"Sonic…" Tails said feeling numb as the machine stood before him, deadly silent.
"That stupid hedgehog," a voice came from behind the fox with a light echo to it. Tails turned around to see that it belonged to one of the elders; the green bird was relatively large in size and looked like it'd be a miracle if it could fly. "He wasn't supposed to follow; now he's stuck in the Void too."
The fox bolted to the cylinder that contained the talking bird. "What do you mean? What's the Void?"
The bird was obviously caught off guard, "How did you know what I said?"
Tails looked to the palm gadget that was still in his hand, but noticed it was in sleep mode. That was strange, how did he understand what was said?… but that's not important now, Sonic was in trouble. "Who cares how… what is the Void?"
But the bird remained silent for awhile as he noted the vulpine's two tails. As Tails saw what the big green bird was staring at, he became impatient. "So I have two tails? So what? Answer my question!" he shouted.
The Elder shook his head. "It's not that… anyway the Void is a space between the third and fourth dimensions… like a fractal is between the first and second." The fox scratched his head as the bird continued to describe the Void and the one that discovered it and also was trapped there, Nagus.
Snively looked around himself, this wasn't where he had planned to go, everywhere around him was nothing but swirling on a purple hue. He recognized it almost immediately as the Void.
"Noo…!" he cried, his anger echoing off of the walls of nothingness.
"Awww… what's the matter Snootly?" A voice came from behind the human. "Take a wrong turn?"
Snively turned around to see that it was his nemesis and he laughed. "So it looks like we're all stuck in here, what an ironic end."
Sonic laughs, "Well at least I can rest easy knowing Tails, Sal, and the others can now have peace. And it's all thanks to your machine Sniffs. Here I thought you were more cleaver then your unc. Guess I was foolin' myself."
"What was that rodent?" The human growled.
"Ooo… is big scary sniffles gonna hurt me with his big mechanical army?... Oh wait, that's back on Mobius… sorry 'bout that."
The pointy nosed human cried out in anger as he lunged at the hedgehog, but the speedy blue hero was too quick and easily dodged the attack. Sonic chuckled. "Oh this is gonna be tons of fun, now I can torment you for all eternity."
"Not if I don't kill you first hedgehog!" The nasal shout came in return. Sonic smiled and was about to dodge another incoming attack when he suddenly saw a powerful bolt streak across the 'sky' and toward them.
"Watch out!" The blue hedgehog cried, but there wasn't enough time to react as the magical bolt crashed into the ground between the two. The energy from the attack caused the human and hedgehog to fly in opposite directions. Sonic slid across the ground as he finished his decent.
A moment passed before Sonic could move. He reached his hand up to touch his head to make sure it was still there as he sat up. "Where the heck did that come from?" He asked as he groggily rubbed his forehead and looked up.
There was a dark shadow in the air that cut into the deep purple hue of the demented looking sky. Dark red eyes could be seen piercing through the darkness of the shadow, and white fang shaped teeth gleamed as the form smiled. Sonic could instantly recognize who it was.
"Nagus…"
"I'm going in after him!" Tails cried stubbornly.
"You're a fool." The green elder said. "In the Void are all the nemesis that brought havoc to Mobius… keeping the portal open could risk having them escape into the world once again! Right now the war could end if they stay in there… Mobius could have true piece for the first time in 12 years… you'd risk it all just for your friend?"
"Of course I would!" Tails said leering at the bird. "I don't know what peace is… and I don't want to if Sonic wasn't there to see it with me. He has worked harder then anyone for it! Even if he has been rash at times, he's been there during the times you thought everything was going to be lost. And I'm going to do the same for him."
"You're still a fool… you're but a child, what could you do?"
Another voice chirped in from another corner of the platform. "More then you could I'm sure Grensfeld." A thinner flicky of red color stated from another container. "You always were more chicken then flicky."
The chubby green flicky glared in response. "If he goes it could cause the end of us all, I'm just saying it's selfish."
"Have faith in the boy why don't you?" An elder of purple color stated its voice more feminine then the other two. "It's our fault his friend is trapped, we at least owe him a chance to rectify our mistakes."
Grensfeld, the green elder, sighed and finally gave in. "Fine… but don't say I didn't warn you guys."
The fox turned to the other flickys and smiled. "Thank you."
A blue one who had remained silent until now chirped in response, "No problem, you have a big heart kid, you should be able to do this no prob." The kit didn't know why, but it reminded him of Sonic.
"Get onto the platform and we'll warp you to around the same spot your friend and enemy were sent." The purple one said.
Tails with a nod approached the machine. "Thanks again, I won't let you down."
"We're sure you won't, good luck to ya." The blue one chirped with a wing-wave.
The vulpine took a deep breath and stepped back into the void. The green one watched the fox disappear into the portal. "He'd better hurry up."
"Oh don't be such a worry-wart Gren…" the blue one sighed. "If he's who I think he is then he'll come through for us."
The green elder looked to the blue one and nodded. "I did notice the two tails, but that doesn't mean he's the one."
The red one laughs a bit. "How many young foxes have two tails? The one we helped in Robotropolis was a lot older though."
"No…" the female elder responded. "They're the same person; the older one probably just traversed the fourth dimension."
"How? Even we have trouble doing that." Grensfeld retorted.
"The only other way I can think of is the Chaos Emeralds."
"In theory!" The green one interrupted. "Don't tell me you believe that Chaos Control hogwash…"
"Well, legends come from somewhere…" The purple bird responded. "How else do you explain it?"
