First, I must apologise for making you all wait for so long! I've been finding it really difficult to get back into the mood for writing now that I have left school, but I think that I've managed to get things going once more. This chapter may seem a bit short, and if so I apologise for that too- but this version of the story won't be the final version anyway, so fear not! Once the main storyline is complete I will be reviewing the whole thing to add bits, take bits, rewrite bits... You get the idea.
But the point is I really needed to get something done so that the fic is in motion once more. I'm sure you can understand that.
Anywho, enjoy the chapter! I wonder, will anyone find part of it freaky... Asher Tye might. After all, he guessed something like this was in store a while back. ;-)
And don't worry. I won't take so long over getting the next one ready.
Chapter 10: A Lonely RoadInside Knothole Palace, a special room had been set aside near to the throne room dedicated to diplomatic activity. Whilst Knothole was a monarchy (at least it would be once Sally married Sonic and he became king), Sally held a particular distaste to any semblance of dictatorship. If she were to take the position of her father as a total monarch, then it would have been somewhat hypocritical to have criticised Robotnik for having done the same.
Not that a dictatorship was always going to be a bad thing- she could have turned out to be an enlightened despot for example, but the war had left too bitter a taste in her mouth regarding the whole issue. She preferred to steer clear of it altogether.
To reflect this, the throne room was mostly for show. The real important work of running the Kingdom of Knothole was handled in this nearby special room- a council room dominated by a large oval table at which currently sat Princess Sally at the head with Sonic at her side. The four leaders that the two favoured sat around the table, each holding some kind of rank; Lieutenant Rotor Walrus, Lieutenant Amy Rose, Captain Antoine D'Coolette, and General Bunnie Rabbot.
Raid knew all of this and all of them, naturally. He knew their strengths, he knew their weaknesses. He knew all he needed to know to be able to manipulate them to do whatever his master wanted of them. Within reason.
It was all quite amusing, really.
There was something bothering the six of them, he could tell. Their looks and body language spoke volumes; Sonic's firm posture and straight back was all Raid needed to see to be able to tell that he was questioning his actions against the Spyder a number of days ago. And he was quite right to do so, as throughout his time with the Freedom Fighters, Miles Prower hadn't willingly betrayed them.
Raid knew all about the attack, too. Shadow had appeared with a report, plus a video recording of his actions inside the base. All else that had transpired was recorded courtesy of stealthbots sent by his lord. Sonic had been so caught up with his pursuit of Prower that he hadn't noticed the machine watching from the ceiling. Once the Guyde had made itself known and been promptly destroyed, the machine had followed Prower out of the building to see where he was running to- directly west to Machina was the destination. A fair enough option given his choice; it was either that, or Knothole.
This was Raid's first visit to Knothole after the war against Robotnik, and even back then he hadn't been here for long. He had just been a Lieutenant and only in the town to take command of a small detachment of Freedom Fighters. It was his group that had placed a number of the explosives that had levelled the city, but not without a cost- leading his men from the front had resulted in his capture, rapid transportation to a backup bunker, and then… transformation.
It had been a cost at the time. Now, it was a blessing.
This particular trip to the seat of Knothole power was in response to the meeting just over two weeks ago where he had embarked on talks with two representatives. The New Mobian Republic, the whole point of the talks, was an idea brewed by Princess Sally with aim to reunite Mobius, in the hope of generating some form of strong government to rule the people. It would go a long way to solidifying stability and eliminating oppression, giving support to states with problems, and bring equality to all. It was a fair and just plan, and Raid could see the logic in it. Sally would do all she could to see it through as well because, after all, she liked to be a Princess of the People.
The idea was, however, completely useless. Or at least it would be soon, when his master ascended to his rightful place. He would ensure a strong government without the need for negotiating treaties, discussions over who would be in charge of what land, arguments who got more attention over certain issues... All of that would be wiped away.
But not quite yet.
He had another task under direct orders form his master. To... finalise issues regarding the Spyder.
To make him a true enemy to the people of Knothole.
