Chapter 6
The New City
"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things."
-Robert Brault
Rushing through the woods with Tails behind him, Espio was trying to run as fast as he could without making Tails trip. As Tails was being dragged on through the woods, he realized something that he should have told Espio back at the bush house. He was trying to tell Espio, but Espio just would not listen. As they emerged from the woods, what Tails saw and what Espio already knew were exactly the same. The town was on fire, and Sonic and Amy were nowhere to be seen. Espio did not stop for a second, but then told Tails to stay where he was. Tails argued, saying he wanted to look for them too. Espio ignored him, and went straight into the flames. Tails knew Espio would be O.K. because no one in his right mind would go straight into a fire. As Tails thought, he recalled something from his past that was long forgotten. It was something that he had to forget in order to be the monkey's friend. Tails thought, and decided that it was the thing he needed to look for Sonic and Amy.
. . .
A short while later, after much bush whacking through the forest to a densely covered hanger, Tails stopped and drew a breath. This hanger had so many memories. But a few of them were very bad ones. Tails shivered at the remembrance of these memories and tried to put them aside. He walked over to the door of the hanger and opened it. Inside, more beautiful that Tails remembered, was his most prized possession. Shining in the single beam of light, his glossy (also newly waxed, oddly enough), yellow, with five hundred horsepower, a top speed of over five hundred MPG, and the ability to turn invisible, his car was the best ever made(possibly).
Opening the doors more to see what he had left inside, his heart nearly stopped. Inside it looked like someone was standing right beside the workbench by the side! But then he remembered the cardboard cutout he placed to scare away people. He sighed, and then made his way to the car. If he remembered correctly, there was a switch that took the car down to a work shop to fix the car. The work shop was Tail's of course, built and supplied by him. He decided to inspect the car to make sure it was in top shape, and he planned to take it and leave to find Espio, then Sonic and Amy. Soon he was done, and soon he was out of the hanger. Just as he reached the town, Espio was waiting for him, with a stern look on his face. As soon as he saw the car though, he looked surprised.
As soon as he realized how badly tails was driving though, He said "move over. I need to drive while you're recovering." Tails reluctantly moved and began telling Espio what the car could do. When Tails told Espio about the invisibility part, Espio's face lit up (Knowing full well, that most standard ninjistsu cars all had a thirty minute timer to turn invisible). But Tails wasn't finished talking. He said that his car had about two hours to be invisible. With that, Espio punched the gas and drove to the other side. Tails thought they would Sonic and Amy be somewhere near the car rental, but Espio said he checked that place already. Tails thought, and said, "Hey, I've got an idea. If you got hurt, where would you go?"
Espio grinned, remembering that the town had a hospital. "Well, if they're not there, then where else could they be?"
Tails responded, "At my house, probably."
They both laughed expecting it to be the last place they would check.
Tails stopped laughing, and looked at Espio. "Seriously though, we should check there when were done here."
Espio then drove to the hospital, expecting some sort of sign that Sonic and Amy had passed through, or even gone inside. Unfortunately, no sign was found, although Espio was surprised at first when he saw the scorch marks. When he looked over at Tails, Tails just simply nodded and they drove back to the bush house. Thankfully, the fire was still in control and was only burning down the town, so the forest and the bush house were unharmed. Upon coming to the edge of the forest, were the car could not go further, Espio turned off the car.
Tails hopped out, and told Espio, "You can turn invisible right? Well, pull the lever in the middle, and turn invisible. I need you to watch the car."
Espio merely grunted in reply, and did what Tails told him. As Tails ran to the house, he feared the worst. A series of "ifs" were going through his head. What if, what if, what if. It was almost maddening. But, he reached the bush house, just when Tails thought he was going to get sick from worry. Cautiously, Tails made his way to the door. Just to be sure he put his ear to it and listened, he didn't hear anything through the heavy doors. Satisfied, he opened the door and met the big face of a hammer. Getting sent flying, Tails slammed into a tree, and fell to the ground unable to move, or pick himself up afterwards.
Amy ran out of the house in a wild panic. "Oh my gosh Tails! I'm so sorry! Please forgive me!" still dazed and on the ground, Tails reluctantly accepted the help of Amy. Almost falling several times, Tails and Amy finally made it to the bush house. Tails sat on the bed and groaned. Amy just shook her head. As the dizziness wore off, Tails noticed that Sonic was nowhere to be seen. Just as Tails opened his mouth to ask, Amy responded, "No, he is not here. We got separated, and I'm worried that he could be in trouble…" she mumbled the last part, "although I doubt he's in trouble…"
Tails merely grunted and listened to the sounds of the wind, gently kissing the tops of the trees. And right then, the peace was disturbed by someone running full force into the door. Creaking off its hinges, the door fell to the floor with a blue figure plastered onto it. Sonic leaped up, a little wobbly, but spoke to Amy, "Hey! I got us some food I managed to get from one of the burning restaurants."
Amy groaned, "Chilidogs again?"
"No."
