Disclaimer: I claim neither to own nor to have borrowed any of Sega's or
any other brand name's slogans, characters, events, or copyright terms.
This disclaimer applies to all chapters of this and any story I write.
Special Thanks: Illys, without you I would never have found TKN or have been inspired to continue writing. Thanks for all you help past, present and future.
Update: I just watched the first season finale of Sonic X and I decided it was time to update my story thoroughly. To all who have the chapters read so far, you may wish to reread it. Time spaces, ages, and past events have been built on or changed. Lastly, in your reviews, please do not spoil the mystery for current readers if you think you know what it is.
//////Gear Shift
Ch. 1 In the Beginning
"Hey, Sonic!" Tails yelled across the Thorndike backyard hoping to get the hedgehog's attention.
No response came from the tree perch where Tails knew the hedgehog was. That was strange; normally Sonic would at least acknowledge Tail's presence even if he was in a foul mood.
Tail's treaded though the thin early fall foliage underneath the tree and asked, "Sonic are you—"
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Tails could feel the hedgehog's glare pierce through him even though he couldn't see it. Tails stammered, "Sonic I, I..."
"Does our friendship mean nothing to you?" came the icy reply.
"Sonic, you know it—"
"Didn't you trust me? Has all we've seen and went through meant so little to you that you couldn't tell me that? Can't you trust me? Why Tails? Answer ME!" Sonic yelled as he erupted from the branches.
"Sonic!" Tails screamed as he fell back and hit the floor beside his bed in the boy's room.
He sat up on the floor panting and freezing in a cold sweat. Tails pulled his knees in and cried.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------
The alarm rang and she was up in a flash. Quickly, she dressed herself and headed silently down the hallway; there was no need to wake anyone up at this ungodly hour at night.
Once she was in the exercise room and after she turned on the lights, she set to work setting a heavily modified treadmill, a job well done by Tails that she had hidden in the back closet. This machine was different than the average run-of-the-mill treadmill; it could be set from a normal jog to speeds exceeding 150 mph. Instead of being set by controls the treadmill was set by how fast the person running on it was moving.
She hopped on and started to jog at a leisurely place, 30 mph. When she had first started her intensive, nightly training she would be lucky to reach such a speed, but now it came as naturally as breathing. She was starting to understand why Sonic loved to run.
She slowed and stepped off the treadmill to stretch out any remaining kinks left in her body, and then she set to work, kicking it up to high gear.
It was glorious, her feet became like a swift river; fluid and quick, and her heart; a drum to which her entire body moved to. She found herself longing to run like this forever.
If only her body were as ready as her mind. Soon after she had started the sprint, her muscles began to complain and burn, and her pace began to falter.
Her eyes darted to the speed monitor. It read 80 mph.
Pathetic! She thought to herself, Sonic would laugh at that slow speed.
That was enough motivation for her already weary legs: they redoubled their effort. Straining herself almost to her body's threshold she watched as her speed ticket up one glorious number after another. She realized she was going to do it, she was going to break her speed goal she had set so long ago!
95, 96 the speed monitor read. Almost there, she thought, just a little bit more...
Her frame felt like it was lit aflame, searing pain racketed her sides. Yet she did not slow, she only went faster.
98, 99 C'mon Ames you can do it! Her mind screamed to her tired body.
The screen blinked 100 mph and Amy collapsed and let the fox's built- in safety mechanism deposit her on the floor. She had done it; she had succeeded in her first goal of many, the ultimate of which was, of course, Sonic.
Panting heavily, the young she-hog rose onto unsteady feet trying unsuccessfully to regain her balance. After a few vain attempts, she started to lumber down the hallway. Unconsciously she tugged at her sweat- stuck tee while her mind wandered to the victory bath she was going to award herself once she made it to the upstairs bathroom.
In fact she was almost all the way in the doorway before she realized the bathroom already had an occupant.
"Amy!" Tails shrieked as he plunged headfirst into the bath.
Beet-red from embarrassment and shocked from surprise Amy jumped back and shut the door. Apologies flooded from her so fast she doubted the young fox could make heads or tails what she was saying.
Tail's voice, still shaky from the encounter, weakly came through the door, "Don't worry about it, Amy, you just surprised me. That's all..."
"I'm so sorry Tails."
"I'm alright, Amy," a nervous chuckle, "no permanent damage done."