"And as I am quite certain was mentioned at the meeting in Chestnut with General Rabbot and Lieutenant Rose, David," Princess Acorn said, lacking the usual fluidic grace with which she often spoke in meetings this important, "the Mobian Republic would be run by a senate positioned here in Knothole. Each state who joined would be able to elect three representatives who would be a part of the senate and would deal with issues regarding their state."
She was distracted. Apparently, Prower meant more to her than he had realised.
Time to go to work, then.
"That is perfectly acceptable, Princess Acorn," he replied. "It is certainly no trouble for us to travel up to Knothole, assuming the transportation link is completed on schedule."
"Yes, it should be. I have had no reports of any problems so I can only assume that the tunnelling is going well..."
Sally trailed off, looking as though she had a headache coming on. Raid took his chance.
"Are you feeling okay, your highness? You look a little preoccupied."
Sally gave him a small smile.
"Oh I'm fine Raid, it's just..." She glanced at Sonic briefly, and Raid took the opportunity to look at the other members of the Knothole leadership. D'Coolette and Walrus were braced as though they were expecting an argument, whilst Rabbot and Rose were glaring at Sonic as though they wanted to tear his head off.
The mayor of Chestnut fought back a grin. This was almost too easy.
"We lost a friend a few days ago," Rose snapped, still glaring at Sonic.
"I am sorry to hear that," Raid said looking to her with a good impression of sympathy. "Was it during your assault on the terrorists near Machina?"
Rose's eyes flicked towards him, and there was a brief moment of silence.
"How do you know about that?" she said.
"My dear," Raid replied smoothly so as remove the suspicious taint from her eyes, "who doesn't know about it? A number of states have already contacted me about their concern over Knothole flexing its military muscle. We are the closest nation to you, after all."
"What about Machina?" Rose asked. "It happened much closer to them."
"They wanted to know what was going on too of course, and didn't want to ask you straight away when much of your army was so close. Odds are they will ask you themselves in the next few days. We however, didn't tell them anything."
"Why?"
"Because it was them you were fighting, was it not? They were obviously fishing for information-"
"No," Rose cut him off flatly, going on to state what he already knew full well. "We fought a group of Mechanists, not mechs from Machina."
"Believe me, there is little difference. All mechs are Mechanists."
"An jus' what d' y'all mean by that?" Bunnie Rabbot snapped, glaring at Raid. "Y' can't jus lump 'em all together like that!"
"Really, Miss Rabbot. Tell me, have you ever been to Machina?"
She continued to stare at him but seemed unable, or unwilling, to reply.
"I didn't think so. I, however, have been there, and I was certainly not made to feel welcome. Mechs have visited Chestnut on occasion too, and we have always had trouble."
"Mechs aren't all bad," Rose growled, and shot Sonic a glare that would have melted steel. "Miles was proof of that."
Raid sat back to observe the fireworks for a moment.
"You know what?" Sonic shot back looking more than just uncomfortable as he shifted in his chair. Apparently the Spyder had managed to cause quite some pain to his back. "I'm sick of this! I wasn't the only one who saw him!"
"It could have been anything!" Rose shouted. "There was all kinds of weird stuff down there! What about that other fox Cyborg, that one you say he killed? Don't you think that maybe it could have been that?"
Sonic was silent. Apparently, he didn't know what to think.
And this was one of Raid's objectives for the day; the Guyde being destroyed and, even worse, being found was something of a problem. It was something that he had to iron over.
"Excuse me," he asked carefully, "but what are you talking about?"
Silence. He had set the bait, but would they take it?
"The friend Amy spoke of... He seemed to turn on us. But we don't know if it was him," Sally Acorn said.
"It wasn't!" Rose immediately insisted.
"Amy, we don't know that," Acorn continued. "You said it yourself- the swatbots followed him here. He could have easily been working with them..."
"This friend," Raid asked, "what did he do exactly?"
"Freedom Fighters saw a mech fox that kept attacking soldiers from the air vents. It kept killing them one at a time."
"Yeah, and I was one of them," Sonic said.
