Prologue
Perhaps the strangest thing about that day in particular was how peaceful it had suddenly become. The wind was creating a strong breeze through the plains, moving all the prairie grass in synchronized cascades of green. As though from underground, a blue streak shot over a hill and disappeared, leaving a sonic boom in its wake. The uprooted grass and dirt that had flown into the air from the force of dozens of footsteps per second floated back down to earth. And, as quickly as it had been disrupted, the area settled back into a strained stillness.
A storm began forming on the horizon.
Part I
Sonic cursed to himself. He wasn't moving fast enough. Eggman's base was still 30 or so miles away, and at the rate he was moving at, he'd be there in… Well, Sonic was never great with math, anyway. A familiar "whirr-clank" made Sonic instinctively dodge the gaping arms of one of Eggman's robots and continue running. The robots were few and far between at this point, making Sonic believe either Eggman was getting lazy, or they were all reserved for the final battle. Eggman had gone too far this time.
Looking down at his feet, Sonic realized that running had become second nature to him. He was effortlessly bouncing off of obstacles, falling huge distances, and avoiding otherwise deadly encounters, even though he was immensely distracted. Normally, his long-time friend Tails would be floating along right next to him, pointing out that they were running out of time and needed to hurry. That was one of the things Sonic adored about the little two-tailed fox, that he would…
How much time did he have, anyway? Sonic had never really liked watches, but was now wishing that he'd brought one regardless. Eggman had informed him that he had three hours to save them all, but how long ago had that been?
WHAM!
Sonic had neglected to look where he was going, and had run head-first into one of Eggman's spikier robots. The impact that would have easily killed him was softened and stopped by the cushioning barrier of Rings, which had put all their energy into deflecting the blow. The dreaded "shring" of newly-materialized Rings flying in every direction brought Sonic back to reality. Taking a second to recover, he realized that he was still going to need fifty of these, some of which he'd have to grab along the way.
Continuing on his course, Sonic let himself get distracted again, this time forcing himself to remember what had happened just a couple of hours ago.
Sonic and Tails were lying next to each other relaxing and sunbathing on a flat rock at the top of a waterfall. They'd never seen this place before, but it was kind of nice, up here away from everyone and everything, especially with the constant, calming "whoosh" of the waterfall. Sonic was mentioning something about the great view they had as Tails got up the nerve to tell him. What would he think? Could he? Would he? Tails sat up, but looked down at the grass.
"Sonic?"
"Yeah, Tails?"
"I, uh… I've got something I need to tell you. But I need you to promise that no matter what, we'll still be friends, okay?"
Sonic took this in, then responded, "What could you tell me that could ruin our friendship?"
"I just need you to promise. Please, Sonic?"
"Uh," the hedgehog hesitated. "Okay."
"Sonic, I…" As Sonic's emerald green eyes met his, Tails lost his train of thought and started fumbling for the right thing to say. Sonic stared at him quizzically.
"Well, at this point, it's better to show him what I mean," thought Tails. The twin-tailed fox slowly leaned in towards his best friend, while cocking his head slightly to the side and parting his lips. Sonic scrambled to his feet, and Tails looked away quickly.
"Tails! Were you going to… kiss me?"
There it was. Eggman's newest testament to his self-proclaimed supreme ruler status, the Egg Tower. It was enormous, and it was ugly. Plastered in standard "Eggman building code" red and yellow and containing Eggman's giant white stencil right in the middle, this building was obviously a piece of junk. Two purple spires topped off the hideous building, making the Tower look like a giant cannon of some sort. Eggman was getting worse at this. Sonic's next battle wasn't going to be anything compared to his last one.
Sonic stood at the edge of a cliff overlooking the valley where Eggman had chosen to unveil his next abomination. The storm which had been gathering for an hour was about to start, and it appeared that its center coincided with the top of the Tower. He suddenly wished he had the Tornado a lot more than he'd wished for a watch. Eggman would definitely be at the very top, and Sonic would have to battle his way through a hundred floors of robots to get up there, unless…
It was time to get creative. Sonic launched himself over the edge and tucked himself into a ball, rolling quickly down the steep incline. Angling himself just right, Sonic rocketed for the base of the Tower, tearing apart the landscape by breaking through trees and rocks. As soon as the cliff angled out into the valley, Sonic pulled out of his ball and began running once again. Pulling all his focus inside of him, he forced the seven Chaos Emeralds into their tangible state. They began rotating around him as always, quickly gaining speed…
He loved this part, when his feet no longer needed to touch the ground, and when the Emeralds fused with him like an ultra-powerful surge of adrenaline. He blasted through Eggman's outer perimeter, a fifty-foot tall steel wall, effortlessly. At this point, he stopped for only a split second to reposition, and then fired himself at the bottom of the right half of the Tower. Making contact with the base, he used his superpowers to begin corkscrewing up the outside of the Tower counterclockwise. Three seconds later, he'd reached the Tower's peak, which had an unusual circular glass window all around the top floor.
Eggman had seen the blue streak turn suddenly gold as it flew towards his base at unmatched speeds. So, Sonic had morphed into his Super state already. That was even better.
He looked back towards the center of his most brilliant creation to date, the Egg Tower. His six captives were all trying to escape their containment pods, as usual, but he was confident they couldn't break through. Ah, his old nemeses. Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Amy, Cream, and Rouge had all fallen into their respective traps quite easily, Sonic was falling into his trap, too, and they were all the unwitting fuel for his latest scheme.
The sixty-yard circular gap in the floor of the Tower's top room led down to the soon-to-be climax of his foolproof plan. Walking to the giant hole, he leaned over the railing and looked down into his Tower. Everything was ready, and when the time came, the EggWasher would rise through the top of the Tower, and only then could his true Egg Empire be built… and he would no longer have to worry about Sonic or his meddling friends.
He heard a loud crash as the Tower's top window shattered.
"It's time," he gleefully thought aloud.
Super Sonic burst into the room, taking a quick look around for any dangers. There was nothing to stop him from rescuing all six of his friends, who were frantically trying to break free of Eggman's pods. They were being dangled over some hole in the middle of the room. Perhaps Eggman was going to drop them down into whatever the depths of the Tower held?
No sooner had he thought this than machinery started whirring all around him, and his friends' pods were pulled to the outside of the room, at which point they all started rotating around the pit. Looking back at them all, he noticed they were all staring at something behind him, transfixed. Sonic whipped around only to see the barrel of a large cannon rising through the roof, and Eggman floating right beside it in his Eggmobile.
"Behold, Sonic! The end of you and your despicable friends… my EggWasher!"
The cannon stopped moving and loud clanks filled the room as it locked in place.
Eggman continued rambling, "Now that you've fallen into my trap as well, this cannon will take you and your friends' life energy as its gunpowder, and will launch my mind-numbing Egg Gas into the atmosphere of this planet! This gas of which I speak, of course, will brainwash every living thing on this planet into believing that I am the supreme commander of the globe, thus creating my own living robot army!"
Sonic rushed at Eggman at full speed and braced for collision as Eggman pressed a button and… What? He'd stopped, his hand only a few inches from Eggman's face!
Eggman's maniacal laughter echoed throughout the entire Tower. "I'd almost forgotten to tell you, Sonic… I've designed a magnet specifically catered to your Super form! The Chaos Emeralds have an amazingly powerful magnetic field, and since they're fused with you, they're rendering you… useless!"
Sonic felt himself being dragged into the center of the cannon's open action as Eggman fled through the roof.
"Goodbye, Sonic! I'm afraid you and your friends won't survive the blast, so I won't be seeing you…" Eggman's voice faded away.
Sonic was running out of time, and he couldn't move at all. He could hear the final stages of the cannon's firing sequence beginning. If he didn't think of something soon, he'd run out of Rings and drop his Super form, which would-- THAT WAS IT! Without his Super form, the magnet wouldn't be able to hold him! Sonic willed the power of the Chaos Emeralds to leave his body, and his gold aura dissipated as his fur returned to its normal shade of blue. He dropped down into the bottom of the EggWasher, and pushed off of the bottom of the inside of the cannon. Without his energy, the cannon couldn't fire, so it was time to go after the mastermind who'd endangered him and his friends. "I'll come back for you, I promise!" he shouted over the roar of the cannon's mechanisms.