"Really?!"
"No."
Amy cursed under her breath, and looked at Tails. "Well, it looks like you're in luck, Tails. The chili dogs Sonic finds are really good." Sonic looked bewildered when he saw Tails.
Leaving Sonic speechless, Tails asked, "Hey, Sonic, could you do me a favor? Could you go out to the front of the forest and yell Espio's name? Then have him drive around the forest, and have him drive to the house." Sonic agreed, and later they were all (including Espio) on the floor eating. And for once, they were all at peace, together, and content.
. . .
Far off in another part of the planet, the mighty kingdom of Acorn stood proudly in all its glory. Well, actually it stretched as far as almost Tail's town, but where the castle is, is most important. The castle was in the City of New Mobotropolis, and surrounding the castle was the city itself. And standing above the town, on the castle, on a balcony, near the top but in an area where it's logical it would be the guard room for the king and queen, stood a proud figure. A coyote stood in a blue uniform that was the uniform of the royal guard. He had a standard size sabre, sharp and well maintained, and he had cuffs on his shoulder depicting him as a high ranking person, and looking at his face, he had a glimmer in his eye of such a confidence, that you can tell he was experienced, and that he was sure he could do anything on a moments notice. But if you looked deeper, you would find that he didn't like violence, and that he would do anything to stop it, before it happens. Which, meant he was somewhat of a coward, but he would defend the things he held deep, if he needed to. His kingdom was one of those things. But also, he wasn't just in the royal guard, but also in the royal army (which was basically the same as any other army). His rank was a colonel, but he didn't care, he was just as proud as any other high ranking officer. The city of New Mobotropolis. The city, which held the castle, also held the hospital which Tails needed to get to. The city did however, have an advanced computer system which ran everything. Defenses, power, and it monitored suspicious activity. The city system was known as NICOLE. But it's easier to call it Nicole, as in an actual name. And it, is improper, for its technically (literally) female and she is a lynx. Almost every high ranking person has a comm. unit that Nicole can talk to them through. The king, the queen, and the princess, and the commander of the army, and the coyote, since he is the head of the guard, all have the comm. unit. The coyote was surprisingly young for his age, around Sonic's age, and he knew the princess since they were kids. That was probably one of the reasons he had a comm. unit. Nicole was busy with other things at the moment, such as supervising the training of the elite forces in the city's army camp. One of the soldiers however, happened to be partially trained in magic. This was unknown to the rest of the army, and even Nicole. The coyote had such a strong interest in him, which he believed he could almost do anything. Since the soldier had elite training and partial training in magic, he had mastered one thing in magic terms. Electricity was his strongest weapon with magic. He could literally use it in any way he wanted to. But, since no one knew he had powers in magic, he had to suppress how much he used it. Nobody knew his real name, but when he introduced himself, (he thought they were talking about food, and he thought they asked what type of breakfast food he liked) he said Toast. Ever since he said that, people have been calling him Toast. No one STILL knows his name. The coyote had taken such a strong interest on Toast, because he beat almost every person who went against him. Toast's secret, was he included a little bit of electricity in every punch and kick.
Pretty soon, the coyote received a message from Nicole. It read, "Hi Antoine. The elite training is done, so you can be done keeping watch in the chamber. Something is coming up on the outskirts in the desert. Just in case I confirm it's coming this way, I need you to be alert. This message was also sent to Sally."
Putting away his comm. unit, Antoine (the coyote) just sighed. He was a bit tired, and hoped to take the rest of the day off. But, Nicole had other ideas for him. As he walked down to the security room, he began thinking about the thing on the outskirts of the desert. Right then Nicole materialized behind him. Being a really advanced computer, she had 3-D cameras built everywhere around the city, including bedrooms, but not in bathrooms thank goodness. Nicole was pretty in a computery way, and everyone in the city admired her. But, thankfully, it wasn't enough for people to chase her down, or be total creeps. Antoine, accustomed to Nicole's often silent and sudden appearances, turned around when he heard a whooshing sound behind him.
"Hi Antoine!" Nicole cheerfully waved.
Antoine smiled, and said back, "Hello Nicole. How's your day zo far?"
Nicole smirked, "you still have the French accent. Haven't you been taking those English programs I've sent you?"
Antoine looked away quickly, "No." He spoke quietly, not wanting to upset Nicole.
Nicole smiled; she knew he hadn't taken the courses yet. "Any way, I came to talk to you about the unknown object on the desert."
This worried Antoine. "What do you mean, unknown?"
Nicole shuffled, "well, at the speed it's moving at, it's almost impossible to tell what the thing is. I know it's the size of a car, but what could it be?"
Antoine turned back to Nicole, the light she had in her eyes was genuine worry. Antoine felt the same way and sighed, "I don't know Nicole… I just don't know."
hey guys... sorry for the huge delay, but ive really been backed up in school work lately. so now, im probably going to upload a chapter every monday. any way, stick here, and keep reading! and please post reviews guys, im in the dark here.