"Hm," Raid replied, "This Cyborg... You say it attacked from the air vents?"
"Yes."
"...I may know who you are talking about. Well, maybe, but... We tend to get an unhealthy number of mercenaries around Chestnut, most of them being ex-Freedom Fighters who came off the end of the war badly. They are something of a problem to us because extremist groups like to hire them- like Mechanists for example, but there was one of them who... developed a reputation."
Silence once more.
"For what?" Sally asked carefully.
"Killing. Assassination of political figures mainly, but he would often kill during robberies too, and he would always make use of air vents to move around. It was because of this thing that I became Mayor in fact- it murdered my predecessor, and I was the only one willing to take his place."
They were all totally focused on him. He had them wrapped around his little finger.
"The mech was a canine. One with astounding reflexes from what his few witnesses tell me, and one with blades in his arms. Does that sound familiar?"
He knew, even without looking at them, that his description was indeed familiar. And he hadn't exactly been lying- a canine mech, a Cyborg to be exact, had killed off important political figures and allowed him to become Mayor.
He hadn't said it was Prower though.
But they didn't need to know that- they could make their own conclusions.
"It wasn't Miles," Rose immediately said.
Raid fought a frown. He hadn't quite expected that...
"Amy, you found him in Chestnut," Sonic replied. "He is a mercenary. He is a canine. He has those claws... Walkers, I should have known. He was always against us... I should have known..."
Sonic buried his face in his hands. Rose glared at him, seething with anger.
"You're wrong!" she yelled. "You're wrong! He was always with us, with you, even when you banished him! And I'll prove it too, to all of you!"
She stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
"Well sugar-hog, ah think y' should know, ah agree with her," Rabbot said quietly. She stood and followed after Rose.
Only now, Raid allowed himself to frown. That was indeed unexpected- the two girls were not falling into place.
That could cause a problem.
But how to deal with it?
----------
He didn't know how long he had been walking.
He'd stopped caring a while back- it wasn't important really. Thinking was something he needed to do less of. Thinking brought pain.
Just to take one step after another... that was all he had needed to do.
But then, he failed in that too. And he found himself face down in the dirt.
His legs ached.
He had been here for what, four days, now? Just lying... motionless. Too tired to move, or to care. Why should he need to move, anyway? What for?
To get out of this uniform?
Or to find water, perhaps?
Well his mouth was dry, but it had rained yesterday. He had got some then, even though he would rather not have. If he stayed here long enough he would die eventually, and then he wouldn't feel so bad anymore.
And it would hopefully be a better way of dying than running himself through.
That was a painful memory.
The horror he had experienced when he had escaped Robotropolis so many years ago was something that would always haunt him. He could picture it clearly, as he stood in the sewers, soaked and shivering in the dirty water as he screamed, looking at the blades coming out of his hands.
He'd tried to kill himself a number of times afterwards, each being it's own terrifying ordeal. What made it worse was that each time, once he had worked up the courage to stab himself and had fallen unconscious, he would wake up to find that he had healed up a few days later.
All that was left were a few lingering scars.
And memories.
But maybe this time he would get lucky, and finally the nightmare that was his life would end.
----------
"What're ya doin'?"
"I'm going to find him."
Bunnie watched as Amy moved swiftly around her room, grabbing various items and stuffing them into a backpack. Her expression was that of total determination- there wasn't much on Mobius was going to be able to stop her, but Bunnie would try anyway. Amy needed a plan after all, and this would force her to think of one.
"An jus how do y'all expect to pull that off?"
Amy paused.
"He said he'd be going west after he was finished in Knothole, remember? I'll go west from where we last saw him."
"He's jus one fox. This is a big world, Amy-girl."
"I know that!" she snapped. "I'll... I'll take a hover-car. It can track life signs."
"Y'know that that won't be useful if he's in a town or somethin', right?"
"Maybe he's still wearing his uniform. That can be tracked easily."
"Doncha think he would've dumped it?"
She stopped packing, and her head drooped. Her spines fell forward, covering her eyes with shadow.
