Guys, what happened to all of the reviewers? You reviewed for one chapter and disappeared DX Ah well, good things don't last forever. Although it was pretty short-lived. Thanks to Tailsisreal though for yet another review :)
Keep your eyes VERY peeled guys/gals, no one has still noticed the hidden clues, only the blatant obvious one. Good luck to those who have gotten themselves obsessed in finding them, if there are any of you doing that at all (or it might be just me that'll look through every nook and cranny for such clues if I was the reader ... meh).
Disclaimer: (don't ask me why I'm writing this like a declaration of some sort – makes it a little better to read I guess) I, DarkSword512, do not own Sonic, Tails or any related characters. They are all copyright of Sega. Also, I do not own Amadeus or Rosemary Prower, they are copyright of Archie Comics. But I do own Arty. He's mine... (Smeagol voice) MY PRECIOUS! (don't ask, I was in one of my psychotic moments when I wrote this – shortly afterwards, I almost started screaming my 'Lefties shall rule the world!' thing. Thoughts of World Domination for the win!). Anyway, read, review, enjoy! Or enjoy, read, review. Or... I'm gonna shut up.
Chapter 11: Just be there for him
'So any idea why he's after you Tails?' Sonic and Tails sat in the hangar at Tails' desk, wanting privacy from Amy who was upstairs in the living room. Tails was now stumped. He had no idea whether he should tell Sonic or not about what he had found out last night. If he did, Sonic would get extremely worried for his health, even if he wasn't being affected. If he didn't tell him then Sonic would be in continuous brawls with Shadow, trying to defend the kit, even when he didn't know why he was. And Tails knew full well that Shadow was the only person to exist that could best Sonic, making it a daunting task for him.
Tails collapsed his head into his hands as he tried to think of what would be the better option. What does Sonic already know... That I'm improving. And, and he thinks that I think I've got that thing from a few nights ago. Hmm... I could say maybe Shadow probably thinks the same? I guess that's all I can do really... Tails raised his head and rapidly prepared his answer to the awaiting hedgehog.
'Sonic. Remember when I told you about that thing that attacked me a few days ago?' Sonic nodded to show he remembered. He actually remembered it quite well, since it resulted in Tails being blasted through the front door with enough force to make the damages that had been done to his body even worse.
'Well, if he thinks that bro', he's kinda taking it too far,' Sonic spoke out. Tails nodded in agreement, wondering what Shadow had in store for him if they were to meet again.
'Maybe... Maybe Shadow thinks the same? Maybe he overheard me and... And thought it could do something to all of us?' Tails remembered the last word the black and red hedgehog had spoken: 'It... must be stopped. Or we're all doomed'. Those words sent violent shivers down Tails' spine. What did he mean?
The Egg-Dragonfly had caught everything – Sonic coming out of the alleyway and calming the enraged Amy, all the way through their reunion, to when they rushed back to where Sonic had come from. That... infernal hedgehog... survived... Decoe, Bocoe and Bokkun watched the distraught doctor continuously beat his head off of the control panel of the Egg-Hawk. None of them blamed him either. Even they had thought that Sonic had finally bit the dust, despite the fact that the three of them knew the news was too good to be true. They had also hoped that Sonic's downfall wasn't true, or else they wouldn't have much of a job. Bokkun wouldn't have any messages to deliver to anyone, which would probably lead to his disassembly due to annoying the doctor so much about wanting to deliver a message, while Decoe and Bocoe would be monitoring the robot constructions until they fell apart from rusting so much that the metal could no longer support them.
'Doctor,' Decoe said at last through the silence, with the exception of the banging sounds of head on metal. 'Who's that?' Decoe pointed at the screen. A dark figure was emerging from an alleyway. Eggman looked up. He soon spotted what Decoe was trying to point out and pressed a few buttons to zoom in. It was Shadow, clutching his stomach, watching the trio dash off hastily towards the outskirts of the City.
'What does Shadow want with them?' Bocoe asked.
'How should I know?' Eggman retorted in a gruff voice. 'But...' a plan quickly formed in Eggman's mind and he smiled at himself. It will work this time, I'm sure of it!
