A/N: And we're back! As you might have noticed, I've updated the layout of the entire story - it should make it a touch easier to read.
For those who are wondering who else from Tails' world is going to show up... aside from the one about to make his appearance here, there'll only be one other character showing up - and they'll only actually appear in the last chapter, as a hint of what I plan to work on after I finally finish Twilight Fox. To say the least... it's another Sonic/Zelda crossover. Go on - speculate. I know you're wondering already.
And now, onward to more of the Legend of Tails!
Just before the launch Tails had been trying very hard not to think about, Ooccoo had come running along to join him, insisting he take her along with him. Then to the accompaniment of much muttering and Midna trying not to laugh too loudly, he'd climbed into the cannon. Fyer seemed almost too happy to be given the chance to send him flying yet again.
This cannon was much more powerful than Fyer's own one though. Hyrule was left far behind as a new, yellow blur streaked upward. Ooccoo nestled in his arms completely untroubled, even remarking on the view. Tails tried not to think about how he'd gotten here.
Seen from above before the clouds enveloped it, Hyrule was much larger than he'd thought. Even the great crystal surrounding Hyrule Castle seemed almost dwarfed in comparison. There were also, he noted, several tracks that seemed to lead away from what he knew of Hyrule outward to other lands shrouded in the distance.
As the clouds grew thicker below he started to look up ahead more often. There was an even thicker cloudbank ahead. It could conceal almost anything – but, as he passed into and through the clinging mist of the cloud, it concealed only a vast edifice hanging in the air, a veritable city in the sky.
"I think we've arrived," Tails shouted over the sound of the rushing air.
"Try to aim for that pool!" Ooccoo suggested, nodding toward a small pool of water at the nearest edge.
It was hard to steer through the buffeting winds that plagued the area, and even trying to fly on his own means was troublesome for him at best, but he persevered even as his momentum started to fade and he started to lose height.
The pool was, thankfully, deeper than it looked, deep enough to sustain the last of the momentum that sent him diving deep under the surface. Ooccoo jumped out of his arms just before impact, flying on her stubby wings to one side as Tails stroked back to the surface.
"Nice landing, wolf boy," Midna remarked.
"Better than sand," he replied, teeth chattering in the shockingly cold water.
"You won't find any sand here, adventurer," Ooccoo told him. "Since you came all this way just to bring me back, I guess I could give you a tour of the..." she broke off, staring upward.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Tails muttered. The air above seemed to rumble, then with a great roar what could only be described as a dragon flew right overhead. Tails looked disconsolately after it with a sinking feeling he was going to have to fight it.
Another Oocca appeared out of a nearby bush and seemed to commune with Ooccoo in a collection of distraught clucking sounds, then ran off into a nearby building.
"Gracious me, adventurer, you'll never believe it! There's a dragon raging around the city!"
"You don't say," Midna murmured sardonically.
"I'm afraid our tour will have to wait," she went on heedlessly. "I've got to take shelter in the shop with everyone else, before it and the red beast find us!" Then without another word she ran off after the other Oocca into what appeared to be a giant purple egg-shaped building.
"Red beast?" Tails wondered out loud, shaking most of the water out of his fur and clothes. "Do you know of any 'red beasts' here in Hyrule, Midna?"
"What do I look like, a portable bestiary?" she complained. "I've never heard of anything like that though. You think it might be another of your friends?"
"Sounds a lot like Knuckles to me. I wonder if he's here?"
"You know wolf boy, your friends seem to have a knack for showing up at convenient times. Seems almost like a coincidence."
"Like the kind of coincidence where people go out of our way to help us?" he asked her slyly, heading for the shop. "I wonder if they've got some red potion in stock? I meant to stock up on some."
"What for?"
"Something Link passed on to me. He said-" then broke off as a blast of wind pushed him against the remains of one wall. Midna quickly retrieved the Iron Boots for him, allowing him to get some purchase against the wind and even make some slow progress while it blew.
"I think I'd better watch for those gusts," she mused. "Wouldn't want you to have to take another cannon flight to get back, would we?"
"What gives you that impression?"
The shop was occupied by only three Oocca – a shopkeeper, Ooccoo herself, and a small head just beside Ooccoo that appeared to be flying by some equally stubby and impossible wings.
"Is this all the Oocca there are?" Tails asked Ooccoo.
"Oh gracious no," she shook her head so violently it seemed almost ready to fly off. "They're lost around the city it seems, unable to get back because of the winds and the beasts. I'm so concerned for them, but it's too dangerous to go."
Tails coughed meaningfully.
"Oh, of course! I completely forgot about you adventurer. You can go and fight off the dragon for us! But I don't want to slow you down..." she paused for a moment then made more of the Oocca clucking sounds to the head beside her. When she was done she turned back to Tails. "This here is my son, Ooccoo Junior. He'll go with you this time. He can't just warp you anywhere like I can, but he can bring you back here to the shop – and then back again to wherever you were. You won't even notice he's with you! But please remember he can't speak Hylian yet – he'll understand, but he can't speak it."
