Hi again kiddies…welcome to today's lesson…Just kidding! Anyhow, thanks for reviewing again people. And just to show you how thankful I am, I'm gonna reply to you each individually again:
SHADE-THE-HEDGEHOG: You're right, there's only this chapter and another one then that's it…I think. As for the rest of your review, you're just gonna have to read and find out aren't you!
JHONIC/TAILSFAN2005: ThankYOU for liking it so much, I hope this one doesn't disappoint!
SHADTIKAL4EVER: You show many signs of awsomeness too (if that's a word) for reviewing my story!
WOULDNTYOULIKETOKNOW: Thanx for putting me on ur fav authors list. I think you have won the award for the wierdest review I have ever gotten! That was mad! I appreciate it though and I DO care that I sent you on a guilt trip! Lol.
DAXTHEMETALHEAD: Thanx for thanking me for thanking you…Does that make sense! The thing is, when I wrote Aurora, I didn't know that she was a character from…Archie is it? I just decided that Aurora would be a good name and used that. She is not based on the char in the comics so she has a different personality. Soz if u thought she was out of character! Keep reviewing!
SONICRULES12: I'm glad I managed to live up to your expectations of me in this chapter. I do try my best! Thankyou for your review again. I must say though, I wasn't sure about Sonic and Knux's deaths would go down but it seems that you seemed to like it! TTFN!
HERE WE GO!
Chapter 15: Saving Private Prower…It was now the second afternoon since Tails had arrived in The Nothing.
"Woah, is this The Nothing?" Knuckles asked himself as he stood in complete darkness. He couldn't see Sonic yet and was beginning to wonder if Sonic was going to appear. "Sonic?" He called and his voice echoed like Tails' did when Sonic had seen him. There was no answer.
Suddenly, there was a bright light and thousands of tiny blue particles started flying together in a space close to where Knuckles was stood. Knuckles was at first worried but soon realised that this was not an ordinary place so he shouldn't expect normal things to happen. The blue particles gathered quickly and soon Knuckles saw a shape being formed. They merged together and another bright light blinded Knuckles for a moment. When he finally managed to open his eyes again, Sonic was stood where all the particles had been.
"Am I glad to see you!" Knuckles said with relief. "I thought you hadn't made it."
"Nothing is gonna stop me from getting my bro back!" Sonic replied with a smile.
"So…where do we look first?" Knuckles then asked Sonic who was looking around in the darkness.
"Um…well…last time I saw Tails, he sorta appeared in a light thing-he was glowing." Sonic said as he realised that this didn't help much.
"So are we!" Knuckles replied as he looked down at himself. Sonic also looked and noticed that Knuckles was right. They were each glowing, Sonic had a blue aura around him and Knuckles had a red one.
"So I guess Tails was glowing orange then?" Knuckles asked, putting two and two together.
"Yeah, well it was kinda goldish really." Sonic replied. "So, what should we do?" He continued.
"Er…I'm not sure!" Knuckles replied. Sonic decided to take the quickest option.
"TAILS!" He called out as loud as he could. Knuckles followed suit.
"TAILS? WHERE ARE YOU!" He shouted. There was at first no reply and Sonic was just about to shout again but a noise stopped him. There was a whooshing sort of sound and a figure with a green aura around itself began to move towards them.
"Er…Sonic, do you think that this would be a good time to get away from here?" Knuckles asked. He didn't want to take any chances with the mystery figure.
"No…lets just see what it does. It might be able to help." Sonic replied. The figure came closer and began to speak.
"I've been expecting you." It said. Both Sonic and Knuckles recognised the voice to belong to that of Aurora.
"Where is Tails?" Sonic asked. He wanted to get straight to the point.
"He is being looked after…" She replied in her eerie voice. Neither of them could figure out whether it belonged to a male of female but from the look of Aurora, they both decided upon female.
"Will you take us to him?" Knuckles asked.
"So be it." She said and both Sonic and Knuckles rose off the floor like they had seen happen to Tails in the Chaos emerald.
"Whoa!" Sonic gasped as they began to float behind Aurora. "This is totally weird dude!"
"I know what you mean!" Knuckles said back. They were moving quite quickly and soon a building began to appear through the darkness. Cunningly, it was painted black so they had to get very close before noticing it even though it was quite large. Aurora clicked her fingers and Sonic and Knuckles fell to the floor with a bump.
"OW!-What d'ya do that for!" Knuckles said. Aurora ignored him. Sonic nudged him in the side.
"Don't annoy her. Remember what she did to Tails last time Sally shouted at her?" He chastised Knuckles.
"Fine but she better warn me next time she does that!" He protested.
"Follow…" Aurora ordered. They both obliged and followed her into the building. They began to walk down various corridors which all looked the same to Sonic and Knuckles. Each one was lined with large glass windows. Through each window there was a small room containing a bed, a table and a chair. Everything in it was white including the walls and the objects. They both looked into some of the rooms as they passed and saw that some of them were occupied. They saw various animals some of which looked perfectly normal but some had injuries which looked bad.
Knuckles looked into a window and saw another creature. The figure had a feature which Knuckles knew only belonged to one other creature on Mobius. She had two tails.
"Sonic look at that! It's that kitsune that Tails went out with! Remember, she died a when Robotnik gave her that disease!" Knuckles ran over to the glass and shouted.
"Carla! Carla It's Knuckles!" He shouted but she could not hear him.
"She cannot see or hear you." Aurora said. Knuckles then realised that the glass must be one of those funny mirrors that you could look through from one side but the other was just a mirror. After passing several other 'cages', Sonic realised something bad.
"Why are they all children?" He asked.
"Because by the time you have become an adult, you hardly ever have a completely clean conscience." Aurora replied. Sonic thought about this for a while. Did he still have a clean conscience? He didn't think so.
They continued walking for several minutes and made various twists and turns along the way but finally, Aurora stopped outside a room. It was slightly different to the others. As well as the white walls and furniture, there was also a quantity of monitors and a smaller table which had pills and syringes on it. Before Sonic or Knuckles had chance to ask, Aurora answered them.
"Do not worry. There are several rooms like this one along the corridor. We have monitors in there for the creatures who endured injuries over a period of time instead of just once."
"What do you mean?" Knuckles asked-he hadn't been paying much attention.
"Well, most of the creatures in here have had an accident which killed them therefore, they only usually receive one set of injuries. But in some cases, the creature, in this case Tails, is receiving injuries at regular intervals." She explained.
"How often?" Sonic asked.
"Well, the staff here have monitored his condition and have recorded that he seems to receive more injuries every 30 minutes." She replied.
"I hate Robotnik." Sonic said. "Every 30 minutes." He repeated.
"Yes…I'm surprised really that he lasted the three days." Aurora said. All three of them looked in through the mirror and watched Tails. He was sat in the very corner of the room with his knees hugged to his chest. It was only the second day but he had still received many cuts and bruises that covered his tiny body. He rocked back and forth slowly in the corner with a fearful expression on his face. His eyes darted from left to right at every noise he heard.
"When is it due to happen again?" Knuckles asked.
"In around 5 minutes. It is up to you to decide whether you want to see it or not. I assure you, it is rather distressing but also quite interesting at the same time." Aurora said. She wanted them to stay and witness what happened to Tails because she knew from experience that the distress it would cause Sonic and Knuckles would make them more determined to get him back. Before either of them could answer, a ferret and a rabbit entered through a door that neither of them had seen before as it was pained the same colour as the walls. They came into Tails' room and began to remove the table, chair and bed. After they had done this, they came over to Tails who looked up at them nervously. