Sonic Cross Mission 8 part 2

"Uninvited Guests,"

"Now I think fire is as cool as the next guy, but it's all fun and games until somebody mentions water," Sonic said standing a few feet away from the scorched Earth. He made sure that Tails was positioned behind him. He had his arm placed in front of the cub as a sign of protection. Sonic stared forward to the man that somehow snapped fire into existence. He glanced back behind the man to see a line of men and then some heavier artillery. Next to the man stood a blond woman with hardened eyes with her handgun trained on them like all the other soldiers. "Or at least till someone gets hurt,"

The man mashed his teeth, "This one has a mouth on it worst then Envy,"

"Fast too, he had time to grab the other one and dodge it before you even made contact," the woman added with annoyed eyes. "I couldn't even keep track of him. I might not be able to hit him,"

"With those ancient pea shooters you won't lady trust me. So how about you lower that thing,"

"You don't have any bargaining power, and this is not a negotiation! I want you chimera to surrender…but that's mainly just the procedure I have to follow so please resist. I've got a bunch of paper work I really don't feel like getting to at the moment,"

"Chimera?" Sonic questioned.

"It's like a combination of natural subjects combined artificially. But we're not Chimera…" Tails spoke up.

"Well then explain something to me, why are you here at this mansion. Something catch your eye?" his hand was shaking with anticipation just wanting to snap his fingers.

"I'll explain but could you please keep your guns pointed away from him!" Sonic snapped in a small showing of anger. Tails hadn't noticed but the woman next to the man in charge had her weapon trained on him. Sonic shifted to accommodate but he was no less ticked. "In case you couldn't hear it in his voice he's just a kid. If you hurt him that crazy guy that almost destroyed the world would be a cake walk compared to how I'll flip out,"

"Sonic…" Tails warned the hedgehog as he looked over Sonic's shoulder. "Threatening them is not how we can get them to trust us,"

The man's eye twitched. "So you seriously have the nerve to threaten us when you've got a quarter of Ametria's army standing in front of you with guns pointed? Sounds to me like you don't have a fear of death, why is that?"

Sonic's eyebrow quirked at the sudden pitch change in the man's voice. "Like I said, not one shot would hit me. And if that windup toy back there," Sonic nodded toward the tank. "Is your biggest gun then you don't have a weapon that can really make me flinch. So my bargaining power is that we can talk civilly, tell you why we're here, so that no one has to be concerned about any hospital bills later on," Tensions were running high. Tails noticed that the man was itching for a fight, and the longer this is drawn out the more likely that outcome would be. Sonic's attitude was going to lead him into deep trouble unless something was done to diffuse the situation. Tails was confident that he could avoid the gunfire as well since he has been able to keep up with Sonic, and he knows how to handle himself. He decided at this moment to make an executive decision.

"Wait!" Tails said stepping out from behind Sonic making the hedgehog jump in alarm and the soldiers to raise their weapons. No shots were fired thankfully at Tails' hasty move but attention did shift. "What if I go as your prisoner?"

"Tails!" Sonic exclaimed.

The man looked between the fox and the hedgehog. He was able to tell the moment the first attack was sent that the hedgehog would do anything to protect the fox boy. It would certainly convince the hedgehog to play nice with his friend in their custody. Also, it didn't seem like the hedgehog had any control in the decision making which made it all the more perfect. He looked toward the woman next to him and she nods showing her support for the idea. "Alright fine,"

"No not fine, Tails you can't,"

"If you don't hurt them they won't hurt me, right?" Tails asked the one in charge.

"Right, no harm will come to your friend," the woman spoke up ignoring the displeased look from her commanding officer. She gestured for the other men to stand down as Tails walked over. "Alright, how about now? Think you can play nice?"

Sonic crossed his arms shooting Tails a displeased look before meeting the two people in charge, "Fine, who are guys anyway?"

"It's polite to introduce yourself first," the man jived.

"See I have this thing about me, I'm not all that polite to people who try to kill me,"

"Fair enough, my name is Brigadier General Riza Hawkeye. This man next to me is Fuhrer Roy Mustang,"

"You will refer to her as General Riza, and myself as Fuhrer Mustang," the man stated.

