Lost Memories Chap 7
Using his incredible sound barrier breaking speed, Sonic ran back to his and his little brother's house. Shock was written all over his face after finally seeing his lost two friends again which turned out to be an encounter between him and his fellow rivals. It wasn´t the fact that they were there to kick his butt that shocked him the most. At times they tended to do this on daily basis. No. The thing that made his jaw drop was, that they came in Eggmans' name for him, which does not only mean that they want to see his blood spit all over the ground but also, and that was the main point, that they worked with or for his arch enemy. Not only that but also a big question popped up. Well, actually two. They first one would be what Eggman did to them. The second… How on EARTH did the doctor get Shadow to follow his orders for no reason other than to beat the living hell out of him? Sonic didn´t really question Knuckles. It wouldn´t be the first time. But Shadow? He normally isn´t one who believes things easily. Something was fishy. Very, very fishy.
Several minutes later Sonic arrived at his house, almost storming inside. Good thing the door wasn´t locked or it would have either hurt or the impact would have caused the door to break. After entering his house, Sonic called out for Tails. When he didn´t get anything back after the first call, the blue blur called for him a few more times. Tails still didn´t reply what made Sonic wonder if his little brother was even home. This however was proven wrong after a belated "I'm here" from the two tailed fox. Without losing time Sonic followed the kids' voice and found him on the computer, playing some games with his headset wrapped around his neck. Easy to guess that the young fox didn´t hear him at first because of said headset. His blue eyes were fixed on the screen but still made a greeting gesture with his head. As if Sonic couldn´t understand how his best friend could be so calm at this circumstances, he looked at him almost shocked. It wasn´t like Tails could possible know about what happened yet. Beside this the hedgehogs shocked face was still from the event with Shadow and Knuckles.
"Tails, you will never guess who I just saw a few minutes ago!" Sonic said with a louder voice than he intended to do. Before continuing, he probably wanted to get Tails' attention.
"Shadow and Knuckles?" the yellow fox replied blank, seemingly indifferent, without looking at his friend.
"No! Shadow and Kn-" the blue hero stopped midsentence after his brain realised that Tails had guessed right. That was definitely something Sonic did not see coming. "Wait… how do you know that?"
The boy turned towards the speedster and tilted his head slightly. His innocent blue eyes met with the emerald green orbs of Sonic, who was waiting for an answer. In this short moment Tails had to doubt if Sonic was thinking clearly. Probably not or else he wouldn´t be this stunned of the yellow boys' indeed true guess. Tails was by far the smartest of Sonics' friends, so he shouldn´t be this surprised to tell the truth. Besides the fact that he knows Tails like no other. Lucky for Tails that he also knows Sonic very well. Sometimes even better than the hedgehog knew himself. And exactly that kept his astonishment to a minimum.
"Well… it is pretty obvious, if you ask me. Why else would you storm into the house like that?" he explained while tilting his head to the other side. "Besides… those marks on your body don´t exactly look like you stumbled over something that caused you to fall on the ground"
With that being said Sonic looked at all those nasty injuries he got from Shadow and Knuckles. It weren´t major ones and to be honest, both of his rivals hurt him far worse than this already. With a deep sigh, Sonic then turned away from Tails while scratching his head in thought. To say the least, the blue hedgehog didn´t really know where to start. This situation made Sonic unable to put two and two together. He just didn´t understand what was going on. That's why it took him a moment to gather his thought and find the best way to start. A slight concerned look took places on Tails' face as he watched Sonic. This was one of those rare moments his best friend was in, where he had to find the right words. Normally Sonic was, like almost everywhere, fast with those kind of things. The yellow fox then stood up and went up to his idol.
"You… don´t exactly look like a person who just found two long lost friends again…" He started while his face got even more worried now. "What happened?"
Another sigh left Sonics' throat. It took him another moment before he turned towards Tails with a worried gaze himself.
"Tails… Something is clearly wrong…" Sonic began and for an answer he got a confused 'huh?' from his smaller buddy.
