Here it is, the next Chapter. Yay! :D
Important! Read this before the Chapter!
Now, I want to say that there is a major spoiler warning for "Sonic Adventure 2" in this chapter. So if you don't want to find out what happens for the game...you might not want to stop reading it after this line.
"...I'm certainly going to drag at least one of those monsters with me."
Everything above that, you're good. :D
If you're not worried by spoilers, by all means keep on reading. It should be interesting :D
Thank you to all those that reviewed the last chapter. :D You guys are awesome.
So, without further delay...Enjoy :D
Chapter 37: Sorrow
Narrator: None, third person format
After getting the call from Skyler, Dark teleported Nikki to the front of the Stern Orphanage.
"Thanks Dark." Nikki called as she started running toward the door.
"Wait, do you want me to stay here or-" Dark was suddenly interrupted by the alarm going off on the watch on his wrist, letting him know that he had to go back to Charles' lab. "Damn it."
"Dark go, I'll be fine."
"Are you sure?"
Nikki nodded and gave him a smile. "I'll be back there later as soon as I find out what's going on, okay?"
Even though he didn't want to, the midnight hedgehog nodded. "Okay, go."
The blue hedgehog took off into the building and swiftly shut the door behind her.
That fake smile. Dark thought to himself as he turned to head back to New Albion. You might be able to fool a lot of people with that confident smile…but you can never fool me, Sonica.
The midnight hedgehog suddenly disappeared from where he stood.
When she found Skyler, the raven told Nikki what had happened. As Skyler spoke, it felt as though Nikki couldn't understand what she was saying…or was it that she was refusing to believe what she was hearing. The hedgehog had no idea which it was, but she did hear every word. And inside it felt as though a knife had been driven into her chest. But Nikki didn't show any signs of falter in front of Skyler, true to her nature.
Concerned for her friend more than how she was feeling, the hedgehog ran up to the next floor in no time flat, but suddenly couldn't bring herself to walk through Jodi's door. As the flood of sadness came over her, she slammed her fist into the wall across from the door. She then rested her head against it and her eyes closed tightly shut.
Why…why did this have to happen?…why is it that every time I get close to someone, something bad happens to them?…Jodi doesn't deserve this…This isn't fair…this isn't…
The blue hedgehog allowed herself to slide to the floor. After letting herself vent for few seconds, the blue hedgehog opened her eyes.
Keep it together, Nikki…For Jodi's sake…you have to keep it together…
Once she composed herself, Nikki walked back toward the door. She reached for the handle, but hesitated for a minute.
What am I supposed to do?…What can I say to her?…All I can do is be there…I'm all she has…
She took in a deep breath. Right…here we go. And with that, she slowly opened the door and peeked into the room.
As Skyler had told her, Jodi was lying in her bed, her back turned away from the door.
Nikki took in another quiet breath and then took a few steps toward her. "…Jodi?" She then took a couple more steps forward. "Sis…you sleepin'?"
She noticed her sister glance a little over her shoulder, like she was making sure that her 'sister' was really there.
"I saw that." Nikki said trying to sound more optimistic than she was actually felling.
Jodi sighed loudly, realizing there was no point trying to act like she was sleeping anymore. Still, she didn't budge.
The hedgehog walked over and sat on the corner of the bed. "You know, I just past by the lunch hall. Was there another food fight in there since I've been here? Because it still smells like old spaghetti in there."
Not getting a reaction from Jodi, Nikki tried again. "So, I heard that Mrs. Stern finally retired. Funny, I thought she should've retired, hmm…let me see…14 years ago?"
Jodi gave a light giggle. "Nikki."
"What? Seriously. You'd think she would've stopped babysitting after watching the Mobisaurs die out."
"Nikki, okay, okay, I'm up."
"Yep, I thought that one would get ya." Nikki smiled in triumph. She then looked into her sister's eyes as she met her gaze. "So, how are you feeling?"
"Mmn, better. So, how did you find out?"
"Sky called me."
"Ugh, Skyler…" Jodi lightly face palmed herself. "I'm sorry she worried you like that."
"So is it true?"
There was a pause for a minute as Jodi debated on whether or not to tell her the truth, but she knew it was all out of the bag now. "…yes."
The blue hedgehog let out a drawn out sigh.
"I'm sorry."
