!"
"TAAAAAAAIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLSSSSSSSSSSS!"
"1... NOW! PULL UP!"And then we pulled up. And out popped...
"Knuckles!" I shouted.
"Amy!" Cream did the same.
"Damn it, Tails, what took you so long?" Knuckles exaggerated.
"Hey, leave them alone! They're not as strong as you, you know!" Amy argued.
"That doesn't mean they have to leave me down there any longer!"
"Uh... you guys, uh.."
"QUIET FOR A SECOND!"
"Thanks, Tails."
"No problem - even Cheese was getting annoyed, huh?"
"Yeah..." Cream looked over at the Chao, who was flying around covering his ears.
I smiled. Then I turned over to Knuckles and Amy.
"You two - quiet down for a second. I have to tel-"
"WAIT, WHERE'S SONIC!" Amy yelled with glee.
"Oh, tell me he's hiding, I love when he does this! SONIC! COME OUT OF HIDING, YOU SNEAKY RAT, I'M HOME!" She giggled and ran off towards the back of the house, Sonic's frequent hiding spot.
Knuckles looked in the direction she went. "Here's hoping Sonic doesn't actually marry her - he'll be stuck with her... ugh..."
Cream and I both rolled our eyes.
"But seriously - where is Sonic?"
Cream and I just looked at each other, silently.
"Did he make it back, er what? I'm sure he did, he was kicking ass when he told me to get Amy out of there."
I
couldn't...
"Where
is he, Tails?"
She couldn't...
"Cream... do you know where she is?"
She had her hands behind her back, crossed, her head facing down... she looked so... innocent... and yet... we were hiding this from him..."Oh, Sonic, I'm tired of looking, come out!"
From her..."Wait..."
And then...
"He never made it back, did he... what happened to him... ?"
"Sonic's..." I started.
"...dead." Cream finished.
Knuckles stared at us, eyes wide open.
"H-his body's in a freezer, downstairs. Until we can bury him..."
"Oh God... oh my God... what in the name of... he fucking died?"
"W-we s-s-saw it on th-the n-news, Knuckles." Cream struggled.
"Oh-oh my God. You already got his body?"
I nodded.
"Holy crap... Tails, Cream - oh fucking shit...S-sonic's... d-dead... ?"
"Yeah."
"Holy shit... oh my God... his body's in a fucking cooler, man?"
"Y-yeah..."
"OH my God... OH MY GOD... Sonic's dead!"
"Yes."
"AND YOU ALREADY GOT HIS BODY!"
"Yeah."
"Di-did he leave anything behind?"
"W-well... we found this camera."
Cream showed him the still-unopened camera.
"That's the camera he knocked off the face of the SCOPRION - he did that as I left with Amy."
"Why did he have you leave with Amy, anyway?"
"Well, I didn't know either, until Amy told me something a bit interesting on the way home..."
"What did he tell you?"
"I... I'll... tell you later... you got that video out?"
I spoke up, "Well, we opened it once. It's an SVCD. I've got a player for that, sure, but we can't get it open again."
"Allow me."
Knuckles grabbed the camera and punched the latch - it opened without a hitch.
"There you go - now let's watch this thing."
"Wait!" Cream interjected, "What about-"
We all looked toward the door to the left.
"Amy..."
"No, really, Sonikku, this isn't funny - I was looking forward to seeing you after traveling underground all the way from Station Square." She made one of her patented Fujikko-character-style sad faces that Sonic found cute. I found them rather exaggerated.
"Guys, where's Sonic."
Knuckles nearly vomited because of the guilt. "Oh good God I'm gonna throw up... Jesus Christ..."
"Knuckles, get back in here... Amy... I wish I could tell you exactly what happened... but then I'd feel like an asshole for the rest of my life. I prefer telling the truth... but maybe the video will give us some answers."
"The video?" Amy asked.
"Oh God, the video... ugh..." Knuckles struggled.
"The video!" Cream replied.
"Yeah, the video... we found this... in Station Square..."
"You went to Station Square?" Amy and Knuckles asked simultaneously.
"Knuckles, obviously; Amy, yes."
"O...kay... what's this have to do with Sonic?"
Knuckles finally broke.
"That better have been in the trash can, I just vacuumed the whole place on Wednesday."
"Vacuum? What are you, gay?" He vomited again after saying this.
I sighed. Knuckles came back in.
"Alright... play the video."
"Yeah, Tails... I can't stand this anymore..."
"I'm confused..."
"Alright, everyone, if you'd turn your attention to the screen, I think we can get this thing going."
"Tails, wait: it's going to show the battle. Fast-forward through that to see if there's anything actually important on that disc."
"Right."
So I put it in, and sure enough, it started replaying the battle. I fast-forwarded up until the point where the camera hit the ground. It was cabley for a while and then...
Sonic's face. Bruised and beat.
This was his final message.
tapecoughing
static
Sonic's
hands come up, hit camera. Image appears.
"Ugh... does this thing still work?"
static
"If it does... and anyone can hear me..."
Sonic's voice is struggling
"I'm about to die... probably of loss of blood. Anyway... if anyone can hear me... ugh... this message is for Amy... my fiancée as of... 4 weeks now... cough. Amy... I love you. I'm sorry I have to leave you so early... especially now..."
Sonic is beginning to cry, but is even having a hard time doing that
"Amy... I want... take care of... the kid, Amy. Tell him why I'm not around... I..."
"Shit... I'm not going to be able to do this much longer..."
Eggman's declaration of Sonic's death is heard booming in the background
"Amy... take care of the kid... I... I love you, Ames... I'm gonna miss you... oh fuck, what a clichéd way to die... bye... I'll see you on the other side, all... man, this hurts..."
beeping is heard. camera suddenly shuts off.
end tapeWe all stared at the screen for about 3 minutes. Then Amy burst out crying.
"SONIKKU!"
"H-he's... dead, Amy..."
"NO! NO, DON'T TELL ME THAT KNUCKLES, PLEASE!"
"We... already got his body, Amy..."
"NO! SONIC'S NOT DEAD, HE CAN'T BE, NOT NOW!"
"Excuse me?"
We all turned our attention to Cream.
"I'm sorry to do this, but... what did he mean by... 'the kid?'"
Amy gasped a little. We all looked over at her.
"N-nothing, he..."
"Amy, don't even - that's what I was talking about, you two."
"What do you mean, Knuckles."
"That surprise. Seems Sonic and Amy 'forgot' to tell us something just like they 'forgot' to tell us about their engagement."
"What are you... ?"
Knuckles took a deep breath.
He put a rather serious look on his face.
He looked at us both with a look of respect... it was... odd...
He sighed.
He took a pause.
He sighed again.
"Well..."
"Amy's pregnant."
end chapter
Well, I just heard the collective gasp there. How was that for an ending, huh? And I wanted to have a kick ass buildup and all that, and I think I accomplished it. It could've been something even more unpredictable, because I'm figuring a lot of stories use that Amy's pregnant angle, however, this is the direction I want to go with this story... plus, I'm not going to focus on it much... the main character in this story is Tails, after all - there is a reason why the story's called Golden Prevalence.
Review, and as always, I'll reward you with a reply. Chapter
5 will come as shortly as this one did, hopefully - especially since
I quit at work. The next chapter? Search Party. I hope you're
looking forward to it!