Tails face got even more concern now. In the time Sonic paused however, Tails imagination took the most terrible imaginations he was able to come up with. Like them have become zombies or lost one of their limbs, being mutilated or anything similar to that. On the other hand he tried to calm himself from those kind of thought and also took a mental note to stop playing zombie or horror games. His still young brain got way to creative with those things lately. For once he should listen to Sonic when it comes to those games. Step on the brakes. He assumed whatever Sonic was going to tell him, wasn´t something as bad as them turning into zombies. The time all those thought ran through Tails' head felt like an infinity to the young fox. In reality only a few seconds passed before Sonic continued. He would have done so sooner, but he was merely distracted by how Tails began to stare at him in those few seconds. Guessing by his look, it was clear that he started to imagine the possibilities of his bad news. Sonic really needed to take care of those games soon or later. With a short shake of his head, to get himself back to the actual topic, he then looked at Tails once again.
"Shadow and Knuckles are with Eggman" the blue hedgehog then finally finished.
The concern look of Tails immediately vanished and a surprised and shocked gaze took place instead. From all things his mind came up with, that wasn´t one of them. An incredulous "what?!" left the foxes' mouth fast. No wonder that Sonic was so shocked himself when he came back.
"Are you kidding?" Tails added a few seconds of disbelieve later.
"I am not! And believe me, I had the same reaction as you. At first I thought they wanted to kick my butt for bringing them into the situation of Eggman kidnapping them. Guess I was very wrong. They did that because Eggman ordered them to!" the blue blur explained with clenched fists followed by gritted teeth.
"But… but how? Why would they? Does Eggman control them?"
"I don´t know, but… they didn´t look like Eggman attached something on them that makes them obey to his will… More like they did this… voluntary" Sonic told him with a low and controlled voice.
After this information, a slight frown appeared on Tails' forehead. It's not a mystery that Knuckles and Shadow are sometimes not very fond of the blue blur, but they would never try to harm him unless Sonic annoys them to a certain degree. Shadow was more of a person who avoids unnecessary fights while Knuckles starts to attack when his temper kicks in or his pride was stepped on in a hard way. But other than that also he tried to safe his strength for more important events. Long story short, both normally only use violence when it was really necessary. Not counting the battles they got into when they were on each other's throats all the time. Shadow was the one to blame for those as he provoked Knuckles until his temper got the better of him. This way the dark hedgehog had an excuse to hurt Knuckles with self-defence. Everyone knew that Shadow only did that to provoke a fight though. The red streaked hedgehog didn´t even deny it. Getting his trail of thought interrupted when Sonic attempted to continue, Tails then gave him his fullest attention again.
"It was very odd anyway… When I met them, they acted like we would be enemies for like years or something… But… that's not what concerns me the most…" the blue one continued and looked at his younger friend with a slight frown himself. "What concerns me the most is… that they acted like… they didn´t seem to remember me at all. That we are actually friends"
Yellow ears where perking after Sonic said the last part, which made a thought pop up in Tails mind.
"You mean like amnesia?" the two tailed fox suggested.
"That could be a possibility. I mean… when I first went up to them with open arms and being happy to see them being alright, they didn´t really look confused… however, when Shadow stated that the doctor was right about me, for whatever reason, and I naturally was all shocked about that, then they seemed confused. As if they questioned themselves why in the world I don´t know that" the blue hedgehog pointed out while crossing his arms in thought.
If anything this was actually more talking to himself than talking to Tails. Midsentence Sonic started to wonder if this really could be the case. A lot of things pointed towards it but he couldn´t be really sure yet. He had only met them once and for all he knew, Eggman could still be blackmailing them somehow so they only act the way they did. Thoughts got interrupted when Tails stated that this does sound like amnesia to him.
"Well… whatever it is true or not, next time I meet them, I will try to talk to them. If I get them to listen, then maybe they will get their remembrance back. And then… I don´t really have to take care of Eggman myself" he chuckled slightly while saying the last sentence.
Sonic could literally see them chasing the doctor in rage for using them like this. Like a movie the scene played in the blue heroes mind what caused him to chuckle even more. Also the yellow fox had to giggle a little at that thought. Until another more serious thought interrupted this funny one. The giggling disappeared almost instantly. Taking note of this, Sonic looked at Tails once more while he tilted his head slightly to the side at the same time.
"What's the matter?"
"You know what irritates me a little? If Shadow and Knuckles really do this voluntary… why didn´t they finish you off when you ran into them?" Tails asked while tilting his head. Of course he didn´t wanted that his best friend got killed, but he couldn´t help but wonder.
