Hi everyone who bothers to read these. First, I wanted to state that this is my first crack at a fanfic. I'm mainly doing this for fun, but also trying to improve my writing overall. A few things to note are that there will be IDW characters appearing later on, but this is not placed in that timeline. So once one of those characters is introduced, it'll be the first time anyone else meets them(Even some of them will have different backstories.)
I'm planning on continuing this story past its first arc(which will be about 12-15 chapters), and I'm still deciding whether future arcs will be added on as chapters to this one, or to a separate story. That leads to feedback. Please give your best constructive criticism and suggestions that you wish to say.
Other than all that, let's get the show on the road.
Chapter 1: Terror in a Life Without Fear
Cliffside
It wasn't unlike Sonic to find solitude when he was bored—sitting alongside a cliffside, facing the calm wind and a golden beach. Although Sonic likes running more than anything, he wouldn't deny that he doesn't appreciate nature as often as he does when he is racing to save another day. If he wasn't catching up with friends or foiling another scheme of the villain of the week, he would admire what he protects. "Can't believe it's been a year." Sonic had been here more times than he would be willing to admit. There is a certain excitement that is missing to Sonic. One that went missing when Eggman disappeared.
'Maybe this is all a part of his plan?' Sonic thought. It was all so abrupt. Sonic was the first one to find the last known remnants of Eggman's activity, although he would hardly call it that. Eggman had been getting desperate, subjugated to a singular base, with limited resources. Once Sonic had figured out the location of his base, he would head there to finally bring him in. What he encountered had been unlike anything he would ever have expected when approaching a base.
It was totaled, down to ashes and rubble. Nothing left in sight. G.U.N. had declared it an accident, an experiment gone wrong. To Sonic, however, it seemed like a coordinated assault. Eggman's robots were all in battle positions, and Sonic found casings of ammunition scattered across the wreckage. Who could ever have decimated that base, and with such high efficiency? These thoughts plagued Sonic for a year. He either thought that this was a cover-up from Eggman himself to get a lot of stress off his back, or something more sinister was waiting at their doorsteps.
The more he thought about it, the more he rests along the cliffside. He was easing his mind off the paranoia. However, his disappearances caused some concerns from his friends, who always wondered where he'd run off to. Sonic hated making them worry, but he first needed to relieve himself of these taxing thoughts. "I guess I should check up on Tails. I hope he's doing fine without me." Sonic wastes no time to escape his isolation, and head back to the city.
Tails' House
Sonic had only left Tails alone for a few days. He never worried if Tails could take care of himself or not, however, he did worry about Tails overworking himself. Sonic had babbled on and on about this new foe that had taken out Eggman, and the idea may have cemented itself into Tails. Tails had worked himself every day to come up with a new invention to protect everyone against this new threat. As Sonic walked into the house, something was already wrong. The living room is abandoned, and not a single indication that anyone has been living there. A hauntingly neat atmosphere is all Sonic could interpret.
"Tails?" Sonic was sure that he wasn't out. Tails would usually have turned on the lights at least before he heads out. Sonic checks upstairs, and looks in Tails' bedroom. Neat and clean, but still no sign of the fox. That only left one place for Sonic, and it was the one place where Sonic wished he didn't find him. Sonic approaches the door to Tails' workshop, and already he can hear machines whirring. Sonic gives a deep sigh, before entering the dungeon. What he saw was enough to get him to gasp.
The columns of server towers could only rival those of an actual I.T. company. Papers, screws, and various other mechanical components lie across the floor and tables. Sonic almost didn't see Tails sitting at his desk. He has fallen asleep, covered in blueprints and documents. "Tails!" Sonic quickly runs over to Tails and tries to shake him awake, but to no avail. Sonic is relieved to hear Tails start groaning, but he is in a deep slumber. Very large bags are under his eyes. The poor fox hasn't gotten much sleep. Sonic gingerly picks up Tails, and races upstairs to the bathroom.
Sonic places Tails in the tub and turns the showerhead on. Icy cold water pierces through Tails fur like volts. In an instant, Tails jolts up and crawls out of the bathtub. "Ok, ok! I'm up."
"Here." Sonic tosses Tails a towel, and Tails wraps it like a blanket around him, shivering in place. "Tails, I thought I told you to not spend all night in that workshop."
