Well, welcome to my first fanfiction on anything. It is somewhat based upon the Sonic SatAM/Archie Comic Universe. So...enjoy.
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Ethereal
Time thrashed throughout his thoughts like a hurricane. Ripping and tearing his memories asunder, thus effectively destroying who he was. His remaining ideals echoed around in his mind like marbles in a some crudely made ceramic jar, hard enough to cause a subtle pain that fluttered throughout his skull, but not hard enough to break their container. He lay there not knowing what to do next. In fact the only thing he knew, was that he was hurt...badly. Slowly he turned his head to get a better view of his surroundings, only to gaze upon what was left of a bone jutting out from the gaping hole in his leg. He groaned. Pain seeped throughout his entirety. It was all happening again. It had broken his promise to him. He laughed, a course sounding horror that seemed to have a life of its own as it oozed throughout the forest causing the local fauna to shrink into their homes for some relief against the horrid entity, nature itself recoiled from it.
"Finally!" The youngish' multi-tailed fox grunted as the engine of an old TL-80a carrier jet started up. The gentle roar and "clinking" of metallic parts was almost soothing compared to the last fifteen hours that Tails had spent in almost absolute silence. "Sheesh, that took forever." He stated as he wiped the last droplets of sweat from his forehead. Tails had been working on the jet for almost two months now and all it needed now was some minor adjustments to the wings and a fresh coat of paint (Tails wasn't to fond of the military issue black and red paint that streaked across the fuselage of the plane.) In fact Tails wasn't fond of a lot of the things that existed in reality nowadays. Things had been..."better", back when it was just him, Sonic, Sally, Bunnie, and the other Freedom Fighters, back when they were fighting against Robotnik for the sake of a better world. In the thirteen years though since their victory, things had changed...drastically. Nothing was the same anymore. Nothing would ever be the same again.
"Miles!" Yelled a voice from behind. In his current reminiscent state of thoughts, Tails had been unaware of the blue hedgehog that had walked in his workshop. "Miles!" The hedgehog yelled again, this time causing Tails to jump in turn slamming his muzzle on the side of the engine compartment.
"Dammi...oh...hey Sonic." Tails grumbled as he slowly got down from the wing of the jet. Sonic grinned as he watched the fox rub the bump on his nose.
"I see you got that old Junker up and running." Sonic stated as he pointed to the stuttering jet.
"Yeah...what's your point?" Interrogated Tails.
"Nothing really, people have just been wondering where you were, I mean you didn't even show up at the Council meeting yesterday."
"Well, I was busy."
"You could have at least shown up, I mean..."
"Listen! You know that I don't give a crap about your 'Council' So stop giving me shit about me not being there!"
Sonic gave a brief smile, shook his head slightly and exited the workshop. Tails sighed. "Damn hedgehog," He muttered to himself. Things had changed...things had changed a lot.
Some called it The Great War others called it the War against Robotnik. It was called many things, but it all meant one thing: They had won. Everyone was happy at that point, celebrations echoed long into the crisp Mobian nights. People were happy, times were good, and if the Moon could have smiled during those times...it would have. Nothing lasts forever.
Tails was walking throughout the Great Forest, it was his way of gazing upon what hadn't changed since his return to Knothole, and he could still see some of the trees on which he had carved things. An Elk, and on that one, a sword. He smiled as he brushed his hand over the deep and intricate wounds he had etched into these trees as a child. Tails walked over to one of the larger trees in his general area. He ripped off a piece of bark exposing an old rusty piece of metal. He turned it counterclockwise for one full revolution. Several loud popping noises could be heard and a couple of seconds later, there was a "shunk" as a chunk of the tree slid into the ground. Tails walked into the tree and the door replaced itself. Tails let out a sigh; this was his old fort. He couldn't even count how many times he had come in here back when...when things were different.
Tails started climbing a ladder that jutted out from side of the hollow tree, Tails knew where it led. Eventually the top of his head hit something; he smiled as he pushed the trapdoor up. He climbed out onto the platform that existed in the uppermost part of this tree, his tree, Sonic's tree, Sally's tree, and their tree. Tails sat down and gazed out upon Mobius. Somewhere down there was a blue hedgehog, one that was once his friend, one that had had left him. Tails put his face into his hands...things had changed.
She now understood what the two-tailed fox had once told her. 'What was his name, Ben? Chase? Tai?' Of course, she no longer remembered it. It had been drowned by other memories. The name had evaporated from her subconscious like some puddle in a field of gossamer. She still remembered what the fox told her though. "Something isn't right." He had told her before...before what? She could no longer remember. Her eyelids fluttered as she hit the ground. She lay there, dazed and confused. How long had it been? Hours? Days? Time seemed to slip by her like a butterfly caressed by a gentle summer breeze. She smiled, time moved on. She slept upon an ethereal ocean.