He needed to take down Eggman once and for all. Triangle jumping up the inside of the barrel, Sonic launched out the end, and spotting Eggman to his right, pushed off of one of the spires. One head-on collision later, Eggman's Eggmobile stopped working entirely, due to the large hole in its side. As Sonic and Eggman both fell towards the top of the Tower, Sonic grabbed the side of the Eggmobile and flung it down through the roof, resulting in a resounding crash. "That should disable the Doctor for a while," thought Sonic as he glided down to free his friends.
The fur all over his body stood up on end. Straight through the hole that he'd created with the Eggmobile flew a bolt of lightning from the storm directly above, singeing Sonic's left arm. As the electricity made contact with the Tower, a high-pitched whine built in intensity, leading to the last thing Sonic had ever hoped to see. The entire Tower exploded.
"NO!" screamed Sonic. But he had no time to react. Deadly debris was approaching fast, and out of sheer instinct, Sonic felt himself shout, "Chaos Control!"
Everything stopped as suddenly as it had begun. Sonic, who had halted his descent, realized he still had a chance to save everyone inside. Launching himself downward, he dodged chunks of the Tower and the EggWasher, working his way to where the top room should be. But as he got closer, the searing heat made him stop. Even with time frozen, the explosion was still incredibly hot. He needed to go back into Super mode, but without fifty Rings and using all seven Emeralds to keep time stopped, that was impossible! He made several attempts to bypass the heat, but to no avail. He felt his control over space-time slipping, and realized that he needed to escape quickly, or be shredded by scrap metal.
Blinking away hot tears, he shot as far away from the explosion as he could. As time resumed its normal progression, the explosion shot outward in all directions. Sonic began falling again, joined by pieces of Eggman's former "masterpiece." A secondary explosion supplied enough force to knock him out cold.
"Were you going to… kiss me?" Sonic turned, walked away, and started shaking his head.
Tails tried to cover for his incredibly stupid action, but couldn't. "Sonic, wait! I-I'm sorry! I.. I just… I love you."
Tails said those last three words, and knew he was going to regret them. But to his surprise, Sonic stopped. "You… love me?"
The young fox rose to his feet, walked over to his best friend of so many years, took him hand-in-hand, and stated plainly, "Yes."
Seeing the indescribable look in Sonic's eyes, Tails decided another try couldn't mess things up any more. As Tails leaned in one more time, fully expecting his friend to bolt down the mountain and never speak to him again, Sonic pulled him closer. Tails was surprised at this, but at the same time, not really surprised at all. They both closed their eyes, and as their lips nearly touched, Eggman came hovering over the waterfall with the tell-tale drone of his Eggmobile. They jumped apart, both blushing a dark crimson.
Before Sonic had time to react, a claw had shot out of the Eggmobile and snatched Tails away. As quickly as he had come, Eggman was gone, and Tails with him. A paper came fluttering down to Sonic, and he snatched it out of the air. Pictures of his six best friends, a map to Eggman's newest base and the words "3 hours" were all inscribed on it.
Thinking about what he had nearly done with Tails made him feel a little queasy, but strangely excited, too. He put his hand to his head and sat down. It was all so much to take in…
Sonic woke up, staring into the now-night sky, dazed and more than a little confused. Quickly standing up and regaining his bearings, he looked around at the ruins of the Egg Tower. Everything came rushing back to him. He'd failed. His friends were gone. For all he knew, the Egg Gas had made it into the atmosphere. A sharp pain in the back of his skull reminded him of exactly what had happened. Sonic fell to his knees and punched the ground in futility, through blurry eyes seeing the tears be quickly absorbed by the dirt.
The worst of all this, Sonic realized, was that he'd never had a chance to tell Tails… that he'd felt the same for a long, long time.
Part II
A realization lit up his face. He'd clearly seen Knuckles punching at the glass from within his holding pod. Knuckles' fists could break through pretty much anything. If the glass was that incredibly hard, could it have been hard enough to shield them from the force of the explosion?
Sonic pulled himself together. If they survived, they still wouldn't be able to break free. They'd need his help. He started running to the center of the wreckage as fast as possible, his way lit by the moon and dancing firelight that remained from the initial blast. More likely than not, they would be buried underneath tons of twisted metal, so how would he be able to--
That didn't matter! The wreckage that had shot the furthest away from the Tower had been at the top, due to a greater falling angle, and a large portion of the bottom was still intact. So, to find his friends, he needed to head out to the farthest reaches of the destruction!
Running through it all, dodging sharp pieces of shrapnel and the like, Sonic discovered just how large the Tower had been. The blast radius ended up being nearly half a mile. When he got to the edge, Sonic began calling out names, "Knuckles! Tails! Cream? Where are you!"
The air seemed to grow even more silent, save for the crackling of flames all around. He squinted in all directions, trying to detect even one of his friends' unusual fur colors against the solid silver, but every shape that could have been Rouge ended up becoming a trick of the fires, every sound that might've been Shadow's footfalls revealed itself as the creaking of settling metal.
Sonic had exhausted himself after searching for hours with no results. He collapsed to think for a moment. Perhaps they had all escaped on their own and were all far, far away from him, wondering if he'd survived. Considering this possibility, he worked the knots out of his tired legs. Looking down at his feet, he noticed something strange…
A gloved hand, covered by an immense piece of debris.
Without thinking, he leapt to his feet and strained to lift the incredibly heavy object enough to pull whoever it was out. It was too much weight! But he wouldn't give up. He continued grunting and struggling, but with no results. He tightened his grip, took a deep breath, and heaved upward. Something gave way, and the piece of the Tower flew up and over the opposite direction.
Lying facedown in the dirt was none other than Amy Rose.
"Amy! Amy, come on! Wake up, Amy! Wake up! Please, Amy! Amy…" Sonic had rolled her over and shaken her in a desperate attempt to revive her, but her eyes remained closed, her mouth slightly open, and her head lolled back at an awkward angle. She was dead.
Sonic felt like he'd taken a blow to the chest. He couldn't breathe, couldn't move. He looked at her again. She was dead.
He felt the pain resume in full force. She was dead.
Sonic couldn't accept it. This was impossible. It had to be a dream, some horrible plotline created by his subconscious! But he knew it wasn't… This was real. And it was final.
He'd never felt finality. He'd always had another chance! Eggman had always come back for more. And nothing had ever truly ended… Except this.
She was gone forever. He laid her back down in the dirt and dusted off her signature red outfit and beautiful pink fur as best he could. He felt immense anger take the place of his sorrow. Who was to blame for this? Who could he exact his revenge on? Eggman was most certainly dead. The only living thing responsible for all of this pain was Sonic the Hedgehog.
Over the next day, Sonic relived every pain he'd every felt a hundred times over as he pulled the bodies of Knuckles, Shadow, Rouge, and even little Cream and her Chao companion, Cheese, from the rubble. Eggman had likely been vaporized by the blast, but since Sonic wasn't feeling the least bit brainwashed, he assumed that the Egg Gas had been destroyed in the explosion. He'd replayed the scenario a thousand times over, either trying to convince himself that there was nothing he could've done, or that it was all his fault. He wasn't sure which was worse.
He'd shed so many tears over the last twelve hours that he had stopped noticing. And when he felt like he was about to come to terms with the situation, he saw it. A small white tuft of fur poking out from under some refuse, which could only belong to one of the tails of Miles "Tails" Prower.
Freeing his little buddy was the hardest thing he'd ever had to do. The stream of tears started anew when he saw how motionless the twin-tailed fox had become. Blips of memories that had been shared by the two began playing in fast motion in the back of his mind, ending with that fateful time at the waterfall only the day before.
He started reaching for Tails' body, both hands trembling. The dull, throbbing pain quickly morphed into a stabbing agony. As Sonic's gloved hands wrapped around the boy's back, he lifted his battered and broken little body up to embrace him in a mournful reunion.
