Chapter 7 - Meetings

"Sonic! Sonic!"

The blue hedgehog turned to see Tails running toward him, tails bushed out like tumbleweeds behind him.

Sonic had been about to enter his hut, but stepped off the step and back toward his friend. "Tails! What's wrong?"

"The Tornado's been stolen!" Tails's eyes were full of tears. "Somebody broke in the back door! Who would do that, Sonic?"

"Show me," said Sonic, mouth setting in a tight line.

Tails took him to his workshop and showed Sonic the opened window, the unlocked door, and the garage door which was wide open. The Tornado's canopy was missing, showing that whoever had taken it had a little foresight. The spare fuelcan, however, was sitting where Tails had left it, as well as the Chaos Emerald power converter. The thief had not been interested in the Tornado as a weapon.

A suspicion was forming in the back of Sonic's mind. "Tails," he said softly, "have you seen Amy this morning?"

Tails stared at him. "You think she stole it? But--but she can't even drive!"

"The Tornado can," said Sonic.

The pair gazed at each other in growing apprehension, then Tails dashed out in the direction of the Roses' hut.

Sonic walked over to Tails's workbench and inspected its contents without touching anything. The thrall sphere dominated the wrenches, power drills, screwdrivers, and welding masks. If only Tails could teach the Tornado to use the sphere the way Tails did, himself ...

He heard footsteps and looked up. Spark was standing outside the garage door, silhouetted against the sunny morning outside, and for a second Sonic thought it was Shadow. "Anybody in there?" called Spark faintly.

Sonic moved toward the door. "In here, Spark. Somebody stole the Tornado."

Spark slowly lifted a hand and grasped the doorframe. Leaning against it, he said in a low voice, "Sonic, he's coming. We have to run. He's coming."

Sonic walked up and peered at his brother. Spark's face was gray, and his eyes were vacant and unfocused. "Spark, you okay?"

"No," said Spark. Each word seemed to cost him a huge effort. "I looked into the emerald. I saw him coming. I saw him destroy everything. I'm gonna be the first to go."

"Spark." Sonic put both hands on his brother's shoulders. "Look at me."

Spark's wandering gaze fixed on Sonic's eyes.

Sonic said, "What you did is called Chaos Sight. It lets you see all kinds of possible futures, and they almost never come true."

Spark did not respond for nearly a minute. Then he said, "It doesn't?"

"No," said Sonic, releasing him and stepping back. "By the way, who's coming?"

Spark opened his mouth, then shut it and gazed off up the street. Sonic watched him. It dawned on him that Spark was living in fear of someone or something--the irritability, the constant looking over his shoulder. It wasn't only the poison in his body that had made him ill.

"Nobody," said Spark quietly. "Nobody's coming. Not if it doesn't come true. No, nobody." He turned and drifted away, mumbling to himself. Sonic gazed after him, frowning. He would have followed, but Tails rounded the corner of the garage at that moment, glaring. "Amy's gone, Sonic. Her mom said that her bed wasn't slept in last night."

"This is looking pretty bad," said Sonic, trying not to think about Spark. "Where in the world would Amy go?"

Tails threw his hands in the air. "I don't know! She took MY plane and ran for it! You don't think she'd dump it in a lake to get back at me, do you?"

Sonic shook his head. "I can't predict her. She's off her nut. Can you track the Tornado somehow?"

"Sure," said Tails, ears flattening, "if I had a high-powered scanner that wasn't built into the Tornado."

Sonic jerked a thumb at the garage. "What about your thrall sphere?"

Six seconds later they were inside the workroom. Tails sat on an overturned crate with the sphere in his lap. It was the size of a bowling ball and very heavy. He pulled off his gloves and ran his fingers over the polished surface, feeling and hearing the single note that the crystal resonated. Tails knew that the sphere could hypnotize him if he listened to a single sustained note too long, so he kept his fingers moving, altering the pitch of the note.

As Sonic watched, Tails played one note after another, listening to each. As the chaos energy of the sphere interacted with the energy in Tails's body, the world around him fell silent, and through the sphere he could hear voices talking, cars running, footsteps on a dirt path--noises from anywhere on Mobius. He was listening for one note, however: F sharp, which let him hear the Tornado.

Suddenly he had it. Amy's voice was saying, "It can't be that hard, Tornado."

"Target is beyond my range," the Tornado replied.

A new voice spoke, and Tails frowned, trying to place it. A low, male voice. "Tornado, you still possess the routing information for our network. Connect to that."

