A new character will make a debut in this chapter. Also, surprise at the end! Please enjoy! :)
9 - Knuckles's Realization and the Brawl of Shadow and Tails
Tikal sniffled as she remembered these rather tragic events. She knew that her life was much harder than this, but she felt that it was best that Knuckles didn't know. She looked down to the concrete floor beneath them and sighed. "It's a shame; I loved my grandmother oh so dearly. She was always very selfless, and I appreciate her for sacrificing her life to save Angel Island, but I wish it didn't have to end like that…", she uttered, a very faint smile taking over her face.
Knuckles scooched closer to a sorrowful Tikal. "Your grandmother seems like a cool person…", he says. "What was her name again? Lamina?"
Tikal chuckled. "Lamanai, but some people would just call her Manai…"
"And she would call your dad Pachi?"
She nodded.
Knuckles took a moment to take in all that Tikal had told her, about the fate she would most likely suffer had she used Chaos Control even once. "So...she died because she used Chaos Control, and being the guardian of the Master Emerald, her body couldn't handle all of that power...so, you're telling me that if you were to do the same thing, then you would die, too?"
Tikal inhaled softly as she tried to fight back a few tears. "I'm afraid so…", she mumbled.
It took Knuckles another while to finally realize something rather tragic. Although he had never used Chaos Control before, there was a chance that doing so as the current guardian of the Master Emerald could kill him, leaving all his friends behind. Although they were occasionally an interference with his duties, he nonetheless couldn't imagine his life without them. They were practically the ones who've taught him that having friends was a pretty amazing thing, especially since he grew up a loner.
"So...that means that if I perform Chaos Control as well, then will I die, too?", he asked, just to make sure that he wasn't just overthinking things.
"That depends...are you currently the guardian of the Master Emerald in your homeworld?", she asked.
"Well, ever since you warned me of those risks, unfortunately I am…"
They both hugged each other close. It took only a few moments until Tikal saw someone rather familiar standing far below the Altar. He seemed to be looking for something, rather someone. He looked from side to side whilst slowly walking towards the Altar. Tikal quickly broke the embrace and pushed Knuckles aside hesitantly.
"You must go, Knuckles. Who know what my dad will think when he sees the 2 of us together…", she whispered while shooing him away. Knuckles hesitantly stammered from the ground and shimmied his way towards the stairs, making sure to not make too much noise while doing so.
Tikal was quick to stand up and dust herself off, standing erect and with hands clasped behind her back. When Pachacamac finally made his way to where the Master Emerald was, she cleared her throat rather nervously.
He stood erect and uncomfortably close to the young echidna; it was a rather uncomfortable amount of time before he finally spoke.
"I need you to come with me. We have some business to take care of…", he said with a slight chuckle.
Tikal gulped. "Come to you, where?", she asked.
"You'll find out soon..."
Tikal bit her lip from the request, but nonetheless agreed. "Of course, father…", she says. As he turned away, she quivered, not from the cool breeze hitting her, but from something else. A bad feeling, like this was supposed to be more than just business.
They didn't realize that Knuckles had still been near the Altar during the short conversation. "His voice seemed shady. I better go follow them just in case...", he says.
It was past morning in Station Square. High in the sky, Tails was seen flying just above Casinopolis. Sonic and Tails had been to that place once or twice. It was full of gambling machines and pinball tables, which is what Tails and Sonic enjoyed the most. There was just something about being flung around a crowded table full of bumpers and flippers that they just enjoyed very much.
But now wasn't the time to reminisce the good times the 2 had together; right now, he had to save Sonic somehow. To bring him back to life.
At first, he did have a clue on how to rescue his best buddy; after remembering that Shadow was reincarnated from a shard of the Master Emerald, he figured that it made more sense to continue finding the remaining shards, with or without Sonic's help.
Just in front of the casino, Tails spotted a rather familiar being from below. He examined her for a few seconds.
Pink hair, red dress, shopping bags-yep, that's her…, Tails thought to himself as he descended to where she was.
The being was walking her way home from a nearby grocery store. She seemed to be mumbling to herself about something. Something about...Sonic?
She sighed. "I can't wait to bake my special recipe pie for Sonic. Once he tastes it, he's gonna be so proud of me! I just hope I have everything I need…", she mumbled the last sentence.
She stopped abruptly when Tails suddenly landed from flight right in front of her. She jumped slightly. "Oh, Tails! I didn't see you…", she says, noticing Sonic's body in Tails's arms, completely unaware of his current state.
"Why are you holding Sonic?", she asked, curious.
Tails expelled a very long sigh before letting the pink hedgehog observe him from closer. She slowly and gently caressed Sonic's forehead and quills, noticing how cold he was and how pale the what-used-to-be peach parts of his skin were. She was concerned, but not as much as Tails was desperate. "What's wrong with Sonic? Is he sick or something…?"
"N-no, Amy, it's not that…", Tails tried to fight back a few tears, a few stubborn tears, that is. But no matter how hard he tried to fight, Amy wasn't being fooled by how obviously depressed he looked. She saw a single tear bead down the fox's muzzle. "Tails, why are you crying?...oh...don't tell me…", she uttered, discovering the devastating realization.
It was long enough until Amy finally dropped all of her groceries, letting them slide out of her arms and onto the concrete beneath them. She covered her mouth as she, as well, tried to fight back some tears, but she was losing this battle way worse than Tails ever could. She quivered as she tried her hardest not to wail from the top of her lungs in front of a few pedestrians.
"Wh-what happened…?", she stuttered. "Who could've done this? How could they've done this. Why…?"
Tails sighed. "It's a long story,…", he said, but Amy wasn't just going to take that. Long story!? I wanna know EVERYTHING!, Amy thought to herself.
She approached Sonic some more and slowly grabbed the hand facing opposite of her, bringing it close to her mouth so that she could give it a gentle peck. She continued to quiver as she slowly caressed Sonic's cold hand, breathing her rather hit breath against it, though not making a noticeable difference of any sort.
"I know how you feel...but I'm gonna rescue Sonic and bring him back to life! I just need to find more shards of the Master Emerald...and I could really use your help to do so…", Tails says.
Amy calmed down a bit and made eye contact with Tails, eyes still red from all of the water works. "Sh-sure, I would love to help…", she says. "What are we going to do?"
"Right now, we're gonna keep walking around until this shard in my hand starts glowing.", he says, showing Amy his hand.
"Um, I don't see anything, Tails…", she says.
Oh, well I guess it's only visible when glowing..., he thought to himself.
"Here, help me put Sonic on my back. It should be easier to hold him like that..", he asked.
While Tails repositioned his arms to just below Sonic's buttocks, Amy grabbed a hold of Sonic's waist and arms and positioned him to lean against Tails's back, placing his flimsy arms over Tails's shoulders while they flopped against his chest. From the back, the position looked a bit awkward as Tails tried his hardest not to touch anywhere near Sonic's rear, but should Tails's arms be holding Sonic anywhere lower, he would for sure slip off of his shoulders and...well, it would only make things worse after that.
Amy approached Sonic's ear and whispered inside it, despite Sonic not being able to hear at this moment. "Don't worry, Sonikku. Tails and I will save you…", she uttered.
And they headed off, to where, they weren't exactly sure…
"Tails, are you sure you felt a shard of the Master Emerald here in Red Mountain? It's too hot and dangerous for it to have possibly landed here...", Amy asks, unsure.
"Without a doubt. Follow me!", he says as he grabbed Amy's hand, running to the direction in which he was "feeling" the shard. Strangely, Tails wasn't feeling one, but 2 shards, but he seemed to feel a strange darkness within one of them. Luckily, making it through the volcanic location wasn't too hard, but alas, they couldn't quite reach the shard so easily. Before they knew it, the trio was surrounded with badniks; Spinners and Kikis, to be exact.
They heard a very low and throaty chuckle as an ebony hedgehog-ebony hedgehog!? Well, then...in this case, none other than Shadow the Hedgehog, approached them. He smirked as he tossed a gold piece of jewelry from his hand, only to catch it again and repeat. Tails glared at Shadow, actually glad to meet him once again.
"Shadow the Hedgehog…", he uttered.
"Fox Boy, the one who can perform Chaos Control...", Shadow says right after. "You thought you were going to make it to that shard first? Well, too late! I already called it!", he says.
Tails groaned. "God...blast him...!", he growled.