"Yeah, yeah, names Sonic," Sonic replied after rolling his eyes. "Sonic the Hedgehog,"

"So you two aren't chimera from what I'm gathering,"

"No we're not…Fuhrer…why does that sound familiar…"

"In our world that's German for king," Tails explained to the pondering hedgehog.

"Your world?" Riza asked the fox with a much calmer and friendlier tone. Mustang raised an eyebrow at her sudden disposition change.

"Yeah, we're not from here. See we're from another world kinda like yours but different,"

"Are their humans there?"

"Yeah there are plenty of people. Your world actually reminds us of the history textbooks in our world. I had suspected that this place reminded me of Germany being that it clearly is based a lot on engineering and Germany was big on things like that,"

"Well this is Amestrias, not this Germany place. Is that where you're from?"

"No," Tails said shaking his head. "We travel all over so we don't stay in one spot too long. Tails then suddenly remembered he never introduced himself. "Oh I was so busy rambling I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Miles Prower, but my friends call me Tails,"

"Well nice to meet you Miles," Mustang nods. Tails looks up at the man not noticing the stern and disapproving stare his General sent Mustang. "Also I thought I got reports that there were three of you,"

"Oh right, I almost forgot the crazy one," Sonic turned back toward the Mansion just as everyone heard gunshots. "Ah geez what has he done now…?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Tails you explain while I go get Shadow the Ultimate form of jerks," Sonic said rushing off already feeling his uneasiness about Tails being made prisoner. He really felt this was beyond messy and growing more and more out of control. He's starting to wish he had gone on this mission solo. He never realized how much a drag his friends could sometimes be in these situations. However, Sonic supposed he'd have to stomach it and deal with one problem at a time. Like the gunshots he'd heard. He saw a person go flying through a window almost hitting Sonic. Sonic quickly quick stepped to the side as he looked at the man. He was unconscious but other than that fine. Sonic rushed through the smashed window to a cry of panic.

"NO! Not another one!" a woman's voice cried. Sonic looked to see that Shadow had cornered an elderly woman with chestnut colored hair, a long wine-red gown that appeared to show off her higher class status, and in her arms she cradled a small child. The child looked rather afraid and worried as his eyes shined like they were about to start leaking. He has black hair with a small cowlick and an eye catching feature of a red dot in the center of his forehead. The child also looked to be in the attire of higher class society wearing a sweater vest over a button up shirt, grey shorts, and fancy black slip on shoes with socks that reached the center of his shins.

"Shadow, what the heck are you doing?" Sonic asked crossing her arms and giving him a look.

"I came in with the intent to talk to her and the boy together. However, the woman is a screamer and not very good at listening,"

"You both better leave at once, I'm sure the military are already on their way and I'll have you know that they are the best!" she said sternly swallowing her fear.

"You know, you have this uncanny ability to bring out the harshness in others Shadow. Sometimes that isn't bad, but in this situation maybe you should let me try," Shadow stepped to the side and gestured to the woman.

"You're more of a talker then me,"

Sonic smirked as he approached the woman confidently. "Hell-,"

"What do you want here?!" the woman demanded.

"We-,"

"You're welcomed here so leave us now!"

"Let me-,"

"The military is on their way also so you won't be able to get out this you know. You're trapped here and your crazy if you think otherwise!"

"List-,"

"You won't harm my son as long as I'm here, you hear!"

"UGH!" Sonic exclaimed throwing his arms up as he walked away in a pout surprising the woman.

"Now you see my problem," Shadow said with crossed arms and an impassive look on his face.

"I couldn't even say hello…" Sonic said actually astounded. He's never been one to be accustomed to his words being useless.

"What do you want!?" the woman demanded seeing the two talk amongst each other while still cradling the slightly fearful child in his arms. Sonic and Shadow looked at her and she at them. There was a long moment of silence. "Well?"

"Can we talk?" Sonic asked in an irritated fashion. "Is it our turn now, because we'll let you finish if you're not done," The woman was silent almost slightly embarrassed she flew off the handle in such a way. Demanding answers and not giving them a chance to answer. "Are you sure it's our turn to talk?" She nods.