"Stop apologizing Jodi, it's not your fault."
"No I know that. I mean…I'm sorry for you…"
"Don't be, I'm fine." Nikki said quickly.
"You don't sound so sure."
"I am. You're the one that's-" Nikki stopped herself short.
"If you never knew me…you wouldn't have to go through this."
"Don't you dare." Nikki whispered. "Don't think that I ever regret meeting you…because I never will."
"Nikki…" The ferret sighed as she leaned back on the bed.
The hedgehog leaned back and rested right next to her 'sister'. "…So…how long?"
"I don't know…six months…a year tops."
The hedgehog shook her head. "Was that what they said?"
"No, that's my estimate. There's not many doctors nowadays that fully understand what's going on with me. So, we worked together to figure it out."
"What about Tails and my Uncle Charlie? I'm sure they could-"
"I don't want to burden them with this. This was something that I was born with, it won't be easy to fix. Not like I could get a transplant either, there's no ferrets left with my same blood type. Not only that, it's not something that can be fixed with nanite technology either."
"Why not?"
"My body rejects it for some reason, I don't know why. And besides, say that I do ask for their help. Think of the time they would have to give up. I can't ask them to do that, not with so much at stake."
"What, you think you're not important? Um newsflash, you are important. More than you think you are."
"Pfft."
" 'Pfft'? That's all you have to say is 'pfft'? Geez, you're more stubborn than me."
"Now that is impossible. There is no one on Mobius that is more stubborn than you." Jodi muttered.
"Yeah, okay. I'll give you that one. But do you really think that something like this will slow you down?"
"Nikki, I have a hole in my heart…literally. I think that is going to do more than slow me down."
Nikki stopped for a minute. Hearing it from Jodi herself, it was definitely a fact. She let out a loud sigh. "There's gotta be a way to fix this."
"Well, right now there isn't."
"Not gonna stop me from trying."
Jodi sighed. "I know…like I said, stubborn. I just don't want you to get your hopes up only to be shot down."
"Hey, it doesn't matter what happens. We're always gonna to be the two kids that ended up getting stuck cleaning the whole cafeteria after that food fight, because we weren't fast enough to not get caught."
"Correction, everyone else took off. You were more than capable of taking off and out of the building completely before Mrs. Stern even got into the room…but you didn't…you stayed with me, and then took responsibility for it."
"Well, it was mostly my fault. I wasn't about to let you take the heat for it."
"And I wasn't going to let you take it all by yourself either. That's what I admire about you, Nikki. You never truly abandoned anyone…not even once. And you're willing to take the weight off of everyone else's shoulders around you. I've never lost faith in you, and no matter what happens to me, you shouldn't lose faith in yourself either."
Jodi then took her sister's hand. "You will always be a hero and my sister, with or without me. If you want to do anything for me, then do just that…be yourself, never forget who you are."
"Reckless and all?" Nikki said with a light smile as she slightly raised one of her eyebrows.
"Yep, all of it." Jodi laughed.
"I'm still gonna talk to my Uncle Charlie about this. I'm not giving up on you, if there is a way, we'll find it."
"In the meantime…just don't get your hopes up too much, alright? I'll do what I can to help you with your search for Snivly on my end. If I am going down, I'm certainly going to drag at least one of those monsters with me."
Nikki had decided to stay the night with Jodi. The next morning Jodi felt much better and promised that she would be careful from now on to prevent aggravating her condition. Knowing that the others would be worried about her and remembering that she had promised to help Tails, Nikki still debated on whether or not she should leave Jodi and go back. But Jodi insisted that she would be fine and finally convinced Nikki to go back and help Tails.
"The world can't stop because I'm not feeling well. Don't worry about it."
Jodi…when you say things like that…that's when I worry the most.
"Hello? Mobius to Nikki?"
"Hmm, what? Oh sorry."
"If you want to go back, I understand." Tails said from inside the cockpit of the X-Tornado 2.
"No, no. I'm fine." Nikki tried to reassure him.
But Tails wasn't buying it. "I'm just worried that you'll worry so much that you fall right off that wing you're standing on."
"Tails, I'm fine." She reassured again.
"Don't worry, Charles and I are planning. We'll figure this out." Tails added, knowing that Nikki was just trying to put on a brave face so that he would stop worrying about her.
