Tails

I

There was a flash of white before the entire scenery changed. One moment, several cyclopes were looking at the trio as their next meal; the next a blue hedgehog, a black and red hedgehog and a wounded twin-tailed yellow fox appeared in front of an underused modern styled house.

The only part of the house that had been painted completely, was the roof, a bright red (could've been blood for all Tails knew) just like the red on Shadow. The walls were just white, with little to no decorations on them. Gray concrete led straight to the deep oak door. To the side was a black mailbox with a sign "Robotnik Residence" written on it.

Sonic was the first to come to his senses "where are we?" He asked.

"At my base," Shadow said walking toward the house "come inside, we have much to discuss."

Sonic and Tails reluctantly followed him into the house behind the deep oak door.

The door opened into a large living room with gray carpet. There was a large couch in one corner in front of a 4k tv along with an xbox plugged into it.

A fan blew from the ceiling, circulating the air. Besides that, there weren't many decorations.

"I thought the original plan was to meet you in Act two?" Sonic asked.

"Obviously that didn't happen," Shadow stated, "I waited for an hour before I lost my patience and came looking for you, good thing I did, those monsters almost made a meal out of you."

"Please," Sonic said, "I could've taken them down without a scratch!"

"And let Tails get eaten alive?" He asked, "not a chance."

The hedgehog sighed "thought I told you two to be careful," he said to both Sonic and Tails "it appears I wasn't clear enough."

Tails hung his head. He didn't want to admit it, but his broken arm had been all his fault. He had tried using the wispon's grapple hook to attach to the warehouse and get the mother cyclops right in the eye. The plan had backfired when she grabbed his spare arm with the strength of an Ox. All the while Sonic had been busy taking out her children. He was a fool for taking her alone! He should've stuck with Sonic and took her out together. Breaking his arm had left him helpless, unable to flee from her stomp. If Shadow hadn't been there; he didn't want to know what would've happened.

"We were careful," Sonic said, "maybe if you didn't go alone, we could've stuck together!" he yelled. Did he blame Shadow for what happened? Tails wondered.

Without warning Shadow grabbed Sonic by the throat and held him up with a look of fury on his face.

"Listen up," Shadow declared with fury as Sonic tried to free himself to no avail "I risked my reputation, my well-being for you; identifying that creature, and putting myself in harm's way to save your ass!" He paused "just because I'm a loner doesn't mean I won't stick up for what's right!"

"Shadow, Sonic stop!" Tails yelled not wanting to see the two hedgehogs fight for what felt like the hundredth time. "This is no time to be fighting! There are mythological monsters out there looking for us! I'd rather not stay here longer than we need to, now will you please knock it off?"

Tails saw Shadow glance at his limp arm and apparently decided that they had bigger problems.

Shadow turned back to Sonic "it's a pity that you're not as wise as Tails." Shadow declared as he let Sonic go who barely caught himself.

Shadow started going deeper in the house going in front of a steel door with a pin lock and entering "one-nine-three-nine" as the door unlocked. There was a slopped ladder that eventually led into a basement.

"I believe I have the materials to treat your arm Tails," Shadow said, "but they're on the space colony" he said as he led the way.

"The ARK?" Tails asked, "I thought this was your permanent home?"

"Not really" he answered, "it was originally an outpost I made since many of our adventures have involved Green Hill in some way, in preparation for that sequel I'm still waiting for."

No one bothered to ask what he meant and kept going. They eventually came to a small machine a large red platform connected to a rectangle machine glowing several lights by a single wire. Another wire connected it to another machine that appeared to be a keyboard of some kind.

Shadow walked up to the keyboard and started typing a password. Sonic and Tails had moved toward the platform so Tails could see the password "SHRobotnik50" was what the hedgehog typed in.

"This machine," Shadow declared "activates a space bridge between the space-time continuum that should get us to the Space Colony ARK within a few minutes."

Before the hedgehog pressed the button to activate it, Sonic piped up "are you sure this is safe?" Sonic asked.

