AUTHOR'S NOTE: I should explain here that this is where non-canon elements come into play, particularly with the Chaos Emeralds. Apparently, in the canon, once they turn into Super Emeralds, they're supposed to bulk up in size similar to the Master Emerald and still vanish after one use (is that right? I think, I dunno, like I said I've never finished any Sonic game). But as part of my compensatory head-canon, I left their size unchanged and made them reusable to a certain extent. I suppose that automatically makes this entire thing bad? I dunno. Let me know what you think.
Chapter 7: Revenge at Last
Amy's house, 8 AM. Sonic and Amy are sat together at the dining table, enjoying a hearty breakfast which Amy had made.
"Y'know Ames, I've been thinking…" Sonic said with a slight mouthful of bacon and sunny side-up eggs.
"What is it, Sonic?" Amy replied in between sips of her glass of orange juice. Sonic swallowed his food first before replying.
"Maybe it's about time I make up with Tails."
Upon hearing that notion, Amy nearly spat out her drink. "What!? After all those times he nearly killed you!? Nuh-uh! I am not letting you anywhere near that psychopath anymore!"
"Hey, come on! Isn't that what you wanted me to do in the first place? Besides, as weird as it may sound, him nearly killing me is… actually kind of a good thing. Because that means he's actually improved, he's gotten to my level. I mean he took out Eggman by himself last time and even me. Remember? He's shown that he is indeed tough. Guess now I can trust him not to hurt himself again."
"That's… not a bad point, actually."
"And… y'know something else? Tails actually mentioned to me back then about how much of a jerk I am and… I guess he's right. I mean, I called him a lotta names, I feel like I never listen to him whenever he tells me about his inventions, or his stories, or… anything, really. I just haven't really been a good friend to him in general and I wanna change that," explained Sonic.
And he has a point indeed; lately, Sonic had been too lenient with his relationship with Tails, too carefree to hold himself back and reflect upon his own words and behavior. And Sonic's dismissal of Tails from the team was the perfect catalyst for the already fragile harmony between the so-called "Unbreakable Bond."
"Aww, that's nice, Sonic. You know, I guess it's pretty rare to see you admitting that you're wrong, hehe. But still, I'd be careful if I were you. Who knows he might still be keeping that grudge against you?"
"I know he might still be mad at me, but… I'm willing to give this a shot. If I don't, we'll just make this charade go on even longer. In fact, I'm gonna give him a call right now," said Sonic as he reached for his phone.
Meanwhile, over at Sonic's former house, Tails is catching up on his much-needed sleep after a long, tiring heist that nearly went wrong. He's only gotten to bed at 3 AM. After being slightly awakened by the ring of his phone, Tails impulsively picks it up without bothering to look at who's calling him since he's still in a half-slumber state.
"Mmmhhh… wh-who is it?" Tails mumbled after he puts his phone to his ear, his head still sunken in his pillow.
"Uhh… hey, Tails," greeted Sonic through the phone. Upon hearing that voice, Tails suddenly jolts up, now sitting upright on the top bunk. Of all the things he was expecting, it was not a call from his now worst rival. "Listen, I've been thinking and, uhh… I gotta be honest with you, I'm tired of all this. I think it's time we have a chat. Face-to-face. What do you say?"
Tails had literally just got up from his short slumber and the day already takes a turn for the weird. Sonic the Hedgehog, the most self-centered person Tails has ever known, calling to apologize? Seems very unlikely, Tails (mistakenly) judges. His irrational paranoia gets the best of him, causing him to assume that this is somehow some kind of a trap. But he's interested to see where this is going. Hence, Tails decides to play along with what he perceived to be Sonic's façade.
"Oh, uh- umm… right. Yeah sure, let's talk."
"Hey, good to hear, bud! So, where do you wanna meet up?"
Tails then realizes that this is it. This is his chance to counter Sonic's "scheme" and finally earn his sweet revenge. If there's ever a better time to put Tails' plans involving the Chaos Emeralds into action, it's now. Tails immediately begins to elaborate his trap, albeit rather sloppily due to the impromptu nature of this opportunity.
"Angel Island, 3 PM. Does that sound good?" Tails said, and already he made his first mistake.
"Whoa, Angel Island? That's like, really far up in the sky. What's the deal?" Sonic inquired.
"Oh, that… uhh… b-because… oh! Knuckles can help us! Yeah! We might still need a middleman, y'know… hehe… to make things easier?"
"O… kay. And how am I supposed to get up there?"
"You can, uhh… use my Tornado. I'll leave it in my hangar, I can fly up there myself."
"You sure? I mean it's a long way to go…" Sonic interrogated Tails further.
"Look, just be there, alright? Okay, bye." Tails quickly hangs up before Sonic gets even more suspicious.
"I heard Angel Island. Why all the way up there? Can't he pick a better spot?" Amy asked.
"Yeah, said he wants Knuckles to be our middleman or something," said Sonic.
"Knuckles? I'm not sure if I could see him as the mediator kind of guy… Sonic, don't you think this sounds fishy?"
"I guess, but… I just have to trust him. I mean, me not trusting him is what got us here in the first place."
Angel Island, 2:30 PM. After a grueling half an hour flight courtesy of his own physiques, Tails finally lands in front of the ancient temple ruins, home to Knuckles the Echidna and the Master Emerald, its grounds littered with fragments of broken stone pillars and large pieces of uneven boulders. After wiping the sweat off his forehead, Tails makes his way towards the steps of the altar, where atop sits the Master Emerald and its red guardian.
"Oh, hiya Tails. What brings you here all by yourself?"
"Hiya, Knux. I, uhh… I need you to do me a favor. I've got all the Chaos Emeralds here and I need you to turn them Super for this big project I'm about to work on."
Upon hearing Tails' request, Knuckles is slightly surprised, which is to be expected since the 7 Chaos Emeralds alone are already very powerful, let alone Super Emeralds. He then inquired upon the nature of this "big project" of Tails'. "Whoa, Super Emeralds? That's a lot of power in those, y'know. What kinda project is it, anyway?"
"It's… complicated, but yes, it will need all of that power. Maybe I'll demonstrate it to you when it's finished."
"Well… okay then. Hand 'em over and I'll do all the work."
Tails then passes Knuckles a satchel bag filled with all 7 of the Chaos Emerald. Knuckles opens the bag, but before he could take all its contents out, a question pops up in his mind.
"Oh yeah, I've been meaning to ask: how are things with you and Sonic?"
After hearing the question, Tails suddenly becomes slightly nervous. He needs to come up with a good cover story if he doesn't want Knuckles jeopardizing his scheme that he worked so hard on. "H-huh? Oh, S-Sonic? I mean… pfft, that guy? Forget him. I need to get him outta my mind. That's why I'm going back to tinkering in my workshop, which is also why I need the emeralds." Tails lied on the spot.
"Ah, right. Sorry to hear you two still aren't making up. But hey, at least it's better than you trying to use these emeralds to turn Super and destroy Sonic, right? Hahaha!" An eerily accurate guess, prompting an inappropriate response from Tails which nearly ruined his whole narrative.
"H-HUH!? WHAT!? O-oh, I mean… y-yeah, hehe… that would be… really bad, wouldn't it? Haha…" Tails nervously laughed which prompted an incredulous look from Knuckles. But, not wanting to bother Tails anymore, he carries on with the ritual.
Minutes later, Knuckles' ritual is finished, and the Chaos Emeralds have been imbued with more power from the Master Emerald, transforming them into Super Emeralds. Appearance-wise, they look very similar to their old form, the only difference being that they now glow with an even brighter intensity and their hues sharper than before. Knuckles puts all the emeralds back in the bag and hands it over to Tails.
"Welp, here you go. Just be careful with it, alright?"
"I will, thanks a lot, Knuckles! And hey… that looks like Rouge up there… is it?" Tails pointed at the direction behind Knuckles. Immediately, he becomes alert.
"Huh!? Where!? I bet she's trying to steal the- mmmph!"