Was that Mecha? No, Mecha's voice was higher than that. Tails listened as the unknown voice instructed the Tornado on connecting to the network, aware that Sonic was beginning to fidget. Tails wanted to speak to the Tornado, but was afraid that the stranger might hear. Was that Shadow? If so, what had happened to his voice?

His suspicions were confirmed when the Tornado at last connected. The male voice spoke through the network with a slight robotic overtone, and Tails recognized Mekion's voice. So it WAS Shadow!

"Hello Mecha," Shadow said through Mekion's uplink.

"Shadow!" replied Mecha, sounding astonished and pleased. "It has been an age, figuratively speaking. How is your condition?"

"I am alive," said Shadow dryly, "if that counts for anything. Mekion is worse. That is why I made contact."

"Go on." Mecha's voice dropped in concern.

Shadow drew a breath, even though he was speaking with his internal radio and not his voice. "Many things are wrong. I'm hearing voices. I wake up in strange places, because Mekion takes control while I sleep. I can only speak to you now because for some reason he permits it. And he ... he made me hallucinate roboticization."

There was several seconds' pause. "Yes," Mecha murmured, "Mekion is much worse."

"He can't really roboticize me, can he?"

"No," said Mecha. "Mekion's chemical composition is completely different from that of a nanite roboticizer. Mekion's only power over you is that of mind. I did not design his functions to take over yours. Your brain must remain dominant if only to keep your internal organs functioning. If Mekion usurps your dominance, you will die."

Tails felt sick. He shouldn't be listening to this. He didn't know why he kept tuned to the frequency, but he did.

He heard the terror in Shadow's voice as he said, "Mecha, I can't stop him! His control is insidious. I don't understand how he does it. Please tell me that you do!"

"I do not, Shadow." Mecha's voice was so mellow--so kind--that Tails felt a knot in his throat. How could a robot built to kill people sound so paternal? Mecha continued, "If I understood it, I could have repaired Mekion. His nanotech is fused into your neurons."

Shadow was silent.

After a moment Mecha said, his voice thick with feeling, "Shadow ... I am ... so terribly, terribly sorry ..."

"Don't be," said Shadow, sounding angry. "I need a solution, not regrets. Today I coughed up this silver stuff, and my voice came back. Did Mekion do that?"

Mecha's voice was cold, his feelings hurt because of Shadow's tone. "No. Those are the healing nanites in your body at work. It seems that they repaired your damaged larynx."

"Oh."

Tails ground his teeth and thought, "Apologize to Mecha, you jerk."

But Shadow only said, "Thank you for your assistance, Mecha. I shall perhaps be in touch."

"Yes," said Mecha with no inflection at all. "Ending transmission."

"Jerk!" Tails yelled, losing his focus and the note.

Sonic jumped. "What? What?"

Tails realized that he was panting. He liked Mecha almost as much as he did Sonic, having spent a lot of time with the android, and hearing in his voice how much he cared for Shadow--and for Shadow to blow him off--Tails wanted to wrap his fingers around Shadow's throat and squeeze.

Trembling with rage, he repeated the conversation to Sonic, who listened with a frown. When Tails finished, Sonic said, "Shadow must be really losing it to snap at Mecha. Maybe it's because Amy's with him."

"Jerk," Tails muttered. "Mecha just apologized, that's all ... and Shadow bit his head off!" He drew several deep breaths and tried to calm down.

Sonic watched him. "Ticked you off a bit, I see."

Tails nodded. "Yeah. They were linked through the Tornado. They could be anywhere."

"Call back and talk to the Tornado," said Sonic. "It'll tell you where it is."

"Right." It was several more minutes before Tails was calm enough to focus on the sphere again. Then he slowly, painstakingly located the note again, and tuned into the Tornado's radio frequency through the wavelength itself. He listened. No sound from anyone--he could hear traffic noise in the distance. "Tornado?" he said, keeping his voice in a monotone at F sharp. "This is Tails. I'm using the sphere."

"Hello Tails," said the Tornado, replying with its radio on the same frequency.

"Tornado," said Tails, "where are you?"

"Sapphire City, just south of North Strand Avenue."

"Great," said Tails. "Did Amy steal you?"

"Amy informed me that you had granted your permission for the journey," replied the Tornado, sounding pleased with itself. "I complied with her request. She wished to investigate Shadow's condition."

Tails frowned. "Can you bring her back to Knothole? You have my permission to take her on one more trip, and that's all. You'll run out of fuel."