"Says the guy who jumps off rooftops like it's fun and games" Shadow said sarcastically "it's about as safe as space-time travel can be. Sometimes you'll come out missing an arm or something, but it'll come back," Shadow paused "eventually."

After pressing a few buttons, the platform activated with a glowing blue light above it. The three of them walked into it and were transported through the space bridge.

The atmosphere within the space bridge was weird at best. All around Tails it looked like a rainbow of different colors. It would turn into a red, green, blue, yellow, and orange in rapid succession. It looked like something that could cause a seizure to someone. It felt like two minutes before they hit the end of it, a blue vortex awaited them just up ahead. As the trio came out they found themselves in a familiar room: the control room of the Space Colony ARK.

This very same space colony, founded in the nineteen-thirties had been where Shadow was created. Where he lived with his friend Maria Robotnik, granddaughter of his creator, Gerald Robotnik. The very same space colony where he attempted to take revenge on mankind but ended up doing the opposite; saving it from his creator's master plan. It had been more than ten years since Sonic and Tails had set foot in the colony.

Shadow had come out first and awaited Sonic and Tails as they came out one after the other. Tails came out just fine; except for missing one of his tails, Sonic came out of the machine with little balance, missing his right leg.

"What the?" Sonic asked in shock "Shadow!"

"What?" the hedgehog said, "I told you the machine could do that," he paused "just stay still and they'll come back."

Shadow then turned toward seven empty emerald slots built to hold the chaos emeralds. Putting in all seven would cause the space colony to pummel toward the earth once again. Surprisingly to Sonic and Tails, he put the yellow chaos emerald in the middle slot.

Sonic now stood up with all his body parts restored and asked in fear "you're not planning on firing the Eclipse Cannon, are you?!"

Shadow shook his head "no," he paused "not yet at least; you'll understand eventually".

"What do you mean, not yet?" Sonic asked.

"You'll understand in due time" Shadow declared.

Tails could tell that Sonic felt worried by that answer, after all that was the same hedgehog who ten years ago helped Eggman gather the seven chaos emeralds to fire the cannon at full power at Earth (even though he had used Eggman for his own motives). Tails decided to try and reassure him.

"Sonic," Tails declared "I'm sure Shadow would never fire the cannon without a legitimate reason." Tails paused turning to Shadow "right?"

"You have my word" Shadow said, walking toward the door that leads out of the control room "come on, before we waste any more time."

Sonic and Tails reluctantly followed him out of the control room and down the halls of the space colony ARK. The walls and floor were made of a tough steel, made to withstand any type of explosion. Wiring could be seen in several places in the floor or on the walls. Sometimes a wall would be made of strong glass which showed the outside, outer space and the blue planet, Earth along with its moon.

That blue planet Sonic and Tails would return to save Mobius from those mythological monsters. The planet where Camp Half-Blood was located, where Sonic and Tails needed to go.

Tails then turned to Sonic, who seemed to be beating himself up over Tails' wounded arm. Tails wanted to let him know that it hadn't been his fault.

"Sonic," Tails said, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Sonic asked, surprised "sorry for what, exactly?"

"My arm, it was all my fault, you know, not yours," Tails said firmly "I thought I could take on that mother Cyclopes all by myself, I was wrong, and I paid the price for it."

"It doesn't matter," Sonic declared "there's no need for you to beat yourself up for it."

"Sonic is right," Shadow declared "whatever happened, you cannot change. I would give almost anything to change what happened here sixty years ago, but you simply cannot change the past; but instead can influence the future."

Tails nodded his head in understanding "right, I just needed to get that out of my system; in case anyone was beating themselves up for what happened."

"Look at it this way," Shadow said, "if we do beat ourselves up for your well-being, it just means we care deeply about you."

Tails was almost shocked at that kind of statement coming out of Shadow. Perhaps the hedgehog felt the need to comfort the fox.

"On that note," Sonic said, "where exactly are you leading us to?"