"There you are!" Tails jumped as the voice brought him out of his slumber. He quickly spun around and yanked his pistol out of its holster. (You had to always be prepared for anything, Sonic had once told him that, a long time ago.) As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he gazed upon the figure in front of him, laughed and put his pistol away. The pink hedgehog gave Tails a glare that could curdle milk. "Where the hell have you been for the past four days?" Amy yelled at the fox.
"What do you mean four days!?" Tails asked quizzically.
"Exactly what I said, Shevat has been bugging everyone!" Amy barked.
'Had it really been four days?' Tails thought to himself. He hadn't even remembered falling asleep.
Tails started walking towards the ladder when Amy slapped him in the ears. They both laughed. Tails sighed, 'She still treats me like a kid.' he thought. Amy sighed and shook her head.
"So where've you been Tails?" Amy asked as they walked back towards Knothole.
"I...don't...know."
"What do you mean?"
Amy stopped. "It's happening again isn't it?"
"...I'm not sure."
"But I thought..."
"We all thought they were gone."
"I'm... I'm sorry." Amy said slowly tilting her face towards the ground.
"Don't be." Replied a sullen Tails.
"Yeah, well...They were supposed to be gone!"
They continued their trek home in silence.
In fact, the distortions in time were back. Tails had noticed them after he had finished working on the jet. Sonic had come in to tell that he had missed the council meeting. Tails never went to those "Damn Crappers" anyway so he didn't give Sonic's statement a second thought until around an hour later when he remembered that there wasn't supposed to be a meeting for another two days. Tails was confused at first, but his childhood memories came back to him. Whole months of his life stolen from him. He had been ostracized from society. People stayed away from him, when he walked throughout Knothole people ran inside their houses. He had been emotionally killed for harboring a "disorder" that he couldn't control. The only people who treated him as "Tails" and not "Freak" or "Ragshit" (The most common of his nicknames.) Were Amy, Rotor, Antoine, and Sally before she...evaporated. Even Sonic, his former friend steered clear of him. He was scared; Time laughed at the cursed one. Tails shuddered.
Shevat, a thirteen year old brown fox, waited patiently in her teacher's office waiting for the results of last week's test. She on a large foam block, (chairs had been banned from the school ever since Jersey, a twelve year old German Shepard, had had her head smashed in with a chair in by a disturbed youth named Devere.) unaware of the horrors that lurked beyond the imaginary door that hid underneath her teacher's shadow. "Shevat Prower" entered a voice from reality...'Prower,' Shevat rather liked her adopted father's sur-name. 'Prower' she liked the way the sound lingered in her mouth like the aftertaste of a sweet fruit. "Shevat Prower." The voice was louder this time. She swayed gently between the stars; she bathed in their light. They showed her the way to the gate. "Shevat Prower!"
"Wha? Huh? Oh." Shevat blushed, (having your teacher catch you daydreaming wasn't the best thing in the world.)
"Ahem."
"Oh, er, hello Mrs. Harris."
"Shevat I think you know why you are here."
"You wanted to talk to me about my test score?"
"Your rather disappointing test score I might add. Shevat, what happened? You usually do so well."
"I haven't been feeling well."
"Well you should have said something."
"Yeah...."
"Shevat there's something your not telling me. Now tell me, what's wrong? "
"Um..."
"Shevat, do we have to bring Miles into this."
"No!...Don't do that...I've been having...nightmares...bad ones."
"Nightmares?"
"...Yeah."
"Hmm," Mrs. Harris smirked, "tell me about them."
"What?"
"Explain your nightmares to me dear."
"Well, I'm in a forest and I'm running."
"Why are you running?"
"I'm scared, something is chasing me."
"What is it?"
"I don't know."
"Go on then."
"Well, the trees keep on moving, as if they are trying to block my path. I can hear the roar of the thing chasing me. Suddenly I fall down, I can hear the bones in my leg snap. Everything goes silent. I can't move. Something is pulling me backwards. I start crying. A twig snaps. Suddenly everything fades away...I am in a dark room. A door appears...I die."
"Is that all?" asked Mrs. Harris, seemingly disappointed.
"Yes, I...I think so." Shevat stuttered as she started shaking.
"Are you sure!?" Mrs. Harris blurted.
"Y...Y...Yes..." Shevat was shaking violently now.
"DAMN CHILD!" Mrs. Harris shrieked.
"Why are y...you ye...yelling at me?"
"DIE YOU GODDAMNED FOX! DIE LIKE THE ONE BEFORE YOU!" Shevat's teacher was screaming now.
Shevat was in a corner trying to hide from her frenzied teacher. Then she heard the laugh. It was horrible. It reeked of sorrow, despair, love, and hate. It flooded her mind. Shevat wanted to cry, but It wouldn't let her. She tried to block the sound out, but It wouldn't let her. It enjoyed watching her suffer.
"FALLEN ONE, MEET THE FACE OF THE ONE WHO STOOD AGAINST ME!" Shevat's teacher was laughing hysterically now.