"Thanks. I'll do my best to keep the other Oocca safe while I'm out and about for you."
"Thank you adventurer! Not all of us speak Hylian, but they'll surely help you. The sight of the proud hero's green should be enough for that!"
"Convenient again," Midna commented. "Looks like they've got that red potion you were after too."
The shopkeeper spoke only broken Hylian, but enough to get by with Ooccoo's assistance. He filled his various bottles with red potion, paid for them, then headed back out into the city with Ooccoo Junior nestled in the fur on his head.
Back outside the wind still alternated between calm and vicious blasts, but with Midna keeping watch and switching the boots as needed he made better progress.
There were only three ways he could go from the pool, it seemed. Back to the shop, to a promontory that held another sky cannon presumably for leaving again, and the main route into the city itself. The wind there, in defiance of all logic, blew directly from the walls of the city down the path ignoring all obstacles.
It was slow progress stomping up the path with the wind howling in his face, but he persevered, fought off two Baba Serpents along the way, shot another crystal switch with the newly acquired beam sword attack, then finally got out of the wind and through the door at the far end.
The room he entered had several supporting pillars and several gaps in the floor. Vines grew up many of the walls and pillars, but aside from some of the floor tiles being blue there was little else in the room.
"There's something wrong with these floor tiles," Midna stopped him. "Give me a moment."
She headed down past one to examine it. Tails took the opportunity to wander along the grey tiles to see the room better. Here and there, there were the metal helmets the Helmasaurs wore – but no Helmasaurs.
"Midna," he called.
"In a moment, wolfy," she replied absently.
"Midna, I think someone else has been here already," he persisted.
"Zant, probably," Midna's voice came from somewhere below. "Why else would there be a dragon here?"
"Zant never killed the monsters before we got to them though."
There was a short silence. Midna shot up unexpectedly and looked around at the room.
"Maybe... your friend?"
"Could be," he admitted. "It'll be a first though. Every other time my friends have shown up, we've led them into a dungeon. This time we'll be finding them ourselves. Did you find out anything about that tile?"
"Step on it, then get off again quick. You'll see."
Tails did as she suggested. The blue tile shook when his weight came onto it, then as he watched from the safety of a grey tile it sank own and into the clouds below.
"Useful to know. I'd better avoid those tiles. I think I saw the way out on the far side of the room."
"Going to fly over? There's no wind in here."
Tails nodded, waited for her to take residence in his shadow again, then flew the whole length of the room. It was only as he opened the door he realised that the chainmail that came with the Hero's clothes wasn't as much of an inconvenience as it had been. Definitely getting used to it – maybe he could chance flying a bit more than he had been.
Beyond the door was a much larger room, again with several vine-choked pillars and holes in the floor. Around the upper wall of the room were several grated openings through which the wind blew, though without the harsh blasts that plagued the outside.
Another Helmasaur helmet lay by itself in the room. This one was much larger than any he'd seen before.
"There's something kinda disturbing about this," Tails muttered. "It doesn't feel right, going through after someone else has beaten up all the enemies."
"Look on the bright side – you won't be wasting so much energy. You'll be saving it up for the fight with the dragon."
"As if getting blasted up here wasn't bad enough."
"Be honest wolf boy. You're enjoying it really. I saw the look on your blue friend's face when he realised he was going to be your sidekick. He's used to having you as his sidekick, isn't he?"
"Usually. I can't see a way out of this room."
"To your right," Midna supplied. "There's a bit of grating missing that leads outside."
"Thanks Midna."
"What I'm here for," she replied warmly.
He simply flew up to the grating, looking cautiously out before he headed out. It didn't open out into empty air, but rather a vined wall leading to a lower ledge. Several large gears were visible through gaps in the floor, connected to another Spinner mechanism to power it.
The Spinner seemed oddly loose in the mechanism though, and spinning it didn't seem to do anything. Once he'd removed the Spinner itself he examined the mechanism closer.
"Do we really have time to improve the place?" Midna said plaintively.
"It's not that. Look here," he pointed. "And here, and here. It looks like something forced this mechanism by hand and damaged it in the process. You can see pieces of the gear missing." He looked up and around, spotting an earthen pot within arms reach of the mechanism, then turning it upside-down. Several chunks of metal clattered out. "And I'll bet these are the pieces. Whoever worked this thing tried to hide the evidence. Someone has definitely been here."
"But what did it power?" Midna wondered. "Go investigate, wolf boy. Put those mechanical talents to good use."
