"Hey Tails! I'll race ya back to Lower Mobius." The hedgehog stated with a grin, the little fox smiled back at his friend. They were already in the tunnels and on their way back, all they had was the final stretch.
"Sure thing Sonic, don't go easy on me ok?" The young vulpine said lining up next to the hedgehog. Sonic turned to Bunnie and nodded to her, indicating he wanted her to start them off. The rabbot nodded back and got in front of the two. "Ya'll be careful now."
Sonic shook his head and chuckled. "Be careful? That's no fun…" He then smiled. "Don't worry Bunnie, I live for speed I'll be fine, and Tails can take care of himself." He turns to the others, and smiles. "See ya guys back at the Lower Mobius." He said lining up next to the fox, determination in both of their eyes; neither of them was going to go easy on each other.
"Ya'll ready?" the southern accent called, both of them nodding, lined up ready to book it, the fox wound up his tails behind him. "Ya'll set?" she continued, the hedgehog lowering his stance the fox holding his tails at ready.
"Go!" she cried waving her arms down and was instantly surrounded by strong currents and a whoosh sound as the two forms were gone in an instant. She looked down the tunnel, and giggled. "My stars look at 'em go…" She smiled.
Sonic of course was leading, laughing a little, looking back as Tails was starting to fall further and further behind. "Come on slowmo!" He called back to the fox.
"Wait up! Sonic…" Tails whined.
"I'm not gonna fall for that Tails, you can keep up." He laughed again.
There was silence for awhile, the piping blurred by as the hedgehog moved quickly along them, the protrusions making little whooshing sounds, the air around him sounding like a wind tunnel, he was moving at almost full speed, and he was surprised he could still hear the kit's voice. Suddenly he felt a sudden burst of wind and it abruptly stopped him causing him to fly backward. Sonic flipped and landed on his feet skidding to a halt, the orange blur moved around the bend, the hedgehog left stunned. "Tails?" He asked, but the fox in question was nowhere in sight. The hedgehog blasted off again, still keeping his course making his way back to the town.
He arrived in a matter of seconds, the big open cavern seemed almost empty. "Tails?" he asked looking around, and then he saw him, the hedgehog walked slowly up to the form. The fox's height started to become more apparent, he was much taller then usual, it looked exactly like… it was… it was Selim, he realized as the fox turned around and smiled. "What took ya so long slowmo?" The vulpine asked with a smile.
There was a sudden knocking sound…?
The hedgehog shot up in his bed as he heard the bang on the door, it was only a dream. His quills were a mess and he quickly moved to the mirror and got them all aligned. A bang on the door came again causing the hedgehog to sigh. "Give me a Sonic second…" he stated turning to the door and opening it. "Hey Sal, up early this morning?"
The squirrel nodded, "We were going to talk to Knuckles before he left, about what happened, and about the Chaos Emeralds." She stated.
"Oh yeah, almost forgot about that…" Sonic said smacking his forehead with his hand. "How's old Knuck doin' anyways?"
Sally and Sonic started to walk out into the cavern, away from the building. "Better, the wound will probably completely heal within the week." She said as she looked to Sonic, whose head was hanging down, apparently deep in thought. "Sonic, are you alright?"
Sonic's head shot up and looked at the ground squirrel. "I had the same dream last night Sal." He stated with a sigh.
She turned to look at him, "That's twice now… I wonder what it means…" She said. The princess remembered how it was described. Sonic and Tails would start to race, and then the fox would win, and somehow would be in 'Selim's' image at the end of the race. "Well… dreams are strange; they're usually about some personal fear."
The hedgehog nodded, "Rotor told me that you once told him about that… and I don't get it, why would I be afraid of Tails?" He said scratching his head.
Sally giggled and whispered into his ear. "Maybe you're worried he'll outdo you someday…" She smiled.
Sonic thought a bit, "That might be it… though I still don't know why I'd be afraid of that, I mean he's on my side. If he ever did beat me in a race I'd be thrilled, I mean it's be a great new challenge for me."
Sally smiled, "Not all dreams are nightmares Sonic, just remember that…" To which the hedgehog nodded.
Knuckles was sitting in the technical room, he was opening the storage compartment where they kept the Chaos Emeralds, about to take them out when the hedgehog and squirrel stepped inside. He turned around to see them come in, "Right on time, I was about to leave."
