Chapter Twenty: Unknown Signals


For each member of the group, the tension was so thick that moving forward felt like slogging through quicksand.

Sure, they still had twelve hours left to go before Sonic's deadline hit, but after a few hours' worth of preparation and a few hours of much-needed sleep, none of them could stand to wait for even a second longer. Additionally, they'd taken down a cyborg snake, destroyed each other's inventions and houses, and taken down hundreds of killer robots together- to have their most catastrophic loss ever be due to a time limit would be disgusting.

Tails led them by a considerable distance, carrying his computer as well as several others. Sure, it wasn't ideal to give the villain more ammo to use, but they wanted Sonic to think they were complying, meaning they needed to look the part (even though Tails was concealing his last flash grenade by hiding it under a belt that carried some of the computers). The others were prepared for a potential fight to the death. Rouge had her taser, Sticks wielded her boomerangs, Knuckles had his fists. Metal Sonic's whole purpose was to be a weapon, Eggman held the mind-analyzing gun and several other of Tails' inventions, and Shadow had the knockout powder and a few dozen curse words at the ready.

Earlier, Shadow and Rouge had made one final call to their employers, saying, "Urgent news. If we don't call back within 24 hours, assume there is an imminent global threat on the way to the mainland. We're going in for the kill now." He hung up after that- there was simply nothing more to say.

Once they got within a mile of the ruined Gogoba village, Tails stopped for a second. "You all remember the plan, right?"

"Yep," Knuckles said. "Wait for the signal, and then come in hot."

"That's a bit of an oversimplification," said Tails, "but close enough. One of the laptops I'm bringing will transmit everything back to you guys. Wait for me to pull my little magic trick with the flash grenade, then Shadow, you teleport in and give him a few good hits. Then, we'll hold him off until you get here. From that point on, our primary goal is to knock him unconscious."

"I'm guessing that won't be hard," Shadow said. "With this powder, plus a few good punches, he'll be out like a light in no time."

"Good," replied Tails. "This is as far as you go, I have to talk to him alone for this to work."

The others stopped, leaving Tails to press onward. As he neared the patch of wasteland that used to be a semi-thriving village, the carnage caused his stomach to pitch and heave, his eyes to tear up, his mouth to hang open. Sure, it had been bad just viewing it from a screen, but being there in person added a touch of horror that you just couldn't get anywhere else.

Tails expected to have to search for a while to find Sonic, but that wasn't the case. He was casually leaning on one of only a few remaining upright huts, drumming his fingers against the side of his leg and staring off into the distance like he didn't have a care in the world.

Once Tails got close, though, he turned to face him and smiled his gruesome smile. "Tails. I see you're here."

"Well, why wouldn't I be?" Tails set down all the computers, making sure the one transmitting audio back to the others was as close as possible to him. "This is the most rational option."

"Glad to see you've figured that out," Sonic said. "Now, would you just drop off the computers where I'm standing?"

"Got it, Sonic," Tails replied. Then, he immediately lapsed into a coughing fit. Not a subtle one either- one that made him go red in the face, made his eyes water, made him spit out a glob of something that nobody wanted to know the exact contents of.

"No, Tails," Sonic hissed. "I got it."

Lightning-fast, Sonic dashed forward, colliding with Tails and knocking him to the ground. The computers he'd been carrying went flying, and the flash grenade he'd hidden under his belt hit the ground unused. Sonic was on top of Tails in the second, glaring hungrily and flashing his signature bloody smile.

A few seconds later, both of them were subject to a sudden tingling sensation as a faint ruby glow flared into existence in front of them. In a matter of moments, the glow had disappeared and been replaced with Shadow. He yelled what was presumably some kind of battle cry and threw a fist, but made contact with nothing but empty air. All the powder he'd been holding became airborne, but Sonic was too far out of range to be impacted, and Shadow had to dart backward to make sure he didn't fall prey to its effect.

Sonic started laughing. "You think I wasn't well aware of what you were planning for me? And I thought you two were supposed to be the smart ones of the group!"

Shadow wanted to play dumb for the time being, so he did a double-take. "Wait, what plan? I thought you were choking Tails, so-"

"Cut the crap," Sonic said, still holding down a squirming Tails. Shadow tried to attack him, but Sonic grabbed Tails and picked him up, using him as a human shield, which caused Shadow to swerve out of the way.

"I knew this was coming for hours," Sonic said. "Sure, any creature with average intelligence could assume that something like this would have happened, but being able to hear everything you say was a nice way to confirm it. Really made sure I couldn't trust your word, even if you trusted mine."

Before the others could say anything in response, Sonic waved them off. "Just because I wasn't talking to you doesn't mean I didn't have access to your computer, Tails. When we stopped our little chat, I only turned off the visual aspect of it. I kept the audio running, so I could make sure you would do what I said. Once you got around to discussing how to get rid of me, that was all I needed to hear."

Shadow tried to pull Tails away from Sonic, but his grip wasn't budging, and Tails wasn't making any progress either. Shadow then tried to get behind Sonic and attack him like that, but every time, Sonic whirled around, always making sure that Tails remained between him and Shadow. "You can keep trying all you like, but this isn't going to work, Shadow," Sonic hissed.

Shadow bent for a second to scoop up some of the powder from before, taking pains to keep it away from his face. He didn't want to get too close to Sonic, especially with his hands occupied, but if he could still execute the plan, it meant that they could significantly increase their chances of survival.

Unfortunately for him, Sonic also knew what the powder did. And he wasn't about to fall prey to one of the oldest tricks in the book.

So, instead of merely dodging Shadow's next attack, he darted around him, leaving Shadow with his back to him. Then, when Shadow whirled around to prepare for whatever Sonic's next move was, he got up close and personal with Shadow, kicking him hard in the wrist.

