Ch 10

Yeah, it's been 3 weeks since I've updated, and I apologize. But with the holidays and other stuff going on, I didn't have much time to be writing. Not to mention that I've been playing with my new Christmas toys quite often :/ But I've finally grown bored of them and sat down to write. So here's chapter 10: A New Resolve

Tails slept like a baby all night. He sat up on the wing of the X-Tornado and squinted his eyes. The young fox recalled no nightmares, which was strange. Why did he have nightmares some nights but on others he didn't? Perhaps they only happened when she was on his mind. The kitsune dismissed the thought, not wanting to bring her up in his mind, and tried to look around. The sun was right in his face and he instinctively covered his eyes with his hand. After his eyes had adjusted, Tails could clearly see everything around him. The island was beautiful and bright, with the exception of a black hedgehog standing a couple of yards down the beach, looking out at the water.

Tails just looked at him for a moment. The dark hedgehog looked so out of place standing in the sun. Shadow didn't move an inch, until he realized that Tails had woken up. He turned and faced Tails, while waging his finger, indicating that he wanted Tails to come over. Tails jumped to his feet and flew down the beach, stopping near Shadow.

"I did some thinking last night about how to train you" the obsidian hedgehog stated while facing Tails. For however long Tails knew Shadow, his red eyes had always scared him a little. But now, they seemed normal, less intense, and maybe even a little friendly. You would be surprised how much you can tell about a person when you look at their eyes.

Shadow did have a revelation of sorts when he helped stop Space Colony Ark from crashing into the earth. Perhaps that now he remembered it, he had become a better person. More understanding and less antisocial. Or that's what Tails thought.

"Really?" Tails replied. "What did you have in mind?"

"Do you know why you were able to destroy that tree last night?"

Now that he truly thought about it, Tails had no clue. "I got angry" he replied unsurely.

"We will work to your strengths. Fighting according to your strengths is very beneficial. Sonic uses his speed to his advantage as Knuckles uses his strength. You strength is intelligence. You were able to move that tree because, despite being physically weak, you have enough mental awareness to push your body farther than it can naturally go."

Shadow just then remembered that Tails had an extra appendage. "And your tails are a good advantage as well" he said while studying the waging yellow fluffs behind him. Something like the ability to fly with those seemed like it would not be possible.

This wasn't news to Tails. He knew he was smart, but intelligence having to do with power like that seemed unbelievable. "So how do I work to my strength?" he asked, growing ever curious.

Shadow seemed to be reconsidering his plan from last night. "I think you would be capable of learning chaos control."

Tails was starting to think that Shadow was thinking too highly of him. Chaos control was something that only Shadow was known to do. Even Sonic couldn't do it on command. "Are you sure?"

Shadow crossed his arms and formed a mischievous smirk. "We will find out, won't we? Go get one of the fake chaos emeralds from your bag."

Although doubtful, Tails did what he was told and retrieved a fake emerald from his bag. He returned to Shadow and awaited further instruction.

"What does that chaos emerald feel like?"

Tails looked down at it for a moment, trying to figure out what he felt. Chaos emeralds always felt weird, but he was never asked to describe it. "It feels warm, but also cold. It feels heavy, but also light." Tails was searching for a word to describe this feeling, but it didn't come. "I don't know what this feeling is."

Shadow figured as much. To this day, he didn't know how to describe the feeling, but he did know what it was. "That is power."

"Power?"

"Yes, power, energy, chi, whatever you want to call it. Now, to use chaos control, you have to let this power into your body through your hand, and then push it out into the area around you."

Shadow took the emerald from him and disappeared. Tails looked around for him but couldn't see him anywhere. "Once you learn to do it…" Tails jumped around to see that Shadow had reappeared right behind him. "… you can manipulate the fabric of space and time to your liking" he finished while handing Tails the emerald back.

Tails understood what he had to do, but doubted that he could do it. He looked down at the emerald again and tried to pull the energy into him, first by squeezing it, and then by stiffening his arm. Nothing was working.

Shadow saw what he was doing wrong and corrected him. "You don't use your body. Use your head."

Tails calmed himself down and closed his eyes. He loosened his grip on the emerald and inhaled deeply. The warm feeling from the emerald started to creep into his hand and wrist. Perhaps the right way to do it was to let it flow in. But it would only come so far, right about to his elbow. After a moment of no progress, he opened his eyes and looked at Shadow.

"It stops just under my elbow" Tails said with a hint of frustration.

Shadow crossed his arms and redisplayed his normal frown. "Keep trying. Just let it come over you." The black hedgehog then started to walk away. "It could take you two minutes or two years to figure it out, but we will move on once you do. I don't care how long it takes."