"Affirmative, Tails," replied the Tornado in a subdued tone. "I must wait until she returns, however. She has departed with Shadow."

"All right," said Tails. "I'll check in again later." He released the sphere and cleared his throat. Speaking in a monotone was hard. Sonic raised his eyebrows, and Tails told him everything.

Afterwards, Sonic sat with his hands pressed together, gazing at them. "Let Amy stay there," he sat at last. "If she wants to hang out with mister homicidal himself, that's her business. I could teleport down and get her, but I don't think I want to. She's more trouble than she's worth right now."

Tails was inclined to agree, but the idea of Amy hanging around Shadow alarmed him. "You don't think he'll hurt her, do you?"

Sonic shook his head. "Naw, he's like a wolf. He'd never hurt a female of his own species. He's not above scaring her to death, though. I hope he gets through to her about what a blockhead she's being."

Tails shook his head and looked at the glowing yellow spark in the center of the ball in his lap. "I hope you're right."

The Sapphire City chao gardens were a series of little walled playgrounds where dozens of chao lived. Many of these were open to the public, but the largest ones were private, for the chao inside had bonded with certain individuals, and were indifferent, even hostile, to outsiders.

Knuckles, Zephyer and Talon were among the latter. Knuckles and Zephyer had adopted the chao belonging to them, but couldn't afford to adopt Talon's chao yet. So Zinc and Chimera, the adopted chao, accompanied their family to visit their chao siblings.

The receptionist chao at the front desk greeted them by name and issued them day passes. He directed them to garden four. The little group entered the gate and waved their passes at the guard, who was a black bat. The bat was writing furiously in a notebook, and motioned them through the gate, hardly looking up.

The chao in the gardens recognized their visitors, and mobbed them as soon as they stepped through the gate. There was Velocity, Sonic's dark blue chao, and Elleno, Serena's violet chao, both with spines like hedgehogs. There was a chao with enormous wings named Pilot who belonged to Tails. There was a white chao with green eyes who looked like the monster Chaos--Chalcon, Slasher's chao.

Last of all came a green chao, running on his flippers like a seal, dripping wet from swimming in the fountain in the garden's center. Talon crouched and held out his arms, and Max flung himself upon his young master, half-laughing and half-sobbing, "Talon! Talon! Talon!" The anteater held him in a tight hug, grinning, not caring that his fur was now sopping wet. Knuckles and Zephyer exchanged smiles. Zinc and Chimera had plunged into the throng, and were trying to thrash Velocity and Chalcon, but Velocity was too fast and Chalcon too easygoing to do more than block their blows and laugh.

"I've missed you so much," Max murmured in Talon's ear. "Why do I have to stay here? Can I go home with you this time?"

"That's why we came," said Talon, pulling away from Max and looking into his deep green eyes. "We need to take you to Knothole for a few weeks. You're going on vacation."

Max's eyes widened. "You mean it? I can really leave the gardens?"

Talon nodded.

Max expressed his excitement by hugging Talon again, then leaping away and capering about on the grass.

Knuckles handed out the cookies and candy that he and Zephyer had brought along, then went back inside to fill out the paperwork that allowed Max to leave the gardens. Talon retreated to a corner with Max, where the pair ate their snacks and talked a mile a minute.

Zephyer sat on a bench in the chilly winter sun and watched. It was colder in Sapphire City than on the Floating Island, but the cold had not bothered her as much now that she was pregnant. She watched the chao and Talon, practically unaware of the ambient temperature.

Max looked so much smaller than she remembered. It must be because Talon was bigger. In a few months he would turn fourteen, and already his legs were longer and his voice starting to crack. He had lost that unhealthy pinched look, too. Living on the Floating Island, and constantly walking up and down hills and battling the weather, had built muscle on the youngster. And there was something more; something in Talon's eyes that spoke of the healing wound in his spirit. He had lost his parents barely a year before running away to the Floating Island, and had suffered from shock and grief the entire time that Zephyer had known him. But this would make his fourth year on the island, and Talon's new home with the echidnas was healthy and stable. He was still painfully shy--even around the chao, Zephyer saw him withdraw into his shell--but he was recovering. For the first time Zephyer wondered if Talon might have a chaos field. Maybe they could test it while they were in town. Knuckles would be thrilled to teach Talon the mysteries of Chaos Power.

The door into the chao garden opened, and she looked up to see Knuckles step in, leading a lanky orange fox, who carried a chao in one arm. Knuckles had a strange look on his face. He caught Zephyer's eye and raised one eyebrow, nodding to the fox. Something was up. She rose to her feet and walked over, confused. This was a private garden. What was a stranger doing here?