Never again would the two chase after Eggman in the Tornado, laze around on the beach, or even just help each other through daily life. Sonic pressed his face up next to Tails'. Feeling the soft fur brush against his cheek was too much. Sonic fell to his knees, still holding Tails tightly, and began sobbing into his best friend's lifeless shoulder.
There was nothing else in the world but these two heroes, one fallen, and the other falling. Sonic pulled back just long enough to whisper, his voice cracking, "I wasn't strong enough to save you, Tails. You were so much braver than me, and just look how I repaid you…"
Something gave way inside of the hedgehog. His tears abruptly stopped flowing and Tails slowly slipped from his grasp. He felt… nothing. The loss of the only one he'd ever truly loved was too much for him. He could only sit there, in the midst of absolute chaos and despair, and stare at the tufted furry face that had followed him unquestioningly for so many years.
But now it was Sonic's turn to follow Tails to wherever he was. As if in a trance, he reached for a knife-sized razor-sharp piece of shrapnel, slowly wrapped his fingers around it, and pointed it towards his heart, which felt as cold as everyone and everything around him.
"I'm coming… little buddy."
"Holy… did you guys see that!" Charmy Bee shouted as he blasted into the office as always. Vector, absorbed in the music that was constantly flowing through his headphones, hadn't noticed anything, and Espio broke free of his meditation to ask a weary, "What now?"
"No-no-no-no-no! Come look, hurry! You're gonna miss it! Espio! VECTOR! Hurryup!"
Espio sighed and got up, stretching. Vector finally peeked open his eyes and removed his headphones, grumbling something about duct tape and rope. Charmy flew right back out the front door, rambling incoherently. The other two detectives normally wouldn't put up with nonsense such as this, but Charmy had his uses and was an invaluable member of the Chaotix Detective Agency.
Approaching the front door, Espio and Vector both looked out at what Charmy was gesturing frantically at to the west, their eyes adjusting quickly to the bright sunlight. Both of their mouths dropped open simultaneously. A giant mushroom cloud had formed on the horizon, right under a patch of dark, stormy sky.
As an elite of his ninja clan, Espio made it his business to know what was going on in his general area as much as possible, but this came as a major surprise. He'd been out that direction on a three-day training session about six months ago, and had toyed with a few of Eggman's robots that had clustered in a valley… almost as if guarding something, now that he thought about it. This was most definitely one of Eggman's newest plots, and the three detectives still had a grudge against the obese genius from the time he'd requested their services, but he hadn't been able to pay up when the time came. Normally, they wouldn't have cared much about what other people did as long as it didn't concern them. But Eggman still hadn't paid. And if he was building something new, he was financing it somehow.
"Let's go," commanded Espio. Charmy and Vector followed quickly, without a word.
Espio should have been able to make the journey in about five hours, but Charmy and Vector slowed him down considerably. It ended up taking sixteen, mostly because of Charmy's nonstop antics and Vector's inexplicable need to keep him under control. They finally arrived at the valley where Espio had seen Eggman's robots, about four hours after the sun had risen again. Looking out at the once-beautiful valley from one of the many cliff faces surrounding the Espio realized that the Doctor's latest project had failed miserably. The entire… thing… had exploded, leaving debris nearly as far as the eye could see. Descending quickly into the destruction to investigate, the three soon realized just how dangerous Eggman's building still was. Sharp points of metal, still-burning fires, and random pitfalls made it so that they had to tread carefully. They'd all had the foresight to grab a few Rings beforehand, just in case. But there were no signs of life anywhere… What could've survived this catastrophe, anyway? Taking a quick look around yielded no clues as to what this place had been, or why it had self-destructed.
An eerily haunting moan fell over the area and echoed around before dissipating a few seconds later. Espio's training kicked in and he quickly pinpointed which direction the sound had come from. Angling himself around the wreckage, Espio activated his most unique ability while telling Charmy and Vector to remain behind. Being a chameleon had many advantages, after all, the most obvious being natural camouflage in virtually any environment. Moving quickly and silently, Espio crept up on a figure covered in dirt and muck, kneeling over something white. Making no noise except to breathe, the nearly invisible chameleon watched as the figure picked something up down by his feet. (He knew those red shoes from somewhere...) It raised the jagged object up high. (Who did they belong to?) Who was Sonic going to attack? (SONIC! TAILS!)
"Sonic! Stop!"
Sonic heard a shout. But it didn't register in his mind. He was going to see Tails again. Nothing else mattered. He plunged downward.
Making use of his lightning-quick reflexes, Espio flung a kunai dagger with absolute precision.
Something slammed into Sonic's hand, knocking away the only chance he had to be with Tails. His eyes couldn't focus. He felt dizzy. He took once glance at his glove, and saw blood coating his hand.
The blood of his friends.
Tails' blood.
Sonic fell over. Had Espio hit him? He must have gotten rusty from lack of discipline. Then the realization hit him head-on. What if he'd killed him?
Running up to Sonic's unconscious form showed him that he'd only missed by a few inches, hitting Sonic's hand. Still, Espio had only wanted to hit the object he'd been holding. He looked down to find out what it was, but was greeted only by the melancholy image of death. He sighed. The young boy that had accompanied Sonic everywhere, who Espio had never known very well, had run out of luck.
Vector and Charmy came racing up to the scene. "Espio! We heard a shout! What's--" They, too, realized what had happened. Quick deduction was a crucial detective skill, and now all three of them had the general idea of what had happened. Sonic had come to stop Eggman, and in the carnage that followed, Tails was somehow killed. Sonic had been the lone survivor.
"Guys! There's something over here!" Charmy had drifted around a little and had discovered the lifeless bodies of five more of Sonic's friends laid side-by-side: Amy Rose, Cream the Rabbit, Shadow the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat, and Knuckles the Echidna. None of them had known any of the Chaotix very well, but the sight was still… indescribable.
"Vector. Take Charmy and Sonic and head back to the office. I'll meet you there," stated Espio. " Hey! You can't go ordering me ar--," Vector started to shout, but was interrupted. "Do as I say. Just this once." Vector hesitated, then nodding, hoisted Sonic over his shoulder and walked away without another sound. Charmy started floating away, looked back at Espio, shook his head ruefully, and continued on his way.
Espio would take each of the deceased out of the wreckage and bury them on the other side of the cliffs which separated beauty from oblivion. They didn't need their final resting place to be one of subdued chaos. Another heavy sigh later, the ninja began his melancholy task.
Sonic awoke from his dreamless sleep only to regret having done so. A splitting headache, a twinge in his right hand, and a broken heart all awaited him as he cracked open his eyes. He began trying to sit up, quickly realized that this was a bad idea, and fell back down on his pillow.
His pillow?
Sonic looked around and discovered that he was lying on a beaten-up dark brown leather sofa, staring up at a slowly-rotating fan. Scattered papers and half-open cardboard boxes lay strewn around the… office? A desk, filing cabinets, and a water cooler, all lit by rays of sunlight pouring in through the closed window, confirmed Sonic's guess. But whose office? Sonic didn't have to wait long for an answer. Within ten minutes, one of the last people Sonic ever wanted to see pushed open the double doors, carrying a steaming bowl.
Cream's mother, Vanilla, gave Sonic a quick smile. "It's about time you woke up, Sonic."
"Wha…? How long have I been out for?"
"Nearly two days. And no wonder, in the condition they found you in! I had to clean all the muck off of you before we could even bring you inside!"
Sonic let this sink in. Vanilla began to unwrap the bandages around his hand. Sonic winced as she dabbed a rag soaked in boiling water around the wound. "Sorry," she quickly apologized.
"So, wait, this isn't making sense. Who found me? And what happened to my hand?"
Replacing the old wrappings with fresh ones, Vanilla began explaining the story from the detectives' point of view. When she'd finished, Sonic laid back and sighed. "I was really going to… hurt myself… like that?"
Vanilla pulled a swiveling chair from the desk over to sit by Sonic. "Well, Espio thought that you were attacking Tails--" Sonic winced again, but only from hearing that name. The outside flinch was nothing compared to the aftershock that occurred inside of him. "--so he threw some sort of… sharp kung-fu something or other at you to stop you, and that's what happened to your hand. You passed out, Vector carried you back, and Espio buried… everyone." She had gotten really quiet at that last part.