'Decoe, Bocoe, prepare my Eggpod!'
'Yes Doctor!' The duo chimed simultaneously, rushing off towards the hangar where the Eggpod was currently stored.
'Anything for me Doctor?' Bokkun asked excitedly, but the excitement was blown away when Eggman waved a hand and turned round back to the computer as a silent 'no'. Bokkun flew off, sulking badly.
Tails lay fast asleep on his desk. Sonic had gone upstairs to see what Amy was up to (to find she was preparing breakfast in the hope she would fully calm down from), so Tails tried to kill some time by seeing if there was anything he could do to the X-Tornado, but instead ended up crashing out there and then. He had no idea how he had lost so much energy so fast, but there he was, head in arms, tails hanging limply over the sides. He dreamt he was in the X-Tornado, back on Earth, with Chuck in the co-pilot's seat behind him. These dreams came back to him every now and then and they always brought happy thoughts along with them. They reminded him of what happened nearly every day back on Earth. Him and Chuck would go out and test the X-Tornado, or modify until the X-Tornado's original status was unrecognisable amongst the improvements.
The duo flew high over Station Square, looking for any Chaos Emeralds in the area. Tails, however, wasn't concentrating on looking for the Chaos Emerald they possessed to glow, but instead marvelling the scenery of the city landscape.
'Anything yet Tails?' Chuck called to Tails, snapping him back to reality as he took in the landscape. Tails checked the Chaos Emerald in front of him, glowing a pleasant purple. It's intensity hadn't changed a bit, which was another way in saying 'nothing here'.
'Not yet Chuck,' Tails called back. Chuck nodded and checked the systems to make sure they had enough fuel. Tails averted back to the landscape, making a mental note to take a camera with him next time they searched.
But then something happened. Something that had never happened in any of the dreams before. The landscape changed and Chucked suddenly disappeared into nothingness. Tails looked wildly around as everything changed. The skyscrapers were swept away in the wind, to be replaced by a vast stretch of trees. The clear blue skies turned into a dull grey as the skyline changed. Tails was frightened. What's going on?! He thought to himself. He had completely forgotten that this was all a dream because it all suddenly seemed so real. He pressed his nose against the window to see if he could find where he was.
Shadow skated towards Angel Falls, tracking their footsteps in case they had had a change of heart. He had remembered word-for-word what the text in the temple had said. There was something else he could do with what he had learned, but he wasn't really concerned about it. All he needed to do was remove the creature by any means necessary. Luckily, he knew exactly how to get rid of it, so deaths didn't fall into the category. It was just getting the fox to comply that would be the biggest problem. Well, second biggest.
Shadow continued to skate along the path that went through the forest. When he came out the other side, he found himself looking over the meadows of Angel Falls that he had passed through the night before. He continued down the familiar path, still keeping an eye on their tracks.
Tails looked around frantically, trying to figure out where he was. What's going on?! How did I...? This really isn't good! Tails had still forgotten that this was all just a dream. He was flying over something that looked pretty familiar though. That's... That's the Blue Typhoon... So this must be Crateméro's Gorge... What am I doing here? Sure enough, the remains of Crateméro's Gorge were directly below him. The carnage had still left it's mark. A large crater lay in the forests along the Gorge's edge. Many of the trees were leafless and blackened. One side of the Gorge had collapsed entirely, blocking the river flow. Had the top been level, the water would build up into a dam, but instead it slanted at an angle, allowing the water to run over one side. It looked somewhat more relaxed however in daylight, even if there was no sun peering through the dense black clouds.
As quickly as he arrived, everything changed again. But this time, it was within the blink of an eye. Tails suddenly found himself standing next to the edge of the Gorge, walking along the side, looking for something. He wasn't sure what, but he knew he had to. Tails looked down to find the entrance to a dark cave, it's contents obscured by the lack of light within. He spun his tails until his feet lifted from the ground and flew down towards the cave entrance. As soon as he entered, everything went white.
'Tails, come get some breakfast!' Sonic called down the stairs. After a few moments of silence, natural paranoia immediately kicked in. 'Tails? You there bro'?' Sonic called out. After another few moments of silence, he went downstairs to see what was going on.
