Chapter 20: Closer at Midnight

Outside of Sonic's bed window stood Shadow the hedgehog. His dark colored skin nearly blended with the dark night sky, just barely visible to Sonic. Sonic starred back at him, expecting him to strike, but instead he simply said:

"Follow me."

"Can't this wait until mornin…." Sonic began rubbing his eyes when Shadow interrupted.

"I believe I have information that you would find usefull now."

"Well, what do you have?" Sonic spoke crankily.

"I would think you would like to have this conversatition elsewhere, perhaps outside New Motoropolis."

Sonic slowly nodded, then climbed out of his window. As he sped towards the edge of town, he was awoken by a deep uneasiness in his stomach. Shadow's words made Sonic worry, worry about something he had been questioning all day. Once they had left the city and were out in the open plains, Shadow suddenly stopped and faced Sonic.

"I think it's time that you got some answers."

"You mean?"

"Yes, what's really been happening."

"Oh no," groaned Sonic looking down to the ground. "Don't tell me, this New Mobotropolis is fake too?"

"No it's not. You're really back home." Shadow said cooly.

"It… it isn't another trap?" he state bewildred and suspicious.

"No your back, and I think it's over. At least, for a while now."

"What are you getting at?"

"Well maybe we should start from the beginning. You remember how after Tails was injured and Knuckles came to help you, it was because…"

"Hold it!" Sonic said, catching Shadow in the act. "How the heck did you know about that? You didn't…" Sonics eyes suddenly widened. "You!"

"You what? Will you relax Sonic. You're not even in the special zone anymore."

Bewildered, Sonic cried out "you were the one that hurt Tails, when it all happened. What were you up t…."

"Wait, will you listen for a moment? This is exactly why I became Knuckles."

"Became? What?" Sonic realized that he hadn't taken a breath in a while, and inhaled deeply. Shadow's temper began to rise in explaining his side of the story.

"Listen for a moment. Every ally that you met. Knuckles, that green Nerb, the blue Nerb, even Espio. They were all me. I've been trying desperately to help you for a while, in any way I could."

"Not that I'm not interested in HOW you could, but why did you keep changing forms."

"It was the only way to contact you. If I had stayed in one form, he would have been able to indentify me and terminate me from the special zone permately."

"Whose he? You mean that beast that acted like Tails."

Shadow looked like he was about to smack Sonic. He hesitated then took in a deep breath to relax. Calmer now, he replied "how about I just start at the beginning, Okay?"

"It all goes back several months. I had just returned from a mission from GUN, when I was taking a look around headquaters. Hope came running up to me, saying that she had found something interesting in one of GUN's files. I didn't think about it too much until yesterday, when GUN received word that there had been some activity in Megatropolis. Weird don't you think? An area quarantined for being ground zero of a nuclear missile, and there are still signs of activity. Well I decided to have a little look around. But before I left, I looked into the book. I realized that it was one of Dr. Eggman's journals describing some of his early works. Who knows how GUN acquired it. Most of it was illegible or nonsense, but there was one project that really stuck out. Not only did it have the potential for great evil, it also incorporated a lot of mystical and magical elements that the Dr. wasn't know for dabbling in. After looking at his project more closely, I saw that he had already create this beast only…."

"Only what?" Sonic said eagerly, truly determined to find out.

"Only Eggman decided to lock up the project. I think even he saw it as a potential threat, something that he in all his madness couldn't control."

"Well, what was it."

"He named it… it was called, project Tail Doll."

"Why the heck did he name it that?"

"Because it was merely supposed to be a doll, just a seemingly ordinary doll made of cloth, looking like Tails, that could easily sneak past enemy line. It really seems crazy, I mean why would he make something like that. It's so… impractical. In any case, to give this creature life and power, he used his secret weapon."

"Which was… a chaos emerald?"

"Heh, no not the chaos emeralds, but the Ancient Onyx. Eggman made a little note to say how pleased he was able to steal it again. He then somehow instilled its dark powers into the Tails doll to give it life. It just need a lot energy for it to be complete… but then he decided it would become too powerful and locked it up."

"Where it stayed until it was hit by the nuke and…" Sonic gasped.

"And was imbued by almost limitless power from all the energy that was given off. The reason I saw the activity in the city was because it was…"

"… actually Tails Doll starting up his plan." Sonic said, starting to piece the puzzle up together.

"Exactely. He had been waiting to start his plan, and probably started since Naugus set everything up so perfectly for him."

"But," Sonic glared at Shadow, "you still haven't explained what happened with Tails."