"I hope so." Nikki whispered.
"Get your mask ready, we're almost to the Mystic Ruins." Tails said as the X-Tornado 2 began it's descent.
"Right." The hedgehog took the bandana from her quills and quickly tied it around her muzzle.
Once the plane landed, Tails tied his bandana around his own muzzle before opening the cockpit. Dark and Stealth were waiting at the base of the hill.
"Are you sure you don't need one of these?" Stealth spoke though a mask that looked similar to what a ninja would wear more than a bit of cloth.
Dark shook his head. "Nope."
"Okay, it's your funeral. Can't say I didn't try." The wild cat rolled his eyes. He then noticed Nikki and Tails coming in their direction. "Good, they made it."
"So, how's it looking Stealth?" The twin tailed fox asked.
"Looks like we're in the clear for now. The raider's camp isn't too far off though. Benny let them know I was in the area, so we should be alright."
"You're sure that'll be enough to keep them away?" Nikki asked.
"What? An ex-con artist that was at the top of his game who later joined G.U.N. task forces wouldn't be good enough? I'll tell you this much. If I was still working the underground and I found out that a guy like that was in the area, I would stay clear of it." Stealth said as he raised one of his eyebrows.
"Okay, okay. Point taken." Nikki said as she laughed a little.
Tails then turned to the midnight hedgehog. "Now Dark, we're going to be counting on you and Nikki. You two are the only ones here that can sense changes in Chaos Energy in the air around you. If you sense that the negative Chaos Energy in the area is too high, we'll have to get out of here fast, okay?"
Everyone gave the twin tailed fox a nod.
"Right, lets head in." Tails gently pushed open the door. The door groaned loudly as if it had been awoken from a long slumber. The fox took a step inside and peeked in. The dust was so thick that it looked as though a fog had set itself in the center of the room. It was a good thing they were wearing the masks, not only will they have to worry about the Chaos Energy levels, but the dust alone could be enough to suffocate them if it got in their lungs.
The dust didn't seem to affect Dark at all, as Tails had expected.
Like Stealth had said before, the place looked as though it was completely cleaned out. Even the furniture was missing. The only thing left in the room was broken glass from one of the nearby windows.
"Everyone watch your step." Tails said behind him as he walked further into the living room.
"Tails, it looks like someone beat us here. There's nothing left." Nikki observed as she looked around the room, being careful when stepping on the shards of glass.
"It's not this room we're going to be searching. This way." The group followed the fox as he led them down the hall. He then turned a corner and entered into another room, which was also cleaned out.
"Which room was this?" Nikki asked curiously as she walked in after Tails.
"This was Sonic's room. My room is just across the hall. You see," Tails took out a flashlight out of his nap sack as he continued. "Sonic was always away on adventures most of the time, so this was more his guest room than an actual room."
He then shined the light on the metal floor, which was separated into large square tiles. "One day, Eggman attacked my house and found my secret hiding place where I kept the Chaos Emeralds Sonic and I collected…that was in my room."
The fox stopped by one of the squares near the center of the room. "So Sonic and I came up with an idea." Tails took his hand and placed it firmly on top of the metal square, the edges glowed bright gold. "Obviously Eggman would expect something to be hidden in my room, or even in my workshop. But-" Suddenly, the massive square hinged upward and revealed a secret passage. "He would never suspect anything to be hidden under Sonic's room."
"Good thinking." Stealth nodded.
"Just be careful climbing in, it's been a very long time since anyone's been down there."
Taking Tails' warning into account, the group carefully climbed in and down the ladder one at a time. Once they reached the bottom, Nikki used her Chaos Shard as a light and looked around the room. Stealth used his night vision to see. And Dark scanned to room around him using night vision as well.
The room was big, probably just about five feet squared larger than the room above. There was a ton of what looked to be random junk to the group, but to Tails, this was where he stored some his important inventions. The ones that he never wanted to fall into the wrong hands.
"So, what are we looking for?" Nikki asked as she peaked into one of the boxes.
"Anything that you think we can use. If you have any questions, ask me." Tails answered as he searched the far end of the room.
"You got it." The blue hedgehog replied and she gently dug though the box.
Everyone else separated to search all the corners of the room, Stealth effortlessly climbing to the top of one of the shelves to get a better look. Dark looked on the other side of the room, scanning to see if he found anything that seemed to match what Tails might be looking for.