He found Tails fast asleep on his desk. How'd he lose so much energy so fast? Sonic walked over to wake the snoozing fox. Sonic tried the empty threat approach.
'Tails! Wake up, or I'm having your breakfast.' Still no response. Sonic was now worried. The thought of someone else eating his food usually woke Tails up, but either Tails was in too much of a deep sleep, or it had gone in one ear and out the other.
Then Tails rolled his head over and Sonic found the reason why he wasn't responding. His face looked as though he was in pain. Teeth gritted, eyes shut very tightly, heavy breathing and sweating was what Sonic witnessed.
'Tails!' Sonic rushed to his side, shaking the fox vigorously, trying to snap him out of it. 'Amy, help me!' he shouted up the stairs as he lay the disturbed kit on the floor. Amy rushed down the stairs, two at a time, to the hedgehog's aid.
'What's going on?!' She proclaimed, skidding down on her knees to Tails' side. He continued to breath heavily, sweat dripping down his fur. Neither of the hedgehogs could even guess what was happening, except that Tails was probably having a bad dream. If so, it was a very bad one.
All of a sudden, Tails' eyes bolted wide open, causing Sonic and Amy to jump. The first thing Tails seen was Sonic leaning over him, looking very scared.
'Uh... What's going on?' Tails asked.
'What happened there Tails? Were you having a bad dream or something?'
'No, why?' Tails sat up and looked around. 'Why am I on the floor?' he added.
'Don't you know anything about what you just done?' Tails looked around, wondering if he had started sleep-walking and broke something, or hurt somebody. Once he concluded that nothing had been done, he shrugged his shoulders.
'You looked like you were having a nightmare,' Amy responded, followed by a confused expression from Tails.
'You were shivering and sweating like mad. What was it you were dreaming?' Sonic was clearly worried for Tails as he tried to find the source of the problem.
'I dunno, not much. But it wasn't anything scary or anything like that.' Tails looked from one hedgehog to the other, trying to figure out what was it they were really thinking. 'Is that...?' Tails said as he sniffed the air.
'Oh no! It's going to burn!' Amy rushed up the stairs to try to save the hot meals from becoming too hot. Sonic and Tails watched her as she disappeared round the door frame towards the kitchen, leaving the two brothers alone in the hangar.
'C'mon Tails, what's going on?' Sonic asked after a moment's silence.
'What do ya mean?'
'You've been acting pretty strangely lately. The fantasy of something possessing you. You're more aggressive recently. What just happened now. C'mon, what's up?' It was clear that Sonic had been more observant than Tails had thought. He knew full well that when Sonic confronted him like this, he had no choice but to tell him the whole truth. He sighed and started to think of where he should begin. Making a decision, he looked up at Sonic and begun to explain.
'That 'fantasy' you were talking about... it's real.' Sonic rolled his eyes immediately.
'Tails, -!'
'Listen Sonic!' Tails shouted, raising his voice. Sonic blinked at the sudden aggression from the normally passive fox that wouldn't raise his voice, no matter how angry he was. Maybe she did more to him than we thought. 'It talked to me last night, I swear. It's made me stronger, faster, it repairs my wounds... I can even teleport because of it! That's why we ended up in my mom and dad's house last night. I managed to get to you so we could get somewhere safe.' Tails sighed again and looked at his feet. 'I should of told you sooner... But I didn't want you to worry about me...' Tails looked up again in an almost puppy-dog-eyed fashion to Sonic. After a few moments of silence, Tails lunged at Sonic and wrapped his arms around his neck as a single tear fell onto Sonic's shoulder. Sonic, taking pity on the distressed fox, patted him gently on the back.
After a few moments, Tails let go and wiped a tear from his eye as he set himself on his knees.
'So what was the dream about Tails?' Sonic asked. Tails tried to remember, but the dream wouldn't come back to him. All he remembered was flying over Station Square and the next thing he knew, he was lying flat on his back with Sonic and Amy above him.
'Uh... I'm not sure. I can hardly remember anything. But it was just a dream, it can't do anything to me.'