With a few blinks at first, but then turning away slightly, Sonic thought about this. To be honest, he hadn´t noticed until Tails mentioned it. Holding his chin in thought, his mind went back to when Shadow got him pinned down with his foot. If Shadow really have wanted, he could have easily killed him in that moment of defencelessness. Yet he didn´t and Knuckles also didn´t make a move of further violence against him. Only after his dark furred main rival threated him to make his life hell from now on, they started to play football with him again. Sounds more fun than it was, since Sonic had the honour to be the ball. This was almost as worse as getting hit by Amys' hammer. Slowly his eyes started to wander over his body in order to look at all the injuries he got from his rivals. They certainly could have done so much worse, but they didn´t… almost as if…
At this very moment something made click in Sonics mind. Moving his gaze back up, he frowned another time.
"I'm not completely sure but…" The attention of Tails was drawn right back at Sonic after he began to speak. He saw him looking at one of his, with cuts overdrawn, arms. "Thinking back… it doesn´t feel like they wanted to see me dead. Yet at least. It actually felt more… like Eggman wanted to inform me, that he is going to play with me. A game of who lasts longer and I can see that taunting grin of his as if he was standing right in front of me!"
Clenching his fist, a low growl escaped the blue ones throat. Tails on the other hand lowered his ears a little. Predicting Dr. Eggmans' plans was something Sonic learned to be good at after all those years in fighting him. But also natural worry for his big brother came along, even though Tails knew that Sonic is far from being easily defeated. However… fighting his two biggest rivals at the same time? Tails wasn´t sure if Sonic could handle them alone in a long run. Especially when they learn how to work as a team. Soon or later the fast blue hedgehog will need help but thanks Chaos Tails knew well enough who would be a good edition for cases like this.
Speaking about the two devils that just accomplished what they were ordered to do, they chaos controlled back from the spot they faced their blue enemy. Both hoped that Eggman was satisfied with their work and made their way back to the bald mans' interstitial space. They knew he was watching all along. Though they themselves were pretty satisfied with their first mission, slight confusion surrounded them. Although they didn´t show it much in front of Sonic, they couldn´t deny that his shocked and unsuspecting reaction irritated them a lot. The walk up to the human lay in quite uncomfortable silence. For the first time in weeks. Each of them frowning and in their own thoughts. After almost half the way up to Eggman was done, Knuckles glanced at the hedgehog beside him who had his gaze lowered on the ground. The red echidna then decided to break this awful silence.
"…hey, Shadow?"
With a "Hm?" the dark hedgehog lifted his head to look at his companion.
"Does Sonics' reaction about our appearance confuse you as well?" He questioned Shadow who was turning his head more into Knuckles' direction after asking him.
"You too?" he replied with a raised eyebrow and got a nod from the taller red male.
To say this was only confusing would be a great understatement. A better description would be, it completely getting them out of concept. Odd enough that Sonic first went up to them and greeted them happily. Like they would be on the same side. What got them to be this irritated, was the fact that the blue hedgehog was completely surprised when they first said Eggmans' name. Like he was absolutely not aware of them being his enemies. This would also explain why he was too stunned to fight back properly. It seemed like his mind was taken over by shock and surprise as a whole. Both had expected an entire different reaction as soon as the blue one saw it was them. If anything, they thought he would become defensive immediately, fight back or even run off. Anything they had expected but the way he actually acted. Something was far from right and they were going to find out what. Shadow and Knuckles wanted an explanation. And they wanted it now! After a short view exchange, they continued their way to the room Dr. Eggman was in. Their faces serious and determined to find out what the meaning behind all this was.
Soon they reached the door and shortly they glanced at each other before finally entering. Inside the room, Eggman was sitting on his armchair with his back facing them, starring at all the screens with a wide grin spread over his face. With interest and slight glee he watched his two allies go after his arch nemesis. He absolutely loved that stunned face Sonic wore when Shadow and Knuckles announced that they were coming in his name. But as much as he enjoyed this show, he knew there was a slight problem coming along the start of his game. Hearing the door behind him open, he lifted his head slightly. Standing in the room now, the two quilled creature's eyes lay on the chair, silently and with serious expressions, waiting for the man to turn around. Though the scientist knew that he could get into deep trouble with making the slightest mistake now, he couldn´t help but grin even wider. There was enough confidence in his own acting skills and plan, that made him stay calmer than he probably should. After all, if he really fails at being plausible now, there was a high chance this would end badly for him.