"I'm sorry." Tails said with a sorrowful face. "But if you just let me explain what it is. Then maybe you wouldn't have to worry so much anymore." Sonic didn't like where this was going. This wasn't the first time Tails had tried to excuse his overdone work for a long-term benefit. All though, Sonic couldn't refuse to see what had kept his little brother up all these nights.
Tails leads Sonic back to the workshop. He then rips the cover off a massive contraption. Sonic wasn't even sure how he could've missed it. It easily takes up most of the space in the room. "Uh… What am I looking at, Tails?" Sonic asks. Tails stands in front of the machine, looking proud at his work.
"Sonic, this is the… well it's the…" Tails' confident look quickly fades, as his mind starts scrambling for the right thing to say. "Well, I guess I haven't given it a name yet. I spent so much of last night working on this thing, I didn't consider the name to be the biggest of concerns."
"So, what does it do?" Sonic asks, getting more impatient.
"So glad you asked. I know you have been thinking about what happened to that chaos emerald, haven't you?" Another thing to compile onto Sonic's anxiety. Everyone knew that Eggman had a chaos emerald the day he had vanished, but no one could pick up a trace of the emerald, not even Rouge. Without the last chaos emerald, otherworldly threats could easily attack with little resistance.
"Yeah?" Sonic was starting to become more curious about what Tails was implying. Did he find a way to find the missing emerald? It would surely alleviate a lot of stress from Sonic. Although, if it was one of Tails' inventions, then predictability has been thrown out the window. With a flick of a switch, clumsily placed behind the machine, it beams to life. It was clear to Sonic that Tails was in a hurry while both designing and constructing whatever this mysterious device was.
Tails allows the machine to fully power on, before giving Sonic the full presentation. "Well, if I had calibrated this bad boy right, then we shouldn't have to exhaust ourselves looking for it."
"Wait, seriously?" Sonic said peculiarly.
"Although it has horrible energy efficiency, if we keep giving a steady source of stable chaos energy, then after some time, we'd be able to locate the last emerald." Despite the fact that Sonic was now pumped knowing that they could finally locate the emerald. A word irked him. 'Time', how much time would it take to find it? How much time did Tails spend making this?
"Can I ask how long would it take for the machine to pick up the emerald?"
"What day is it today?" An odd answer to his question didn't excite Sonic at all.
"Uh, Thursday."
"I would estimate 288 days." Tails claimed without hesitation.
"What?!" That was too long. They were lucky that nothing notably strong had attacked within that one-year timeframe. To wait almost another full year would be preposterous. "Tails, we don't have that much time."
"We might not have another choice. The more days we prolong a suitable solution, the more days we end up wasting. Something needs to take the bullet, and I'm trying to do my best to figure out what that should be." No matter how Tails rationalizes his actions, it all seemed crazy to Sonic.
"What if something more powerful than Chaos, or even the Time Eater would appear within those moments of waiting? We'd be powerless to stop them. What if-"
"Eggman was to come back? Yeah, I'm not so sure." Tails wasn't sure? Sonic had thought that the paranoia of Eggman or something bigger than him would have spooked him to no end.
"What do you mean, you don't think…"
"I don't think he's ever coming back. He's gone for good, but I don't need to stop there. This whole conspiracy plot of something more evil, more vile, doesn't hold up to me." Tails disclosed.
"But, I thought you had done all of this given that was the case?" Sonic's whole viewpoint was now in question about Tails. This whole time he thought that Tails was working nonstop in fear of what may have happened to Eggman. But then what was it? Had he been misreading Tails the whole time?
"No, I did all of this so that you wouldn't have to worry. But instead, I just made you worry about me more." If words could cut like all other blades, Sonic was feeling it. He was the reason his buddy had been slogging through an entire year of failed inventions. The inventions that Sonic bashed for not 'Helping out enough'. Was it all his fault?
Before Sonic could finish his thoughts, a loud knock on the door blares through the whole house. Tails' eyes widen in disbelief, and he frantically gazes over to a clock on his desk. One O'clock sharp. "Oh no, did I really sleep in that late?" Tails runs to the back of the machine and turns it off, whilst Sonic heads to the door. As Sonic opens the door, the most unexpected guest Sonic could think of visiting Tails was standing before him.