Somewhere in the back of Sonic's mind had been the reason he didn't want to talk to Vanilla, and it had just now fully registered with him as to why. He wasn't the only one who'd lost someone precious.
"Vanilla," he started, "I--"
"Sonic… What happened to my daughter?" She was staring intently at him, and the last thing he wanted to do was to look her in the eye right now. So he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and told the story as gently as he knew how, pausing often to figure out how to word the next phrase. By the time he'd finished and opened his eyes, Vanilla had moved up to the window, her back to Sonic, and he could clearly see that her shoulders were shaking.
After a few minutes of strained silence and Vanilla's silent sobs, she choked out, "E-E-Espio… he c-called me… he told me that… he'd found C-Cream… but that she wasn't c-c-coming home!" She broke down entirely at that point, and Sonic could do or say nothing to console her.
The Chaotix Detective Agency chose that moment out of any other to walk in. Vector took one look at Vanilla, and rushed over to her. Putting his arm around her, he escorted her out, whispering something in her ear.
Espio approached Sonic. He'd never been one for kind words, but he tried his best. "Sonic? I know that it might be… hard for you, but I need you to tell me exactly what happened. Can you do that?" Sonic, nodding slightly, launched into his second reliving of the Egg Tower. When he got to the section that dealt with seeing Tails one last time, Sonic trailed off and gritted his teeth. He looked increasingly nauseous.
Espio had the sense not to push the issue any further, nodded, and stood up. Charmy had become unusually quiet, and Espio located him in the far corner. The little bee was clearly troubled by something, but what, Espio did not know. As he left, he motioned for Charmy to leave the office as well. Charmy complied, but as he got closer to Espio, Sonic could clearly hear the high-pitched voice ask, "Espio? What's it like to be dead?" Espio shushed him and the two left the small room quickly.
Sonic felt every muscle in him tighten up at those words. Rolling off of the couch, Sonic barely made it to the nearby waste bin before everything that he hadn't eaten in two days rush out of him.
Finishing a horrific batch of dry heaves made Sonic feel a little better, as he found that he could actually stand, albeit shakily. He made his way to the window and looked out. He saw Vector and Vanilla, who was looking a little more like her old self, walking back up the scarcely populated street, and Espio was sitting on the newly-cut grass explaining something important to Charmy. He looked out at the sunset.
A new day would begin. Not now… but soon.
Part III
The next few weeks were a time of grieving and mourning, but also one of bonding and healing. Sonic had never thought that he would grow as close to Vanilla as he did, nor that he would come to respect the detectives, not only for their skills and line of work, but for their constant friendship and hospitality.
However, Sonic had grown restless. He needed to get back to familiar surroundings if he was going to cope with this loss any further, he'd told everyone, and so he left the four new friends that he'd made with his undying gratitude for everything they'd done.
Half walking, half running along, not really sure where to go first, Sonic looked back at his progress. His physical wounds had long since healed, and he liked to believe that he had come to terms with much of his new situation. In reality, he hadn't moved past any part of what had happened. The pain, though he didn't show it on the outside as much as he used to, was still alive and well, thriving off of him like a parasite. Questions raced through his mind. What, if anything, could he have done differently to save them all? If he could talk to them, would they blame him for everything? Did Tails still feel the same… wherever he was? He wished for nothing but another chance to fix everything.
Thus, he made his first goal Tails' old workshop. Whether or not it was wise to try to deal with all the memories the place held, he couldn't tell. But if he was going to begin repairing things one way or another, he needed to go where things were repaired.
Sonic's hand hesitated inches from the handle, sunlight glinting off the doorknob into his eyes. What could he possibly hope to achieve by this? Glaring down at the hole in his white glove that revealed the scar underneath, he remembered that he'd promised his friends that he was going to come back for them. So he forced himself to pull open the door. As the light streamed in from outside, the inevitable wave of nostalgia he'd prepared himself for hit hard, like a gust of wind flowing past. He felt the sharp agony he'd grown accustomed to living with, and then it all disappeared, much faster than he'd expected.
He sighed and moved entirely inside, closing the door behind him. The lights flicked on automatically. Little signs of the fox everywhere, he thought to himself. Moving around the workshop area, which was currently serving as storage space for the Tornado, Sonic entered the back room, where all of the non-physical work was done.
The first step was to check all of Tails' research pertaining to the Chaos Emeralds. If somehow he could change everything, it would have to do with those cursed gems. Every battle he'd ever fought ending up having something to do with them, and even the fact that he could gain superpowers from them did little to negate the resentment he harbored towards them. He could feel them pulsing around him in their intangible state, almost in response to his thoughts.
Tails chronicled everything that involved science in any way, ranging from mechanical repair logs for the Tornado to new inventions used against them by Eggman. Tails would often find a way to improve Eggman's technology, leading to a creation war which more often than not ended with Tails as victor. But Sonic wasn't interested in that right now. Eggman was gone.
Flipping through countless log books of different things the Emeralds had been used for yielded no results. Nothing useful could come of him transforming into his Super State. However, Sonic began to notice a pattern in the effects of the Chaos Emeralds. The times they were most powerful, and most chaotic, were the times when the Master Emerald got involved. At this point, Sonic would've gone to ask Knuckles about all of this, but… he was on his own.
Nearly six hours later, Sonic had finished his second read-through of everything Tails' research had to offer him, but he was no closer to a solution than since the initial explosion. The situation with the Master Emerald intrigued him, however, so he prepared the Tornado for flight. His next stop would be the floating Angel Island.
After getting off to a shaky start, which was defined as Sonic nearly slamming through the side of the workshop, he was getting the hang of the new layout for the controls that Tails had mentioned once or twice before in one of his mechanical rambling sessions. He got to thinking (as he mastered the vertical landing feature by putting a few new dents in the undercarriage), that Knuckles had talked about the Master Emerald being a sort of guide for him, thus providing him with the motivation to guard it at all times. What he'd meant by that, Sonic hadn't much cared at the time, although now that information could prove crucial.
Taking a quick peek at his surroundings, Sonic had landed exactly where he needed to be. He hadn't seen the Master Emerald's shrine in quite a while, but it was still exactly as he remembered it. He climbed up the stairs quickly, and there, in the center of the ruins, stood the Master Emerald itself. Sonic approached slowly, taking a good look all around the gargantuan jewel. It was nearly transparent, as Sonic could see the setting sun through it quite clearly, and looked almost like an incredibly large version of the green Chaos Emerald he had with him.
After staring transfixed for a while, he sat down cross-legged, and began asking questions, hoping to get any kind of a response. "Do you know why I'm here?" "Is there a way to fix everything?" "What do I need to do?" But no response came, and within an hour, Sonic had literally run out of things to say. Yawning and frustrated, he leaned back on the hard stone floor and within minutes, was fast asleep, dreaming of happier times.
Night fell as he slept, and under the starry sky, Sonic awoke to a strange whirring sound. Startling fully awake, he leapt back as the seven Chaos Emeralds started to swirl around the Master Emerald, faster and faster. He had to shield his unadjusted eyes from the bright light that was growing in intensity as the Emeralds became a white halo around the larger gem…
CRASH! A tinkling sound not unlike falling glass convinced Sonic to uncover his eyes. The bright light was gone, and the Master Emerald had broken into infinitesimally tiny pieces! The Chaos Emeralds fell to the ground among the broken green shards, glowing a little brighter than before. Sonic gaped in awe at what had just happened. Had they… fought? Knuckles would've murdered him for this if he were here. Hurrying to grab the seven Emeralds, Sonic got down on his hands and knees and gathered them into his arms. Something caught the corner of his eye and turning, he saw cross-gartered feet standing where the Master Emerald had been sitting not thirty seconds ago. As the Chaos Emeralds resumed their ethereal state, Sonic looked up and saw someone he thought he'd never see again.
"Tikal?"
The ancient echidna that had originally been trapped in the Master Emerald with Chaos was standing right in front of him. "W-w-what are you doing here!" Sonic stuttered as their eyes met. Tikal's beams of innocence, while still present from long ago, had faded considerably. She looked as if she was in great distress.