The reply hardly settled with Amy. Tail's definitely wasn't acting like himself lately she thought to herself as she walked down the stairs to the downstairs bathroom. Lately, Tails had been very quiet and he had kept himself locked in his "Chaos Central" all day. Chris had told her the other day that he was worried about Tails. Chris had said that, most nights in the past month, Tails had been kicking and growling and whimpering and even arguing in his sleep.
Amy could see why Tails was having the nightmares, though. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, herself, and most especially Cream had been through a lot and had seen things people their age were never meant to see. They all had witnessed friends and family destroyed before their very eyes, and Cream had seen worse than all of the others put together. Somehow though, whether it was Cream's childish innocence, or her optimistic personality, she had pulled through the horrors with barely a blemish on her personality.
Still though, why would Tails be having reoccurring nightmares night after night? Sure, all of them most likely had their share of nightmares from time to time, yet why would Tails be having nightmares of that war after all this time?
A realization hit her; what if it wasn't the war that was bothering Tails? What if it was something else? What if that something had to do with Eggman or something worse?
She had to do something. Sonic could wait; she had to find out what was wrong with Tails and fast.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
"You called, Miles?" Mr. Tanaka asked as he peered in from the doorway to the boy's bedroom. The only occupant was the young fox sitting on his bed looking at his feet.
"I think Amy knows, or at least suspects."
Mr. Tanaka stepped through the doorway and silently shut the door. He remained standing and evaluated the thirteen-year-old fox. Miles was obviously distraught; he must have come across Miss Amy after one of his nightmares during the night.
For almost two years now he had known about the fox's condition and, in accordance to Miles' wishes he had kept it a secret. Mr. Tanaka, regrettably, knew very little about the problem that would be of any aid and, thus, was of little use to the fox. Mr. Tanaka was sure Miss Amy, since she had known the fox for far longer than he, would of more help to Prowler.
He did not want to force the idea, so he tried to carefully pick his words and tread lightly, "Miles, this is just a suggestion, but I believe that Miss Rose—"
"No!" Tails argued, "The moment she found out she would run and tell Sonic."
"I believe Miss Amy is more trustworthy than you give her credit for. However, If you let her find out about this using her own methods then you shall run the risk not only telling Sonic, but worse. Amy is well known for her temper.
"Also, Mr. Prowler, I believe she would be of more use to you than I. Not only has she known you longer, but she would also know more about your condition than I."
Mr. Tanaka fell silent as he let his words echo in the foxes mind and sink in.
Miles, for the first time since Mr. Tanaka entered the room, looked up and sighed, "I guess you are right. I'll tell her the first opportunity I get."
Mr. Tanaka bowed deeply and was about to take his leave when Miles continued, "Can I ask you one last favor, Mr. Tanaka." He turned and faced Miles. "It is getting harder to, well, you know...with my fur"
"Already taken care of Miles Prowler. I shall return shortly, and then you should join the others for breakfast." Mr. Tanaka bowed again and walked out of the room.
"I'm sorry if I have been a burden."
He kept walking and replied, "If you had ever became a burden you would have been the first to have known."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Whoa! Where did you get the cool duds lil' bro?" Sonic asked later that morning at the breakfast table.
Chuck answered before Tails could even draw a breath, "A few weeks ago Mr. Tanaka told me that Tails was beginning to show an interest in clothing and, since I used to be a tinker before I was a scientist, he asked me if I still had anything that may be useful to an inventor. So I dug around in my closet for a couple of days until I found an outfit I thought he might enjoy. And, by the look on his face, I believe he does."
It was no lie for Tails was beaming. The old scientist had found for him an old leather vest that was composed of almost nothing but pockets of various shapes and sizes, and a pair of matching leather half-gloves. These pockets could be used to store anything from nuts and bolts to small tools, and the gloves offered more dexterity than his others without sacrificing the much needed scratch and blister protection of the back and palms of the hand.
"So why the sudden interest in clothing, Tails?" Amy asked, as she walked into the room and took a seat.
Apparently the question she had been dying to ask had been in the back of everyone else's mind also for they all turned and looked at him expectantly.
The question caught Tails completely off-guard, he had not expected the question, and, for that, he credited Amy's ingenuity. Stammering, mainly because of all the eyes on him, Tails started, "Well...I felt—"
"Hey, everybody, guess what!" Chris yelled from the entry hall, "All of us got letters from my school!"
Excitement and discussion broke out at the breakfast table as Chris passed the letters and very quickly to his relief Tails was forgotten by all but one. Amy still looked at him from the corner of her eyes, eyes that were trying to uncover secrets from a concrete block.
