Chapter 7

A/N: Thank you, TailsLovesCosmo, seektorectify, and Ultra Orunitia for reviewing chapter 6. I do not own any references to Sonic X or its characters, Sega does.

Thanks to DC111 for catching some errors in this chapter so they could be fixed.

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ECTF Gerald, Hangar.

Tails sat in the cockpit making the final programming adjustments to the last of the new planes he had built this past month. When he had first checked out the hangar, he had discovered it filled with Eggman's latest model of fighter drones, but the problem was that instead of the commercial versions, fighters so effective that Tails knew that the human organization GUN would have used, they were his personal badnik version. The engines had been so wasteful and so dependant on fossil fuels that they made the human car, the hummer, look as efficient as their new hybrid technology cars! To make matters worse, the weapons reminded him of why Sonic had such little trouble taking Eggman's minions down. In fact, Eggman had tried to use a bazooka as a weapon for the planes. A bazooka! Unguided missiles were useless in a dogfight, which he assumed they would be in if they encountered trouble in this new galaxy, and even if that wasn't the case, Eggman's bazooka shells would barely scratch even the most basic levels of armor. Had Eggman been trying to get them killed? Knowing him, though, it was probably more he wanted the pride of saying that his personal design of the fighters had protected Sonic on his long journey. Why he took so much pride in such useless technology, though, was beyond Tails.

"Maybe he just likes putting his build and face on his machines more than making them work." Tails chuckled to himself. "I mean, all of his badniks have bodies that are rounded, have long noses that look like carrots, and have mustaches painted on their faces…or maybe he just wanted us to die thinking that he's just that vain…I can never be sure where he's concerned…"

"Hey, buddy. Whatcha…" Sonic came into the hangar and found Tails fiddling with the ship and stopped, staring at the plane he was in. "I-is that the X Tornado?"

Tails smiled proudly as he closed up the control panel in the cockpit and then jumped down to Sonic, his face beaming with pride. "Yep, and I also built copies of Amy's plane and Cream's plane."

Sonic's jaw dropped in amazement. "How did you do all of this in a month? With the busy schedule Amy's kept us on, we've all been up late doing chores! I don't even want to think about how much time building for fun took up."

Tails grinned at his surrogate brother's reaction. "It was easier than you think; I had a lot of parts to use from Eggman's fleet." He pointed to a scrap heap in the corner. "The hardest part was trying to get the right parts from the planes."

Sonic then realized that Tails had huge bags under his eyes, and his cheery voice and smile seemed to be forced. "Tails, are you okay? How much sleep have you been getting?"

Tails stared blankly back at his friend. "Erm…I don't know. Enough. I've had bad dreams about that day, and I had to finish this. I've just…done nothing for too long, and I don't want to be forced to act again. The last time I was forced to do something because of my inaction I lost the one I loved! If I am being given a second chance, I am going to make sure that no one will pay for my mistakes again!" His eyes, previously void of emotion, became filled with tears and his jaw became tightened in self-loathing hatred as he stared through the ground next to Sonic's feet.

"Buddy, don't ever talk like that! It was never your fault; it was Dark Oak's fault for carrying his hatred so far. If anything, it's my fault for not destroying Dark Oak in that first battle with him. If I had been less cocky and treated him like a threat, maybe she would be alive…"

Tails looked at his friend's sorrow in complete surprise at the suddenness of his reaction. "Sonic, it's not your fault. Dark Oak would still be alive if it wasn't for you and Shadow. Do you realize he would have killed Shadow on his own? He would have killed everyone in the universe! Sonic, you have no reason to be guilty. You shouldn't worry about those 'ifs', there isn't anything that can be done and everything happens to serve a purpose. Remember that." He stopped, realizing what he just said to his friend.

"Bingo, Buddy." Sonic grinned meekly, then shook his head and gave his classic smile. "Anyway, we need you on the bridge right now. We're coming out of the jump any moment now, and we're already picking up the Chaos Emeralds."

"Okay, I'll be right there." Tails replied as he set his tools down and hurried after his friend.

When Tails got to the bridge, he looked around and saw that everyone was eagerly waiting for him to tell them where they were going. He went over to the monitors and checked to see which planets the Chaos Emeralds had landed on. He then went to the database and located the interstellar com network that the OIPSAR had established (the Organization of Intergalactic Pioneers, Surveyors, and Recorders [pronunciation: oyp' săr]) and quickly found the planet guide for this galaxy. Lucky for the group, this was galaxy had been discovered for long enough that the slow organization had actually mapped it out. That or the locals were advanced enough to have already had a map of their galaxy to donate when they were "discovered". He scrolled down the screen until he found the description of the planet nearest to them that had an Emerald. He noted that the description did not meet the OIPSAR standard of having a minimum of 500 words describing all aspects of the planet; an odd mistake, he supposed.