"The Space Colony ARK had a nursery set up where wounded were treated on the Space Colony," Shadow said, "the chances of them surviving the trip back to Earth to a hospital were incredible slim, so it was better to have medical supplies aboard."

"So, we're heading there to treat, Tails?" Sonic asked.

"Precisely, and it looks like we're almost there now" Shadow declared.

The three friends (or sort of friends) came across a large steel door which Shadow then opened with a key. The room inside looked like a hospital room where patients would be treated. There was a small bed with at least three feet in height. On one wall was a large cupboard containing what Tails assumed was different medications. Right below it was a large cabinet containing possibly medical supplies.

On the other wall was a door with a large window right next to it. Through the window another room could be seen. It looked very spacious, empty with a few chairs; Tails thought it looked like a waiting room, perhaps it was.

"Welcome to the ARK's nursery," Shadow declared "it's been roughly sixty years since I set foot in this room."

"So how fast can you get Tails fixed up?" Sonic asked.

"Hopefully faster than the average hospital," Shadow declared "once I had to go there with Rouge when she broke her ankle; it felt like six hours before we were out of there." He said.

"So, in other words...?" Sonic asked.

"Hopefully half the speed you can run before you break the sound barrier" Shadow declared "first I need you to find some medicine that looks like small cubes, assuming professor had some left before GUN raided the ARK."

"Small cubes?" Sonic asked "look, I'm all for you for helping out Tails, but what exactly am I looking for?"

"I'm not completely sure," Shadow said as Sonic face palmed "I only know what it does. It was like a sort of special medicine Gerald would give Maria whenever her bones broke such as her arm or ankle or she became dangerous feverish. In a day or even a week she'd be back on her feet like nothing ever happened." Shadow explained "I'm hoping that medicine would give a similar effect to Tails."

"Right, then let's start looking!" Sonic exclaimed.

Sonic and Shadow searched both rooms, raiding cabinets and drawers. They both weren't having any luck finding the mysterious super medicine. Tails got down and looked in the cabinet himself. After some digging around he found what appeared to be a small bronze safe with a twist knob as the means to unlock it. It was like one of those high school lockers.

"Guys, I found something!" Tails exclaimed as Sonic and Shadow hurried to his location.

"What is it?" Sonic asked as Tails held out the safe for them to see.

Shadow inspected the safe "Whatever's in there, Professor wanted kept safe and with good reason," Shadow said, "whatever's in there has to be what we're looking for."

"So, what are we waiting for, lets open it!" Sonic declared.

"I'd like to," Shadow said "but most of Gerald's passwords were four or more digits. This safe would require a three-digit code. I'm afraid Professor might've taken the passcode to the grave on this one."

"Isn't there a way to crack it?" Sonic asked.

"It'd take a day or more to crack the code on something like this" Shadow said.

"Let me have a go at it then" Tails declared.

"Tails, are you sure?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah, this 'medicine' is for me anyway, might as well get it out myself" he declared. Without further argument Sonic helped Tails get the wispon off his free arm and he set to work.

Tails kept turning the knob to the left until he heard a slight click on the number six. He didn't how he knew what it meant but the year the Space Colony ARK was founded was nineteen thirty-six.

Tails then twisted the knob to the right until he heard another click on a nine. He knew that Maria Robotnik, according to Shadow, was born in nineteen thirty-nine.

Returning to the left, he twisted the knob until he heard another click on a two. Interestingly Project Shadow was started in nineteen forty-two.

Tails pulled the safe open as it revealed the small cube-like medicine.

"All right Tails!" Sonic exclaimed.

"How did you get it open?" Shadow asked, "and in the first try nonetheless?"

"Nothing too complicated," Tails said, "just twisting the knob until I heard the latch click." He then pointed at one of his fox ears "these ears aren't just for show you know, I can actually hear much farther than most mobians and humans. The combination turned out to be six-nine-two if you need it."

"Interesting, Professor always had his passwords mean something, perhaps this was the one exception." Shadow declared.

"Actually, there is a meaning behind each number, Shadow." Tails said as he explained each meaning to Shadow.