"Wow, Chris! You mean we are going to your school?" Cream asked with glee.
"Well, it's kind of like that, Cream," Chris explained as he gave Cream her letter, "But there are different buildings in the school for different grade levels so we all might not be in the same school building."
Sonic, after receiving his letter, snorted and tossed it behind him. "Thanks, but no thanks. I'd rather run than go to any school."
Ella, the maid, who had just appeared with many plates of breakfast, gave Sonic a withering glare as she laid the plates on the table. "Sonic, how old you?"
"Nineteen"
"Do you remember back a few years when the president awarded you and the others honorary citizenship?"
"Yea, but the only reason I took it was to get the military off of my case."
"Well, Sonic, by taking the citizenship you swore an unsaid oath to follow all this countries laws and going to school until one graduates or reaches the age of twenty-one is one of them."
Sonic stood up and stretched. "Well I guess I'll just have to drop out then."
Ella dropped her still half full serving tray and turned around to face the short hedgehog. Food went everywhere, but the maid did not notice. Tails could not see Ella's face but the sound of her voice made him wish he could craw into a hole and die to avoid her wrath.
"Maurice T Hedgehog! As long as you live in this house you will do nothing to shame the Thorndike name or the members of the family of which you are also a member! Now, as far as I'm concerned this discussion is over, and it would be in your best interests if I hear of no problems from the school. Understood?"
Sonic gulped, nodded, and quietly sat back down into his chair looking at his plate of food.
Ella, now calm and acting as if nothing had happened asked Chris when school began.
"Well, the envelope said it was sent about three weeks ago..."
Ella was bending over and taking stock of the mess. Absentmindedly she muttered, "Great the mailman misplaced our mail again. I have half a mind to—"
"Ella," Chris said carefully, "According to the letter, school starts tomorrow."
He was right. Tails came across that as he read his own letter. While Ella was conducting the preparations for a last minute shopping spree, and arguing with Sonic about wearing clothes, Tails kept on reading.
The letter said he would start the year off as a senior and would graduate after Christmas. The school system was only doing this as a formality, Tails knew, but they disguised it as a chance to adapt to the school setting.
Tails groaned for this had complicated things. School was really going to hamper Tails' chances to get a moment alone with Amy. He only wished that Amy wouldn't do anything rash before he had the chance to tell her.
------------------------------------------
Special Thanks: Illys, without you I would never have found TKN or have been inspired to continue writing. Thanks for all you help past, present and future.
Update: I just watched the first season finale of Sonic X and I decided it was time to update my story thoroughly. To all who have the chapters read so far, you may wish to reread it. Time spaces, ages, and past events have been built on or changed. Lastly, in your reviews, please do not spoil the mystery for current readers if you think you know what it is.
//////Gear Shift
Ch. 1 In the Beginning
"Hey, Sonic!" Tails yelled across the Thorndike backyard hoping to get the hedgehog's attention.
No response came from the tree perch where Tails knew the hedgehog was. That was strange; normally Sonic would at least acknowledge Tail's presence even if he was in a foul mood.
Tail's treaded though the thin early fall foliage underneath the tree and asked, "Sonic are you—"
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Tails could feel the hedgehog's glare pierce through him even though he couldn't see it. Tails stammered, "Sonic I, I..."
"Does our friendship mean nothing to you?" came the icy reply.
"Sonic, you know it—"
"Didn't you trust me? Has all we've seen and went through meant so little to you that you couldn't tell me that? Can't you trust me? Why Tails? Answer ME!" Sonic yelled as he erupted from the branches.
"Sonic!" Tails screamed as he fell back and hit the floor beside his bed in the boy's room.
He sat up on the floor panting and freezing in a cold sweat. Tails pulled his knees in and cried.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------
The alarm rang and she was up in a flash. Quickly, she dressed herself and headed silently down the hallway; there was no need to wake anyone up at this ungodly hour at night.
Once she was in the exercise room and after she turned on the lights, she set to work setting a heavily modified treadmill, a job well done by Tails that she had hidden in the back closet. This machine was different than the average run-of-the-mill treadmill; it could be set from a normal jog to speeds exceeding 150 mph. Instead of being set by controls the treadmill was set by how fast the person running on it was moving.
She hopped on and started to jog at a leisurely place, 30 mph. When she had first started her intensive, nightly training she would be lucky to reach such a speed, but now it came as naturally as breathing. She was starting to understand why Sonic loved to run.