"Planet Tes' La. A planet surrounded by violent electrical storms." he paused as he quietly chuckled to himself, seeing the irony of the planet's name. "All technology is permanently shut down by the high voltage of the storms. WARNING: Do NOT attempt to land for ANY reason. None have returned from the planet alive. At all. Ever. In the eons of our existence." Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles began to snicker.

"Okay. Enough." Shadow grumbled as the entire room became filled with laughter since everyone knew the organization had only been around for the equivalent of 20 years on Mobius or Earth.

"Oh, I needed that." Tails grinned as he looked at the monitor. "Anyway, I think we should hold off on that planet, all the same. We won't have any idea what's on the surface and-

"No, we can't wait." Maerick interrupted.

"WH-WHAT?! Why not? Do you want us to get killed down there? Think! We won't be able to use any technology, and there's no telling what's down there!" Amy immediately yelled at him; the two had realized during the past month that they were like water and oil: Maerick was calm and logical, while Amy at times was irrational and emotional, like now, and to make matters worse they both had tempers.

"If that's an issue, then I'll go by myself. I won't break my promise to my friend." He looked to Tails pleadingly, but the fox looked instead at his friends, saw their expressions, and shook his head.

"I agree with the boy." Shadow muttered. Everyone looked at him in surprise, leaving the room in a silent stalemate.

Finally Tails broke the silence that had filled the room. "Maerick, as much as I want to help you, I have to keep the safety of everyone in mind. Maybe on one of the planets we'll find out if anyone knows what's down there, but right now we don't have anything to go off of, and it seems that everyone other than you and Shadow want to do this. After we have a Chaos Emerald, we can warp down to the surface and back safely, but until then we'd be stranded there."

Each reason for avoiding the planet struck the soldier like a bullet, and once Tails had finished the explanation, he clenched his jaw and marched out of the room. Shadow promptly followed, leaving the room in a stunned stillness.

"Don't worry about him, buddy. He'll be fine." Sonic reassured the kitsune.

"I hope so, because I felt like I was just telling myself to wait to save Cosmo." He said, stunned and shaken.

It would be hours before anyone bothered to check in on Maerick, and when they did they found that both he and Shadow were missing. It would be then that Tails would check the hangar to find that one of the remaining Egg-planes was missing.

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Planet Tes' La…

Maerick staggered from the wreckage of the plane and fell to his knees next to Shadow, who stood with his arms crossed as he was surveying the landscape of the planet. The sky of the planet was light grey in color and illuminated by a faded-orange sun. Its light blocked out the view of the lightning storms, but the thunder resounded so continuously that it sounded like the roaring of a great waterfall. The landscape was also grey from the color of the soil, reminding Maerick of a landscape of volcanic soil. Shadow noted that there were trees resembling pines from Earth sparsely scattered throughout the horizon, with numerous mountains in all directions. The mountains cast ominous shadows into the valley and blocked any wind that may have blown there, creating an eerie calm in the valley. The crunching of movement on the gravel nearby reminded him to keep an eye on the teenager, and when he looked over his shoulder he saw that the boy had already begun to walk off toward one of the mountains.

"Where do you think you're going?" Shadow raised an eyebrow at the uncharacteristic impatience of the soldier.

"To find the other escape pod from the Seedrian refugee ship." he called back.

"The what?" Shadow tried to keep himself from sounding curious.

"When Cosmo and I tried to escape, the rest of my men and the group we had found split up from Sarge, Cosmo, and me to find survivors and then come here. I saw their escape pod launch just before Dark Oak…well anyway, I saw them escape, so now I need to find them and get them off this rock."

"I see, but I came here because there is a Chaos Emerald here and it is foolish to leave one behind, no matter what the OIPSAR says about its natural defense. I have no doubt the Metarex are already here, and if they aren't yet they will be. If you want to get off this rock alive, you'll help me find it." The hedgehog threatened.

The soldier stopped at this and turned around to face Shadow, who defiantly looked up at the boy that was almost twice his height. "Y-you promised you would help me find my-

"Wrong, I promised to help you get here, which I have. Why are you being such a temperamental teenager? Look at this rationally, like you normally do! If they even survived the crash when they got here, they would have been here the entire time we were chasing the Metarex. There is no way they survived!"

"I have to at least try to find them."

"What, you think that they will magically have found food and water on this barren planet? Or that their bodies would survive all this time? You are a fool. If you want to leave here alive, follow me." The hedgehog muttered, pulling out a box of thick silicone that held a portable Emerald tracking device.

Shadow removed the covering and placed the modified communicator on his wrist, like a watch, and then walked in the direction that the readings told him. Maerick looked back over his shoulder and, slowly realizing that he didn't even know where the escape pod had landed, gloomily trudged after Shadow like the "good soldier" would have done, blocking out his sadness and guilt. They marched on this way, Shadow in front with Maerick following a couple dozen paces behind, for a couple of hours until they came to the edge of the valley at the base of a mountain.

"Now what?" Maerick despondently asked.