Shadow turned a little bit red "This part gets a little complicated. It's my fault actually, I probably should have prevented it. After figuring out it was Tails doll who was in motion at Megatropolis, I followed his trail that lead to the entrance of the special zone that I later found out Naugus had created. From what I had read, I realized that it would be suicidal to go in directly to confront Tails Doll. It was fortunate I had found a sol Emerald recently, and hadn't given it to Blaze yet, since it was the only way I could project myself in there without getting trapped. When I entered the Great Forest and saw Tails being attached by Tails Doll, I sort of hesitated from attacking since I couldn't get a good shot. Tails only noticed me and not Tails Doll after he fled, so naturally he thought I had been the one attacking him. Once he started screaming for help, I knew you wouln't believe what I said any more so I disgused my self as Knuckles using the power of the Sol Emerald. It was really quite interesting to see how much power you could really take from that place. After Naugus thought he figure out how I was getting my power from, no thanks to you…"

"He he, sorry. But I said the master emerald. Anyway you have to admit, I was going through a lot. You could have just said everything right there, all the mystery didn't mean anything…"

"Except if you knew too much, Tails Doll would have realized that you were getting outside sources and would hunt me down. Since Tails Doll controlled everything in the Special Zone, I would have been an easy target, epecailly since I was only a progection. It actually was fortunate you said that I was using the master emerald. You saying that gave me the opportunity to pretend that Naugus had me eliminated. While fooling both Naugus and Tails Doll, I still had access to the special zone through the sol emerald… And I needed all the information I gave you to be vague enough that Tails Doll would believe you were figuring it out on your own. That's why I had to feed you that riddle at the end. He realized too late that I was still there and had known all along. Thankfully, you still understood enough, and you ended up acting at the perfect time."

With that stament both Sonic and Shadow went silent, taking in the nighttime of New Mobotropolis. The a familiar cool breeze blew past them, that gracefully moved around Sonic. Finally, Sonic broke the pause.

"So what now?"

"Well, what do you mean? You finished Tails Doll, or at least sealed him up. When you used the two stones and the ring, you subconsciously sealed up the Special Zone. It's over."

"But Tails... how could he have survived. You know I... I..."

"Look Sonic, when you gave that deadly blow to Tails, he was under the influence of Tails Doll, who in the special zone was invincible. So basically, Tails was still unharmed. When you used the power of the three magic objects, you not only sealed the special zone, but also split the spirit of Tails Doll from Tails. You saved him."

Sonic gazed into Shadows eyes, then looked back down.

"So what happens with Tails Doll? And Naugus for that matter?"

"Trapped in the Special Zone? Well, without his artifacts to control the special zone, I'm guessing the remaining Nerbs are going to want some vengence. There will be a timeless battle that will rage on between the Nerbs and Tails Doll. I'm happy to say that as the green Nerb, I was able to inspire them to rebel. You know, the Green Nerb did tell you that he was going to help, even if you didn't know it... As for Naugus, well... even I don't know. I never got the chance to find out if he died. There is the slim chance that he escaped the Special Zone, I didn't worry to much about him. I guess only time will tell."

Another pause of silence.

"But then why did I have to come down here."

"Because there was no reason for this to be let out to the public. Since there is no impending threat, why cause a commotion."

"When they said no time had passed..." Sonic trailed off.

"Listen, Tails Doll warped the time so that it was incredibly slow compared to what was the outside. So to everyone else besides us, no time had really passed."

"But if someone tries to get into the special zone?"

"They can't, or at least, they won't be for a very long time. It's not something to really be concerned with. With your subconscience closing of the special zone, there's no way I can think of to open in again."

"So that's it? I just go home pretend like this never happened?"

"Exacetly. I know it's asking a lot, but it's better if they don't know anything, unless something else should ever arise. You have to move past this. Tails is back, and the evil has been vanquished. You won."

"Well, that wasn't the most satisfying victory." Sonic said depressingly "I could have lost him, I really thought I had."

Shadow put his hand on Sonic. "I know what's like to lose someone close to you, believe me. It gets better with time, you'll see." Shadow broke out into a small smile that gave Sonic just a little bit of hope.

"Well, I guess I'll be seeing you around."

"I guess you will."

"Well… goodnight then…"

"Goodnight Sonic. CHAOS CONTROL." And within a blick of an eye, Shadow vanished, leaving behind only a gust of wind and some dust.

Sonic decided to walk around the plains for a little while. He reflected on everything that had happen. From his walk into the forest, to the death of Tails, and finally to what Shadow had explained to him. He walked around for what seemed like hours, going nowhere in particular. Just wherever the wind took him.

Finally, as he slowly strolled back to New Mobotropolis, Sonic noticed now that everything was calmer, that it was all settling back to the way it was. No, it would never be the same for him. Those memories he had witness over what seemed like a very long week would haunt him for a long time, if not forever. Sonic knew it wouldn't be easy moving on, yet, comforted by the fact that he was home again, with his best friend with him once more; for once in a long time, Sonic felt at peace.