As Tails looked through one box, something caught his eye. It wasn't a grand invention or a rare artifact…but a small, white and brown shoe.
Wow…
The twin tailed fox took out the tiny shoe out of the box for a closer look.
Hard to believe my feet were actually that small…it's almost hard to believe I was that small.
Tails began to remember a moment in his past…
Narrator: Tails
It was a stormy night and I tried to take shelter under a tree. I was cold…frightened…I had no idea where I was. I didn't know it at the time, but I would've died out there if I was out there for too long…but there was no where else for me to go. As the freezing wind blew by, I curled up, wrapping my two tails around me. I closed my eyes, hoping to just fall asleep and that this was all some sick nightmare.
Just then, a voice carried in the wind. "Awe man, I should've taken another route. Naw, I just had to take the short cut, now I'm soaked."
Suddenly, I heard the voice a little closer. "Hey…you okay kid?"
Slowly I opened my eyes. There, standing above me dripping wet from the rain, was a blue hedgehog. He then knelt down and looked right at me, his emerald green eyes were kind and sincere. I couldn't remember ever seeing anyone look at me that way. Through my shivering, I stuttered. "Y-you talking t-to me?"
The stranger then gave me a confused look for a second, his expression then quickly changed into laughter. "Well, yeah. I don't see any other kids around here." He then looked over his shoulder to be sure. "Are you out here by yourself?"
"Y-yeah…I…" I didn't notice it, but I was starting to pass out.
"Whoa, hold on there kid. Stay awake, kay?"
There was something about his voice that made me obey his request. Being so young, I didn't know why his tone sounded so urgent. All I thought I was doing was falling asleep, but it was really more serious than that. If I had passed out then, I might never had woken up.
The blue furred stranger then reached his hand toward me. "Come on, lets get out of the rain.?"
I was shocked by those words, he wanted me to go with him? "Y-you mean it?"
"Yeah, whadda you say?"
I didn't know what to do at first. I looked at his hand and then my eyes drifted to his emerald irises. They were strong, but so kind…and his smile. I knew that he wasn't lying to me in the slightest. He wasn't trying to hurt me, he wanted to help me. With a smile, I reached forward and took his hand. "S-sure."
Narrator: None, third person format.
Well…I really have no use for a beat up old shoe. Tails thought as he looked it over. I better just leave it here.
"Think I might've found something." Stealth voiced as he looked at the strange looking thing. "Though, I have absolutely no idea what it is."
"That's good, keep it." Tails said after he glanced over his shoulder and seemed to recognize it.
The ocelot looked at the thing, still slightly confused by it. But he quickly shrugged and put it in his nap sack.
Nikki sensed something and was drawn to another box close to the wall she was searching. Feels like there's some positive Chaos Energy in here. The blue hedgehog thought as she peeked into the box. There was a bunch of random stuff inside, but there was something in that box that was setting off her senses.
Suddenly, Dark picked up on it too and rushed over to Nikki. "No."
The midnight hedgehog reached in and, to everyone's surprise, took out a golden Chaos Emerald. "That was close."
"Wha- the?" Nikki had no idea there was a Chaos Emerald under all of that stuff. It was a good thing that Dark was there to stop her from touching it, or that could've been a big problem. "Thanks Dark."
The two adults that had whipped around at Dark's sudden movement, breathed a massive sigh of relief.
"Geez kid, don't do that. You nearly gave me a heart attack." Stealth breathed.
"Tails, you had a Chaos Emerald in here all this time?" Nikki asked, still slightly shocked and confused.
"Talk about finding secrets in the basement." Stealth commented as he looked to the twin tailed fox.
Tails looked just as confused as everyone else as he walked closer to the strange gem. "Hold on, Dark let me see that."
The midnight hedgehog handed the gem to Tails and the twin tailed fox looked it over. He then laughed little. "Wow, okay. I know what this is now."
"Well duh, it's a Chaos Emerald." Stealth voiced from the background.
"That's what it's supposed to look like. It's a fake, I made it."
"You what?" Stealth was surprised by this. How could someone make a Chaos Emerald?
"But it still has Chaos Energy like a real emerald, I felt it. That's how I found where it was in the first place." Nikki added, confused.