"He probably built some machine, or someone else did," The rotund green bird replied. "Like our pointy nosed friend did here… too bad he failed to account that we still had control over it…"
The others nodded as they looked to the portal waiting for the fox to return with his friend.
Sonic growled as he felt himself entrapped inside a magical barrier the wizard had placed around him. The hedgehog didn't see the point in it; it wasn't like he was going anywhere anytime soon. He looked over to see that Snively also was ensnared by the wizard's magic.
"So how did you two enter my domain?" The raspy voice of Nagus asked. "There haven't been any rips open for awhile…"
"Ask needle nose, it's his fault we're here." The hedgehog sighed pointing to the human.
As the wizard looked toward the human he shook his head. "I don't know either… I programmed it so that it would take me to the past…"
Sonic laughed. "Your mistake was keeping those birds with wills of their own; they probably pulled a fast one on you."
"Birds… you mean flickys." Nagus said with a thought. "You should have known better then to search for time travel… it finds you…"
"What are you talking about?" The hedgehog asked scratching his head.
The wizard looked down at the two and laughed. "When things are at their most hectic the jewels of chaos become the greatest power, causing even greater chaos…"
"That sounds familiar…" Sonic said thinking back to the conversation with Knuckles. "Chaos Control?"
The wizard nods and looked as if he were about to speak again when a voice cut into the conversation.
"Sonic!"
The voice was young sounding and the hedgehog could immediately identify it. He shook his head in disbelief. 'Tails didn't follow me', he kept telling himself in denial. However the voice shouted his name again and concluded what the hedgehog feared. "Sonic!" The cry got louder each time.
"Tails, stay away…" Sonic said quietly, but it was too late as the fox flew into the scene. The hedgehog looked around to see what the wizard was doing, but he was gone… this wasn't good. The kit walked up to his trapped friend and noticed the magical barrier.
"What happened Sonic?" Tails asked, and not soon after heard a chuckle come from behind him. He spins around and lets out a little gasp of surprise as he sees and old looking creature with claw hands draped in a robe. "Who… Who are you?"
The wizard shows little emotion as he introduces himself. "I am Nagus. How did you get here?"
The fox expression changes from one of surprise to, one of disgust. "You're Nagus? I've heard of you! You're the one who discovered this place… entrapped by your own greed…"
Nagus laughed. "Those birds never knew how to keep their mouths shut. They also seemed to have been foolish enough to let someone come in here to rescue his friend…" He said glancing at the hedgehog.
"Friendship is something those of evil will never understand." Sonic stated, hoping to keep the wizard more attentive to him and not Tails.
"It's a good thing too," the wizard said with a smirk. "Or like your fox friend here it would have led to my undoing…" He cackled.
"You leave him alone…!" The hedgehog cried.
The wizard scoffed and shot a lightning bolt from the 'sky' at the fox. Tails was unaware of the incoming attack that was coming from behind.
"Tails look out!"
The fox then heard the bolt coming at him and quickly leapt forward just as the attack hit the ground, however he forgot to look where he jumped and the gap between himself and the evil wizard closed. Nagus laughed as the vulpine got closer, and he took advantage of the situation as a claw shot out quickly and caught the fox around the neck in mid jump.
"Tails!" Sonic shouted as the wizard got a firm grip around his friend's neck. "Let him go!"
"Oh I will…" the evil wizard said, "but only if he helps me escape this prison." He grinned as he gripped tighter around fox's neck.
"Why?" The hedgehog asked, "As soon as you leave you'll just start to crystallize, remember?" he pondered as he remembered their first encounter.
"Of course I remember you miserable rodent! I had all the time in the world here to concoct an antidote; all I need are some ingredients in the real world."
A sound of a propeller could be heard and the kitsune chuckled as he was using his tails to lift himself off the ground which relieved the choke hold enough so he could breathe. Tails grinned, "Well smart guy, if you hurt me how am I gonna tell you where the exit is?"
The wizard hesitates for a moment, but then grins as he gets an idea. He tries to control the young ones mind, but there is a barrier, a power blocking him access. Then he realizes as he looks into the kits eye, he knew why he couldn't control the young one… he then smiles. "Very true young Prower… if I'm not mistaken… " the fox's eyes widened, how did he know his name? "If hurting you won't get me results then perhaps it will be the pain of your friend that will help persuade you."
Tails gasped as he heard those words, ensuring Nagus that he had hit a weak point. "No, leave Sonic alone!" The fox cried as the wizard let go of his throat.
"Then you know what to do." The evil magician said simply as he sent electricity to thrash the hedgehog within his prison causing the rodent to scream loudly in pain. Tails couldn't stand to see Sonic like this; the screams reverberated in his head.
"Sonic!"
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AN: Now you're wondering why I made the fat green guy the coward and the rest of the thin cast normal. It actually had nothing to do with his bodyweight or coloration for that matter. On the intro screen of Sonic 3D Blast you can see a visual of all four elders when it talks about Flickes. In the gameplay you collect the birds as you go about your business. When you get hit you lose the birds. Each color has a different movement associated with being 'on the loose'.
The green one, moves away from you, and this always ticked me off in the game, so I made him the 'coward' one on that reason. Cause he seemed to be a chicken in the game
Anyways that does it for this update the next one is coming on October 7th, it'll definatly be one not to miss and will tie alot together.