The fox looked at Zephyer, and something about his eyes struck a chord of recognition in her mind.

"Hello," he said in a low voice. "Thank you for allowing me to visit this garden." He turned to Knuckles and said, "You may return to your former activities."

Zephyer's eyes dropped to the chao in his arms. The chao was a gleaming metallic blue, with dark red eyes. She gazed steadily at Zephyer. Zephyer squinted. She knew that chao.

Knuckles walked back inside, looking over his shoulder in concern. Yes, something was up. Zephyer smiled anyway and extended a hand. "I'm Zephyer. Pleased to meet you."

The fox shook her hand, and she was shocked at his ice-cold touch. "Yes Zephyer, the pleasure is all mine. It is thrilling to walk about, completely anonymous, even to former enemies. Must I introduce myself?"

That voice. That crisp, lucid tone. Her eyes moved to the chao in his arms, then she looked at the fox again. His eyes were too slanted for a fox's, and his pupils were a fiery red.

"Mecha," she whispered.

He nodded, smiling. "I am traveling in disguise. You may call me Melthision."

"And I'm Aleda," said the chao.

Zephyer felt oddly winded, as if she had been punched in the chest. Mecha--dressed as a fox? In a private Sapphire City chao garden? Acting perfectly cordial to her? It boggled her mind. "Uh," she stammered, "what are you doing here?"

"I saw you and Knuckles arrive," said Mecha. "I wished to grant Aleda the privilege of meeting the Knothole chao. Knuckles saw no harm in this."

"Okay," said Zephyer. "Go ahead."

Mecha stooped and set Aleda on the grass, and she darted off into the midst of the other chao. They all backed away and stared at her in silence for a second--then they closed in around her, chattering and laughing. Aside from Zinc, they had never seen a metallic chao before.

Zephyer returned to her bench, and Mecha followed her and sat on the furthest edge. He didn't know what to do with his fox-tail, and for some reason she wanted to laugh as he twitched it to one side, then the other, finally pulling it into his lap.

"Why don't you disguise yourself as a hedgehog?" she asked him. "No tail to worry about then."

"Technically hedgehogs have tails," said Mecha, "although they are very short. I selected this form because taking the form of an organic hedgehog makes me look like ..." He trailed off in a growl that Zephyer understood all too well.

"I see," she said, watching Aleda tackle Chimera. Their scuffle was brief, but fierce, and Aleda broke free and ran with Chimera pursuing. Mecha started to rise, but Zephyer put out a hand. "Let them fight. It's how they make friends."

Mecha looked uncertain, but sat down again. "If she cries, I shall not be responsible for my actions."

Zephyer watched as Aleda doubled back, tripped Chimera and whaled on him with both little fists. "I don't think you have to worry about that."

They watched the chao in silence until Aleda and Chimera finished fighting, and Chimera had limped off to a corner of the garden to sulk. Zephyer said, "So what brings you to Sapphire City, Mecha?"

"Many reasons," said Mecha. He was silent a moment, as if considering his next words. "Shadow is in Sapphire City, and he is ... distressed. I have placed myself in proximity to him in the event that he requires aid."

"Oh," said Zephyer. "Uh ... did he run away or something?" She realized that she should not have asked, for a spasm of pain crossed Mecha's face. He closed his eyes a moment, as if trying on control himself. In a hoarse whisper he said, "Shadow is damaged in such a way that Mekion sees me as a threat to be eliminated."

The last time Zephyer had seen Shadow and Mecha, Shadow had been the overprotective caretaker. Shadow wanted to kill Mecha now? What in the world had happened? But she couldn't ask, not with the raw pain staring from Mecha's scarlet eyes.

Across the garden, Talon was gazing at their visitor and stroking Max. Zephyer recognized the way Talon was clutching Max to his chest, half-protectively and half for protection, like a small child's safety blanket. It sent a pang through her heart as she remembered Talon's suffering during the biotic war, before and after his injury, and how he would hold Max like that for hours. But for all that, Talon was healing.

On the other side of the garden sat an android, suffering the same kind of wound in his spirit that time could not heal. Suddenly Zephyer wanted to protect Mecha the way she did Talon--help him heal and grow strong again. At the same time she that it was foolish. Mecha could take care of himself and accepted help from none. But still. "Mecha," she said softly, "if I can do anything to help, just ask."