Amy managed to get a glimpse of the jewelry that he was holding and saw a faint blue mist encircling it. She looked back at Sonic, then the jewel, repeating the cycle a few times before fixing her eyes on the ebony hedgehog, growling furiously at him.
"You killed Sonic!", she yelled before pulling out her iconic Piko Piko Hammer. At least she knew some of the story. "You're gonna pay for this!", she yelled furiously as she ran towards the hedgehog, only for Tails to calmly intervene by shooting an arm out in front of her. She was very confused and rather frustrated from the action. She wanted to kill this monster now!
"Amy, take care of Sonic. I'll handle this…", he growled before letting Sonic slowly slide from his back and into Amy's conveniently opened arms. She looked down at the lifeless Sonic and calmed down somewhat.
"Alright, Tails…", she agreed, sitting as far away from the soon-to-be fight as possible. She crossed her legs and laid Sonic on her lap.
Meanwhile, Tails looked back at his target. "I think the pink hedgehog is mistaken: I didn't kill Sonic, I only took away all of his powers…", he explains.
"Same difference! All I know is that I'll beat you once and for all! For him...", Tails huffed.
The evil hedgehog scoffed. "After you let me take your shards? Please…"
Well, at least he managed to defeat Chaos, a God that was way more powerful than any other being in the universe, but this was just a smaller, deformed entity we're talking about, but nevertheless, how hard could it possibly be to defeat Shadow the Hedgehog, a dead hedgehog who is trying to get stronger from simply stealing all of the Master Emerald shards?
Shadow huffed and gently placed the jewel onto his bicep, officially wearing it for the first time. To his utter surprise, he felt a huge rush of energy take over pretty much his entire body. It felt as if he felt...quicker, nimbler...faster...in other words, it felt damn good! He could feel it all rushing within his body, and he knew that this fight was going to get serious!
Sonic's energy! His body is absorbing it all!, Tails thought to himself.
He breathed heavily as he took it all in; the energy, the powers...the good feelings...but he wasn't just going to finish Tails like this! First, he had to, shall we say, "soften him up"...
The many badniks surrounding him came closer and closer to the poor fox, snarling and giving him evil grins. One of the kikis attempted to toss a bomb toward Tails, but Amy barely noticed and after placing Sonic flat on the ground and once again pulling out her Piko Piko Hammer, she ran towards the horde of enemies and jumped in between them and Tails, swiftly swinging away the bomb before exploding into nothingness.
"Amy, what are you doing!? You're supposed to be watching after Sonic!", he said.
"You said I could help, Tails, now let me help you!", she argued. "Trust me, I got this. Just go for Shadow! I'll get all of these enemies with my Piko Piko Hammer!", she said while swinging her giant mallet at some of the enemies, grunting with effort every time and knocking them away and right into the nearby pools of lava without any difficulties, and, man, could she swing that mallet...
Tails gave Amy a warm smile before facing his main target once again. The dense heat from the lava caused both to sweat profusely, which seemed to fit their combat-ready faces quite well. Shadow took out a Chaos Emerald and presented it. "With Sonic's powers absorbed within me along with the extraordinary powers of the MAster Emerald shards and this single Chaos Emerald, I could end you with one strike…", he chuckled.
"Yeah, right.", Tails scoffed. "Then why couldn't you do it the first time? Why did you simply kick me last time?"
Shadow and Tails began to encircle each other slowly. "Why…?", he asked before slowly approaching the fox. "Maybe because simply killing you was going to be pointless. After all, you're able to use Chaos Control, something you simply learned after watching me do it. Because of that, you may be stronger than you think...but sadly, I'll have to take all of that away from you!", he explained, pointing at the jewel on his bicep. It continued to glow a dark blue as it continued to be absorbed within Shadow's body.
He then began to assume a sort of stance, as if he was getting ready to charge at Tails. "And now, we FIGHT!", he boasted before charging at Tails at high speeds, much higher than Shadow would've expected. Albeit it felt hella good to have all of Sonic's energy absorbed within him, it did make him feel a bit nauseous due to him experiencing these powers for the very first time, so it was going to take some getting-used-to to fully execute these powers without any sort of interference. He nevertheless brushed off the queasiness as he violently charged at Tails, using an elbow to land a powerful blow to his stomach.
Tails was flung several feet away from Shadow until he ferociously came into contact with a nearby rocky wall, noticeably leaving a few large faults behind. He groaned as he became dizzy from the initial impact.