"Sonic, there's no time. Without the Master Emerald, Angel Island will fall once again. You need to leave."
"Wait!" A million questions flew through Sonic's mind faster than he could run, and he couldn't decide on a single one to quickly ask. The entire island quivered menacingly.
"Remember… The servers are the seven Chaos. Chaos is power, power is enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the Chaos. You will need a controller if you are to succeed, friend." With that, she gestured to a shard of the Master Emerald and a flash of pink light later, she had disappeared entirely.
Sonic suddenly felt lighter. Looking around revealed that clouds were rushing upwards quickly. It was time to leave, but not before he grabbed the sharp segment of the formerly grand jewel that Tikal had pointed at.
Sonic was more confused than ever, no thanks to Tikal, of all people. Her words kept playing in his mind like an infinite echo resounding around his skull. He was going to need a "controller?" What could that possibly mean? If nothing else, however, he now felt hope. Tikal had obviously known of his ultimate objective, and had told him that success was possible.
Looking back at where he had just been minutes before, Sonic noticed the immense wave spreading outward in all directions as Angel Island slammed into the sea. No time to look back, he thought to himself. He needed to focus on the task before him. Was this really all that he needed to finish what he'd started? Sonic felt sure that it had to be more complicated than that. The Chaos Emeralds acted as if they had a will of their own most of the time. Maybe they didn't want this to happen. Was that why he needed a controller? He'd always used the Chaos Emeralds to his own advantage, though! He used their power to…
Something clicked inside of him. He didn't use the Chaos Emeralds, the Chaos Emeralds used him! "Power is enriched by the heart," he said aloud. They'd always used Super Sonic as a physical manifestation of their own power, and sometimes to "enrich" their dormant potential! Even when they were all together, powerful as they were, they needed an outlet to use that power. Such as him, Shadow and Chaos, the Tornado at one point, or even Eggman's nefarious machines…
Sonic was flying through ideas and theories as fast as he could. The Chaos Emeralds were just that: chaos. They wanted nothing more than destruction, whether it be to their own advantage or someone else's. That was why the Master Emerald was there as a controlling power, to manage them. And that was also why Eggman had liked them so much, because of the destruction they caused. But why hadn't Eggman used them in the Egg Tower? Surely they were much more powerful than him and his friends… Right?
Sonic needed to pay another visit to the place where everything had started. He was coming full circle, and a sense of foreboding weighed heavily down on him.
He had intentionally put the Tornado down of the opposite side of the wreckage from where Espio had told him that everyone had been interred. He couldn't have dealt with catching a glimpse of the final resting place of his friends.
The site looked just as it had nearly a month ago, with charred metal scattered everywhere, blackening the inherent beauty of the valley. Sonic quickly fought back the tears that threatened to push through, and continued on his course. If anything had survived the destruction, it would be in the only intact part of the Tower: the bottom. The debris had settled down a little and was a little bit easier to navigate than it had been. Even most of the five-story steel wall that had tried to prevent Sonic's easy access to the Tower had been demolished, leaving a direct trail to where he needed to go. He still had to look up a little to see the top of the structure that had been left behind, and could see the faint undertones of the red and yellow that he'd always despised underneath long black streaks fading downward. Discovering the main entrance doors that had been blown outwardly open by the explosion made Sonic's final entrance that much easier, but didn't do anything for his hopes of finding any clues as to Eggman's reasoning still intact.
Sonic peeked into the base he'd come so far to find, which he found was probably nearly a quarter mile around. A great deal of rubble had collected inside, nearly halting his progression. Every step he took kicked up blinding dust which blocked out the rising sun in the east and burned his lungs, making it hard to breathe. When he got to where he approximated the exact center to be, he determinedly searched everywhere he could for anything that could help him. Nearing defeat, he finally discovered something unusual. A sliding steel trap door that led down to a lower level had been smashed open by some falling debris. Sonic readied himself for anything, and descended.
Automatic lights flicked on, not unlike Tails' workshop, revealing a small, round, relatively undamaged central computer room. A semicircle of elevated display screens that had started to boot up cast eerie flickering shadows all around. Sonic tread cautiously. Knowing Eggman, he had some sort of robot defense mechanism lying around. But what Sonic found was surprising. The four robots that Eggman had predictably placed around the room had deactivated after a time of receiving no new orders from their deceased creator.
Sonic took a seat at the console directly in front of him, and pressed a button that looked as if it would power everything up. Instead, a blinking cursor next to a big, white "PASSWORD" greeted him. Sonic sighed deeply. Eggman had always been paranoid…
Sonic tried the usual: "Eggman," "Genius," and out of frustration, "Robuttnik," but all turned up nothing. Curiously, Sonic typed in the letters C-H-A-O-S, and everything rushed to life. The main screen displayed several files, one of them labeled "Documentation." Choosing this led Sonic into a detailed analysis of the Egg Tower, with schematics, blueprints, and the progress of the construction, all narrated by an annoyingly computerized version of Eggman's voice. Eggman must have planned to put this in a museum dedicated to himself, after he'd built his utopia. Useless as this section was, something in the blueprints caught Sonic's eye. The Eggman AI highlighted his selection and explained it all to an evermore horrified Sonic.
"Explosives laced together in the inside of the Egg Tower have been programmed to detonate upon completion of the EggWasher firing sequence, thus neutralizing any threats in the immediate vicinity." A dazed Sonic looked down to the scar from the lightning bolt on his left arm, and he subconsciously covered it with his right hand, which had also been wounded. No wonder the Egg Tower had been so volatile… the lightning must have caused a small explosion when it hit the Eggmobile, causing the automatic detonation sequence to start early. Sonic realized then that he could have saved everyone and stopped the EggWasher from launching, if only he'd gone up the inside of the Tower. He would've seen the bombs, gone to save his friends first, and the lightning would've hit the Eggmobile far away from everyone else. He'd been too rash and confident in his abilities, and that had led to the tragic explosion.
He'd caused it, and now he would find a way to fix it. Verbally asking the computer about the EggWasher's power source, the AI launched into a speech about life energy and how Eggman had discovered that every person radiated their own unique positive energy spectrum from the very depths of their being. To Sonic, it sounded a lot like a computerized religious sermon. He highlighted the blueprint versions of the holding pods, which he was informed had been designed to suck the life energy out of each person at their own specific frequency.
The pods' glass that had held them wasn't strong at all, Sonic discovered. His friends had all just been weakened by the effects of having their power ripped out of them. And Super Sonic must've been the finishing touch, the last little shove of energy strong enough to activate the machine. The Egg Tower made sense now, especially why Eggman had chosen his friends over the Chaos Emeralds, especially when he could kill them all off and achieve his ultimate goal at the same time. And this room had to have been made to survive the explosion, so Eggman could come back later.
But how did this all tie in together? It seemed as if more questions had been created than answers received…
Sonic trudged out of the room and up into the ruins, a freshly guilty conscience and the load of information he'd had to take in pushing down on him. Hoisting himself through the hole in the floor, Sonic felt the hot sun bearing down on him and he fell to his knees, forcing out the Chaos Emeralds and the fragment of the Master Emerald. He set them down and toyed with them, admiring how they reflected the sun, making them shine even brighter than normal. For being so powerful, they really were beautiful… the Master Emerald especially, even in its broken state. He picked it up and curiously squinted into it. Knuckles had said that the Master Emerald had shown him certain things that he needed to see. Maybe it would work for him, too. Peering through it changed the colors of his surroundings to a dark jungle green, fragmented the area into a few separate images, and--
Something moved. He couldn't tell what it was, but something was definitely out there, about thirty yards away. He took his makeshift kaleidoscope off his eyes and jumped to his feet, whirling around in all directions to spot what it was, but nothing was anywhere near him. He cautiously raised the shard back up to eye level, pausing once to take a quick glance around, and looked through it once more.
And he stifled a horrified scream, because standing right in front of him was Knuckles the Echidna.