He turned his head and gazed at her, then dropped his eyes to the grass. "I do not require your assistance. But ... thank you for offering." He rose to his feet and began to pace up and down, flustered. He didn't know how to react to kindness.

Zephyer rose to her feet, wanting to say something more, even though she didn't know what. But she was interrupted as the chao garden door opened again, and Knuckles stepped in. He looked at Zephyer and the pacing Mecha for a long moment, then beckoned to his wife. She hurried up to him. "Did you know that that's Mecha?" she whispered.

He nodded. "I thought it was. What's he doing?"

"He brought his chao to meet ours. He's ... here to help Shadow. Because Shadow is in distress or something like that."

Knuckles watched the fox walk up and down beside the wall. "He's not aggressive or anything?"

"Not that I saw," said Zephyer. "He was perfectly civil to me."

Knuckles bit his lip. "I need you to come sign these papers with me. Should we leave Talon with him?"

Zephyer looked over her shoulder. "He seems docile enough ... will it take long?"

"Just a few minutes."

Zephyer nodded. She turned and called, "Talon, I'm going to sign the papers. If you need anything, we're right in here."

Talon nodded.

After the echidnas left, Mecha stopped pacing and resumed his seat on the bench. He sat perfectly still, elbows on knees, watching the chao. Talon stared at him from across the garden. He didn't know who this strange fox was, although he wondered if he was an android. The fox moved in an odd, fluid way that Talon recognized from years of watching his android cousin. He had also observed Zephyer talking to the fox, so he must not be dangerous.

As Talon watched, the fox rose to his feet, lifted a hand in a semi-wave, which was returned by his blue metallic chao, and walked toward Talon. Instinctively the anteater tensed, and Max slid out of his master's lap and stood between the stranger and Talon, not exactly threatening, but ready if something happened.

They need not have worried. The fox sat down on the grass ten feet away, far enough to feel safe but near enough to talk. "Hello," said the fox. "I am Melthision."

"I'm Talon," said the anteater. "What are you doing here?"

"I am an ... acquaintance of the Freedom Fighters," said Melthision. "I brought my chao to meet theirs. I see you own one, as well."

Max scrambled into Talon's lap again, and Talon placed a hand on his warm little head. "Yes. His name is Max."

The fox tilted his head to one side and blinked. "Fascinating. I have a friend who named his chao Nox."

Talon nodded, not sure how to answer this. He was spared, however, as Melthision's chao ran up to Melthision and stood with both paws on his knee, gazing into his face. Communication of some kind passed between them. Neither spoke, but Melthision nodded toward Talon, and the chao trotted up to him.

"Hi!" she said. "I'm Aleda. What's your name?"

"Talon, and this is Max."

Max stared at Aleda. "Wow, you're a weird color! Are you from South Mobius?"

"I don't know," said Aleda, glancing at her owner. "Mech--I mean Melthision hatched me in the place where we live."

Max slid out of Talon's lap and stood in front of Aleda, measuring their heights with a flipper-paw. "Do you have a large form?"

"Yes!" said Aleda, pleased. "I'm a praying mantis."

"I'm a seamonster!" said Max. "I'd show you if I had a Chaos Emerald."

Aleda started to open her mouth, paused, then said, "Wish I had one, too."

"Race you to the fountain!" said Max, dashing off.

"Hah, you're slow!" Aleda yelled, beating him there.

Talon glanced at Melthision to see that the fox was laughing. "Do you run fast?" Talon asked him. Chao usually adopted the characteristics of their owners.

Melthision shrugged. "My metabolism permits my limbs to move at unusual speeds, but it is not unusual for my kind. What is your chao's ability?"

"Uh ..." Talon looked at Max, who was splashing about in the fountain's basin while Aleda watched. "He can shapeshift and use Chaos Healing."

"Really now." Melthision studied Talon. "Which of these does he derive from you?"

Talon blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

"A chao's power usually mimics their master's," said the fox, "or complement it in some way. What is yours?"

Talon shook his head. "I don't have one."

"Of course you do," said the fox, waving a hand. "You live on the Floating Island, home of the most concentrated Chaos energies in the world. You must have Chaos proficiencies."

Talon looked at his shoes. They were made of a blue leather-like material. The sole of one was carved from red super emerald ore, and the other was carved from green ore. Talon could use them to hover and fly, and had done so since he was very young. He had never questioned his ability to use them, but now he wondered about it. He would have to ask Knuckles about it when they got home. In the meantime, he merely shrugged for Melthision's benefit and gazed at the chao.