Tails had just readjusted to his surrounding before Shadow mercilessly gripped at Tails's neck and raising him several feet from the ground, choking Tails in the process. "With Sonic's exceptional speed and my brutal strength, you're no match for me, Fox Boy!", the ebony hedgehog cackled as he slammed Tails head-first into the ground beneath them.
He groaned in pain as he attempted to release Shadow's grip from his neck, but it worked to no avail. He gasped for air as he attempted to kick Shadow away from him, but the force was only enough to flip both over, with Tails on top of Shadow. He managed to release the tight grip from his throat and used what strength he had to repeatedly punch Shadow in the face. Although he managed to hit him every time, it didn't seem to affect him that much.
Amy saw the fight before her and attempted to come to Tails's aid. "Tails! I got you!", she yelled out before her path was blocked by a bladed spinner badnik and, right before she could say anything else, it approached Amy and sliced against her temple several times. She screamed in pain as she jerked herself away from it, destroying it for good before it could attack once again. She ignored the warm blood seeping down her fur and continued to fight the horde of badniks.
They just don't stop coming…, she thought to herself as more and more of them kept appearing.
Shadow managed to get Tails off of him by jerking his legs forward, flinging him off of him and back onto the ground. While he was still on the ground, Tails took a quick glance at the Master Emerald shard embedded within his chest. It glowed a bright green hue as it continued to sustain Shadow's life.
That's it, that's my target…, he thinks to himself. If I just get that shard out of him, then It'll all be over. I WILL win, Shadow…
He managed to find a nearby piece of debris from one on the destroyed badniks. This should work, he thought to himself, but before he could get up, Shadow pinned him down once again, snarling as he did so. Although he struggled to do so, Tails managed to get the razor-sharp piece of debris near Shadow's chest. He was so close he could do it, he just knew it...just a little bit closer, and he could get that shard and Shadow would cease to exist once again.
Almost...got it…, he thought to himself as he got the blade to just barely touch his chest. He had the position, and he was just about ready to cut him open, however a sudden jerk of his arm accidentally hot Shadow on the left of his muzzle, making a shallow, yet long cut.
No blood…, Tails thought to himself.
Shadow got off of Tails and backed away slightly, gently rubbing at his cut. "You pesky little rat…", he muttered before taking out his Chaos Emerald once again. He assumed another stance, like he was getting ready to perform an attack of some sort.
Tails slowly got up while staggering a bit. He placed his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. Well, at least I know where to cut him at next time…, he thought to himself before throwing the debris aside.
"Chaos...SPEAR!", he shouted. Like during their previous fight, the Chaos Spear sent out multiple spears of Chaos energy towards the young fox, who dodged all of them without trouble by flying over them.
But Shadow didn't give up so quickly. "Chaos...ATTACK!", he shouted, approaching him with lightning quick speeds. Tails acted quickly and grabbed a nearby sheet of rock, with Shadow performing a flurry of kick on, not Tails, but the rock he was using to dodge it. It seemed to work for the time-being.
Then, Shadow thought that this one last attack, the most powerful one that he knew at this moment, would for sure defeat Tails. But he didn't know that he wouldn't be so lucky soon enough.
"Chaos.. CONT-", he shouted before Tails threw the sheet of rock at the ebony hedgehog. Although he managed to destroy the thing with a single punch, the apparent distraction nonetheless allowed Tails to kick the Chaos Emerald out of his hand.
It flew a few feet away from them, landing close to the edge of one of the many pools of lava. Shadow shot a glare at Tails, who, at this moment, felt quite victorious. He exhaled sharply and chuckled.
"Now you can't perform Chaos Control anymore…", he huffed.
Shadow smirked. That's fine, I've got all I need right here…, he says, referring to the bicep jewelry. "See if you can catch up to me, Fox Boy!", he boasted as he started running at lightning speeds.
Wow, that's fast…, Tails thought to himself, but then he remembered that now was the time to run first, have thoughts later...and then defeat the one having thoughts after that…
Tails made a few unsuccessful attempts to block the hedgehog, only for him to swiftly run past him.
"What's wrong, Fox Boy? Am I too fast for you?", he sneered, stopping right in front of him just to add insult to injury.
Uh, yeah…, Tails responded in his head.