Jumping backwards and breathing heavily, he quickly realized that Knuckles really wasn't there. It was just when he looked through the Master Emerald that he could see his long-time friend. It was either the Emerald showing him something, or a figment of his imagination. He held the shard up to his eyes once more, watching Knuckles wander around aimlessly, not really sure of where to go or what to do, not even noticing Sonic's presence… which was completely unlike him. Knuckles had always had a destination, a goal, an ulterior motive, something that defined him. This version of Knuckles wasn't sure of anything. He also looked incredibly depressed, especially with his hands relaxed like that instead of in their usual fists, confirming Sonic's suspicions that this wasn't the real Knuckles.
Sonic reached out to touch him, and his hand went right through the vision of his friend. However, pulling it back, Sonic's hand felt cold and began trembling. "Strange," he thought aloud. He studied the ethereal version of Knuckles for a few minutes before getting an idea. Keeping the Master Emerald with him, he picked up a Chaos Emerald. He took a look through the top of it, fragmenting his sight once again, but this time turning everything a blood red. There was no sign of Knuckles. Just to make sure he hadn't disappeared, Sonic checked once again.
Knuckles was walking straight towards him! Sonic decidedly stood his ground, and as Knuckles passed through him, Sonic felt the Chaos Emerald in his hand grow hot, and Knuckles was nowhere to be found. Looking at the searing Emerald to see what was going on, he discovered that it was glowing considerably brighter than the other six. Had Knuckles… been sucked into a Chaos Emerald? Sonic dropped the Emerald and shook his hand to get rid of the heat. It continued glowing a constantly bright red.
Understanding dawned on Sonic. That hadn't been an illusion at all, it was Knuckles' ghost, wandering around and not comprehending his own death! And somehow he'd become trapped in a Chaos Emerald just by touching it. His eyes widened as he realized that his other friends must be in the area as well… Another pang of sorrow hit him.
Everything was just getting jumbled together now. Should he attempt to pull all of his friends' souls into Chaos Emeralds? Maybe then he could help them, instead of them just drifting without purpose for… eternity.
Sonic climbed to a vantage point, and could clearly make out Shadow, Amy, and Cream. The others were most definitely around somewhere, then. While he sat and thought, he passed the time by observing them. They couldn't see him, after all. When Amy and Shadow passed through each other without so much as noticing each other, he realized they were together, but utterly alone. And they all looked so sad…
It was then that he made a vow to himself. If he couldn't find a way to bring them back, he would find a way to send them past all this and into whatever followed death. At least then he could have some closure, and they wouldn't have to suffer anymore. He gathered the Chaos Emeralds together and set to playing the Reaper by collecting the souls of his friends.
Five of the seven Emeralds were glowing and roasting hot, checking off Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Rouge, and Cream (and Cheese, who followed her everywhere, even in death). He now needed Tails. Detecting movement to his right, but not wanting to see the fox he loved so much like this, he leaped towards it with the white Emerald outstretched, leaving the Master Emerald off of his eyes. The Emerald got hot, and he knew he had his friend's soul in his hands. At this point, he had to stop for a moment to redirect his concentration from thinking about Tails and keeping the ache at bay to the task ahead of him.
Out of curiosity, he picked the Master Emerald up and put it to his eyes to see if anything else were going to be revealed to him. Squinting into the distance, he could make out Tails! Looking at the white Emerald, he mind whirled. Whose soul was he holding? He groaned in frustration as he realized one other person had died in the explosion. Eggman. He set to thinking, and tried to expel the soul of the evil Doctor from the Emerald, but nothing happened. It looked like he was stuck with the situation, although it was a good thing he still had one Emerald left for Tails.
On second thought, perhaps he wanted to offer the Doctor release, too. He had helped out with the Eclipse Cannon aboard the ARK, and if Sonic could bring them all back, Eggman would keep them all from dying because of boredom.
He quickly captured Tails' spirit, taking measures so as not to see the boy's face. All seven Emeralds were ready… but for what? He went back down to the secret room in the basement. What to do next must be hidden in Tikal's words. "Chaos is power," he mumbled to himself, drawing a large C on the steel floor with a charred fragment of the Tower. "Power is enriched by the heart," as he drew a heart shape a little ways away. If he combined both power and heart, he got Super Sonic, and he placed an SS on the line he'd drawn between the two. Wait… "Heart" in the ancient saying could represent Eggman's discovery and usage of life energy! That would mean that the Chaos Emeralds' power and Life Energy were polar opposites, both evil and good!
But one thing confused him: "The controller is the one that unifies the Chaos." He drew a crude Master Emerald well above the SS he'd written. What energy could this represent? There was only one left: neutrality. He drew an arrow from the Master Emerald to the Chaos Emeralds. Neutrality could control chaos. But how were the Master Emerald and Life Energy related? Sketching an experimental arrow from the heart to the Master Emerald gave Sonic a shock. It all balanced out.
Evil, Neutral, and Good energies all coexisted and were constantly at war. Evil and Good could come together to give a being a great deal of power so that Neutrality could reign, and the war could start again. Neutral kept Evil at bay, Good checked up on Neutral, and Evil was always trying to take down Good, resulting in a strained balance.
Sonic put a small circle in the center of the triangle he'd drawn. What if he could combine all three powers, perfectly balanced? Was that what Tikal had wanted him to discover, and why he'd brought a piece of the Master Emerald? It was definitely worth a shot.
But first, he needed to do something. He asked the computer about its video capabilities, and then issued the command, "Record." Following that, he used a small piece of metal to engrave a single word into the computer's desk.
Afterwards, he ascended the stairs up and out of the room, and ran outside. He was going to need fifty Rings…
Sonic had needed to travel quite a distance to collect all the Rings needed for his next Super Sonic transformation. But he'd collected everything he needed, and worked his way back to the Tower's base. The Chaos Emeralds hadn't assumed their intangible state like they usually did when he wanted them to, most likely because of the spirits trapped inside. He picked up the Master Emerald shard and willed the Emeralds to fuse with him, but for a much graver purpose than ever before. This time, he could feel all seven spirits within his being as his fur morphed gold yet again. After the transformation was complete, he quickly clenched the Master Emerald in his fist, attempting to pull it into him.
But it stubbornly refused. Sonic fell into dismay. Why wouldn't it listen to him? Trying several more times yielded nothing, and Sonic could feel his Super state waning. If it wouldn't cooperate willingly, he decided… he'd force it to. Flipping the Emerald's point towards his belly, he plunged it deep into himself, causing the greatest agony he'd ever experienced to ripple outward from the wound. Sonic felt hot blood trickling down his hands as he put his entire being into forcing the Master Emerald into him. Sonic seized up as he felt what he compared to an explosion forcing its way outward from the injury… and then he felt nothing.
Looking down, he noticed that his fur was coursing with a dark forest green, and he felt himself pulsating with new power. He tactfully named this form Master Sonic. And then he felt one more transformation, but this one was completely different from the other two. The sensation he felt as he watched the hole in him heal up completely, and the scars on his left arm and right hand became as they once were, was beyond indescribable. It took only a few seconds for Sonic to realize that he had morphed into something the likes of which had never been created.
He'd become Perfect Sonic.
Part IV
Taking a quick look at himself, his fur color had altered once again, this time to the purest white he'd ever laid eyes on, and it seemed to be alive, pulsating with a mind of its own. The second thing he noticed was that he didn't feel like he was consuming any fuel at all, unlike his Super state, which constantly drained Rings from him. Feeling the need to try his capabilities out, Sonic decided to move over to a large fragment of the Tower and see what he could do with it. When he moved, he felt as if the very air parted before he'd occupied the space, allowing him to float with incredible ease and speed. Quickly gliding under the metal, Sonic picked it up with hardly any effort on his part and experimentally, he flung the entire thing into the stratosphere. "This," he internalized, "Is gonna be fun."
Nearly a hour later, Sonic still hadn't run into anything he couldn't do. He discovered that he could teleport anywhere that he could visualize, create and destroy at will, and even summon the weather to do whatever he wanted. "This is absolutely insane," he thought. "I can't believe that I've discovered the ultimate power!" Feeling the power rush to his head, Sonic needed an outlet. Spying all of the rubble in the center of the Tower's base that had caused him so much trouble, he closed his eyes, charged up for a split second, and vaporized every square inch of it.