"Now we climb." The hedgehog replied. "Or is this too much work for the battle-hardened war veteran?" Shadow sneered, his attempt at the friendly taunting that Knuckles and Maerick had become accustomed to giving each other during the sparring matches Amy had set them up in.

Maerick smiled sadly at the remark, seeing the intention of the poorly executed sarcasm. "If that's what you think, then you are in for some disappointment. This old dog's been given some new tricks." He tried to tease back, though his voice still carried the anguish he tried to hide.

The two raced up the steep slope of the side of the mountain, quickly discovering the difficulty of climbing on gravel. Shadow kept from using the hover jets in his shoes to give the soldier at least a slight chance of beating him, though he almost slipped twice because of this. Maerick ran and wove up the slope with great speed, both from his knowledge of climbing hills from his time in the 392nd and from the vigor of his new youth. Even so, he only managed to stay with Shadow two thirds of the way before the ultimate life-form grew tired of running so slow and sprinted up the hill, leaving the soldier literally in the dust the jets from his shoes had made.

Maerick stopped and watched the hedgehog, slowly shaking his head and laughing as Shadow reached the top. Shadow quickly consulted the Emerald finder, searched the surprisingly flat summit a little while, and then proceeded to kneel down and reach into a crack in the ground. After he stood up, he walked over to the edge and held up the Emerald so that the soldier could see it. Maerick had begun climbing again when Shadow noticed some movement at the base of the mountain; the blur of a fleeting shadow on the sunbathed slope. Maerick noticed Shadow's grim expression and turned halfway around to look down the slope as well. They stood there for a couple of minutes until Maerick quietly pointed to a rock a couple of yards from them that the sound of gravel shifting could be heard. The two slowly crept up on the rock and were ready to attack whatever was on the other side when a small rodent climbed out from behind the rock, bearing a resemblance to a field mouse except for its yellow fur and two pairs of eyes.

Maerick lowered his weapon and shrugged. "Just a mouse."

Shadow grunted and walked up the slope. Maerick still had no idea why he wasn't using Chaos Control to warp them back to the ship, but he followed the hedgehog without asking questions. He looked over his shoulder at the mouse again as it stood on its hind legs and sniffed the air, its nose quickly twitching. Suddenly there was a rush of air and the mouse vanished in a quick shriek. Maerick stopped and tried to see what happened when he noticed a silhouette of something vaguely feline behind one of the rocks near where the rat had been. It slowly crept foreword until the sunlight revealed its white fur striped like that of a tiger with a spiky mane, large talons, an extremely wide maw with a smear of blood along the front, four beady eyes, and a two-tipped tail, which was similar to a rat's tail, flicked gently from side to side.

"Come on, Maerick. We don't have all day." Shadow stopped when he noticed he couldn't hear the boy following him.

"A Nexu…" he whispered, his mind filling with fear as he saw more shadows emerging from behind the rock. "How the heck are there Nexus here?!" (The Nexu is the tiger from the Star Wars movie Episode 2: Attack of the Clones)

"What?" Shadow questioned as he turned around, stopping as he saw the monsters in the shade of the rock.

"RUN!" Maerick yelled at Shadow.

Shadow was about to as why he shouldn't fight when the soldier pulled the rifle of his back and fired a quick burst of rounds into the midst of the cats before running up the slope of the mountain. The cats easily dodged the rounds and then ran toward the duo. The hedgehog slowly backed up and threw one Chaos Spear that missed its target before he turned and chased after the soldier.

Shadow came up behind the soldier and tackled him while he held up the Chaos Emerald, looking at the mountain in the distance as the gem began to glow. "CHAOS CONTROL!"

Light engulfed them for a brief second, and then dispersed to reveal that they were on another hillside, though they could hear the shrieks of the now blinded Nexus in the distance.

"We need to find a cave or somewhere extremely dark; these aren't forest Nexus so they can't see in the dimly lit places, since their eyes are very poor for dilation."

"You mean like the one right above us?" Shadow smirked.

Maerick looked up and smiled with relief. "Yep. And don't think I didn't hear that; I'm just too tired to care right now."

"Fine then. Stop griping and let's get in." Shadow stood up and walked to the cave while Maerick grunted, stood, and finally staggered to the cave.

"H-how is it you can walk for t…ten miles, climb a mountain for th-three, run faster than a…a pride of N-Nexu, and then use…use Chaos Control…all without breaking a sweat?" Maerick asked through gasping breaths.

"I am the Ultimate Life-Form. That is just what I do." He smirked as they entered the cave.

Suddenly the cave was illuminated by a flood of lights, momentarily blinding the duo as they heard the click of guns turning off their safeties and cocking to fire. "Drop you're weapons and then don't move." A voice came from behind the lights.

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Whew. Alright, only a few more chapters before the end of this "season" of regular updates for To Bring You Back, and I hope you've enjoyed them. If you ever have any criticism, comments, suggestions, etc. please feel free to submit a review, send a pm, or e-mail me. Thanks for reading, and see you guys next time!