A thunderous bang erupted inside the liquid chamber, forcing the kit to wake from his tumultuous but well deserved sleep. Before he could locate the source of the noise he noticed the vixen rousing from her own nap. There was no telling how long they had been in the decontamination chamber, but he had little doubt both of them would have preferred a little more time for one reason or another.
With such murky green haze surrounding them it was difficult to make out anything outside of their tank. It was, however, not difficult to spot the question Fiona would have asked if she were capable of speaking.
I don't know what it was, Tails shrugged his shoulders just as another thump shook them to their core.
The Ishimura's hull was one thing, but carbon alloy glass that made up the chamber they resided in was a different kind of tough. Nothing short of a railgun was going to crack it.
Placing a paw on her shoulder, the two-tailed fox sought to reassure his partner, but the unmistakable sound of cracking glass pierced their ears.
You have got to be kidding me…
Whatever was so kind to wake them from their sleep was doing so too early. The decontamination fluid was still all the way at the top of the chamber meaning at least one of them was still showing signs of radiation poisoning. If the tube broke now they may still be contaminated, possibly at a lethal level.
A look of panic began to flood the vixen's face, but Tails did his best to remain resolute.
This stuff is unbreakable, he assured himself.
Of course it occurred to him that since he had boarded the Ishimura everything had defied what rational thought told him was possible. Just as the next assault on their confinement commenced, so too did a tugging at his feet. Once glance at the red-furred fox across from him suggested that she felt it too.
The drain! He nearly shouted. The sequence is complete.
At least now they wouldn't die a slow painful death in gut wrenching sickness. Of course they still had plenty of discomfort to look forward to. Coughing up decontamination liquid was not a particularly entertaining experience. Of course getting impaled by any of the creatures that infested this ship was probably comparatively worse.
Another bash against the tube extended the crack, splitting the glass. Against the backdrop of nothing, it wasn't hard to hear the tearing sound as the supposedly unbreakable material fractured before their eyes.
When it finally gave way, it was all at once, the side of the tube exploding outwards. The foxes, despite their best efforts were sucked out with the thousands of gallons of escaping liquid.
Almost immediately his instincts kicked back in, forcing his lungs to search for air. Unfortunately they were still filled with liquid. Coughing violently Miles struggled to rise to his feet. To his dismay he found himself spitting out the remnants of the contamination fluid onto a surprisingly large and unfriendly looking Necromorph. Tails was certain he had come face to face with his death.
Leaning to the side, the kit dodged the first slash that would have sliced him clean in two. The next one trimmed one of his tails at least an inch shorter. Backing up as fast as he could, the fox tripped over an uneven grate, landing in the now empty tub of their armor and weapons. Fumbling for anything that would serve as a weapon, the kit's paw fell perfectly into one of his glove.
In a sheer moment of desperation he used the only thing available to him. Raising his right hand, he latched the gravity tether onto a pallet on the other side of the room and whipped it towards the nightmarish creature. There was a disturbing crunch as the heavy crate crushed the Necormorph against the wall.
With that out of the way, he immediately began searching for his companion. Her red fur was not particularly hard to locate against the bleak and dull setting aboard the Ishimura. Fiona was still struggling to cough up the liquid, clawing around on all fours gasping for air with water filled lungs.
Rushing to her side, Tails gave her a rather large pat on the back. Almost instantly the green fluid immerged, followed by a deep and desperate inhale.
"What the hell happened?" the vixen asked between pants.
Rather than try to describe, the often-modest fox just pointed to what remained of the intruder.
"Impressive," she replied before returning upright. "You really do know how to show a girl a good time."
Miles laughed uneasily because he couldn't tell if she was serious or not.
"Have you heard about Yin and Yang?" Fiona asked as she wondered over to her armor.
Trailing in her footsteps, "Of course, their complimentary opposite forces."
"No, no, I mean the story. I was thinking about it earlier."
"The story?"
"About the moon princess and the sun dragon," the vixen responded as she stepped into one of her boots.
The kit was forced to shake his head.
"It was agreed that the world would be divided in two, half given to darkness, the other to light. A great princess, renowned for her beauty ruled the night. The day, however, was looked after by a fire breathing dragon. Each was sworn to protect their lands and people under their rule. They were the protectors of the balance."
The fox paused a moment as she pulled armor over head and onto her chest. It was odd to see how easily Fiona had forgotten what had happened between them. The armor covered up her emotions just as well as her fur.
What were you expecting, Miles?
Ignoring the kit's longing gaze, she continued, "But one day the princess decided to wander onto the light side and the dragon caught her. However, he was immediately smitten by her beauty. So much so that he allowed her to climb onto his back. Empowered by her kind and soothing words he flew higher and higher until they left their world behind. Without them there to watch over everything descended into chaos, and by the time either realized, it was too late, the balance had been lost."