As Knuckles turns around to the direction Tails pointed to, Tails covers Knuckles' mouth with his hand and jams a tiny syringe filled with a small dose of potent anesthetics to Knuckles' neck, instantly knocking him out.
"Heh. Sorry, Knuckles. You're just too easy."
Tails then unpacks the contents of the bag again and holds all the emeralds in his arms, pushing them to his chest. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes as he focuses his thoughts. He remembers all the times where Sonic never listens to him, constantly pokes fun at him, and his last remarks: "I don't need your help anymore." Anger, rage, and hatred starts to flow within his mind and with them, negative energy from the Super Emeralds are extracted into Tails' body and soul as they slowly take over. Soon, a glowing, dark purple aura starts emanating from Tails' body. His fur gradually turns from yellow-orange to almost pitch black and his pupils turn from blue to red. Afterwards, Tails lets out a blood-curling yell from the top of his lungs as he opens his arms and puffs out his chest, allowing the emeralds—now degraded back into regular Chaos Emeralds—to float around him for a moment before dropping onto the ground. And with that, his transformation is now complete; albeit different than what he had expected. Tails gazes at his hands, arms, and body, admiring his new Dark form. The plan has been set to motion and all he needs to do now is wait.
Meanwhile, Sonic arrives at Tails' hangar next to his workshop. He finds the Tornado waiting to be flown as Tails had promised. But before getting on board, Sonic notices something odd with it: on the sides of the fuselage where the initials "Sonic" were written, Tails had covered it with red paint which is still distinct and slightly fresh compared to the old paint around it. Sonic then sighs with guilt, vowing to end this quarrel today as he hops in the pilot's seat, taxis onto the runway, and takes off.
Minutes later, he lands at the edge of Angel Island and proceeds to the ruins on foot. Seconds later, Sonic skids to a halt in front of the altar's lower steps. Looking up above, the sun behind the altar hinders Sonic's vision, requiring him to squint in order to see even a glimpse of what's up there. The first thing he sees is a short, menacing figure standing atop of what appears to be a body.
"What the… Tails!? Is that you!?" Sonic shouted at the figure.
No response. The short figure then pushes the body off the top of the altar, sending it rolling down the steps and eventually landing in front of Sonic. The body is then revealed to be of Knuckles'. Sonic begins to tense up as he expects the figure's next action to be even worse.
"W-w-what did you do to him!? A-and who are you!?"
And then without warning, the figure charges itself towards Sonic at nearly the speed of light, grabbing Sonic by the neck and carrying him all the way back towards a giant chunk of boulder, slamming him against it and lifting him by his neck. Sonic slowly opens his eyes to reveal that the menacing figure now levitating in front of Sonic is Tails—in a form that he's never seen before, his dark red pupils piercing through Sonic's soul.
"Tails!? S-snap out of it, bud! It's me, S-Sonic!"
"I know," Tails nonchalantly replied.
Tails then throws Sonic's body to nearly a hundred meters away, causing him to bounce off the ground several times before coming to a skidding stop. Sonic slowly gets up while groaning in pain, only to find Tails already in front of him, unleashing a heavy onslaught of punches and kicks which Sonic could only block. Sonic's feet slowly slide against the ground backwards due to the sheer force of Tails' strikes.
"Tails, you have to stop! I'm not here to fight you!"
"Too bad for you, then!"
In mere seconds, Tails was able to break through Sonic's block and delivers a roundhouse kick, sending him crashing onto a stone pillar and falling face down afterwards. The pillar then breaks in half as the top part topples over to the side safely. Sonic gets up for the second time as he finally decides to retaliate.
"Alright, fine! You leave me no choice!"
Sonic curls into a ball and rolls in place at a very high speed before letting himself go at Tails and bounce back once he's made impact. But as Sonic lands back safely, he discovers that Tails is still standing in the same spot, unaffected by the Spin Dash. Sonic then charges towards Tails to throw several punches before using his rapid kick move on Tails. But even then, Tails still isn't budging from his spot, standing firm like a statue as he absorbs each and every one of Sonic's strikes. After noticing the futility of his attempt, Sonic stops and steps back in horror.