The ebony hedgehog, Shadow, glares at Sonic. "In town again, Sonic? Guess I should've brought a welcome back basket."
"What are you doing here, Shadow?" Shadow clearly wasn't here to visit, he wanted something, and something from Tails.
"It's ok Sonic!" Tails yells from in the workshop. He runs out into the living room with something peculiar in hand. A chaos emerald. "I'm just returning this." Sonic began to ponder what Tails had needed that emerald for, and if he got it from Shadow, how did he convince him to hand it over?
"Is there something I'm missing here? When did this exchange happen?" Sonic asked.
"Oh, I needed a reference point of chaos energy for my machine back there. Once you left town, I asked Shadow if I could borrow a chaos emerald for a few days." Tails shifts his attention to Shadow. "And thank you again for that." Shadow nods.
"Did you make any good progress?" Shadow inquires.
"It's ready to run, but it needs a better understanding of what it needs to detect. I could use another day or two with the emerald to calibrate it further."
"As much as I want to get the ball rolling, I'd need authorization from the higher-ups of G.U.N. You might have to sit back for a bit." Sonic wasn't shocked but somewhat surprised that Tails and Shadow had developed a mutual exchange. It seems that Tails has become more professional in his craft.
"I understand." Tails said in a despondent tone. As he hands back the sapphire-colored emerald, Shadow phases away with chaos control in an instant. Tails shuts the door and jumps onto the nearby couch. He lays there exhausted. All this stress was on Sonic. At least that's what Sonic thought.
"Hey, how are you holding up?" Sonic asks.
"I just need… I just need to take my mind off work." A ray of sunshine beams through the window, and onto the couch. Sonic notices that Tails' fur is vastly more faded than the last time he saw him. As much as he wants him to rest, he could only think that he needs something else. Just then, Sonic quickly comes up with an idea to cheer Tails up. He approaches Tails and picks him up in his arms. "Sonic, what are you-"
"You're looking a bit pale, I think we can spend some time in the sunlight."
"Wait, I don't think th-Waaaah-" Before Tails could properly react, Sonic speeds through the door, and takes Tails outside with him.
Stationed Square-Sometime later
Ever since Eggman disappeared, Station Square has been more lively than ever. Without having to fear a maniacal overlord looming over them constantly, the people of the city were more comfortable venturing outside. 'So many people. If anyone with malice were to see this… it be chaos.' Sonic thought. He was zoning out, watching as many pedestrians pass through the streets. Each of them with their own goals, problems, friends, and families. And here he is, sitting close by, helpless but to wait for danger. 'How many people could I save if he attacked? How many would he…'
"Uh, Sonic?" Tails interrupted Sonic's thoughts. The hedgehog turns back to Tails with a more cheerful expression.
"Sorry about that, buddy! What's up?" Tails points over to the stand of a restaurant. Sonic had forgotten that he was treating Tails out to chili dogs and ice cream, and now their food he ordered was just sitting there at the stand. "Whoops!" Sonic dashes for their meals, and quickly brings them back to their table. "Still warm, don't worry about it." Tails immediately digs in, devouring everything in front of him. "Hungry?"
Tails briefly stops to look up at Sonic. "Sorry." Tails says with his mouth still full. "It's just that my diet has only consisted of nutritional bars and mineral water for the past few days."
"Ok, well next time when I'm gone can you try to get something more fulfilling?"
"Ok, I'll be more mindful." That was reassuring to Sonic. He wanted to make things different. No more journeying far away, and not thinking about his friends first. While Sonic spent a lot of time alone, his mind had been clouded with troubled thoughts. With the exception of one space out, he had been only focused on cheering up Tails. Sonic pays mind to his chili dog now, and nothing will stop him from deviously gorging on it. However, he does something far worse with it. Sonic had ordered a shake with their food for a specific reason. With a move that should be considered illegal, Sonic dips the chili dog into the shake and slurps the amalgamation through the straw.
Tails has never been more visibly disgusted in his life. "Do you have to make everything have a chili dog flavor?" Tails questions.
"I'm trying to. I put up a petition for a chili dog flavored ice cream." Tails suddenly spits out a lot of his shake.
"That was you!?"
"Yeah! Did you sign it?" Sonic was eager to hear Tails' response.