"Great, I knew Sonic would throw a tantrum like that," Shadow said stepping forward. "Ms. Helen, formerly Mrs. Bradely, we are not here to hurt you and your son. On the contrary we intend to protect you both,"

The woman looked at him suspiciously. "I know we have an awful way of showing it, but we're really good guys. Well I am at least, this guy likes to straddle the line," Sonic said jabbing a thumb at Shadow. The child in the woman's arms seemed to grow far less afraid then before and took on a curious look.

"Protect us from what?" Ms. Helen asked. Suddenly a large amount of footsteps were heard as they charged into the living area with Mustang, Hawkeye, and Tails in the front of the pack. All eyes glanced around to assess the situation. Mustang and all his men were thrown to see what appeared to be a doppelganger of Sonic standing next to the blue hedgehog.

"What's going on?" Mustang demanded.

"I asked the same thing," Ms. Helen stated sternly losing her prior traces of fear.

"Well, first and foremost. Sorry for showing up uninvited like this. We would've just rung the doorbell, but who likes being subtle?" Sonic said with a shrug and stern stare at Shadow.

"Who are these guys?" Shadow asked.

"The dude with tude is Mustang who they call Fuhrer, apparently he's the big cheese," Sonic said.

"Big cheese?" Mustang questioned not recognizing the term at all. "Is that an insult!?"

"Not at all, everyone wants to be the big cheese!"

"Well the ruler is here so now we can talk properly," Shadow said then looked towards Mustang and his men. "No fighting will be necessary we just need to explain a few things. Tails, if you don't mind could you take the kid out back or something," Tails blinked surprised then looked toward Selim, the small child still bundled close to his mother. Helen looked toward who Shadow spoke to and she seemed to relax a bit seeing Tails. The little fox looked rather friendly, especially compared to the other two.

"Um, I'm not sure if he wants too…" Tails said as Selim was clearly more intrigued with what conversation was going to happen in the room. Helen was also a bit uncomfortable as well.

"My men will show them out then, keep an eye on both of them," Mustang said gesturing his man to watch the kids. Riza, unbeknownst to Mustang, gave the man a stern glare portraying the message of 'no harm shall come to them or else' through her eyes. The men flinch but saluted nonetheless. Tails decides to attract Selim's attention by flying in the air using his Tails. This was successful as Selim stared in wonder at Tails.

"Wow, how do you do that?" he asked.

"I'll show you outside," Tails said flying down the hall at a pace that Selim can follow. Shortly after the men leave all that was left are Sonic, Shadow, Riza, Mustang, and May.

"Sorry again about all this trouble," Sonic reiterated. He used his speed to pull out a seat for Ms. Helen. "Here you are ma'am," She muttered a thanks as she sat down.

"All of a sudden he has manners," Mustang muttered as he plopped down on the couch unceremoniously. Riza stood behind the couch as Shadow found a spot to lean on against the wall. Sonic sat on a footrest as he sighed. "Well start explaining,"

"You're really bossy," Sonic pointed out.

"To put simply, we are beings not of your world…if that wasn't obvious already," Shadow began. "Before you ask where we come from that doesn't matter, only thing that matters is why we're here," he said cutting off Mustang's question.

"Doesn't Fuhrer mean anything to these guys?" Mustang muttered mashing his teeth in annoyance.

"Well they are from another world sir, authority must be different," Riza reasoned with a small smirk.

"So what is your mission here?" Mustang asked.

"To protect your world and inadvertently protecting our own. There is a threat here that has the potentially of being a threat to more than one world out there. So we're gonna put a stop to the problem before it begins," Shadow said.

"Why come here?" May asked.

"Your son is the problem," This made all three adults gasp in fear.

"You mentioned the big battle from a few years back…so is it safe to assume you know everything?" Mustang asked leaning forward growing serious.

"Yes, we don't know the full details, but we get the gist. We know Selim Bradely is a homunculus reborn that has no memory of his previous life,"

"That's right so he can't be the threat," Ms. Helen said frantically in concern.

"See that's the thing, he's the threat, but he doesn't know it yet. It's totally not his fault. There is this…creature that's been going from dimension to dimension causing trouble. It's mainly my responsibility to stop it, and I have a few times. It's just extremely elusive and hard to predict. It came here while I was on another mission and has been haunting Selim,"

"He had been having nightmares…a few times I thought I saw shadows moving…" Helen admitted which earned her a pointed look from Riza and Mustang.