When he opened his eyes again, his fur caught his eye. It was no longer white, but had changed to a strange animated pink. Dropping down to the now-smooth ground, Sonic realized that this would require a great deal of experimentation. He began to drop out of his Perfect state when a voice behind him simply said, "Don't, unless you want to go through stabbing yourself again."
Without even turning around, Sonic replied, "Hello, Tikal." She nodded in acknowledgement. Sonic turned around to face her and went on, "So, explain to me why you never told me I could become… this."
The grave look on her face troubled Sonic. She took a second to respond. "I was not really sure myself, but I figured that if anyone could discover how to merge all three powers, it would be you, Sonic. And you have obviously done it."
"That doesn't answer my question. Why not just tell me what needed to be done?"
She sighed. "That was all the time I had to talk, Sonic. My physical state is hard to maintain without a power supply other than my own. Right now, I am using the power emanating from your new form to stand here and talk. At other times, I have used Chaos' power to manifest myself."
Sonic took this in, accepted it as an informal apology, and asked, "Do you know what I am right now?"
"The embodiment of the three greatest powers in the universe. While still at war within you, you can keep them in check for as long as you need to. However, using too much of any one of the powers could have catastrophic effects on you as the other two attempt to compensate."
Sonic's face fell. He wasn't truly perfect, just balanced. "But how do I tell if I've used say, chaos energy too much?"
Tikal didn't say anything, but instead gestured to his fur. Sonic realized why his fur had changed slightly red. It was the color of chaos energy, meaning blue was life energy, and green must've been neutral energy. His fur was a meter, and pure white was perfectly balanced.
"How exactly do I use neutral energy?" he asked, half sarcastically. "Stand around talking?" Tikal nodded emphatically to this, and added, "As well as anything that does not fall under either of the other two categories of power."
"Okay, so what happens if I use chaos energy too much, and then I use good energy to make up for it?"
"You will balance out," came the timid reply. "Theoretically, if you kept balanced, you could likely maintain this form forever."
Sonic got quiet. "And if I use way too much of any one energy? What then?"
Tikal stated bluntly, "If you do not drop your Perfect form in time, the other two energies will kill you, then destroy the objects you used to alter yourself to make up for it and balance everything out."
Still more questions flowed from Sonic's mouth. "Why could I see everyone's spirits only through the Master Emerald? And why did the Master Emerald shatter in the first place?"
She smiled knowingly. "Your friends, in life, were strong forces filled with life energy. In death, they remain in a limbo state, between neutral and good. Your eyes, that is, your life force, plus the neutral energy of the Master Emerald allowed you to see them. And, I am afraid that I forced the Master Emerald into a fight with the Chaos Emeralds so that it would shatter. I then used the residual power to appear and talk to you."
While, she'd been explaining everything, a strategy had quickly formed in Sonic's head. He could go back and fix everything! "Tikal, I could still reverse events in the past, right? Fix everything?"
Her head fell. "No, Sonic. That would require far too much neutral energy. By the time you teleported yourself into the past, you would have been killed by chaos and good. You would be transporting your dead body to a month ago."
It was time, then. Now or never. Whatever he was going to do with his friends, who he still sensed within him, had to happen now. Closing his eyes, he used a great deal of life energy to transport his friends' bodies from their graves to meet at the Egg Tower one last time, physically restored to their perfect states, but still lifeless. All seven bodies lay around in a circle, their feet facing him. He'd even recreated Eggman's body from scratch, adding a few extra pounds as a joke. But by the time he'd done this, he was close to falling off the edge of life energy. His fur was a slightly lighter shade of blue than his normal color.
Tikal shouted, "Sonic, I know it is useless to try to stop you, but you need to balance out quickly, or you will die!" Acting fast, Sonic flung his right hand into the sky, tensed up, and, screaming, fired an enormous red energy beam into the sky.
Vanilla had finally convinced the Chaotix to let her see her daughter's grave, so that she could have finality and begin to move on. It had taken nearly twenty-four hours for the journey, but no one had complained. Espio led everyone to the gravesites, speaking gently. Vanilla finally saw the makeshift headstone labeled Cream (& Cheese), and would have broken down once more had Vector's arm not been around her. They all turned away for a minute before they would take one final look and leave. As they did, the strange sound of dirt compacting greeted their ears from behind them.
Espio's training kicked in, and he whirled around, shuriken at the ready. What he was greeted with instead was the fact that each of the graves had sunken in about six inches, as if…
As if something had been removed from them. Suddenly, the entire sky flashed a bright red and screaming registered in Espio's keen ears. They scrambled for the top of the hill to see an enormous crimson force snaking its way into the sky.
Sonic finished off his energy beam just in time to avoid overcompensation. His fur was now coursing with crimson red energy.
Tikal was watching intently, still half-trying to convince him that the danger was too great to him.
He was ready now. He forced all seven souls out into the open, and he could see them all clearly in his Perfect form. Just to test the water, he willed Cream's Chao, Cheese, to rejoin his soul to his body. The ethereal Chao was forced back into his body, and Sonic held the soul there until they'd finally merged. Sonic felt weak as Cheese's reanimated body opened his eyes and uttered a confused, "Chao?"
It was working! But Sonic was spinning out of control. The immense usage of good energy had tipped the scale too far to compensate for it now. He felt like he'd lost his balance on the end of a huge cliff. Desperately, Sonic took all seven spirits on him at once, knowing full well the consequences, but he had run out of time. Forcing all of them back into their newly-regenerated bodies was making him feel lightheaded, but holding them there was excruciating. Sonic's eyes blurred. Was it working? He couldn't tell. Sonic could scarcely hear Tikal shouting at him to stop, but he couldn't now. He felt the chaos and neutral energies that he'd wielded so easily not moments before turning on him, struggling to end his life and balance the world's power. But he wouldn't let them… until his task was done.
Tails was banging as hard as he could on the glass, but that wasn't doing much anymore, as Eggman's machine was sucking everything he had out of him. Sonic, who had dropped his Super form, rocketed up the inside of the EggWasher to stop Eggman, shouting something about returning. The next thing he knew, Eggman's Eggmobile came crashing down through the ceiling, leaving a giant hole in the top of the Tower. But Tails had no time to react when he saw a white-hot beam of electricity shoot into the Tower, causing a high-pitched whine…
Tails clamped his eyes shut, readying himself for the inevitable. When he opened his eyes seconds later, he and the other five captives were all free-falling down into a white light. Tails looked down and saw Sonic rushing up to meet them. But Sonic passed the first five and grabbed hold of Tails in a passionate embrace. They stared into each other's eyes, and as Sonic's lips touched Tails', they both felt a surge of electricity shoot through their spines. Two opposing forces pulled them apart, even as they tried to hold on, with two hands, then one, until they finally broke free of each other. Tails looked up as he rushed downward, and heard Sonic's words growing faint: "I'll be waiting for you, when the time comes, Tails. Don't give up on me…"
Tails cracked open his eyes, the hot sun bearing down on him. Rising from the steel floor, he took a quick look around, noting that Shadow, Rouge, Cream and Cheese, Knuckles, Amy, and Eggman were all doing the same. They were all lined up in an odd circle, all looking towards--
Tails' heart froze mid-beat. It couldn't be… "Sonic! Sonic!" He rushed forward, dropping to his knees and cradling the hedgehog's head in his lap. Sonic's eyes were closed, and his mouth was slightly parted. He wasn't breathing. Tails grabbed his friend's hand, holding it in his, and through teared-up eyes saw a strange hole in Sonic's glove. Two heavy tears dropped from his eyes and landed on both of Sonic's cheeks… And the two lost lovers grieved together.
Cream, still groggy, saw the whole scene, and realizing Mr. Sonic's death, turned away quickly into none other than the arms of her mother. She buried herself into her mother's dress, who was at a loss for words. Vanilla silently thanked Sonic, tears of joy streaming down her face, wherever he was, for whatever he'd done that had brought her daughter back to her.
