Chapter 25 Back to the Ark

Tails reacted as her body moved without even thinking. In the blink of an eye, she found herself right in between the GUN commander and Sonic, yet despite that, things seemed to slow down for Tails as she could see that rage and hatred in Sonic's eyes. Never has Tails seen Sonic go that dark before, but there he was, going straight at her now. What was he going to do? Attack her? Would he really? Sure, he had been cruel to her in the past but since their first adventure, it was at least out of a sense of caring. But this... this was something else. Tails only had the time to get in Sonic's way as her hand had shifted during the move over there. He was either going to collide with her...

Sonic stopped. Inching from Tails' face as his eyes were locked on to her. Tails looked back in those eyes. Scared, worry, even concern showed through her eyes towards Sonic. Why was he acting this way? She wanted to know as she channeled all that into the look, she was giving him right then, almost fearful that if she spoke first, things would only get worse. Sonic's expression didn't seem to change yet, still, he stood there. His fists clinching again and again as the sound echoed in the stiff silence. Would she break him? Would she be able to get through to him?

"Perhaps it best we come for this Emerald later."

The voice came from the floating creature with the star-shaped body and singular eye in the center. It's voice dark yet it seemed he realized something and was trying to get Sonic out of there? Was he behind Sonic's behavior?

Sonic didn't say a word in response. Just stepped backward. Still looking at them before.

"Chaos Control."

A flash from his emerald and he and the creature was gone.

Tails exhaled deeply as the tense situation was over. She bent over placing her hands on her knees as she tried to calm herself. He didn't attack but, somehow, she felt that things may not end the same way as last time.

The GUN Commander acted otherwise as he stepped forward to where Sonic had been and swore. Before finally turning back to Tails this time aiming his gun at him.

"So, you two WERE working for the Black Aliens, huh?"

Tails slowly looked up to see the barrel of the gun pointed right at her.

"I... We're not working for them," Tails pleaded, "That... thing did something to Sonic. I... I don't know what it was but..."

Tails trailed off as she wasn't even sure. How could they... that's when she realized something. Something that Rouge was saying before.

"...Rouge was talking about something before," Tails said, "Something about how the Black comet and the Death Ruins?"

She had listened to Rouge's report as it seemed the Black Aliens were somehow responsible for turning an entire town against each other.

"That has to be what's going on with Sonic!" Tails concluded as she hoped that the GUN Commander understood. It did take a moment as the news sunk in. After all, it DID make sense, even if he didn't want to admit it. Finally, he lowered and holstered his weapon letting out would have been a sigh.

"Sonic's after the Chaos Emeralds," he said which Tails couldn't tell if he was stating a fact or pondering something over aloud, "The last one's aboard the Ark. So that is where we're heading."

Tails nodded. She honestly wasn't fully sure how they were going to get back up there. But they had a way. So, she nodded as the GUN commander headed back outside to the truck.

"And this time," he said, "We're using Diablon."

-

A few blocks down from the Lava Shelter Museum, a small flash was seen as two things appear just outside of a building. One was the Blue hedgehog known as Sonic while the other was Doom's Eye. This eye looked at Sonic as Black Doom began to ponder to himself. That was close. He thought to himself. It seemed Sonic still wasn't quite there yet.

"Why did you pull me back?"

Sonic's voice was furious. Part of him wondered why he even listened to Doom in the first place. He should have torn right through that yellow fox. After all, she was trying to keep him from HIS emerald. Just like she had done so many times in the past.

"Strategy," Black Doom's voice emitted from the floating creature by Sonic, "The final Chaos Emerald is aboard the Space Colony Ark, is it not?"

Sonic nodded not really in the mood. He didn't even think to question how Black Doom knew of the Chaos Emerald's location when Sonic, himself, had found out before he reconvened with him, nor had he brought it up yet.

"And?" Sonic asked impatiently.

"You possess great power and speed, Sonic," Black Doom said, "However, even one such as yourself is no match for the void of Space. It will be easier for you to allow the other two to show us where the final Chaos Emerald is located on the Ark than to go in only to find yourself flung out into the emptiness of space."

Sonic wasn't too worried about that. The Chaos Control would help him with it. But he couldn't best Black Doom's logic. Get them to show him where the Chaos Emerald is, then he could take them BOTH off of them.

He then glanced up towards the sky.

"How do I get up there?" He asked.