"No way!" Sonic has never felt more crushed. "Even if I did, even if everyone in the city did. That kind of flavor on anything other than a bun is a crime of its own."
"Heh, well I guess I'm the new baddie in town because no one's gonna stop my attempts to legalize chili dog flavor!" Sonic ironically yelled out with a spiteful tone. Tails couldn't help himself but laugh at Sonic's ridiculous rambling. Although Sonic's dreams may be crushed, he was still happy to get Tails' mind off of work.
"Soooniiiic!" And there was the mood killer or enhancer to people other than Sonic. That joyful cry for attention could only belong to one. "I'm so glad you invited me out here!" Amy Rose approached Sonic and quickly sat down next to him.
"Hey, Ames. I see you got my message." Sonic said dully.
"How could I not? I wouldn't want to miss an opportunity like this to hang out. Although, I got a bit sidetracked on the way here."
"From what?"
"Haven't you guys noticed the amount of G.U.N. soldiers patrolling around?" That was news to Sonic. But as he looks around, sure enough, there are a few squads wandering around the streets. What would they be doing out in public like this? "Before I left, I had taken Cream to the mall, and more were there too. It wasn't just today either. Yesterday, some were patrolling outside my neighborhood."
"What would they need to patrol around for?"
"I think it's because of that new tower." Amy points to a well-polished pyramid-shaped tower not too far away from where they are. "Most of the patrols are stationed around there. I wonder what's so important about it?"
"It's the city's new building used for generating power." Sonic and Amy look at Tails, who is looking down somberly. "The city's mayor had been proposing the idea of using a chaos emerald to help power the city. It seems like G.U.N. had given them the approval of using one of their emeralds, and unless they want to turn off the city's power, they'll keep that emerald for as long as the city stands. Weird that they would indefinitely give anything to anyone who would compromise their integrity for them, but when I find a way to find that last emerald, then that's where the line is crossed."
Sonic had worked hard to keep Tails' mind off work, but it is still always brought up. Tails tightens his fists atop of his legs. He had always had the knack for making inventions of great use, but he never had the resources to have them reach their full potential. If he had that, then who knows what he could accomplish? He was aggravated that G.U.N. didn't take him seriously but giving some guy who amateurishly comes up with a design to power an already thriving city top priority really ticked him off.
"Anyone in there?" Sonic was snapping his fingers in front of Tails to get his attention. Tails reverts back to a calm state.
"Sorry, shouldn't have been carried away." Tails felt bad making the subject about him again. Not everyone should have to be worried about him. "Let's just enjoy this moment, ok?" Tails raises his shake for a toast. Sonic and Amy are eager to join in and raise their drinks as well. Sonic and Tails notice that Amy had also put a chili dog in her shake.
"Wait, Amy, do you like the chili dog-flavored shake?" Sonic asks earnestly.
"It's so yummy! After trying it out, I just had to sign the petition."
"YOU SIGNED THE PETITION!?" Tails shouts in an uproar. Sonic and Amy cannot help themselves but laugh at Tails' sincereness.
G.U.N. HQ
The glistening halls of the base sure gave Rouge a headache. As much as she admired the satiny of jewels, this was just too much for her. Worst yet, she had been placed in an office to fill out paperwork. 'Luxury has its secret cost I guess?' She thought to herself. Rouge always thought that no matter how much you took, there would always be something more valuable waiting around the corner. She never thought that G.U.N. would keep a hold on the remaining chaos emeralds. Well, whatever was left. To her own surprise, G.U.N. had even tried to convince Knuckles to take the load off of being a guardian and let them take the master emerald. However, there were no surprises about what the response to that was.
A beaming flow of green energy appears in front of Rouge's desk. Besides its appearance being abrupt, Rouge doesn't even flinch at its arrival. She had seen it many times before, and many more to come. From the energy, Shadow emerges. "You're late. You can teleport to about any place you can think of, and you're late."
"I had another errand to run. Put that in your report." Shadow reflected back.
"Tower will not be satisfied. And exactly what kind of errand got you sidetracked?"
"One that doesn't belong in a report. Tower can groan about it to me." Shadow pulls out the chaos emerald. "You ready?" Rouge is now fixated on the glossy gem, instantly ditching her mundane tasks and following Shadow out into the halls.