Tails watched him walk into the forest and disappear. He was mildly frustrated, but he was used to not getting things right the first time. It happens often when you're into mechanics. The only thing to do was to try again. He sat down cross legged in the sand and closed his eyes again.

Tails certainly was determined. He had been sitting in that same spot for at least two hours. With every passing moment, he got more and more frustrated, and started to question this method. He did not push that tree off of himself by being calm. Tails had the feeling at the same place as before, and instead of letting it come, he tried to pull. All of the young fox's focus was on the emerald in his hand and trying to pull the energy out of it. This did nothing but make it fall back out of his hand and into the emerald. He was back at square one.

Tails cursed under his breath as he tossed to emerald to his side. He then stood up and looked around. "I still have other things to do" he said to himself as he headed off towards the forest. "I'll try again later."

Back at Tails' home…

Sonic's eyes shot open and quickly looked around the small house. He had fallen asleep on the couch and was hoping that Tails would have come home by now. There was no one here besides him and he would have woken up if Tails had walked in. The blue hedgehog sighed and rested his arms on his legs, staring at the floor.

What was he to do now? It was impossible for him to go out and find Tails by himself, but there was nothing else to do. Tails was like his brother, his best friend. And he would keep looking for him until he was found. He was going to try even if it took forever, and he wanted to have a 'talk' with a certain black counterpart.

Sonic jumped off of the couch and dashed out onto the beach. He picked a line and ran in that line, hoping that it would lead to Tails. It was just as likely as any other line, so he took off without a second thought.

Five minutes and five hundred miles later, he screeched to a halt in the middle of an open field. Something caught his eye as he passed. Something shiny and metallic, almost like a robot. Sonic's suspicion was confirmed as Dr. Eggman appeared out of the sky in his hovering eggmobile. They metallic surface of the craft could be seen a mile away with its bright glint.

Sonic crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for the doctor to declare his never followed out victory. Usually Sonic would jump at the chance to beat down on Eggman, but he was trying to do something much more important. The blue hedgehog had no real desire to fight with him right now.

"Why, hello Sonic!" the spherical human greeted sarcastically as he approached his long time nemesis. "It's been too long."

Sonic had a very visible scowl, not at all amused or excited. "Not long enough."

Eggman continued his little act and tried to act sad. "Now that's not a way to treat an old friend."

"What do you want egghead?" Sonic practically yelled at him while keeping his current stance of crossed arms and a frown.

Eggman grinned his normal, evil grin and pressed a button on the control panel of his eggmobile. "I have a surprise for you." Suddenly five silver robots dropped from the sky, landing in line before their master. They were in a somewhat humanoid shape, but had no head and a large mini gun for a right arm. "My new F-Series robots" he introduced proudly. "They are far more advance than the previous E-Series and they can tear you limb from limb!"

As if on cue, all of the machines aimed and loaded their guns, making loud clicking noises as they did so. Sonic got into fighting stance ready to pounce. "I don't have time to play around with you Eggman!"

The doctor let out an irritable growl. "You don't have a choice!" He then barked orders out for the robots to attack.

They all charged forward, being propelled by jets on their backs, and fired rounds at the blue hedgehog. Sonic jumped up into the air, dodging the bullets and began to spin forward at incredible speeds towards the lead robot. He spun so fast that he appeared to be only a blue ball, and he homed in on the closest one, plowing into it at a very high velocity.

Sonic felt the machine bounce off of him and saw it fly and skid across the ground. After the dust cleared, Sonic saw it speed out at him, attempting to run him over, but the blue hedgehog just caught it and rolled to the side.

Sonic took a quick look at the robot that he thought he had destroyed, when in reality, it wasn't even scratched.

"Huh?"

Doctor Eggman's high pitched laughter was heard. "Don't under estimate them!" he called out towards Sonic. "They are made from a very dense material. You won't be able to beat them that easily!"

Hmph Not only did Eggman decide to screw with me during a bad time, but he had to actually think of something good!

Sonic got ready to charge them again and was thinking of a way to beat them. From what he could see, most of their bodies were covered in armor. "This is going to take a while" he mumbled to himself, then charged at them.

A few hours later…

Tails stood back at the construction area of his new home. It was difficult to see through the dark sky, but he had gotten a lot done. There were four walls made of cut logs that he had nailed together, but had not yet moved them up and connected them. The young fox didn't know how to get them up at the moment, but he would figure it out eventually. Now what to do?

Tails sat on one of the walls and rested his chin in his hands under the moonlight. His mind had been so busy in the past few days, he just wanted to rest. The young fox found himself daydreaming, staring into nothingness, his mind completely blank, except for one particular alien girl. Tails then snapped back to reality, realizing that he had just been sitting there for quite a while. Perhaps it was time he went to sleep.