Tails followed the system of gears, having to leave the ledge and fly over to another set of vines beside a bridge to continue following them. After a few moments he pulled himself up and examined the bridge itself. There was a break in it that extended into the structure beyond.
"I think we'll find it controlled this bridge. Extending it out to reach that place over there, just past the Kargaroks."
"Better deal with them before you cross the bridge wolfy," Midna suggested. "You don't want to be caught trying to fight them when a blast of wind strikes."
Tails nodded, saving his arrows again to take full advantage of the beam sword Link had passed on to him. It was hard to say exactly how effective it was compared to an arrow, but it did the job. The nearer Kargaroks tried to dive for him when they realised what was attacking them, only to get a swift lesson in why not to come too close to someone holding a sword.
Those further away, in a display of sheer stupidity, each seemed to believe that another Kargarok was responsible. They turned on each other, in their distraction getting thrown below the clouds by another vicious wind.
Through the door on the other side of the bridge was, as was to be expected, another room – this one squared off, though still with the odd hole in the floor. A piece of wall appeared to have been destroyed at some time and had been covered over with a grate.
On the far side was a clawshot target in the ceiling just above a raised platform. Something was rattling around on it, muttering and growling incoherently. Midna appeared beside him, sharing a curious look, but said nothing. Whoever or whatever it was, they hadn't noticed the door opening or closing again.
Tails cautiously made his way slowly toward a ledge just opposite the platform where he hoped he'd be able to see what was happening better, silently thanking whoever had made the sturdy boots that allowed him to stalk across the tiled floor with barely a sound.
"Gah!" a familiar voice suddenly burst out viciously. "I know there's a way into this thing somehow!" From the ledge there came a grunt, then a large blue chest was flung into view landing not far from Tails.
Tails raised a finger to his lips to indicate silence to Midna, quickly moving to lean against the wall just behind the lone pillar in the room to wait.
"There's got to be a way somehow," the voice went on irritably. "There's no lock on the stupid thing, and there's definitely something in there. Can't even force it open, and it's a damn box!" The voice paused, then slightly calmer, "Hey, maybe throwing it made it break apart. Can't hurt to look, and if it fell down a hole... well, who cares, it probably wasn't anything important."
The came the sounds of movement, then the familiar form of Knuckles landed. He didn't appear to notice Tails nonchalantly watch as he headed for the blue chest, which was completely undamaged.
"Oh, come on!" Knuckles burst out again. "You're made of bits of wood! The walls should have smashed you to pieces!"
"Having trouble, Knuckles?" Tails asked pleasantly, not yet moving from his position. Midna's curiosity seemed to fade slightly as he identified the Oocca's 'Red Beast' as Knuckles, knowing he was a friend now.
Knuckles swore a startled oath, whirling quickly to face him, then stopped.
"Tails? What're you doing here?"
"Nice to see you too, Knucklehead," he teased with a sly grin. "Mind letting me lend a hand with that?" he nodded to the chest. Without waiting for an answer, he headed for it anyway.
"No offence Tails, but if I can't open it-" he broke off as it opened easily at his touch, allowing him to withdraw the small key within. "How did you..." his eyes hardened, then he said, "Alright, just what's going on here Tails? And what's with that getup?"
"Oh yeah. I guess I should introduce myself with my new local identity." Knuckles looked puzzled, so with a bit of a pose, Tails went on, "I'm Tails, chosen Hero of the Hylian Goddesses, soon-to-be saviour of Hyrule, collector of the fused shadows-"
"And my wolf boy," Midna finished for him.
"And this is Midna," Tails introduced her. "She and I are working together. Midna – this is Knuckles. I guess you mighta gathered that already."
Knuckles took Midna's apparently sudden appearance without turning a hair, taking in everything they'd said and turning it over in his mind. "And that lets you open the chests?" he asked eventually.
"Pretty much," Tails nodded. "It's a Hero thing. How did you get here?"
"I don't remember," he answered shortly, stalking off a ways. "Took a nap, next thing I know I ache all over and I'm in this place in the sky with a load of wierd-headed chickens in their city. It was fine until a few days back when some creepy guy stopped by and drove us all out. That's when the monsters appeared – and that dragon. I've been trying to get rid of them again ever since, but every time I think I'm making progress I come across a locked door."
"Which you need the key for, from a chest which only he can open," Midna added. "You won't be the first to have to rely on wolf boy here."
"He's a fox," Knuckles corrected absently.
"Never mind. We'll explain it if it becomes necessary. Why don't you lead us to one of these locked doors?"
"And then you get to watch me be a Hero," Tails grinned. "Sonic and Jet were fairly impressed when they saw what I've learned here. Maybe you'll be the same."
"Sonic and Jet are here too?"
"That's what I just said. Come on, Knuckles – you get to be the sidekick with me this time."
"Oh, joy," Knuckles muttered. He did not sound enthusiastic.