"Bunnie... I have to find him. I can't just leave him alone for another 10 years... You understand that, don't you?"
Bunnie stepped forward and placed her hands on the younger girls shoulders. She looked up into the rabbit's eyes.
"Yeah. Ah do, but y' have to understand that it ain't gonna be easy, and even if you do find him he won't be trustin' ya."
"...I have to find him," Amy repeated simply.
Bunnie sighed.
"Ah should be stoppin' ya from goin', but... Amy, you'll be headin' to Machina. I dunno what you'll find there, but you have to try to talk to whoeva's in charge. Try 'n keep 'em calm. I'll be talkin' to Sally-girl, but buy what Raid's been sayin', we could be lookin' at another war here."
Once she had gathered her things, Amy made a short stop at her students' dorms before heading to the storage hangers where the hover-cars were kept. She had to, really. Tom had awoken a day after returning to Knothole, and his 'modification' had caused real distress amongst the kids. Some were shocked, and others were sympathetic. Disturbingly, others became quite hostile to him... It was mechs that attacked Knothole.
And now, he was now something of a mech, too.
Needless to say, he didn't have a girlfriend anymore.
Out of all of the kids, he was the one whom she was most worried about, but Bunnie promised to look after him. She had found some comfort in that- if anyone knew about gaining artificial implants unwillingly, it was her.
It was late at night now, so none of the kids were awake, but she had talked to each of them anyway. Perhaps they would have heard her in their dreams or something.
She made her way to the hangars and soon found one of the hover-cars, but stopped short when she noticed another figure cloaked in shadow nearby. It was a hedgehog, and for a moment she thought that it might have been that one that attacked when they were returning to Knothole with Miles after they had first found him- but fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, it turned out to be another.
"You're going to look for him."
She blinked.
"What are you doing here?" she hissed.
"I knew you'd try something like this. You're going to look for him."
It was a statement, not a question, though Amy felt she needed to answer anyway.
"Yes, Sonic, I am. Are you going to try to stop me?"
"No," he replied bluntly. "I don't really care about you going to look for him, but don't you dare bring him back here."
"Why do you hate him so much?"
Sonic didn't take the question too well- he looked almost shocked for a moment, as though he hadn't really decided on how he felt about the fox. But soon his expression darkened.
"He tricked us," Sonic said quietly. "He's been planning something like this for a long time. He's with those Mechanists. He was with Robotnik."
"You're just saying that because of Raid!"
Sonic gave her a strange, grim smile. "You know, I never told anyone where I found him."
"In the Great Forest. I've heard that story a million times-"
"No. Where I really found him."
Amy blinked, confused. Sonic seemed to take her expression as a signal to begin.
So, he told her.
----------
His first thoughts of Robotropolis: creepy, intimidating. And exciting too, in a strange way. Any other would have been scared out of their wits to see the remains of the pinnacle of Mobian civilization in ruins, like the other new Freedom Fighters that he was with, but Sonic was not just any Mobian.
Besides, he was young enough not to remember clearly what Mobotropolis had been like before Robotnik had overtaken the city and renamed it, so it seemed to him like the city had always been this way.
There were just a few of them on this mission- Sonic, of course, along with two others, and they had been sent to chart this area of Robotropolis. Whilst the city had remained relatively unchanged when Robotnik took over, there were a few areas which had been altered to accommodate the doctor's needs and, such as this one, experiments.
They had seen a number of strange things so far. Machines who looked like Mobians- 'Robains', like the ones that the robotisizer created, only these ones were motionless, completely dead, and were placed along the walls in glass cabinets.
Many of them had the odd limb removed and it's innards exposed.
They had passed a number of doors during their trek, though thought it best not to enter most of them. They all had some plaque marking them as a chamber for some particular experiment, but one was quite different- just a small, simple door with no marking on it at all. So it was this one that they went into to hide when they heard the footsteps of swatbots nearby.
Sonic stood next to the door, listening for them to leave. The other Freedom Fighters with him however, were a bit more curious.
"What the hell is that?" he heard one of them, a monkey named Callum, say.