"I can help with that," Black Doom said as suddenly what looked to be a holographic form of his normal body appeared, "You have 5 of the 7 Chaos Emeralds. That should be more than enough to get you to the ark using Chaos Control."

Sonic looked to his bag as he placed the Red Chaos Emerald into it.

"Then I'll do it," Sonic said ready to put his ability to use the Chaos Control to the test.

"While I have no doubt in mind, you'd be able too," Black Doom said, "You don't know the exact coordinates of the Ark."

"And you do?" Sonic asked getting a bit aggravated.

Black Doom nodded.

"Now prepare yourself," He said as he floated closer. Sonic waited, not too happy about this.

"Chaos, CONTROL!"

There was a flash as Sonic and Doom's Eye was on their way to the Space Colony Ark.

-

Tails was feeling a little more uneasy than usual. But that's to be suspected when you find yourself inside a large battle mech said to be so strong that only a Chaos Emerald could power it. Tails wondered if a golden ring may have sufficed but she didn't exactly take any of those with her when she followed Sonic to this world. The thought only brought her back to what was going on with Sonic. Somehow, that black alien was controlling Sonic. Getting into his head. She wasn't sure how to exactly stop it. The GUN commander had decided that they would be using this mech and while Tails was more along for the ride in the 'back seat' if you will with the Commander hitting up the pilot's chair. She wasn't sure how this would help Sonic. The best she could think of, was that they could take him, prisoner, perhaps? Maybe time away from the Black aliens will help get him back into his right mind. That was the only thing Tails could even think of at this point.

"Systems ready," The GUN Commander said in front of Tails, "We're taking this fight to the Ark. Poetic really."

Tails gave him a confused look. What did he mean by that? Nonetheless, the Commander set Diablon in motion as it began to rocket skyward. Tails wasn't so sure before that this thing could reach space, but the g-force that was hitting her now was a sure-fire way to get her to believe.

Tails was pushed back into her seat as they continued. It wasn't as bad considering again her seat wasn't exactly intended for someone of her size. At least she had that going for her. Once they finally cleared the atmosphere thing settled down a bit as they headed for the Ark. It wasn't long before it came into view.

Looking out over the half-spherical device Tails couldn't help but remember the last time they were there. How she almost lost Sonic forever. Now, if she didn't do something, she may lose him forever. Tails couldn't let that happen. She had to get Sonic back, no matter what it took.

So, the duo sat in silence each with thoughts of the battle that laid ahead of them. It was a tense silence but they both knew what needed to be done. Stop Sonic The Hedgehog.

Soon enough they arrived. Diablon having no trouble landing with its humanoid legs onto a nice landing platform for the ark. The GUN Commander directed the Emerald powered suit towards the entrance, and manipulating the arm to punch in the keycode, the door swung open and they were inside the ark once more.

They continued down the halls, thankfully the mech wasn't too big that maneuvering wasn't a problem through the place. If it was trying to take on Sonic in a cramped space would prove troublesome. Still, they moved onward.

"So where IS the Emerald anyways?" Tails asked her pilot.

"You'll find out once we get there," he replied sternly and Tails could tell he still didn't trust her. Tails wasn't too happy with that but at this point, she didn't care. Still, she looked out at the halls of the ark as things started to look a little familiar to her. She believed she knew where they were as they began to travel down a long hall. Then she wondered, were they keeping the emerald in there? They continued down until they reached the room and sure enough, the Commander guided Diablon into the same room where Sonic was blasted out into space.

They walked forward into the room and sure enough, there in a case, sitting right in the middle of the room was the Light Blue Chaos Emerald. Tails looked at that. She figured it was part of a trap. If they tried to get at the emerald, they'd just trigger the capsule. It wasn't a bad idea.

Tails were just about to compliment the idea when a rush of wind went by them followed by the sound of glass shattering. They looked up to see Sonic standing on the other side of the room with the Light Blue Chaos Emerald in his hands.

The GUN Commander swore but didn't seem too worried. Tails were feeling a bit of a pit in her stomach. She was about to face him... or at least be in the mech she was in was.

"This ends now Sonic," The Commander said.

"Exactly," Sonic replied as he dashed towards them once again.

"Chaos Control!"

The voice came from behind Diablon but no one had a chance to react. They were all teleported in a flash of light. Where they ended up, Tails could only gasp. What she saw was a dark area with rocky walls and just a dark aura around the place. A few spots on the walls were looking Alien as they were in a very large open cavern of some kind. Tails had no idea where they were at but she was about to find out.

"Welcome, to the Black Comet."