"This is something you should've told us Helen, you're supposed to hold up your end of the agreement," Roy said distastefully.

"Well if she would've have told you, what would you have done?" Shadow asked.

"Are you insinuating something?"

"Please, you would've taken that boy away the second something happened. If you didn't kill him you would've locked him away somewhere. From what I understand about his powers they can't operate in pure light or pure darkness. I'm sure you probably would've waited a few years till he grew some that way it wouldn't sting so much to burn an eight year old,"

"That's cruel," Riza said with distaste. "That's not how we operate,"

"Please, you're kidding yourself if you think it would never go to that. It would, and you know it. That's probably what scares you…not the fact of what I said, but with how I've said it in such an accurate way. Deep in your mind that's what you wanna do, and first chance you get you'll give in to those thoughts,"

"What makes you think you know so much about us?" Mustang questioned.

"Shadow had a rough time growing up," Sonic said stepping in. "He can sympathize with Selim…a lot more then you know. The fact is Selim is just being used. I wish we could solve the problem now before something happens, but we can't. The creature can only be stopped when he finally reveals himself. Until then we can either hope Selim can resist, or let the kid tough it out until he can't anymore,"

"What will happen to Selim?" Helen asked.

"He'll be possessed, and probably fall back into his old self again,"

"How would we stop him?" Mustang asked.

"Any old regular way you'd defeat a homunculus…but I suppose Pride is different from regular homunculus since he's still around," Shadow said. Which made May gasp in shock.

"Or," Sonic interjected with a stern stare at Shadow. "We can drive the thing out of him. We don't know how yet, but we'll figure it out,"

"Well that's the situation then," Mustang said. "Ms. Helen, I have some ideas on how to handle this, but first I wanna hear your thoughts," The woman was quiet as she stared down in an unsure nature of what she should do. "I don't want to seem callous, but this is serious,"

"I know…" she responded.

"Well it that's the case I have a few suggestions then," Sonic interjected.

Outside on the lawn Tails was currently playing with Selim. Tails was a little put off by the military guards watching their every move however Selim seemed to be able to tune them out. "Higher!" Selim called as Tails carried the boy in his arms as they flew around the yard.

"I don't want your mom to come out and think I might drop you and she might not be too keen on you flying around," Tails suggested.

"Awe, come on…" Selim moaned.

"Sorry, I'm also kinda tired," Tails said. With all the excitement and flying around Tails was feeling just a little drained. He flew downward to allow Selim's feet to touch the ground. Tails touched down next to Selim with a sigh of relief. Suddenly he felt a sensation on his tails, and he turned this head to see Selim touching Tails' fox tails.

"How come you have two, I thought foxes only have one?" he questioned he questioned stroking the fur.

"I was born with them," Tails said gently pulling his tails away feeling awkward with someone else fumbling with them.

Selim beamed. "Just like me, I was born with this," Selim said pushing up his short bangs so Tails could get a clear view of the red dot on Selim's forehead.

"What is it?" Tails asked curiously as he tilts his head.

"I don't know it's just always been there. It feels weird when I poke it," he responded. He looked back at Tails taking in his appearance. "How old are you Tails?"

"Oh I'm ten," Tails said.

"Oh, you're two years older than me, but we're almost the same height," Selim pointed out. Tails realized that Selim was right as he was probably only an inch shorter than him. "Wow you don't grow a bunch do you?"

"Well I can fly," Tails said puffing out his chest to make up for his height. This made Selim mess around with the hairs on Tail's chest. "H-Hey, cut it out," Tails said turning away awkwardly which made Selim smile and laugh fondly. Selim seemed to be taken aback by this feeling and suddenly sat down in shock with his feet together. Tails turned back to the boy surprised. "What is it?"

"I laughed really hard…and I feel all weird…" Selim said.

"Weird how?" Tails asked.