"Ah, Shadow. Knuckles. Welcome back" they heard the doctor talk with obvious joy shortly before he turned around with his armchair. With one leg crossed over the other and intertwined fingers the man with the moustache looked at his two smaller companions. "I'm really satisfied with your achievement. Good work" he praised them with his grin still as wide as before.
Shadow and Knuckles didn´t reply to his praising. Keeping their expressions unmoved by the positive words they just got gifted, all they did was only looking at the tall human. The grin on Eggman's face slowly faded and a questioning gaze replaced it instead. Of course the doctor knew exactly what was going on, but he had to keep his act perfectly in order for them to not become even more sceptical.
"What's the matter?"
"Why was Sonic acting like he had no idea what in the world was going on?!" the dark furred hedgehog said harshly, almost cutting his so called boss off.
Shadows', just like Knuckle' eyes narrowed a lot. It was clear they wanted to know. They looked demanding. Instantly. Hidden under his dark glasses, Eggmans' eyes met with the burning red eyes of the hedgehog. Perhaps it was an advantage for him to have glasses as it is a lot easier to keep a neutral face when his eyes aren´t visible. Slowly he leaned forward so that his elbows rested on his thighs. His fingers were still intertwined while he did so.
"What are you implying? That I deceive you?" he asked, keeping his voice calm and controlled.
"Perhaps?" Knuckles answered, while his expression got more and more sceptical.
Silence took place in the room when both sides did nothing expect looking at each other. The air got heavier the more time passed. But slowly and at first barely hearable, a chuckle paved its way through the unbearable noiselessness. With the time it got louder and louder. Obviously it was the doctor who laughed. It was hard to overlook at the way his body moved due to the laughing. Confused looks replaced the sceptical gazes of Shadow and Knuckles when Eggman suddenly started to chuckle in amusement. Their eyes met in astonishment before they turned their attention back at the scientist. Right in this moment Eggman leaned back and moves one of his hands to his forehead to cover it.
"Oh Sonic… you cheeky little rat! I should have known that you are trying to pull an act!" Dr. Eggman admitted loudly while still chuckling.
After hearing this sentence, both of the other two raised an eyebrow. Sonic only acted like that? It certainly didn´t look like he did and Shadow like Knuckles told this the other right away. How in the world should the blue hedgehog even have the knowledge, of them having amnesia, to come up with something like acting? Eggman looked at them for a short while before standing up. One arm behind his back and with the other stroking his moustache, he then turned away from them to look at his monitors again.
"Well, if you two really seek for an explanation, then I will gladly give you one" the doctor announced while tipping something on the keyboard. "You know… Sonic has a friend who can unfortunately keep up with my intelligence and even though I didn´t see it coming, he could have done the math to find out how high the chance would be for you two to get amnesia. It wouldn´t even be that much off, if you think about that. You both where trapped in a life threatening situation involving extreme heat… twice. Enough to activate the defence mechanism in your brains"
"For both of us at the same time?" Knuckles questioned while turning his head slightly away and narrowing his eyes.
"Indeed the chance for that to happen is very low, but as you both know, it did. Everything is possible, it says. So they probably made up a plan for that just in case it was true. To make you doubt me"
While Eggman still input something into the computer, the quilled ones exchanged views once again. Right now they had a hard time to not doubt him, but at the same time they couldn´t be sure if it was true or not.
"But… how should he know? We didn´t exactly reacted to his happy attitude to see us" Shadow stated while moving his eyes away from Knuckles and to the human.
"That's what you think. In fact, you did. Only slightly but you did. I saw it. You looked confused for a short time and that gave him enough information to know what was going on. Sadly Sonic isn´t stupid. I have to give him that" Eggman explained and finally pressed enter what made the picture of a young, yellow, two tailed fox appear on one of the screens.
Almost instantly the hedgehogs and the echidnas' attention was drawn towards the new image. Knuckles frowned while Shadow raised an eyebrow. Why was Eggman showing them that?
"Who's that?" both asked contemporaneous.
"That is Miles Prower. Also called Tails. He is the friend I was talking about before" Dr. Eggman said and turned back to them.