Despite its obvious folk origins, it was a fascinating tale. With the press of a button, a helmet folded around his head and the boosted audio began coming through the speakers near his ears. He too could hide his emotions behind his armor.
"Ashamed, the dragon immediately put the princess down, leaving her for fear of making things worse. It is the princess you see when you look up at the moon, still looking over her half of the world from where the dragon left her. The dragon retreated to the other side of the planet to resume his watch from a greater distance, lest he be smitten again by the princess again."
"So he is the sun?" Tails felt compelled to ask.
Fiona nodded as her own helmet unfolded, "They're opposite forces that can't exist without the other, but together they cause madness. There will always be balance as the two dance around one another."
"I think darkness won on the Ishimura," the kit joked, "we're the white dot swimming in the sea of black."
"You don't get it," she sighed. "This isn't one side versus the other, it's the chaos from when the two are together."
"Are you talking about us?" the two-tailed fox asked in a guilty tone, "because I don't think what just happened could have caused this."
Fiona quickly slapped a palm to her mask, making it was obvious that was not what she meant. The vixen was speaking in riddles that he did not understand.
"I mean Dr. Ivo Robotnik. You can't unify Yin and Yang, otherwise you get that," the vixen pointed at the still flattened creature splattered against the wall.
Tails had never thought about it like that. Was the marker some violation of an ancient law, forcing opposites to interact in a way that didn't benefit the other? Or was there more to it? Something was upsetting the order of things.
"Then I guess it's up to us to restore the balance this time," Tails lamented, "Dr. Robotnik doesn't strike me as the type to put the princess down and run away."
"No, he's the type you have to throw out an airlock."
While he wouldn't admit it aloud, throwing the pathetic excuse for a scientist into the vacuum of space would give the kit a decent amount of satisfaction. Ivo was quack, an insult to real scientist everywhere. He did whatever he felt like simply because he could with as little regard for the consequences as possible. What the mad man did barely qualified as research and probably bordered on obscure torture and war crimes.
"And where is he?"
"Who knows. The bridge, the surface, maybe even with the marker."
The ground shuttered beneath their feet interrupting her and nearly shaking them both to the floor.
"What the hell was that?" the vixen asked as she scanned the room for more enemies.
"Felt like the gravity tether re-engaging. Looks like Isaac came through on his promise."
"Well then I suppose it's off to find a new way to die," Fiona joked as she headed back towards the main engineering corridor, now fully suited up.
"We could always try hydroponics," Tails suggested as he padded after her.
"I did promise you, didn't I?"
It felt selfish to remind her that she had. Instead, he followed the beam of his flashlight, checking the shadows for red-eyed hellish creatures.
"That's all the way aft in the ship, so we'll need to take the lift back up to the tram deck and hitch ourselves a ride."
"Sounds good to me," the kit replied as he placed his palm on the elevator panel.
A gong sounded almost immediately and the doors opened up revealing the same stark interior that had brought them to the depths of the Ishimura.
The red-furred fox stepped up to the controls, punching in the floor for the tram station. It would be a quick ride with no one else around to request the elevator.
When the doors snapped open they each stepped out, unsure of what their newest foray into the abyss might yield. Blood was everywhere. The walls, the floor, even the ceiling. It told him what he already knew, everyone was dead.
"Everyone probably flocked here to escape," Tails decided aloud.
The vixen quickly shushed him.
"Do here something?"
As if on cue, a horde of necoromophs emerged from the shadows, each dashing at full speed. The earsplitting sound of Fiona's plasma riffle at work made it hard to concentrate, but Miles forced himself to line up his first shot, severing one of the creatures at the knees. With a running leap he landed on it with a satisfying crunch.
Reaching out with this his left paw, the kit reached for chair with his kinesis unit, flinging it at the next closest enemy. Unfortunately, the creature split it in two with a swing, barely breaking stride in the process. Dashing to the side, the Necomorph spun ferociously to face him, hitting the blunt side of its bladed arm hard enough to knock the two-tailed fox backwards onto the deck. Tails' world quickly jumbled as his plasma cutter bounced away and everything started to spin. He found himself clawing for balance while he reached with an outstretched paw for anything he could use to fend off the fiend, which was nearly on top of him.
A high-pitched energizing noise permeated the air right before the Necromorph's head turned inside out in a blue flash of plasma. The creature toppled over on top of him, blood spilling out the whole way down.
Groaning in discomfort, Tails tried to push the creature away, but found himself surprisingly weak.