"N-n-no way. That's impossible!" Sonic trembled, slowly backing away from the seemingly invincible fox.
"Hmph. Looks like it's my turn now."
Tails launches Sonic tens of meters into the air with an uppercut before flying up and slamming his tails at Sonic mid-air, sending him back onto the ground with a hard thud. Tails slowly hovers back to the ground as he witnesses Sonic already wincing in immense pain after just four hits. But whilst he was in the air, Sonic had briefly noticed the Chaos Emeralds sitting above the altar, piecing the puzzle as to how Tails took a hold of this new, powerful Dark form. After getting back on his feet for the third time, Sonic dashes past Tails in the blink of an eye towards the altar and makes contact with the emeralds. Due to Sonic's familiarity with Chaos power, it only takes mere seconds for him to transform Super. After a white flash engulfs his body and dissipates, Sonic completes his transformation. His fur is now bright yellow, his quills now pointing upwards, and his pupils now red as well. The Chaos Emeralds, on the other hand, are nowhere to be seen.
"Alright, now we're even."
Sonic flies down from the altar to commence his attack on Tails which is now powerful enough to do damage to Tails, forcing him to either dodge, block, or counter with his own. After seconds of rapidly trading strikes between one another, Sonic takes the fight to the air by delivering a kick to Tails' chin, launching him upwards as Sonic flies up as well to continue his assault, but was caught off guard as Tails swiftly counterattacks with a punch to Sonic's face, pushing him backwards. Soon, both fighters encircle the ruins as they trade blow after blow whilst flying through the air, akin to two aircrafts engaging in an aerial dogfight. Amidst their heated battle (while still keeping his guards up), Sonic attempts to reach out to Tails, begging him to cease this unnecessary bloodshed.
"You need to stop this, Tails! Please, just listen to me!" Sonic said as he dodged a kick from Tails.
"Why should I!? You never listened to me in the first place!" Tails replied whilst delivering a straight punch to Sonic's face.
"Look, I'm serious about the talk! I came here to tell you that I'm sorry! I wanna get back to how things were!"
"Hah! You!? Sorry!? Don't try to fool me! If there's anything I've learned after being with you for five years, it's that you never learn from your mistakes! And you never will!
Tails then uses his sharpened namesakes to slash across Sonic's stomach, leaving behind a massive, bleeding wound that is just deep enough to almost expose Sonic's insides, causing him to scream in agony while attempting to cover the wound with his hands. Still not satisfied, Tails delivers another slashing strike, this time upwards, across Sonic's left cheek and eye before finishing him off with a kick to his stomach, sending him plummeting fast from high up above before making a hard impact with the ground beneath.
A thick cloud of dust slowly dissipates to reveal Sonic, lying helplessly on a crater in the ground, crimson red spilling from his two slash wounds. His once yellow fur gradually fades into regular blue as Chaos energy leaves his body due to his current weakened state. In front of him stood Tails, still enveloped within his Dark form, smiling malevolently as he witnesses his once best friend bleed out before him.
"I can see you're in quite a lot of pain. Don't worry, I'll make it stop."
Tails—his reasoning clouded and engulfed by the negative Chaos energy—then produces his Energy Cannon, sets it to maximum charge, and aims it at Sonic as he prepares to end his suffering.
"Finally… it all comes down to this, huh Sonic? After all those years of you belittling me, never believing in me, and in the end throwing me away because I wasn't useful anymore? After everything I've done for you as a sidekick!? How ungrateful of you. But not to worry. Soon, when you're gone, I'll be the hero. And just like what you said to me, I won't need your help. Now… any last words before I vaporize you?"
The end seems to be in sight. Sonic, despite the agonizing pain and pouring blood from his gaping slash wounds, tries his best to reach out to Tails once again.
"I… I'm sorry." Only those 2 words escaped Sonic's trembling lips which were met with a slight confusion from Tails.
"W-what?"