"That is him?" Shadow voiced in disbelieve. "… It's kind of implausible for a kid to keep up with your IQ, doctor"
The dark hedgehog crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at the human. At first watching Shadow but then turning his eyes to Eggman as well, Knuckles nodded in agreement. A sigh left the man's throat.
"That is coming from an on two feet running, talking hedgehog who is holding the power to destroy whole buildings with his powers?" he sarcastically replied only to get a displeased snort from said dark hedgehog in return. Lowering his eyes Shadow had to admit, that Eggman got a point. "And as I said before… everything is possible"
And after that being said, Shadow clenched his fist and turned away. Even with his then closed eyes he could tell that he earned a worried look from Knuckles. But either way, he could also tell that his red friend was just as torn apart on the inside as he was. What should he believe? What was true? Was Sonic's acting really fake? As long as they lived on the island, Eggman never made a move to harm them. In fact, he treated them friendly, daring to say, almost like family. There were even times where they could joke around with him, as strange as it seems. They learned how to respect him and went even as far as to trust him in the time since they woke up. Maybe they were overreacting. Doubting all the trust they gained for him over the weeks by the few minutes of acting unknowing from a person they practically just met? After all, what Eggman said made sense. Bizarre but it made sense. On the other hand however, Sonic should know them for a long time as well. But then again, what IF Eggman was right with him only acting? It was all just so confusing! With having all this thoughts at the same time, a bad headache took over Shadows' brain. Gritting his teeth hard and covering his head with both of his hands to try to suppress the headache while pinning his ears flat on his head. A pained groan left his mouth. That didn´t stay unnoticed by Knuckles who was supporting Shadow right away so he won´t fall on his knees.
"Shadow, what's wrong?" the red echidna asked with concern.
To say the least. Also Knuckles had his doubts but they seemed by far not as worse as the hedgehogs. His built up trust in Eggman was stronger than the confusion and doubt he had when they first arrived. Unknown to him that was the cause of him still being very gullible. For Eggman it was clear that Knuckles would be less of a problem when it comes to making them fall for his act. He managed to do that so many times while Knuckles was his enemy. Shadow was a whole different story as he was probably the most sceptical person he had ever met in his life. But remembering the time where Shadow already suffered from amnesia once, where he was torn apart between so many different stories, what he should believe, what was true or false, who he should turn to in the end… he fell for a lot of lies back then, including the doctors, until he finally uncovered the truth. Let's just say, the scientist was certain he could achieve that again. Even more easily if he plays the cards right. And to him it looked like Shadow was merely half a step away from believing him fully. He just had to convince him a little more somehow. While Knuckles tried to comfort Shadow, Eggman slowly went up to them and gently put one hand on one shoulder of each of them. Turning the gazes back, they looked up at the tall man.
"You see what he is doing? Sonic is messing with your heads. Don´t believe anything he says. He is just trying to find weak spots. Don´t forget who left you to die…" he said in an almost gently tone.
Head lowered in a shameful way followed by slow nods.
"We understand… I'm sorry we were doubting you, doctor…" Knuckles spoke for them both when he gave Shadow support who still suffered from that headache.
He was very grateful for Knuckles to give him support and talk for him as well. If the echidna decided to let go of him now, there was no other way for Shadow then to fall on his knees. For the talking part, his headache was so bad that he would probably not even get a straight sentence out. With a slight worried look, but still wearing a gentle smile, the doctor looked at his smaller allies and decided to give the suffering Shadow the light pet on the head. Normally the dark hedgehog would have hissed him off but right now he didn´t even bother. If he even noticed it due to the pain.
"Maybe you should go and take a rest, Shadow" he suggested.
A small, barely visible nod was his answer. Knuckles, who noticed it to the hedgehogs luck, was giving him even more support and slowly leaded him out of the room in order to get him to their room. Shadow leaned slightly more against the echidna when they started to walk. Who could have known that a headache could be THIS bad? As soon as the two quilled creatures where out of the room, an evil grin appeared on Dr. Eggmans' face. Just like before the two came back. A low chuckle found its way out from the man as well. This all was just going according to plan and he was very proud of it. He was going to have so much fun with torturing Sonic like this. The game he let Sonic and them unwillingly join was getting more and more interesting. And it pretty much just started, but from the looks of it, the madman had the upper head ever since it began.
To be continued…