"It has the same wavelength and properties of a Chaos Emerald. It still behaves the same way, but it's not the real thing." He looked back to his comrades. "This is great find, we can use this."
"Great then lets keep looking." Stealth said as he continued to search the next shelf.
Dark gave Nikki a look and she rolled her eyes when she understood. "I know, I know, if I sense any Chaos Energy I won't touch it, I'll holler."
"Good Nikki." The midnight hedgehog then swiftly turned around and continued looking in his side of the room.
Nikki gave Dark light glare, but then brushed it off and continued looking.
The twin tailed fox looked at the gem in his hand.
You sure did get us out of a tight spot…
Narrator: Tails
"Just stay calm Amy, Sonic's coming."
"Stay calm? You try having a gun in your face and tell me you can stay calm!"
"Quiet you!" Eggman yelled waving the gun.
A part of me wanted to do something right then and there. But what could I do? If I tried to rush in, Amy could get hurt. My Cyclone was fast, but there was no way it was faster than a laser at that close of a range.
I was more than scared…I was terrified. Eggman had been frightening to me before, but this? This was low even for him, using Amy as a Mobian shield to get Sonic to abandon his mission to stop the Eclipse Cannon and come here. Although, looking back, I should've expected nothing less from that wicked man.
If only I was as strong back then as I am now. I could've done more than just stand there and watch, but I was still a kid. Besides, Sonic was on his way, I knew he would come up with something to get Amy out of this safely.
The metal door slid up behind me and I looked over my shoulder. There, in the doorway was my brother. I wanted to let him know how relieved I was to see him, but his eyes were filled with anger. And he had every right to be, given the circumstances. Instead, I decided to stay quiet and let him take care of the situation, keeping myself on standby in case he gave me a signal to join in.
The sinister doctor across from us raised his laser gun toward Amy the instant he saw my brother. "Let's take care of business first, shall we Sonic?" His voice suddenly changed from eerily calm, to a tone that nearly sent a shiver down my spine. "Hand over the Chaos Emerald, slowly and then we'll talk about your girlfriend. That is, if you really care for her…"
Low blow Eggman, low blow. Just when I thought he couldn't sink any lower, there it was. I looked over to my brother and noticed he had the fake Chaos Emerald in his hand. Instantly understanding what he was planning, I gave him a light nod. It was a good plan. There was no way Eggman could tell that the Chaos Emerald Sonic had was a fake. And by the time he would find out, he would've blown up all his plans…literally.
Or…that was what I thought…Why was I so naïve?
"Put the Emerald down right there, and back off!" Eggman threatened again as he risked pointing his gun toward a circle on the floor.
Now that I'm older and looking back, I think we would've learned this by that point. If there is a circle on the ground in an evil place…don't step on it. But again, I was still a kid. My mindset wasn't focused on that at the moment.
I glanced back and could see Sonic's confident smile, giving me the signal that he was going through with it and setting his plan into motion. As he walked forward toward the center of the room, he mocked. "You've turned into a big-time villain, Doctor."
As my brother reached the center of the room, I looked at Eggman across me. The man's sinister smile unnerved me, there was just something about it that gave me the sense that he had another plan in mind. Suddenly, his finger pushed down a button on his walker's control panel. Before I could yell, my breath was taken away from me as Sonic was suddenly trapped in a glass capsule pod that dropped from the ceiling.
"You thought you could trick me with that fake Emerald, didn't you?"
Shocked by this, I blurted out. "What? How did you know it wasn't the real one?"
I heard Sonic yell my name from his tempered class prison, by the time Eggman had announced what I did, I already knew the mistake.
"Because you just told me, fox boy!"
I blew it, I really blew it.
"Now, for a little space ride! The capsule clears the colony, BAM!"
He's gonna what? This was bad, this was really bad.
My brother looked at me, his emerald eyes full of determination. "I'm counting on you Tails."
He then turned and looked at Amy across the room, who was nearly on the brink of tears. "And Amy…take care of yourself."
This isn't happening…please tell me this isn't happening!
"Farewell! Sonic the Hedgehog!"
My brave brother gave Eggman one last glare before the pod was ejected into space.
Amy ran to the window of the room and helplessly watched the pod as it drifted further away from us. "Sonic…"
What I saw next will haunt me for the rest of my life. The pod that held my brother against his will exploded, bursting into flame. The light form the explosion brightened up the dark room.