"T-that's… all I wanted t-to say. I'm s-sorry. Y-you were right. Putting you off t-the team was… a t-terrible mistake. I w-was… overprotective of you. I misjudged you. I th-thought you were weak, but… y-you're not. You're… s-strong after all. And you p-proved that to me w-when you beat Eggman… and me. A-all by your s-self. Without y-your Tornado… w-without the Chaos Emeralds, j-just like now. It's all… my f-fault. N-none of this w-would have happened had I… t-trusted you back then," said Sonic weakly as he tries to bear the pain.
Upon hearing Sonic's apology, Tails lowers his Energy Cannon as his expression slowly changes from menacing to sympathizing. As it had turned out, Tails has horribly misjudged Sonic; he does have the capacity to admit his mistakes and he wasn't as selfish as Tails thought he was. Hearing this, a massive wave of guilt washed over Tails. Sonic's words cause all the negative Chaos energy to gradually leave Tails' body, his fur turning from pitch black to regular orange-yellow, the dark purple aura slowly disseminating from him, and his pupils turning back from dark red to bright blue.
"Y-you really mean that?" Tails asked.
"O-of course, bud… I w-wouldn't lie t-to you. A-and another thing… I'm s-sorry for b-being such a… t-terrible friend. I admit, I g-get stubborn from t-time to time, I r-rarely listen to w-what you have to say… a-and I never gave y-you enough credit f-for… all the w-work you've done. Y-you're right… I-I've been a jerk to you. B-but there's… one thing you're w-wrong about. I'm… w-willing to learn from m-my mistakes. I… w-want to change. I want to… s-start all over. S-so… how about it, p-pal? Friends… again?"
Sonic weakly reaches his hand out to his friend who is standing far from him above the crater, but soon his arm falls back onto the ground as he feels his consciousness fading away, his vision and hearing beginning to cloud up as well. Seeing this, Tails, who moments ago was dead set on ending Sonic's life, frantically runs to the aid of his dying friend, kneeling next to him on a pool of blood.
"SONIC! N-no, don't leave me! Please, I-I'm sorry!" Tails begged, holding his friend's head up.
"N-no, it's… okay. I p-probably deserve t-this…" Sonic defeatedly admitted.
"No, don't say that! It's all my fault! I… Sonic? Sonic!?"
Sonic's eyelids start to slightly droop; his eyes staring lifelessly at the sky, his skin pale from all the blood loss, and his mouth slightly hanging open, unmoving. Sonic the Hedgehog was finally at peace, at the hands of his beloved little brother as well. Knowing this bitter fact, tears start to stream down Tails' cheeks as he buries his head into Sonic's body, unable to bear the massive guilt that has been laid upon him. For a few minutes, silence. Only Tails' sobs were faintly audible in the air. Until…
Knuckles finally awakens from his deep, unnaturally induced slumber. The effects of the anesthetics have left Knuckles' body as he pulls himself off the ground to confront the unlikely person who had taken advantage of his gullibility.
"YOU! You backstabbing little-" He immediately stops mid-way as he witnesses Sonic's corpse being embraced by Tails. Knuckles stood by in disbelief.
"N-no way… you? I thought it would one day be Eggman, but… you!? I…"
Knuckles is rendered speechless. He's torn apart between feeling bereft for Sonic's departure and furious, wanting to avenge Sonic by beating Tails to an unrecognizable pulp. But just then, an idea appears within his mind.
"W-wait! It might not be too late! Quick, get him up the altar!"
Without delay, Tails and Knuckles hastily carry Sonic's body up the altar and gently lay him down on a stone table next to the Master Emerald. Hopeful that this would work, Knuckles begins his ritual as he incites prayers to Chaos, begging to restore Sonic's life. Tails could only watch in desperation, fully regretting his foolish decision and wishing he could at least express his apologies to Sonic. He kneels down next to the stone table with both his hands gripping onto the edge, lowers his head, and continues to cry, deeply wishing for the return of his best friend. Soon, after Knuckles had finished chanting his prayers, a bright glow emerges from Sonic's body, blinding everyone within his vicinity. And then…
AUTHOR'S NOTE: From here on out, there are 2 endings: chapter 8a and 8b, good and bad respectively. Go ahead and choose.