He stood up to walk back to his tent, but stopped immediately. Almost as if jinxes really existed, there she was, standing calmly, blankly, and without emotion. She really did appear only when Tails was thinking about it. For the past few days, he had been able to suppress any thought of her, but with his mind wandering, it wandered to her.

A grim and depressing look came onto the young kitsune's face. Why must fate tease him so? Why must he be constantly reminded of the terrible thing he has done? But those questions could not be answered, and the yellow fox broke down and fell to the ground, wrapping his tails around himself to hide. All of the misery and tears that he had been able to suppress in the past few days burst out now, in the middle of nowhere with no one to comfort him.

After the larger of the sobs had stopped, Tails still continued to lay there letting the tears freely flow down his face, curled in a yellow-orange ball. However, his mind had become active again, desperately seeking for an answer to his problems, but he found none. "What's the point of all of this!?" What's the point of doing anything if it makes me feel this way!?" Tails was asking himself, becoming angry that he didn't have an answer. "What's the damn point!?" The young fox screamed out loud while slamming his fist into the ground.

"The one who can answer that question…" Tails jolted in surprise at the voice. He had been caught crying and didn't look up at him. "… is truly wise." Shadow had been sitting in a tree nearby and watched everything.

That was not a satisfying answer to Tails, but he accepted it and stopped crying, but had stayed on the ground looking down. Shadow grabbed the small fox by the arm and pulled him off of the ground, then looked into his eyes. Tails still looked at the ground, but his face was visible, the puffy red eyes and wet muzzle completely exposed him. He still hung limp and if Shadow let go, then he would have fallen down again.

"You have to learn to put it behind you." This got a small amount of reaction from Tails, and he looked back at Shadow. "If something hits you, then wipe the blood from your chin, and get on with your day."

Shadow let go and Tails fell to the ground, but on his feet. Tails didn't know what to say or how to react, but it didn't matter as Shadow turned around and jumped back into the trees, disappearing from sight in the darkness.

Tails let out a sigh. "Maybe he's right."

The young fox then started to walk away from the area and towards the beach. Little did he know, that phrase would be a driving force that would take him farther than he thought never possible. With new resolve, Tails made a silent promise to himself to never cry again. He would never forget Cosmo, and may feel bad the rest of his life about what had happened, but it would not be shown.

Tails' moral may have gone up slightly, but Sonic's had taken a dramatic drop. The blue hedgehog limped into the front door of Tails' house and collapsed onto the couch. The moon light coming through the window showed that he had been beaten in his earlier battle. Badly beaten. There was a multitude of scratches, bruises, and cuts all over him.

Flashback…

The five-some of robots had been constantly perusing Sonic, easily brushing off his attacks. They were slow machines, but it didn't matter. Sonic simply could not destroy them. Their battle had arrived near a cliff, where Sonic was cornered.

Sonic knew that he could not run around them now to escape because he was already exhausted. Jumping would be the best idea, but they could fly, so it would still be dangerous. The blue hedgehog braced himself to start running, then dashed forward. The machines open fired, but Sonic was able to evade those, and jumped as high and as far as he could over them. However, the lead robot used its jet to propel itself up, knocking Sonic out of the air and over the cliff.

The impact of being hit hurt enough in itself, but the fall off of the cliff topped it off. Sonic curled into a ball, trying to avoid some of the damage that he received from passing tree branches and other various objects. After what seem like forever, the blue ball slammed into the ground with a loud crash.

After a moment, Sonic unrolled himself and flipped onto his stomach. "What… the… hell…?" Sonic said in between coughs.

He felt like passing out, but Eggman could be heard barking orders for his new contraptions to go after him. Sonic forced himself onto his feet and started to run as fast as possible, which wasn't very fast, in the opposite direction.

End flashback…

"I could have won" Sonic whispered. "Only if…" But he finally passed out before he could finish.

The real thought in the hedgehog's mind was that he could have won if Tails was there. Not many people noticed, but Tails had saved Sonic on numerous occasions and was frequently the reason that Sonic escaped injury. Tails would always show up at the right moment to catch Sonic in his plane, or toss him a power ring. Sonic could have torn through those robots if he had a power ring, but Tails was not there to give it to him. And he wasn't there to catch Sonic when he was falling.

Now Eggman had finally won a battle against him. Sonic and Tails were the only ones who could stand up to the evil doctor, except Knuckles or Shadow, but neither seemed like the hero type.

With no one able to stop Eggman, what was to stop him from establishing the Eggman Empire? Tails decision to disappear may not just affect his friends, but the entire planet.

oOo

Finally, I got to a part that starts up the main adventure of this fic! Things from now on are going to get a little less sad and a little more action-eeNext update maybe by next Friday, depending on whether or not I decide to study for midterms.