Sally and Sonic sat down as the guardian picked up his emeralds and turned to them, "Sit down Knuckles, we have to talk." Sally stated as the echidna complied, he had agreed to talk to them, but though they wanted him to stay he had to go, he was the protector of the Master Emerald, and he couldn't just hang around here, he had to return to it. The longer the emeralds were away from the large green gem the more unstable they would become. "So what did you want to talk about…?" He said as he sat.
"Listen Knuckles, you nodded when I asked if the Chaos Emeralds could be used for time travel… we believe that is what happened to Tails in the future and he got brought back here… what can you tell us on this phenomenon?" Sally asked opening Nicole to take notes.
Knuckles shook his head. "It was only a legend, just some rumor. We knew these gems were capable of great power, but what exactly we did not know. I'll tell you how the story went." He looks at the gems, pausing a bit as he recalled the details. "Long ago there was a big meteor that crashed onto our planet, and it caused the destruction of those living here at the time. Within the rock there was a power unlike any seen before in its core, the seven gems caused chaos on the planet and thus where they get their name. It was believed that these Emeralds had all the powers that can create or destroy something; those that could control the chaos could become exceedingly powerful. Chaos Control, the shortened name of it… was all but a theory; something that our race could only imagine. I mean, how does one control chaos itself?" He looked up to Sonic. "When you went to that yellow form, that wasn't Chaos Control, it was more of a power that one feels when they are in close contact with the gems, multiplied by all seven, all that power latched onto a nearby organism, and thus you gain the powers of the gems, but not complete control of that power. However, that super form doesn't occur with just anyone, we don't know why, but it has only happened to a few of our tribe throughout history, and now that someone outside the tribe can do it baffles me even more."
"Selim was able to do it too…" Sonic stated. "He disappeared though, we never found his body, or any blood, no signs of struggle… like he just plain vanished."
The echidna nodded. "As I said, that I don't know, but the disappearance and appearance I might be able to. You see… there were many theories that came up on what effects Chaos Control would create. One of the popular ones was the teleportation of time and place."
Sally nodded. "Time travel…"
"Not just time travel, but traveling across distances as well, that is what I think happened to 'Selim'…" The guardian stated standing up.
Sonic went a bit wide eyed. "If this is the case… we have to protect those with our-"
Knuckles cut off the hedgehog, "Guarding the emeralds is my burden alone." He said as he sat up, "I've told you all I know, and I have to get back to my island…"
Sally nodded, "Ok Knuckles, we're very glad you helped us out, we couldn't have done it without the emeralds, but we do have one more favor to ask of you…" She stated.
The red echidna sighed and looked to the princess. "What is it?"
Sally looked out the window and down onto the village. "Well I had told Tails to get up early today. He should go with you so he can pick up the Tornado and Jerome. As I understand they are back on your island…"
The guardian nodded, "No problem, I guess company wouldn't be so bad."
As the echidna left the two alone in the room, the hedgehog looked down. "What about Uncle Chuck? Is he… really dead?" He sniffled; he had waited till the echidna was gone, since he didn't want to break apart like this in front of his supposed rival. Sally wasn't really a problem; she had seen him like this before.
Sally turned to the hedgehog and then hung her head down at the question. "I'm afraid so… Robotnik wouldn't have chanced having a spy. He's gone…" She said, knowing this would hit the hedgehog hard, most of the reason he fought was because he wanted things to be like they were again, and now even that seemed impossible.
Sonic teared a bit. "Damn it… I told him to pull out, I told him not to stay… but he didn't listen." He whipped a hand across his face, catching a tear on his cheek. "Why didn't he listen Sal?"
Sally moved to the hedgehog and hugged him, "Because he's too much like his nephew… he was selfless and brave and wouldn't take no for an answer. We're going to add his name to the memorial, in nice big letters. We'll have a service once Tails comes back from the Floating Island." She kisses him on the cheek. "It'll be alright Sonic. We've cheated death, and so we will use that gift and use it to continue our fight, and we'll do it not only for those living, but to honor those that have died."
Sonic turned away for a bit. "Uncle Chuck was my reason for fighting… for getting him back… that's what it was all about for me."
The squirrel put a hand on his shoulder, she sighed "He wouldn't want you to give up fighting… never, not until our last breath. We can't let what happened to Charles happen to anyone else…"
The hedgehog never knew how Sally could always manage to salvage the morale of anyone, no matter how low it got. It was one of her gifts as a leader. He sniffled and nodded slowly, his sadness not cured, but alleviated a little at least, he no longer felt like giving up.
"My Tornado!" The kit shouted as he ran up to it and hugged the landing gear, Knuckles didn't know whether to be touched by the reunion or to laugh at the vulpine being so affectionate toward a machine.