Shevat watched in horror as her teacher reached into her desk and pulled out a mesh of broken bones and tan fur. Blood dripped from what looked like half of a jaw.
Shevat screamed, 'It can't be.' She thought. 'NO!' It was too late, she could hear the voice that had jaggedly etched itself into her mind. "Who's laughing now bitch!" Devere. She could see him laughing, standing over her best friends broken body, chair in hand, blood dripping from the legs. She could see Jersey laying on the floor. Blood oozing from what was left of her face.
"NO!" Shevat screamed as she dug her claws into her hands.
Everything faded into dust and she drifted away upon the breeze of a derelict world.
"Shevat!" There were some loud popping noises as Shevat silently slipped back into life. Her eyelids opened slowly, her pupils shrunk to the size of pinpoints as light poured onto them, her azure eyes sparked like diamonds. Her tongue tasted the blood that lingered in her mouth. She felt as if she had been hit the back of her head with a hammer. "Shevat!?"
"Tails..."
"Shh." replied the fox, his fur stained with blood.
"How many of them are left?" replied an obviously scared Amy.
"I don't know, maybe twelve." whispered Tails.
"Shit...."
The metallic footsteps were getting closer.
They had been ambushed by the Sentinels, a mysterious race of cyborgs that had appeared in Mobius a few months after Robotnik's demise. Some believed that they were an alien race, others believed that they were the incomplete version of Robotnik's last line of soldiers. Tails believed in the latter version...he had reason to. The Sentinels attacked villages without warning, killing all in their path; their souls were stained with the blood of the innocent. They had ambushed Tails and Amy around five minutes after they had left Tail's fort. Amy had managed to shoot one in the eye before a metal claw had sliced into her upper right arm. Effectively rendering her gun arm useless. Tails had first put a hole through one of the Sentinel's torsos with his sidearm. He quickly spun around with blinding agility and blasted a hole through another one's metallic skull. He caught a glipse of Amy driving a kick into the nearest cyborg's crotch. It went down quickly making strange gurgling noises. Tail's chuckled, 'They still were part Mobian.'
Tails blinked, one-twentieth of a second, the time it took to put another hole through a Sentinels face. "Blam!" Another bullet, another hole.
Tails suddenly found himself lifted in the air and thrown against a tree. He had just enough time to look at jagged cut along his chest and duck before a laser cut a swath in the tree where his neck used to be. "Shit!" Tails yelled. In less time then it takes for someone to say "Hi," Tails had ejected the empty clip from his gun, slammed in a new one, and blasted a hole the size of a soccer ball through the chest of an armless cyborg that was advancing upon Amy's wounded form. "Blam!" Another bullet another hole.
"Gahh!" Amy screamed as a laser streamed mere centimeters above her head, singeing some of her hair.
'Whaaathroom!' Tails was using explosive bullets now. All that remained of a Sentinel that was standing mere inches in front of her, were a few metal plates. Amy managed to hit one in the leg (she was using her left arm now which drastically reduced her aim.) She fired again, this time the bullet smashed through the wounded cyborg's head, blowing metal and brain matter in all directions. Amy could see that Tail's movements were slowing, she could see that his fur was stained with blood. Amy cringed as Tails took a blaster shot through his left side. Amy carefully took aim and fired at another Sentinel and fired. She smiled when she saw that it no longer had half of its face. Amy winced when the tree behind her suddenly exploded in a torrent of splinters and wet moss.
"Dammit all to hell! Tails, lets get out of here!" Amy screamed as a laser took off the tip of one of her ears.
"Whaaathroom!" Another bullet another pile of smoldering metal and flesh. Tails turned toward Amy and nodded. He whipped out a grenade and chucked it towards the remaining group of Sentinels.
"RUN!" Tails yelled as he started charging into the forest.
Amy quickly followed suite.
"WhaaiiiBOOOM!"
Tails fumbled around on his belt, looking for another clip, he didn't find one. They had been hiding in an alcove for the past twenty minutes, tending their wounds. Amy had made a makeshift wrap for her arm and was just beginning to patch up her ear. Tails was in...less satisfactory condition. He had a two-foot long gash that streaked across his chest and a blaster hole that drove straight through the left side of his body. Amy looked at the wounded fox and frowned.
"Tails, you going to be ok?"
"Yeah." He grunted.
"Well, looks like your going to need surgery." Amy whispered at she stuffed Tail's laser wound with a type of cotton.
The metallic footsteps were getting closer.
It was watching.
Time was watching.
The two wounded Mobians fates were sealed; their demise was lurking over the horizon.
The metallic footsteps were getting closer.
"Shevat!"
She awoke.
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So ends Chapter One. If your confused on issues such as: Tail's "hatred" of Sonic, Tails being "faster than average fox," those strange interludes in which either "he" or "she" are described, who the heck It is, or any other confusing matters...Don't worry, as they should all be explained as the story progresses. Oh and don't forget to post a review...please?