'Alright, if you're sure. You be careful Tails for now, okay?' Tails nodded. And climbed to his feet. Hunger pains struck him, letting out a low growl that nearly echoed around the extensive hangar. Sonic and Tails began to laugh.
'I think you're stomach is speaking for me too Tails,' Sonic said, adding to the chuckles.
'Tails, someone wants you on the phone!' Amy called down from upstairs. Sonic and Tails stopped laughing immediately and looked at each other, wondering who it could be. The two of them went upstairs. Sonic sat down and begun to channel flick while he waited for breakfast. Meanwhile, Tails took the phone from Amy, thanked her and put the telephone to his ear.
'Hello?' Tails asked to the mystery caller.
'Tails?' came the response. It was Rosemary.
'How did you know I was here?' Tails asked, wondering how they had found out when no one knew where they had gone to.
'We took a guess and got it right. Anyway, someone wants to talk to you.' The sound of the phone being transferred from one person to another sounded through the speaker.
'Hi Tails!' came the childish voice of Artemis. Tails smiled.
'Hey Arty,' Tails responded, smiling.
'Where did you go?' Artemis asked. Tails thought for a moment to think of the right thing to say.
'I... I had to go home for something.'
'When are you coming back?'
'I dunno Arty. Sorry.' There was a few moments of silence, and Tails suddenly visualised the young cub on the verge of tears, holding the phone with trembling hands. He tried pushing the thoughts out, or he would probably end up in the same way.
'Okay,' Arty said at last. 'Here's mummy' he added as the sound of the phone being moved from one hand to another could be heard again.
'He really looks up to you, you know. When you're not around, he keeps asking to see you. And you've seen what he's like when he does see you.' Tails chuckled. He knew full well, given the fact that just last night, Artemis had jumped onto his leg and clung on to it as if his life depended on it. 'Don't let him down, whatever you do Tails. Poor thing's sulking right now actually.' Tails' heart leaped. He didn't like it when he upset people, and the added thought of him being the role model of the person he had upset struck him extra hard. Tails' words were nearly caught in his throat, but he managed to spit them out.
'Don't... Don't worry mom. I won't let him down. I promise.' Rosemary's soft chuckle met Tails' ear.
'I know you won't. I'm gonna hang up now, we'll talk some other time. Bye!'
'See yah!' Tails said in a cheery voice, but he knew it contrasted with his emotions entirely. He felt really downhearted of what he had done without even knowing. He could even take a guess as to why she had to go – try and cheer him up. He put the phone down and turned round to find his steaming breakfast on the table – beans on toast. The hunger pains he had strongly felt earlier had now disappeared.
'Sorry Amy, but... I don't really feel that hungry.' With that Tails climbed the stairs to his room and closed the bedroom door.
'What's wrong with him?' Amy asked.
'It's a long story Amy, and I don't think he'd want anyone else to know about it,' Sonic replied, trying to pull Amy away from the subject.
'And what makes you so sure of that then?' Amy retorted, feeling as if she is being purposefully left out of the loop.
'Because he's only just told me about it!' Sonic shouted accidentally. He took a breath to calm his nerves and carried on with a calmer tone. 'You know as well as I do that he tells me everything. For him to of considered not telling me has gotta be a bad sign Amy, and you know it. So just drop it before you pick it up. Don't badger him, me, or anyone else for that matter. You can see he's already upset enough as it is, don't make things worse.' Amy was going to fight back, but she knew that, at the end of the day, what Sonic had said was true. She turned silently back to her breakfast, thinking of what might be going through Tails' head right now.
Alright, there's the mountain. Now I just need to –
'Get out of my way Eggman, I have no time for your mind games.'
'Let's not be hasty now Shadow. And besides, I can help you.' Shadow raised an eyebrow at the doctor's proposition. He knew from first-hand experience that Eggman used mind-boggling tricks to persuade people in to doing what he wanted them to. But, if the doctor can help me catch the fox...
'What exactly is it you have in mind doctor?'
'I'll help you with whatever it is you're doing, and then you help me defeat Sonic. From what I've seen, whatever your doing is centred around them, so you're really just getting two birds with one stone. What say you Shadow, please?' Eggman clasped his hands together in a classic begging pose. Shadow rolled his eyes, seeing how pathetic the doctor looked in such a humiliating pose. But there he was, trying to look as innocent as possible.