"I think I might still owe you one," a familiar voice called out in an almost cheery manner.
The vixen's dark armor came into view, the subtle glue of its blue LEDs piercing the shadows. With a stern kick she removed the dead creature from its resting place on top of him. Kneeling down, Fiona surveyed his condition before offering him a hand up.
He could barely stand, let alone walk. The blow to his head was severe enough to cause sustained disorientation. Part of him wanted to throw up, but that wasn't going to win him any additional points.
"Sweetie, I think you're going to have to sit down for a minute or two," Fiona cautioned him.
Tails wasn't sure what a few minutes of rest would do to fix a concussion, but at the very least it might allow him the kit to compose himself.
With her help, he was able to wonder over to a nearby bench and sit down. Fumbling for the release on his helmet, he inhaled the ship's stale air. The confines of his suit only made everything worse.
"Stay right here, I'll see if I can find you a med kit."
"Don't – don't leave," he called out softly, but the vixen was already gone.
He was alone again on a derelict space ship filled with space zombies and other things he couldn't describe.
There's always the whispers to keep me company, he lamented as he listened to the faint voices.
"So that's what you wanted? Why didn't you just say so?" an impossible voice called out.
Looking up from the ground he found himself staring at the one person he never thought he would see again.
"Cosmo? What - what do you mean?"
The kit longed to run up and hug her, but his condition would barely let him move a mussel. At least she was already moving in his direction, he would be with her in no time. Although he still couldn't be sure if eyes were playing tricks on him.
You just took a hard hit to the head…
In the past, she had haunted him with her voice, never her physical presence
It must be her.
"You didn't think I would find out? That I would see you two?"
"I – I," he struggled for words now that he had to explain himself much sooner than he anticipated.
The Seedrian placed a finger to the fox's lips, "don't fret, Tails."
Her touch was electric. With a free hand, Cosmo reached for the zipper on the back of her dress. It slowly fell to the floor revealing something only his imagination could have supplied previously.
"I don't understand," he said slowly.
"This is what you want isn't it?"
Before he could question anything she was sitting in his lap, a leg on either side of him. He ran a paw up her sides, feeling her curves all the way to the pits of her arms. It was true, he had wanted this, but now, it felt strangely wrong.
"Let me help you take your armor off," the Seedrian said playfully as she stroked the side of his muzzle. "I want to feel all of you."
Maybe it was the concussion or maybe he was losing his mind. The intoxicating feeling that took away his ability to think rationally had returned. Tails continued to trace her figure with his hands, pulling her closer. He longed to feel her soft skin against his fur.
"Enjoying yourself?" someone else asked.
His fantasy disappears like a wisp of smoke in a breeze, leaving Tails holding an imaginary Cosmo in a rather seductive pose. There was only a couple of ways to interpret what the fox saw and none of them were very explainable.
"So was it her or me?" Fiona asks with a wry smile, finding entirely too much satisfaction with his unusual circumstances.
The two-tailed fox knew a trap when he saw one and looked away.
"Her then," she chuckled, "I suppose that makes sense."
The kit remained speechless, still feeling too guilty to say anything.
"Don't sweat it. I had my fare share of those hot moments. It's all a giant tease," she complained before switching tones, "but they sure felt real."
Holding out a small med-tube, Fiona offered it to him, almost as if it were a conciliation for his troubles.
"Sorry I ruined it for you," the red-furred fox continued before sitting down next to him, "but remember it's not really her, even if it feels like it is."
"I know," he replied. "She almost got me to take off my armor."
"Scourge nearly got me killed like that. You get lost in the passion, and before you know it, this world disappears… but all the things that are trying to kill you don't. It's not easy to know the difference between what's real and what isn't if you're just as happy to believe a lie."
Twirling the vial in his fingertips, Tails contemplated it all. Am I going mad, or is it just this place?
A resounding warmth filled him as he plugged the tube into his suit's intravenous line. The drug cocktail was filled with everything from painkillers to more futuristic stuff that helped a body repair broken tissue and bones. It wasn't a substitute for true medical care, but in a pinch it could keep someone going long enough to find it.
"Thanks," Tails said after too much silence had passed.
He couldn't stand the quiet, and if he had to guess, neither could Fiona. It certainly helped explain her sly remarks.
"Don't sweat it," she was quick to reply, "Like I said, I think I still owe you one."
"I mean for understanding."
"What's to understand? You love her," Fiona said with a smile.
The kit nodded in reply. Somehow he was surprised that she could relate to how he felt.
Doing my best not to let this story die. Sorry for the long break. Any readers still out there? Any suggestions or thoughts? Would love some feedback.
Cheers,
M.D