She slowed and stepped off the treadmill to stretch out any remaining kinks left in her body, and then she set to work, kicking it up to high gear.
It was glorious, her feet became like a swift river; fluid and quick, and her heart; a drum to which her entire body moved to. She found herself longing to run like this forever.
If only her body were as ready as her mind. Soon after she had started the sprint, her muscles began to complain and burn, and her pace began to falter.
Her eyes darted to the speed monitor. It read 80 mph.
Pathetic! She thought to herself, Sonic would laugh at that slow speed.
That was enough motivation for her already weary legs: they redoubled their effort. Straining herself almost to her body's threshold she watched as her speed ticket up one glorious number after another. She realized she was going to do it, she was going to break her speed goal she had set so long ago!
95, 96 the speed monitor read. Almost there, she thought, just a little bit more...
Her frame felt like it was lit aflame, searing pain racketed her sides. Yet she did not slow, she only went faster.
98, 99 C'mon Ames you can do it! Her mind screamed to her tired body.
The screen blinked 100 mph and Amy collapsed and let the fox's built- in safety mechanism deposit her on the floor. She had done it; she had succeeded in her first goal of many, the ultimate of which was, of course, Sonic.
Panting heavily, the young she-hog rose onto unsteady feet trying unsuccessfully to regain her balance. After a few vain attempts, she started to lumber down the hallway. Unconsciously she tugged at her sweat- stuck tee while her mind wandered to the victory bath she was going to award herself once she made it to the upstairs bathroom.
In fact she was almost all the way in the doorway before she realized the bathroom already had an occupant.
"Amy!" Tails shrieked as he plunged headfirst into the bath.
Beet-red from embarrassment and shocked from surprise Amy jumped back and shut the door. Apologies flooded from her so fast she doubted the young fox could make heads or tails what she was saying.
Tail's voice, still shaky from the encounter, weakly came through the door, "Don't worry about it, Amy, you just surprised me. That's all..."
"I'm so sorry Tails."
"I'm alright, Amy," a nervous chuckle, "no permanent damage done."
The reply hardly settled with Amy. Tail's definitely wasn't acting like himself lately she thought to herself as she walked down the stairs to the downstairs bathroom. Lately, Tails had been very quiet and he had kept himself locked in his "Chaos Central" all day. Chris had told her the other day that he was worried about Tails. Chris had said that, most nights in the past month, Tails had been kicking and growling and whimpering and even arguing in his sleep.
Amy could see why Tails was having the nightmares, though. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, herself, and most especially Cream had been through a lot and had seen things people their age were never meant to see. They all had witnessed friends and family destroyed before their very eyes, and Cream had seen worse than all of the others put together. Somehow though, whether it was Cream's childish innocence, or her optimistic personality, she had pulled through the horrors with barely a blemish on her personality.
Still though, why would Tails be having reoccurring nightmares night after night? Sure, all of them most likely had their share of nightmares from time to time, yet why would Tails be having nightmares of that war after all this time?
A realization hit her; what if it wasn't the war that was bothering Tails? What if it was something else? What if that something had to do with Eggman or something worse?
She had to do something. Sonic could wait; she had to find out what was wrong with Tails and fast.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
"You called, Miles?" Mr. Tanaka asked as he peered in from the doorway to the boy's bedroom. The only occupant was the young fox sitting on his bed looking at his feet.
"I think Amy knows, or at least suspects."
Mr. Tanaka stepped through the doorway and silently shut the door. He remained standing and evaluated the thirteen-year-old fox. Miles was obviously distraught; he must have come across Miss Amy after one of his nightmares during the night.
For almost two years now he had known about the fox's condition and, in accordance to Miles' wishes he had kept it a secret. Mr. Tanaka, regrettably, knew very little about the problem that would be of any aid and, thus, was of little use to the fox. Mr. Tanaka was sure Miss Amy, since she had known the fox for far longer than he, would of more help to Prowler.
He did not want to force the idea, so he tried to carefully pick his words and tread lightly, "Miles, this is just a suggestion, but I believe that Miss Rose—"
"No!" Tails argued, "The moment she found out she would run and tell Sonic."
"I believe Miss Amy is more trustworthy than you give her credit for. However, If you let her find out about this using her own methods then you shall run the risk not only telling Sonic, but worse. Amy is well known for her temper.
"Also, Mr. Prowler, I believe she would be of more use to you than I. Not only has she known you longer, but she would also know more about your condition than I."
Mr. Tanaka fell silent as he let his words echo in the foxes mind and sink in.