"Farewell Sonic…my admirable adversary."
I could barely hear Amy as my own heartbeat began ringing in my ears. "SONIC!"
"Now we have some unfinished business to take care of! If you give me the real Emerald, I will release you both. You have my promise."
Eggman? Keep a promise? Yeah right, hell would freeze over first.
I heard what he was saying, but my mind was somewhere else. I started to remember our adventures together, all the times Sonic saved me, when he was there for me. That was when I realized. For as long as I could remember, I always expected Sonic to get us out of any situation. I was able to stop Eggman once on my own, but I'm still sure that was a fluke more than anything, even though Sonic didn't seem to think so at all. And then I realized, even though I didn't have too much faith in myself…Sonic always did. And now…he asked me to finish what we started.
"Sonic…"
I heard Eggman in the background. "Huh?"
Keeping my brother's memory in mind, I looked Eggman directly into those dark black glasses. "Sonic has asked me for the first time to do something for him," I could feel the determination and anger burning behind my eyes as I began to raise my voice. "I won't let him down! I won't give up!"
With my speech, the sinister doctor simply laughed. "You're no match for me! You weak little fox!" He then fired one of his missile rounds.
But I dodged and stared him down once again. "Watch me!"
Knowing that Eggman would have a trick up his sleeve, I began charging my laser cannon. I had to be careful and time it just right. Eggman's walker and my Cyclone circled each other, matching missiles with counter attacks. Then, I saw my chance.
When Eggman fired his laser, I made the Cyclone leap into the air and hover. The light from his laser was so bright, I was blinded from it for a second.
Eggman must've assumed that I had been hit, because after he fired the laser, he laughed in triumph. "That'll teach you, fox brat."
As the laser began to dim, my gaze met that of a shocked Eggman. "What?"
"For what you did to Sonic…I'll never forgive you!" I then activated the laser I had charged. "Fire!"
The blue laser came blazing out of the front of the Cyclone and pummeled into Eggman's walker. I allowed the Cyclone to land slowly as the laser dimmed.
It took every bit of energy I had not to finish him off right then and there. But I knew one thing…Sonic, my brother, wouldn't have wanted that. He wouldn't want me to become a murderer, even if it was to stop someone as evil as Eggman.
I climbed out of the Cyclone, giving the past out Eggman a glare as I landed on my feet.
I then looked to the blue Chaos Emerald in my hand, "Sonic…I did it."
I was trying my best to keep my tears back.
He's gone…he's really…
Suddenly, I heard my communicator ring and I turned it on the frequency, thinking that it might be Knuckles contacting or something. But instead, the voice on the other line instantly lifted my spirits.
"Awesome job, Tails."
"Sonic!" I couldn't believe it. He was alive. Sonic was alive.
I heard Amy cheer behind me instantly when she heard his voice over the communicator.
"Look outside." The communicator buzzed.
Both Amy and I walked over to the window. The Eclipse Cannon looked as though it was ready to fire, but something wasn't right about it. It suddenly began to malfunction and break apart as an explosion ripped through it's core. I focused my vision even further. There was Sonic, on one of the antennas of the colony, with that big smirk on his face. He then gave me a thumbs up.
It was later when he told me about how he had escaped the pod by using the fake Chaos Emerald to use Chaos Control.
Narrator: None, third person format.
Suddenly, the female hedgehog's voice brought the twin tailed fox back to reality. "Hey Tails, check this out."
The said fox turned around and walked over to Nikki. "What did you find?"
The blue hedgehog pulled out an older model Extreme Gear, a long crack nearly severing the board across it's center.
"Whoa," Stealth said slightly stunned as he turned around. "Haven't seen that in forever." The wild cat then scratched the back of his head.
"What happened? Did you crash into a saw factory or something?" Nikki asked looking at the long gash in the board.
"Umm…yeah, something like that." Tails answered, though it did sound hesitant, like it wasn't the answer he had prepared to give her. That was because…that wasn't what had happened in the slightest…
Narrator: Tails
When I saw that deep cut in my old Extreme Gear, I couldn't help but remember that day. I was fifteen. It seemed like a day like any other…until I saw a report on the news saying that Sonic was destroying the city!