The wrist that was attached to the hand holding the powder.

It made a grotesque noise as Sonic's sneaker made contact with it, and bent in a direction it probably shouldn't have been able to. Red-hot pain shot up Shadow's arm, and his own fist smashed into his nose. Besides adding his fingers and nose to the list of things that felt like they were close to snapping off, he felt himself sharply inhale from the pain, taking quite a bit of powder with it.

That didn't stop Shadow. He threw himself into another attack, but Sonic effortlessly dodged. Tails kept trying to break loose. He even managed to land a decent kick to Sonic's leg, causing him to wince and pause for a second. However, the window wasn't enough for Shadow to do anything in it.

After missing that attack, Shadow caught himself yawning, and tried to slap himself awake for a second. "Crap," he thought. "Not now…"

Sonic went on the offensive, using Tails as a bludgeon of sorts. He missed, but the powder was catching up to Shadow; he could barely stand anymore.

"Got to… got to get out of here," he thought. The creature already had Tails, he didn't want to be added to its arsenal too. After making one last half-hearted attack, he sprinted as fast as he could in the direction he thought his friends were coming from.

He made it approximately a dozen steps before keeling face down in the sand, dead to the world.


Metal Sonic, who was in the lead for obvious reasons, saw Shadow fall.

"Everyone," he warned, "this was not what we intended to happen. Prepare to fight for your lives, and possibly the lives of Tails the Fox and Shadow the Hedgehog as well."

When the others made it to the outskirts of the destroyed village, it was clear enough what had happened. Most of the Gogobas had been near the village center when Sonic had massacred them, so it had left them with a vast stretch of empty space, which was why Tails had made them wait so far away. Tails, however, seemed to be the worst off in all this. Sonic hadn't bothered with Shadow yet, but he held Tails firmly with both arms, forcing him toward another computer. He was kicking and screaming, but it didn't seem to do anything to Sonic except mildly annoy him.

Once the remaining members got close enough, he turned his head to face them, while still trying to force Tails to touch the computer. If Tails hadn't been thrashing like Rouge had shocked him with her taser, one might have described Sonic's demeanor as being casual.

"Well, I suppose I should have seen this coming as well," Sonic said. "Better speed things up a little bit." Ignoring Tails clawing for his freedom, he swept up the nearest computer and dragged Tails' body across it.

It wasn't over yet, though. Everyone charged at Sonic. Rouge fired her taser, Sticks threw a boomerang, Metal Sonic launched a homing attack, and Knuckles prepared to get closer when his friends were finished. But Sonic merely chuckled at the display. He dodged Rouge's attack and used Tails to block both Sticks' and Metal Sonic's. Tails merely groaned as each one hit him- by now, he looked like someone had gone to town on him with a baseball bat.

That wouldn't be true for long, though.

Like clockwork, a thick stream of crimson mist erupted from the computer in Sonic's possession, moving to engulf Tails just like Tails' own computer had the first time. Tails' eyes bulged out of his head, his movements no longer coordinated, as the horrible stuff entered him through his mouth and nose, even though he was holding the both of them closed as tightly as possible. Tails' eyes showed nothing but pure terror as the process continued, and he was making a noise that would have been a scream if he hadn't been clenching his teeth.

Sticks made a move to try and pull Tails away before the process could finish, but Sonic avoided the attempt in an almost lazy manner. Knuckles, Rouge, and Metal Sonic then tried to pull off the dogpiling move that had worked last time, but Sonic vaulted over all three of them.

Even though Tails had moved during the process, the mist hadn't stopped feeding into him, instead moving with him like it had been attached with a rope. Metal Sonic somehow managed to get behind Sonic and land a solid homing attack on him, but Sonic just tanked it, remaining where he was as Metal Sonic bounced back off, careening into an awkward landing. That didn't do anything to the stuff entering Tails, either.

Sonic started laughing like crazy, which he others had never thought they would have to get used to. "It's too late for you now! Tails is mine!"

As the last few wisps entered Tails, Sonic dropped him, allowing him to get to his feet. Everyone seemed to hold their breath for a moment. Tails closed his eyes, tears squeezing their way out of the lids.

In an instant, a wave of pure energy emanated from Tails, rippling outward and slamming into everyone present. Sonic remained unaffected, but the others were hit with a sudden wave of lethargy. Plants were uprooted. The few remaining huts collapsed. A noise like thunder sounded across the entire island.

Then, it all stopped. And Tails opened his eyes once more.

Their irises matched Sonic's perfectly.

"Now that I have a second host," the thing that used to be Tails said, "This should be much easier. But remind me, where were we again?"

Without any prompting, he said, "Oh yeah, we were taking over the village! Now, let's fulfill what we set out to do…"

Shadow submitted first since he was unconscious and couldn't really fight back. Then Knuckles, who went stiff as a board and fell flat on his face. Sticks screeched and clawed at nothing as she went down. Even Eggman, with all his intellect, had no way to keep Sonic and Tails out of his head.

Metal Sonic and Rouge held out a bit longer, the former due to his excellent firewalls and the latter due to sheer determination. However, Metal Sonic had nothing but code working for him, and once it failed, there was nothing he could do. Just like that, Rouge became the lone soldier in a losing battle.

Despite her best efforts, there was no way out of this one. But as she faded away, one last thought burst to the surface of her mind before she gave in.

I'm sorry, Sonic.


Review Zone, Act XIX:

-Linz2: Thanks once again for leaving the review, and the compliment! Semi-spoiler alert, though- that's not the last time the body count's going up.

-Saul'keth: Thanks for taking the time to leave a review! Even if this probably isn't what you expected to happen, I hope you enjoyed it anyway.