"Well kid…" He said as he moved to the plane and lifted the deactivated robot, that was Jerome, into the back seat. "Looks like you got everything, good luck to you." He said.
The fox released his embrace from the gear and turning to the echidna. "Thank you Knuckles, for saving Sonic, and keeping my Tornado here for me."
"No problem kid, but I think you deserve all the credit. It's not easy growing up alone, and knowing there are those that can survive in such trying times is a great reassurance." The echidna responded, which looked as if it confused the fox more then anything.
"I really don't think I'm alone, I always have my friends…" He said.
The echidna smirked, "How old are you again?"
"I'll be 12 in ten days." He stated, proudly because it was one step closer to not being a kid anymore.
"You're smarter than most adults I know… you'll be great one day, I know, I've seen it…" the guardian stated as the kit started the engine. He was baffled how one so young could fly such a contraption; he wouldn't know the first thing about biplanes. He couldn't say anything more as the engine whirled loudly.
The plane moved forward, down the runway like floor of the palace. The robot slouched over, deactivated in the back seat as Tails had his air goggles on. He was so happy that he hadn't lost his freedom of flight; a few days ago he thought he had lost it forever. The echidna watched as the plane majestically lifted off the ground and made its way out of the tunnels into the light blue sky that hung overhead. Yes, freedom had won for today, but the question that would always linger is, would it tomorrow?
Knuckles knew that now they were in a separate writing of history, a parallel stitch that had mended the hole which had been torn in the fabric of time. Now history was up to them, and what would happen now was unknown.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Everything was dark as the fox stood up. Where was he? Did he succeed in saving Sonic? If he was, why wasn't he sent home?
A voice cut through the darkness and made the older Tails jump. "Well, well, well. Look who changed history, just as he was told to do." It said, it sounded deep and almost sinister, but somehow familiar.
"What are you talking about?" The older fox called into the darkness. "Where am I?"
"You're in whats called 'the void'. A 3rd dimensional fractal. It should sound familiar to you does it not?" The voice responded.
It did, for some reason, but he'd never heard of it before, why did it sound so familiar.
"The real question you should be 'Why are you are here?' or better yet. 'Who sent you?'" The voice continued.
The fox snorted. "I was sent here because of the chaos emeralds."
The voice laughed. "That's true, but I guess you don't remember what actually happened, you aren't who you think you are, and you weren't sent back by the chaos emeralds. You were sent back by a creature who wanted you to save Sonic and Sally…"
"Why would they want that?" The one once known as Selim asked…
"You really don't remember anything do you? I can't send you back to your real time until you know who you really are and what you truly went through… every memory that you have of leading the freedom fighters is a lie."
The fox was shocked and somewhat angry. "What are you talking about? Sonic and Sally died and I lead the freedom fighters… that's what happened. Why should I believe you? Maybe you're trying to manipulate me!"
"Hmm… your brainwash was worse then I thought. I will show you then and slowly the pieces of the puzzle shall reveal themselves. No worry though in your quest to find yourself, time has no function here, since here time can be manipulated by space, and vise versa."
The darkness started to swirl into colors…
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Oh yeah, before I forget, sorry about the tardiness of this chapter. Bandwidth was one the fritz and I couldn't sign in yesterday. Every time I hit login I got a 503 error. Not my fault, but this chap was a bit longer so hope it was worth the wait.
Congratulations, you made it to the end of the story. But now for all those buffs that need to know something extra here are some of the behind the scenes stuff as well as where I go from here.
The timeline as I dropped along the way is after Sonic 3 & Knuckles, which came after Sonic 2, and that came after Satam.
Though officially Ben Hurst, the maker of the Satam series, meant the glowing eyes to be Nagus I decided to let them be Metal Sonic (who makes an appearance at the end of Sonic 2, and at the Sky Sanctuary in S&K).
The main reason I decided to start after Sonic 3 & K is because there are many adaptations out their already that would be similar to what I would write. My version would have differences though, like Snively posing as Robotnik. I also would integrate Sonic Triple Trouble into the storyline. If people would like me to write my version of those events that'd be great, I'd just have to know.
Right now I'm working on, what else, the sequel. Of course there's a sequel :P. This will also be an adaptation of something you'll soon find out. The name of it will be Dawn of Chaos Control. Yes Tails will be in it, but you'll also see much more of Sonic in this one. A lots gonna happen and a lot will be revealed. So see you then.
The next update I do will actually be on May 2nd, and will be the first chapter of DoCC, see you then.