Refusing to believe it, I decided to go out to investigate. I enlisted Stealth's help, who was working with G.U.N. at the time to help me track him down. I expected to find Sonic and have him be perfectly fine and tell me that it was yet another imposter Eggman made or something. What I had never expected, along with Cream actually tailing me, was for it to be in fact my brother actually terrorizing the city.
I knew something was wrong as soon as I saw him. He seemed to act like his normal self…only when I looked into his eyes…I saw something different. His eyes were bright red and seemed to pulse brighter then dimmer once again.
Suddenly, he came at me at blinding speed. I was caught off guard and was forced to stay on the defensive, blocking his attacks and dodging as I tried to figure out what was going on. I just barely dodged one of his attacks, but one of my tails was severely cut. I couldn't help but cringe. It didn't matter how strong I had become, my tails were always sensitive. As Sonic came in for another strike, I heard Cream motioning to run out and help me.
"TAILS!"
But Stealth knew there was nothing that she could do and held her back to protect her. "No!"
In that split second, I noticed my Extreme Gear at my feet. A loud clanging sound echoed through the air. Sonic and I stood face to face…My Extreme Gear was propped up between the two of us, my hands gripped firmly to it, holding Sonic back.
Sonic had stopped spinning when he hit the Extreme Gear, realizing that he didn't hit his target. He too was gripping onto the Extreme Gear, trying to force it against me as I stood my ground. My brother then looked at me, his blood red eyes gleamed as he smirked. "Ha, not bad…You're getting better at this, Bro."
That actually sent a shiver down my spine. He recognized who I was, but the way he acted toward me was completely backwards. It felt like he was taunting me, like he did with Eggman's robots in a fight.
Eventually we did figure out how to solve that one too. I really do owe Stealth for that. If it wasn't for him helping me out, I don't think we ever would've saved Sonic.
All those times we made it through…why couldn't we figure a way out that one time?…
Narrator: None, third person format.
"Tails."
The fox turned to the midnight hedgehog, who looked serious. "We should go."
Tails knew that if Dark was saying they should get out, it meant that the negative Chaos Energy levels were becoming too dangerous to stay any longer. The fox gave him a nod. "Right, lets go then. I think we got enough here for now."
Stealth leapt down from the shelf. "Good, because I don't think I could fit anymore ju- I mean 'inventions' into my pack."
"Ignoring that." Tails said as he gave the wild cat a smirk.
Stealth returned Tails' comment with a short laugh. "Yeah, I thought you might." With that, the wild cat climbed up the ladder.
After Stealth gave the all clear, Dark went up next.
As Nikki waited for her turn to go up the ladder, Tails looked at her. He had always tried to respect Nikki as her own Mobian. But there were times when she was so much like her father, it felt as though the true blue hero was right next to him.
"Okay Nikki, you're up."
Right after Stealth hollered, Nikki swiftly climbed up the ladder.
The twin tailed fox turned and looked back at the storage room. So many memories still lied here, hidden in the boxes and collecting dust on the shelves. His sapphire eyes seemed to shine in the dim light.
"Tails! You comin'!" Nikki shouted down from the top.
Tails grabbed one of the bars of the ladder and looked back at the room one last time. Giving his hidden memories one last smile, the fox then swiftly pulled himself up the ladder.
Author's Note: Okay, this is gonna be a long note, but here we go.
-First of all, poor Jodi :( But the Freedom Fighters have her back, so hopefully they'll figure out how to help her.
-Tails' first flashback was my own rendition of how Sonic and Tails first met. It was one of my favorite scenes to write for this chapter.
-The second flashback was actually from the game "Sonic Adventure 2", but I put it in Tails' point of view. The only thing I really changed besides that was Tails' reaction to Eggman knowing the Emerald Sonic had was a fake. I'm sorry, I just couldn't see Tails reacting that way right after Sonic being trapped. I thought he would act more shocked, as he does here. But besides that, it's almost to the letter.
EDIT: I forgot to add that I did add additional dialogue to the beginning of that flashback, as well as more dialogue and an actual scene to the fight with Dr. Eggman. Those didn't happen in "Sonic Adventure 2"
-The third flashback is one of my own design that takes place at some point after Sonic 06 and before the prologue of Sonic's Legacy. You will be able to get the whole back story in another installment that I plan on writing about it later on.
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