The Sky Sanctuary Zone: A towering, sacred temple floating miles into the sky (it's name says it all). The temple was made up of high towers, turntables, collapsible bridges, and teleporting orbs. It appeared to be the perfect place to find (you guessed it), Tails! He was slowly hovering above the Zone wearing his assortment of armor: a spiked, steel headband, pairs of metal plated arm and leg guards, and metallic, green colored chest plate. He held in his hands his metal staff with the curved blade at the end. He truly looked like a warrior of the sky!
Tails couldn't help but feel excited. "Man, this goes way beyond tight! Not only do I look incredibly awesome, but I also don't need the tornado to help me in air combat now!" He swarmed the Zone searching for one of the two remaining Catalyst spirits, felling confident that he could hold his own against them. But just then, a thought crossed his mind. 'Although, I was able to beat Shadow while he was under the spirits' control, will I really be tough enough to defeat one of the actual spirits?' He continued swarming the Zone for any sign of a presence.
Forty minutes later, Tails perched himself atop a tower overlooking many of the Zone's floating platforms. He was a little out of breath. "Whew! It's been quite a while since I last flew around for such a long time. I almost forgot how tiring it could be." It took him a few minutes, but Tails was able to shake off his exhaustion. He hovered down to one of the teleporting orbs. "Why I haven't found a spirit yet? I searched every area of this Zone, and that's a challenge itself! Why isn't a spirit here!" Then, Tails heard a sound come from the orb in front of him. It sounded like a 'click'. "What? What was that?" He moved closer to it to get a better look. Suddenly, a small whirlwind came out of the orb! "Hey!" Tails was swallowed within the wind! "LET ME GO!" Too late. No matter how much Tails struggled, he couldn't break free! And found himself being pulled closer and closer to the orb! "NO! WAIT!" But as soon as Tails had touched the orb, a blinding flash engulfed him! When it cleared, he had vanished…
The Wacky Workbench Zone: A humongous technological stadium filled with countless gimmicks and machinery. From floating platforms to ice spraying air ducts, shocking electric conduits to pumping pistons. And to top it all off, an electric pulse emitting floor that can launch anyone standing on it sky high! Tails slowly opened his eyes, dazed and confused. He couldn't tell what had just happened. What surprised him was the fact that he was suddenly warped to another Zone! "Whoa! How the heck did I end up HERE? That whirlwind from the orb must have transported me out of Sky Sanctuary altogether!" But he was still confused. The orbs in the Sky Sanctuary Zone could only transport people to a different location in the Zone itself. Not to a completely different Zone! Something wasn't right…
Suddenly, Tails heard a faint sound. "Huh? What's that?" It was a ringing sound. It was coming from above his head. He quickly picked up his staff, and began to hover upward. Tails slowly maneuvered passed the multiple platforms hovering in his path. He stopped after passing three large platforms. As soon as he landed, he noticed the sound was getting louder. Tails looked around the area, and saw something on his right. "What the?" It looked like a small, yellow telephone, sitting in a small booth. "That must have been what was ringing." Tails walked slowly toward it. It was still ringing as he moved closer. He placed his hand on the phone. He felt very nervous, but couldn't help himself. He picked up the handle. "Hello?" Silence. "Hello?" No answer. "Hello? Who is this?" "…………I knew you'd answer my call…" said an eerie, deep voice. "Who is this? What's going on?" "…………I knew you'd answer my call…" Tails began to feel freaked out. "Who are you? What do you want?...ANSWER ME!" "………...I've been waiting for you, Horu-San…………." "What's going on?" Why won't you ANSWER ME?" "…………I've been waiting for you……I've been waiting for you……I've been waiting for you…………" 'Click!'
Suspenseful, isn't it? I need time to continue writing this part of the story, unfortunately. So I decided to leave you hanging at this point, for a few days at least. Hope you can hang in there…R&R!