Tails growled and grabbed another nearby piece of debris, one that was long enough to act as a sword. "Well, if I can't outrun you, then maybe I can overpower you…", he mumbled, getting into a fighting stance.
Shadow did the same and faced Tails. "Okay, we can do that…", he said.
Nearby, Amy was having a bit more ease at destroying the badniks, although she was somewhat hurt. "Be careful, Tails…", she says.
Tails simply looks back before refocusing his attention on his opponent. Tails took the first swing and attempted to go for Shadow's abdomen, only for Shadow to perform a nimple flip over Tails, using his weapon as a boost. Neither one noticed something bouncing away from them. After he landed, he tried to strike at Tails's head, only for Tails to quickly dodge that with his own weapon. After a few more seconds of swordfighting, both were violently pushing their weapons against one another, fighting for dominance. Then Tails thought of something.
"Amy!", he shouted. "Go get that Chaos Emerald over there! I want you to keep it!"
Amy fought her way out of the horde of badniks and raced her way to the Chaos Emerald picking it up and keeping it in her possession.
But to their surprise, this made Shadow escape from Tails's grip; he got back up and, despite looking beat-up, he fled the scene.
"Badniks, retreat!, he ordered. They started following him as he fled out of the Red Mountain.
"This isn't over yet! I'll be back!", he shouts.
After a few moments, Tails got up and dusted himself off, breathing heavily as he tried to balance his beat-up body; he was very dizzy and a bit nauseous, too.
He faced Amy, who, like Tails, looked injured. "Is Soic still there?", he asks.
They see Sonic laying on his side, unscathed. "Yup, he's still there…", she said before looking down at her feet and, miraculously, it was a shard of the Master Emerald. "Hey, look! A shard!", she says, crouching to pick it up.
Tails approached her. "We can use it to bring Sonic back to life!", he says. Both give each other a warm smile before heading over to a still lifeless Sonic. Amy props him up against her body while holding onto his abdomen. Tails gently grips at Sonic's chest and bring the shard back, getting ready to puncture his skin and embed the shard within him. This could be their chance to bring Sonic back to life.
But Amy knew what Tails wanted to do and intervened. "Tails, no!", she cried out. "You're gonna hurt him. He might bleed to death…"
"But I have to, Amy! It's the only way that we could revive Sonic so long as Shadow still has his energy!", but he knew that Amy was still not okay with his decision. He placed a comforting han on her shoulder and made eye contact with her. "Trust me…"
After a few moment, she finally agreed with a nod. "Go for it…", she whispered as Tails got ready, then all of a sudden he slammed his hand down against Sonic's chest, puncturing the skin and embedding the shard deep within his chest. After that was over, the shard was causing Sonic's body to glow a green hue and its powers were able to fully heal Sonic's wound.
Before they knew it, Sonic's slowly began to open his eyes, blinking a few times in the process, albeit his skin was still pale and his pupils were still gone.
A few minutes passed before a now-revived Sonic could finally adjust to his surroundings. "U-ugh, where am I…? Tails…? Amy…?", he muttered.
Amy helped the cobalt hedgehog to his feet and, after staggering a few times, he finally managed to regain his balance and after a few seconds, it seemed like he was back to his old self.
Tails smiled at him warmly before suddenly developing a pouty face, pulling him into a strong embrace and sniffling quietly.
"Don't you ever do that to me, Sonic, you hear me? Don't you ever scare me like that again…", he muttered.
Sonic slowly slid his hands upwards until they were lightly caressing Tails's shoulders. "Hey, buddy, don't cry. I'm okay, now. You saved my life, and I'm totally grateful…", he mumbled apologetically.
Amy joined in and hugged Sonic from behind. "Thanks, Amy…", he uttered.
He let Amy give him a light peck on his muzzle. "I'm just glad you're back, Sonikku…", she muttered. Sonic groaned when Amy called him that; he never really liked being called Sonikku, but he eventually got used to it the more she called him that.
After a rather long amount of time passed, they all break away from their embrace. "Now, let's find Knuckles, defeat Shadow and Eggman, and restore Angel Island. Together…", he says. Both Tails and Amy nod in agreement.
Yup, he was back to his old self again...kind of...
Longest chapter so far. I want this story to be as emotional as humanly possible. Stay tuned for the next chapter! :D