Shadow just shook his head in amusement "Professor, you cunning fool" he declared, picking up the safe and setting it on the hospital bed.

Shadow inspected the medicine in the safe and his eyebrows shot up. "Interesting," he declared "despite being in here for fifty years, they don't show a single sign of decay."

"Really?!" Sonic exclaimed "how is that possible?"

"Almost as possible as the existence of these mythological creatures" Shadow declared "but it just means it works in our favor." Shadow paused "Sonic, grab me one of the small tables from the other room, if you would."

With that, the blur was off and returned with a small brown table that only went up Shadow's knees.

Shadow did a double take and almost glared at Sonic before saying "well, I did say small" he declared.

Shadow put one of the cubes on the table and took out a butter knife.

"Gerald always gave Maria just a small portion of a cube for reasons that I don't know, possibly age requirements" Shadow declared, turning to Tails "since you're almost Maria's age when I saw him give it to her, I would give you about the same amount."

Shadow picked up the butter knife and started to cut a small portion in the medicine, or at least he tried as the knife went straight through it.

"What in Chaos?" Shadow exclaimed as he tried to cut it again and again. Shadow then paused "this kind of reminds me when my chaos spear went right through that creature yesterday.."

"So, what, we just give it to Tails as is?" Sonic asked.

"I don't know the consequences of overdosing so that's not an option" Shadow stated. "Some things call for drastic measures, stand back!" He declared as he took out the sword he had used earlier.

Using very careful precision, Shadow used the bronze sword to cut the medicine into a small portion. It came out very rigid, not very straight. Afterward, put the sword back into the scabbard the hung around his waist.

Shadow then took the small piece and handed to Tails "here you go, eat it and I'll hope we don't find you dead tomorrow" Shadow declared as Sonic gave a disapproving glare.

Tails stared at the small, rigid white square for a bit. It looked almost as white as his glove. Finally deciding that there was no way around it, he tossed it down the hatch. He expected a medicine this powerful to taste extremely bitter, however this was not the case. Instead the medicine took on a minty flavor, one of Tails' all-time favorites, mint candy. He could feel the medicine working its magic already; as blood rapidly rushed to his arm, and the bones seemed to be repairing themselves. It was a sensation that Tails had never felt before, his body working to fix itself at an alarming rate. It was incredible to say the least.

"So, that's it?" Sonic asked, "no cast or anything like that?"

"Not unless Tails feels he needs it," Shadow declared "I'm sure I have the materials for it around here somewhere."

"No, I'm fine," Tails said, "my arm is feeling better already!"

"Are you sure, buddy?" Sonic asked, "you're not just trying to be strong for my sake, are you?"

"Positive," Tails declared "putting on a cast would just slow me down. If the situation is as severe as Annabeth and Percy said, and from what we saw, it is. We can't waste a single minute to get to Camp Half-Blood."

"While I would agree," Shadow declared "you two need to know exactly what you're up against." He paused "and after what happened in Green Hill, I need to make sure you are ready for what's ahead."

"What do you mean make sure we are ready?" Sonic asked.

Shadow rolled his eyes "Please, Sonic," he said as he motioned for the duo to follow him out of the room "I may not show it, but I care a lot about your well-being."

Tails wasn't sure if Shadow was being sarcastic or not. But he had a point, there was no rushing into the field, especially in his state.

Author's note

I really apologize for the wait on this one. There's no excuse this time. xd I apologize if the chapter feels more like filler than anything, but I promise its essential.

Anyway, a few things I need to clarify though. First, I'm hoping this one clicked in as you were reading, early on it is stated that the events of Sonic Adventure two took place ten years ago; what this also means is that whenever Shadow's past is mentioned, it will be explained as being sixty years ago rather than fifty years ago. Nothing too complicated, just added ten years to the original amount.

This is something I expect only the hard-core fans of Percy Jackson & the Olympians to get without me explaining it: the cube-like medicine that Sonic & co. find is actually ambrosia, but the group doesn't know it. Consider it dramatic irony for now.