Chapter 4
Tails awoke lying on Cream's couch. He was surrounded by his friends; Sonic, Amy, and the Chaotix.
"Hey, he's waking up!" Sonic exclaimed.
"Oh Tails, what happened?" Amy asked franticly," Where's Cosmo?!"
A grim expression crept across Tails' face.
"You ought to have given him time before questioning him, Amy." informed Espio, "He just came out of a trauma-induced fainting spell you know."
Amy took a step backwards sheepishly.
"But I wanna know too!! I wanna know too!" Charmy complained.
"Don't you people have an ounce of patience?" Espio asked angrily.
Sonic wanted to blurt out no but stopped himself. Tails could tell he was wearing his "patience are for hospitals" expression. He gave a deep mournful sigh, collecting his thoughts and remembering what had happened.
She is ours…just as you will be…
"Cosmo was kidnapped…"said Tails, fighting back tears as the scene played in his head, "I failed her…failed her again!!"
He wrapped his tails around his body and buried his face into them, crying.
"But who would do something like that?" asked Amy sympathetically, as she sat down besides Tails and put her arms around him to comfort him.
"I'll bet it was Eggman wasn't it?" said Sonic.
Your mother is my mother…and my father is Sevag…
"N-no…if only…if only it were just him…" Tails could hardly speak between the sobs.
Just then Cream's mother Vanilla entered the room, carrying a tray with tea.
"Oh, he's awake?" she asked gingerly as she placed the tea on the coffee table. She was very concerned with the whereabouts of her daughter.
"Don't worry Ma'am," said Vector reassuringly. It had long been apparent that Vector had a bit of a crush on Vanilla, apparent to everyone but Vanilla that is." We were just about to get that information out of Tails! Come on, speak up kid!"
The pain Tails felt was too much to bear.
I promised you Cosmo…that I'd never let you down again…
"Don't you know its bad educate to question someone when they're like this? Especially when they're not even a suspect!" yelled Espio.
"Cool it you guys. Just give Tails some time." Said Sonic.
"Th-thanks Sonic…"said Tails tearfully. He whipped his eyes with one of his puffy tails and sniffed. "It wasn't Eggman…no…it was someone worse…"
"Someone worse? How so?" asked Sonic.
"His name is Shade…and…and…" Tails let a couple tears roll down his cheeks, soaking into his fur, "…he's m-my brother…"
"Brother!?" exclaimed everyone in unison.
"Well half brother…his father…his father is Sevag…" Tails finished.
"Sevag? As in Sevag the Jackal?!" asked Amy fearfully.
"Oh no! I thought we got rid of him!" Sonic exclaimed.
"He's not alone…Shadow and Rouge were with him…" said tails sadly.
"Why those rotten…" Amy grumbled angrily.
"I wonder how much he's paying Rouge!" said Sonic angrily, crossing his arms," She wouldn't join him unless there's something in it for her!"
"And there was another…he was a wolf…" added Tails." They said something about bringing Sevag back…"
"But there's no way that I know of to bring that dark entity back from where he was sent." Said Espio.
Tails looked grim, " He said something about using Cosmo's life energy…"
"Life energy?" repeated Espio, his eyes widening.
"Sevag brought her to life…so she carries his life energy." Said Tails flatly, repeating what he learned from his dream earlier, from Sevag himself.
Espio crossed his arms, "Now I think I know what Shade is up to. He's going to use chaos magic to bring him back.
Suddenly Tails got a look of determination on his face. Everyone in the room was shocked as Tails' aura flared up. "There's no time to waste! I won't let them bring Sevag back! I won't let them hurt Cosmo!!"
"Tails!" Sonic exclaimed, "Y-your aura! Is there a chaos Emerald around??"
Tails growled and breathed heavily, " Its something I meant to ask you about…"
The aura surrounding Tails began to fade as he calmed himself down.
"Wow, that was cool! Do it again!" cheered Charmy.
"Quiet Charmy." Said Espio, trying to concentrate. "That energy, Tails…it was dark. Dark and chaotic. Tell me, how long has this been going on?"
Tails sighed. "It seems like ever since I brought Cosmo back, when I get upset, the energy just comes. I used to only be able to do it holding a Chaos emerald, but now, it just happens by itself. I can't control it."
"Tails, do you realize not even I can do that?" said Sonic, amazed. "I mean, I always need an emerald or a power ring…but you…"
"Yeah well, its not like I asked for this." Said Tails.
"Well what do you think caused it, Espio?" asked Vector. "You're our energy expert here."
"I think that Tails' problem stems from the ritual Tails put him through to bring Cosmo back." Said Espio, "Tails told us that Sevag possessed him using ancient magic, and the energy of the Chaos Emeralds consumed his body, causing him to transform into his frightening nine-tailed form. It wouldn't surprise me if something as powerful and potentially deadly as that had some permanent effect on him."
"So I'm stuck this way?" Tails asked.
"Don't think of it as a completely bad thing, Tails." Said Espio, "If you could somehow learn to control it, you might stand a chance against Shade. From what I'm feeling, Shade must have this same power, only he probably controls it."
A new look of determination shown on Tails' face. He stood up.
"Shade said to meet him in the Hidden Palace, beyond the Lava Reef on Angel island." Said tails, "I am going to go save Cosmo and Cream. Shade cannot stop me!"
"Hold on Tails, we need some sort of plan." Said Sonic.
"Well, if Shade is going to perform the type of ritual magic I think he is, he's going to need the Chaos emeralds." Said Espio, "I'm sure his next move will be to search for the emeralds, and perhaps the master emerald.. We need to warn Knuckles somehow!"
"Oh! Oh! I wanna help!" exclaimed Charmy.
"I'm going to take the X Tornado and get the emeralds before Shade does. He already has one. Whoever wants to come with me can." Said Tails," I can take three people."
"I'm with you little bro." Said Sonic.
"If Sonic is coming so am I! Its my birthday after all!" Amy shouted happily. Sonic gave a look of fear as Amy said this.
"I think we'll go on our own." Said Vector, "The Chaotix detective Agency is on it! We'll consentrate on bringing Cream back safe and sound."
"Aw but I wanna go with Tails! I wanna see him glow in the dark again!" Charmy whined.
"We'll keep in close contact, and we'll meet up with you on Angel island to give you any emeralds we find." Said Espio.
"That's good, we'll need the extra seat anyway for Knuckles." Said Sonic.
Tails smiled and nodded. On this journey, he would not be alone.
To control the shades of darkness… he was going to need all the help he could get.
Authors note: My apologies for taking so long to update. I've had to focus too much on school.