Later, Shadow and Rouge approach a burly vault door. They are greeted by a lone G.U.N. soldier, who salutes them. "Sorry you two, you know the protocol." Rouge hands the soldier a rather large stack of papers clipped together. He skips many of the pages until locking his gaze upon one. He takes a second to read it through, before flipping that page to the front of the rest of the papers. He presses the paper against a scanner, and a million red lasers traverse across a small bar code. The lasers are more than just for looks, as they also burn away the bar code. After the scan is complete, the vault door opens. "You have two minutes."
Shadow and Rouge walk into the vault after being given the initiative. The walls of the room are filled with high-priority artifacts. Many of these have almost resulted in the destruction of the world, such as the phantom ruby and even the crimson eye locked behind sturdy containment glass. However, their attention is in front of them. Four chaos emeralds lay together in slots on the wall, with two slots open. Shadow fits his emerald in place. Shadow notices that Rouge is star-gazed upon many of the artifacts around her.
"Now I know why you wanted to come with me so badly." Rouge snaps out of her trance and embarrassingly rubs her head. "Although I should've guessed why from the beginning."
"You would never get it. You're too valuable to be set in a cubicle. You get to see all the action."
"Didn't think you'd be the one to be envious."
"I'm not! I just want this organization to… I don't know. I have a feeling that things can never be how they were before." Shadow understood that, but he wishes that Rouge would understand that things weren't much better for him either. Just because he got to go out on the field more often, didn't mean he wasn't longing for something more. Even thinking about that didn't sit right in his mind. His whole life seemed to be a never-ending battle, both physically and mentally. Now he has had a taste of peace, and it almost tasted foul.
Why did he think that? Shadow thought it to be a metaphor for someone who had only eaten trash their entire life, but they've been so used to eating it, that the aroma of quality food is off. It's just a matter of time before he adapts. Even then, what did it really mean to be the ultimate life form? What's so ultimate about something that can only excel in the heat of the fight?
Shadow and Rouge proceed to the exit of the vault. Out of the blue, Shadow falls to his knees, grasping around his abdomen. "Shadow? Shadow are you ok?" This odd feeling. It wasn't necessarily painful but felt perverting. As if something had started to rip out his soul.
"R-Rouge. I-I can't." Before Rouge could help Shadow any further, the soldier from before runs in and yells out to look at the chaos emeralds. Rouge looks up and sees the gems sparking violently. There wasn't much time to think, as a swirl of chaotic energy explodes out from the emeralds. But not just from them, but that same energy bursts out from Shadow too. The flux of the power travels into the ceiling of the building and forces its way out by shattering a hole above. The emeralds are now devoid of pigment, blackened to their core. All with the exception of one, which seemed to not have a reaction at all. Particularly, this emerald had been the one Shadow had brought in, the sapphire one.
Station Square
Tails pondered more at the chaos-infused tower in the middle of the city. He was able to analyze and study its minor designs even from a long distance. He could see that the top of the tower had sloppily been the holding spot for the chaos emerald. Might as well just put up a sign saying 'free emerald here'. Tails might have heard that the glass reinforcing the emerald was made to withstand any energy that might spark out. Since you're conducting with stable chaos energy, you have to take into account the unstable part too. Hopefully, it was also tough enough to endure physical blows.
"Tails, you're looking at it again." Sonic alerts.
"Ah, I'm sorry!"
"You're kinda freaking me out a little, buddy. I was just thinking that we can head to the hardware store to pick up some tools, but I'm worried that you'll just stare at everything with distaste."
"You wanted to get his mind off work… So you thought bringing him to a hardware store would settle him down?" Amy questioned.
"Look, it was a stupid thought. We can go somewhere else."
"I'm shocked that you even brought it up." As Amy continues talking down Sonic, Tails averts himself from the conversation but tries his best not to glance at the tower. But something sparks notice. Tails see a spark of light zooming across the glass of the tower. It gets more erratic, almost like something in there is trying to escape. Before Tails could make out what was going on in there, it erupts out from the glass and heads far into the sky. A ripple effect causes the top half of the tower to explode, and debris is scattered across.
Sonic, Amy, and Tails are in utter fright. Although the tower was far away from them. Dust from the explosion and debris roams through the streets. Yells of citizens emit from the dust. Sonic and Co. waste no time running straight into the looming dust.