"…I don't know…I've never played with anyone besides momma. The guards don't like playing games…and I'm not allowed to leave the house for too long or go off by myself, so I don't see other kids…" Tails gasped at hearing that. He realized that Shadow was right, this was like a prison. "And you only played with me because you were told to be that mean looking thing…" Selim eyes suddenly changed color into a weak violet colored. "I don't fit in and no one likes me…like I don't belong,"

Tails then instantly felt bad so he tried to rectify it. "Well now that I know how much fun you are Selim I definitely want to play with you again!" Tails has always been mature for his age, being a genius and proud researcher made him that way. He honestly couldn't say he enjoyed the same thing other kids did which is possibly part of the reason he was picked on. "I know what it's like to be alone and not have anyone really like you for you. Not because they have to or because someone told them to, but because they choose to," Selim looked at Tails surprised. Tails didn't act like a kid, honestly he wondered if he'd be just like Charmy or Cream if not for his intelligence possibly more like Charmy. Instantly Tails knew his role for this mission and a role that he'd proudly and secretively take on. Simply being a kid. "I'll be your friend Selim, and we can play something you want to," Tails said with a smile.

Selim smiled brightly as his eyes returned to their previous color upon looking up at Tails, "You mean it?"

"You bet, and I'm sure Sonic would be willing to play with us too. He's the nice one," Tails pointed out.

"See Shadow, I told you, you do scare him sometimes," came Sonic's voice. Tails and Selim turned to see Sonic and Shadow with Ms. Helen with them.

"Alright, we're done with our chat," Shadow said ignoring Sonic's comment.

"I wanna stay and play with Tails still," Selim said.

"Well, you'll have plenty of time to a little later since these three will be staying with us for a little bit," Selim face took on an unreadable expression. On one hand he was really excited at the fact of a real friend like Tails to play with, but on the other hand the black creature scarred him a little. He had not really formed much an opinion of the blue one yet.

"I can see he's so excited he's speechless," Sonic jived. Selim straighten up remembering his manners.

"Welcome, my name is Selim Baker,"

"Nice to meet you Selim, you've met Tails. My name is Sonic the hedgehog, and that guy over there is Shadow,"

"Hedgehogs?" Selim questioned.

"Yeah, that's what we are kid,"

"So are you both related?"

"Oh my no," Sonic gasped.

"He wishes," Shadow muttered.

Selim smiled now seeing the hedgehogs now in this different situation he could tell they weren't so bad. He figured that may be special like how Tails is although he could tell they were older than him and Tails. Selim was ushered over by his mother as she placed a hand on his back.

"We will prepare dinner," She said to the three Mobians.

"Alright, we'll just go clean up any mess we made, again sorry," Sonic said to which Ms. Helen smiled warmly at him clearly accepting the apology.

"We're staying here?" Tails questioned.

"Yes, that way we'll be close in case of emergency," Shadow explained.

"And have a nice roof over our heads," Sonic smirked. "This job does have its perks,"

"I feel really bad for him…he's so lonely here," Tails said with his hands behind his back.

"Well get ready for one clingy friend Tails cause with all this rudimentary stuff around I don't think there's a lot of tech here for you to work on," Sonic said placing an arm around Tails' neck.

"That's true…what makes you think he'll be clingy?" Tails asked looking up at Sonic. Sonic only gave a knowing smirk as he looked at Tails. "What?"

"Just a feeling," Sonic said leading him towards the house. "We convince the guards to leave to, which was not easy, so Selim may finally get some privacy. Plus I don't dig the whole watching every move ya make shtick. Creeps me out. So let's go get ready for dinner while Shadow cleans his mess,"

"What?" Shadow questioned.

"Yeah, in case you forgot you smashed the window, and a bunch of other things in the house while freaking them out. Therefore your mess,"

"Your making this all seem like my fault,"

"Cause it is!"

"Ugh whatever, I wasn't hungry anyway," Shadow stalked off. Shadow took a few steps back on the lawn then glanced back. He felt he was being watched and his eyes met with Selim's from a higher up window. The boy stared at him with a curious glint in his eyes. Shadow saw deeper meaning though, some recognition, and some thought provoking behind those eyes. Shadow broke his gaze with the boy as he teleported away.

"Is he…just like me?" Selim questioned to himself. Suddenly he felt a small headache work it's way up his spin and began throbbing in his head. He ignored the pain and resisted for the moment. But he didn't know how long this moment may last.