'It depends... can you make a machine that could help me in capturing Tails?'
'Um... I... Er... M-might be able to, but er...' Eggman was drastically looking for the right words to say, even looking at Decoe and Bocoe for support, but received none as they too were lost for words. The image of Tails tearing apart his Egg-Scorpion was still very vivid in his mind, leaving him doubtful of whether he could ever create such a machine. Shadow read Eggman's gestures like a book, and to him they said 'no, I'm not even going to try it!'.
'Heh. Fine, see yah.' With that, Shadow turned, waved and continued on his journey.
'No! Shadow! Wait! Please!' Shadow couldn't believe what he was hearing. For the second time in just a few days, Eggman was pleading to Shadow for support. He had now started making the really stupid deals that were only reserved for absolute desperation.
'We'll give you your own ship!' Eggman said.
'We'll clean your shoes!' Decoe exclaimed
'We'll treat you like a king!' Bocoe shouted.
Shadow, quickly losing it, spun round and bellowed 'ENOUGH!'. All three stopped immediately, Eggman's mouth halfway through finishing a word. 'I'll help you if you help me do something first. And that's to capture Tails.'
'But why? What do you need Tails for?' Decoe asked kindly. Shadow looked up to the ever greying sky and folded his arms before explaining.
'He's a danger to this world. Much more than you could imagine. What you've seen of his new-found abilities is nothing compared to what he could really do. It nearly wiped out a civilisation before, so what's to stop it from trying to take over the entire world this time?' The three of them stared at Shadow as silence fell upon them. But the silence didn't remain because they were waiting for Shadow to say more, but rather the thought of Tails unleashing these new 'hidden abilities' that he had found. They had watched him mercilessly demolish their base, so to get on the wrong side of him now would mean their life expectancy would drop like a rock. 'So... are you going to help me?'
Eggman, Decoe and Bocoe were now flying away as fast as the Eggpod would allow them to. Shadow sighed, seeing this entire discussion as one big waste of time. It was evident that they didn't want to get on the receiving end of the barrel and just hang back and hope this whole affair just blows over. Shadow let out a low growl before heading back down the path towards Angel Falls. Typical. Eggman running at the first sign of danger.
Sonic sat watching the television, but not really taking in what was going on. He was thinking about what he should do to help Tails. But I don't even know how to help him... He looked round to Amy who was cleaning the dishes. She had left Tails' in case he became hungry again and decided to come down to eat. Her hopes of such an event weren't very high though.
Tails lay on his stomach, face in pillow. Every now and then, a tear would trickle from his eyes and fall onto the pillow, gradually making it wetter. This isn't a gift, it's a curse. Ever since it came, everything's gone downhill for me... for everyone. But... how do I get rid of it? Am I stuck with it for ever? No... there's gotta be a way... There just has to be! Argh, but where do I … Tails suddenly thought of Shadow. Maybe... maybe Shadow knows? It won't be too hard finding him if he's looking for me. Just put myself out in the open and I bet he'll be there.
There was a knock at the door. Sonic looked out of the window to see if he could see the caller. He couldn't see much, but he could see two black and red quills poking out from the edge of the window frame.
'Sonic, I know you're in here, all I want to do is talk,' Shadow said through the door.
'And what makes you so sure I believe you?' Sonic retorted as he motioned silently to Amy to get Tails out of here.
'Because if you don't, then the world is doomed,' Shadow said in a matter-of-fact tone. 'As well as Earth if it acquires the Chaos Emeralds.' Both Sonic and Amy froze at these words.
'What's going on Shadow? Tell me!' Sonic yelled, wanting to know all the facts before they made any decisions.
'Let me in and I'll tell you. Don't worry, I wont try anything funny.'
After writing this chapter, I decided to draw lil' Arty on the verge of breaking down. And at the time I was listening to Welcome to my Life by Simple Plan. Guess what the first words in the lyrics are? 'Do you ever feel like breaking down?' AND it repeats it over and over again throughout the song! So I left it on repeat while I drew the pic XD