Miles, for the first time since Mr. Tanaka entered the room, looked up and sighed, "I guess you are right. I'll tell her the first opportunity I get."
Mr. Tanaka bowed deeply and was about to take his leave when Miles continued, "Can I ask you one last favor, Mr. Tanaka." He turned and faced Miles. "It is getting harder to, well, you know...with my fur"
"Already taken care of Miles Prowler. I shall return shortly, and then you should join the others for breakfast." Mr. Tanaka bowed again and walked out of the room.
"I'm sorry if I have been a burden."
He kept walking and replied, "If you had ever became a burden you would have been the first to have known."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Whoa! Where did you get the cool duds lil' bro?" Sonic asked later that morning at the breakfast table.
Chuck answered before Tails could even draw a breath, "A few weeks ago Mr. Tanaka told me that Tails was beginning to show an interest in clothing and, since I used to be a tinker before I was a scientist, he asked me if I still had anything that may be useful to an inventor. So I dug around in my closet for a couple of days until I found an outfit I thought he might enjoy. And, by the look on his face, I believe he does."
It was no lie for Tails was beaming. The old scientist had found for him an old leather vest that was composed of almost nothing but pockets of various shapes and sizes, and a pair of matching leather half-gloves. These pockets could be used to store anything from nuts and bolts to small tools, and the gloves offered more dexterity than his others without sacrificing the much needed scratch and blister protection of the back and palms of the hand.
"So why the sudden interest in clothing, Tails?" Amy asked, as she walked into the room and took a seat.
Apparently the question she had been dying to ask had been in the back of everyone else's mind also for they all turned and looked at him expectantly.
The question caught Tails completely off-guard, he had not expected the question, and, for that, he credited Amy's ingenuity. Stammering, mainly because of all the eyes on him, Tails started, "Well...I felt—"
"Hey, everybody, guess what!" Chris yelled from the entry hall, "All of us got letters from my school!"
Excitement and discussion broke out at the breakfast table as Chris passed the letters and very quickly to his relief Tails was forgotten by all but one. Amy still looked at him from the corner of her eyes, eyes that were trying to uncover secrets from a concrete block.
"Wow, Chris! You mean we are going to your school?" Cream asked with glee.
"Well, it's kind of like that, Cream," Chris explained as he gave Cream her letter, "But there are different buildings in the school for different grade levels so we all might not be in the same school building."
Sonic, after receiving his letter, snorted and tossed it behind him. "Thanks, but no thanks. I'd rather run than go to any school."
Ella, the maid, who had just appeared with many plates of breakfast, gave Sonic a withering glare as she laid the plates on the table. "Sonic, how old you?"
"Nineteen"
"Do you remember back a few years when the president awarded you and the others honorary citizenship?"
"Yea, but the only reason I took it was to get the military off of my case."
"Well, Sonic, by taking the citizenship you swore an unsaid oath to follow all this countries laws and going to school until one graduates or reaches the age of twenty-one is one of them."
Sonic stood up and stretched. "Well I guess I'll just have to drop out then."
Ella dropped her still half full serving tray and turned around to face the short hedgehog. Food went everywhere, but the maid did not notice. Tails could not see Ella's face but the sound of her voice made him wish he could craw into a hole and die to avoid her wrath.
"Maurice T Hedgehog! As long as you live in this house you will do nothing to shame the Thorndike name or the members of the family of which you are also a member! Now, as far as I'm concerned this discussion is over, and it would be in your best interests if I hear of no problems from the school. Understood?"
Sonic gulped, nodded, and quietly sat back down into his chair looking at his plate of food.
Ella, now calm and acting as if nothing had happened asked Chris when school began.
"Well, the envelope said it was sent about three weeks ago..."
Ella was bending over and taking stock of the mess. Absentmindedly she muttered, "Great the mailman misplaced our mail again. I have half a mind to—"
"Ella," Chris said carefully, "According to the letter, school starts tomorrow."
He was right. Tails came across that as he read his own letter. While Ella was conducting the preparations for a last minute shopping spree, and arguing with Sonic about wearing clothes, Tails kept on reading.
The letter said he would start the year off as a senior and would graduate after Christmas. The school system was only doing this as a formality, Tails knew, but they disguised it as a chance to adapt to the school setting.
Tails groaned for this had complicated things. School was really going to hamper Tails' chances to get a moment alone with Amy. He only wished that Amy wouldn't do anything rash before he had the chance to tell her.
------------------------------------------