"I dunno man..." the other, a beaver called Joel, replied.
Sonic ground his teeth together. Them talking could give them away, and whilst he had no doubt that he could get away without a problem, they probably could not.
He turned and walked further into the room. It led around a corner where, at the end, was a sight that would stay with him for the rest of his life.
There, suspended in one of the vats in a strange pale blue liquid, was a young fox. It was utterly motionless, it's eyes closed and it's face the very image of calm as it floated there, as if it were in a deep sleep.
Sonic found himself morbidly fascinated and horrified.
Was it a robot?
No, it looked too... 'real' to be a machine. It had fur, and it appeared to be breathing. So then, did Robotnik steal it from it's family? Did he... create it somehow? Why would he bother keeping it?
Sonic walked closer, still staring, and placed his hand on the cool glass.
"Hey, watch it Sonic," Callum said shakily, also staring up at the kit. "You don't know why that freak's there."
"Freak?" he asked.
"It's got two tails, look."
Was that why it was there? Was it some kind of experiment? Why was it locked away in some weird goo?
He looked from the tails back to it's face, and immediately his heart leapt up his throat.
It was watching him.
----------
"I felt sorry for him, so I broke the vat and pulled him out. The guys I was with tried to stop me, they thought he was dangerous, but I did it anyway. And we must'a made a racket, 'cause then swatbots burst into the room. I got away with him, but the others didn't stand a chance. I was the only one who knew.
"If I told everyone that he was some weird experiment, they'd kick him out of Knothole. I didn't want that- I felt sorry for him, 'cause he didn't seem to know what was going on. He was just a kid, and all he seemed to know was that his name was Miles Prower."
Amy felt like she had just been shot.
"So..." Sonic continued, "I made up some story about finding him in the Great Forest and that his parents had been killed by 'Buttnik. He was completely out of it- that goo he was in musta done something to his head, because he believed what I said. I remember askin' him about it once, and he honest-to-Walkers thought I had found him in the woods, and that his parents had been shot. He probably still believes it.
"But it looks like I didn't change his loyalties. He was always meant to fight against us- that's what Robotnik made him for."
Amy stood stupefied for the longest time, not knowing what to think. Was it true? She remembered that Tails had always had some natural talent for fighting. Had he been... made, by Robotnik- was he some sort of weapon? Was 'Miles' the person he was always destined to grow into?
If so... If he was really a traitor, then maybe she shouldn't follow-
'No.'
She blinked at the voice in her head. It was so sudden and final that it didn't seem like she had thought it at all, like someone else had said it. And the more she thought about it, the more it seemed that way.
And she knew then that she had to find him. Find him and help him look for himself.
Help him find Tails... the fox he was supposed to be.
She didn't spare Sonic another glance as she boarded the hover-car and set out into the night.
----------
Sonic watched Amy leave silently.
Truthfully, he didn't know what to make of recent events. He had been elated that Miles had appeared, but things had changed so suddenly. He'd always thought the fox to be his best friend when they were younger, but...
Miles had attacked him.
It was because of Miles that Sally and he had been captured in the first place.
Miles could easily therefore have been the one attacking Freedom Fighters in the Mechanist base, trying to cause havoc to their plans.
Was it so wrong to label his old friend as an enemy? He had all the reason in the world to do so. Heck, the fox's sinister origin was reason enough.
But Amy was so totally convinced otherwise...
Why?
Did she know something he didn't?
Sonic sighed, and began to make his way slowly and carefully back to his and Sally's chambers. He didn't want to irritate his back more- Miles had really done one over on him.
But before he entered the palace, he found himself turning to look up at the sky, thinking once more.
They were both, or at least had been, his friends, Amy and Tails. He knew he couldn't trust Tails – or more appropriately Miles, because he was someone else entirely he realised – and now that Amy had sided with him he couldn't really trust her either.
But she still felt something for them.
Hope, maybe?
Or perhaps contempt.
"I hope you'll be happy together," he muttered, before returning to his chambers to comfort his fiancée.