Amy stayed back. She didn't want to hear the news. Sonic had always been around, and he always would be. He couldn't be… gone. She fell to her knees, denying everything that her senses told her was true.
Shadow felt a small sense of victory, but a greater sense of defeat. That hedgehog had given him a great deal of trouble, that was true… But he'd also been friendly to him when everyone else hadn't. He owed him a tribute, and stepped forward to honor Sonic, even in death.
Rouge knew the world had lost a great soldier for the forces of good, and didn't even think of looting the body for any jewels before she paid a quick homage and walked away.
Knuckles wouldn't let himself cry. There was no way he would ever show that much weakness. He'd lost a great friend and a true hero, that was a given, but… Walking closer, he realized the true weight of the situation. Holding back tears, he ran out the main doors, around the corner, sat down with his head buried in his knees, and bawled harder than he could ever remember.
Eggman looked around at the ruins of the Egg Tower. That lightning blast had been unexpected. He would have to take things like that into account in future projects. But now, Sonic was gone for good, and he… he… he missed the hedgehog already. Only now did he realize that Sonic wasn't an enemy, but had been a rival, a way for Eggman to better himself. Walking close, he placed his hand on the shoulder of the twin-tailed fox and tried to console him.
Espio, Charmy, and Vector were at a loss for words. Sonic had done something with that red beam which was quickly followed by a white blast of energy. And now… all seven of them were back. How? Espio thought to himself that some questions were better left unanswered. But now the hedgehog would have to be buried, as well. He sighed and approached Eggman, Tails, Shadow, and Sonic.
A ninja's work was never done.
Epilogue
Tails looked back on that time constantly and with great sorrow, all the while researching what had happened. He wasn't sure about everything, but what he did know was this: the Egg Tower had exploded, killing Tails and everyone else inside. Sonic had survived, moved in with the Chaotix and Vanilla for a while, and then left for some reason. Everything after that was uncertain.
In the six weeks following everyone's miraculous resurrections, none of the Chaos Emeralds could be detected, and Knuckles and Rouge were both driving themselves crazy looking for the last lost piece of the broken Master Emerald, dropping Angel Island into the sea. It appeared that they were all gone for good, and that Angel Island was going to stay stuck at sea level forever.
Shadow had gone off to find more pieces of his past, as always. Cream, Cheese and Vanilla all returned home and moved on with their lives. The Chaotix Detective Agency had finally taken off, mostly because the government had hired them to find out what the giant red energy beam was that had destroyed one of their satellites, and the three were enjoying the increase in business greatly.
And poor Amy. She had finally come to terms with the fact that Sonic wasn't coming back this time. She'd stayed at Tails' workshop for a couple of weeks, crying a great deal, which often brought Tails to tears, as well. Neither of them had been happy since Sonic had died, but she was making great progress. Tails could tell that she had her eye on Shadow now, probably seeing fragments of Sonic in the mysterious hedgehog. To Tails, it seemed that everyone was moving on but him.
Both Eggman and Knuckles came around often. Knuckles and Tails had grown closer than ever. They talked long hours, and Knuckles was finally starting to open up to people and discuss his feelings, a tremendous leap from what he used to be. Eggman had at last given up on ruling the world. Seeing Sonic's death had made him realize that he didn't really want to cause everyone pain. He and Tails were combining their scientific prowess and inventing things never thought possible, even a foolproof weight loss machine spurred by the Doctor's comment about how he'd gained a few pounds since the Egg Tower. But that work took the sideline compared to his major project: finding out exactly what had happened that day.
Tails figured that Sonic must have visited both his workshop (papers had been strewn everywhere, and the Tornado was gone) and the Master Emerald, which had somehow shattered. Afterwards, Sonic must have gone straight to the Egg Tower's remnants.
So Tails went there now. For some reason, there was no rubble inside the Tower's main base, making the trap door that was nearly centered in the Tower that much easier to find. Why he hadn't noticed it before, he wasn't sure. Eggman had vowed to give up his former life, and Tails had made him stick to it. He was certain that Eggman hadn't returned to claim whatever was inside. Tails uncertainly descended into the darkness, and automatic lights flickered to life. Eggman really had to stop copying him.
Tails moved to the central computer, noting the rusted-out old robots on the floor. He powered it up and looked around for some sort of hint as to the password. He didn't have to look far, for the word "CHAOS" was engraved into the metal desk. Typing it in, the computer sprung to life. The message "You have an urgent video scheduled to play back. Play now?" displayed itself on the screen. Tails issued the verbal command, "Yes," and gasped as Sonic appeared on the screen.
"So, it's about time you found this, little buddy. I'm going to explain everything that's happened so far so you know what I went through to get you back in case… well, in case I don't make it through this." Tails sat enthralled throughout Sonic's story, amazed at what Sonic had deduced on his own. Tails would have to look into the whole thing about three opposing energies and all that. Sonic closed his message from beyond the grave with a quick good-bye kiss blown to him. Tails could've sworn he felt the kiss touch his cheek, and his eyes welled up. He should've gotten past all this by now…
Wiping his eyes, he turned around only to see Tikal standing, waiting for him, innocent as always. "That Sonic is pretty clever," she giggled.
Tails was incredibly surprised to see her again, but his voice cracked as he said, "You mean was."
"No, I said what I meant. His life energy that he is lending me is the only thing allowing me to talk to you. But I have something to explain."
By the time Tikal had filled in all the gaps in Tails' version of the truth, he was seated on the floor, crying silently with his arms folded and his head down. She came over and kneeled down in front of him. "What is wrong, Tails?"
He could barely get out, "H-he gave so m-much for m-me… and I d-d-didn't do anything for h-him!"
"Tails, listen to me." The quivering fox looked up with red eyes and wiped his nose. "Sonic is in this room right now. In fact, he has been with you since he gave up his life for yours. He didn't want anything from you except your love. And that, you gave to him unconditionally." Tikal stood up. "He will always be here with you, Tails. He made that choice when he passed on. He did it all… for you."
When Tails finally looked up, she was gone. He wasn't surprised. The ancient echidna probably had a lot of places to go. For now, it was time for Tails to return home. He downloaded Sonic's last message to a disk and took it with him. Looking at it, a fleeting thought passed through him. What if he could find a way to bring Sonic back like Sonic had done with him? But he dismissed it quickly. Sonic wouldn't want that, even though Tails did… more than anything.
He had recovered the Tornado from the Tower a few weeks ago, repaired the damage that Sonic had done to it, and, taking off, he spotted his "grave" on the opposite hillside. "I was dead…" he thought soberly. "And Sonic loved me too much to let it stay that way." He thought that the tears would start flowing again as they always did, but to his great surprise, they didn't. Instead, he felt… calm.
Arriving home at his workshop, Tails was surprised to find Vanilla and Cream sitting inside, waiting for him. Cream got up to talk to Tails, albeit shyly, with her eyes on the ground. She required a push from her mother before she started talking.
"Um… Mr. Tails?" Cream finally looked up at him. "My mom told me you miss Sonic a lot, and so do I. She said that sometimes when you miss someone, remembering them like they were helps a lot. So, I drew a picture for you." She held up a crudely-drawn picture of Sonic standing among grass, giving a thumbs-up sign. "Do you like it?"
Tails fought back tears once again as he stammered out, "Y-yes. Yes, I do, Cream. Thank you." He stooped down to give her a big hug, and Cheese shouted out a delighted, "Chao-chao!" Cream and Vanilla left soon after that, but not before the larger rabbit stopped and said, "Tails… if you ever find a way to get in touch with Sonic, wherever he is… tell him how grateful we all are for what he did for us. For me." And with that, they were gone, and Tails was left alone. Should he tell the others about him and Sonic? No. Not right now, at least.
Hours later, he was still staring at the picture in his hand. He felt motivated to walk outside and hold the paper up to the sunset to see the orange and red beams through the paper. He looked out at the sunset and said in a whisper, "I love you, Sonic."
Tails did a double-take. He could've sworn that the picture had just winked at him… and that a little voice in the back of his head had said, "I love you, too, Tails." And for the first time in a long while…
Tails smiled.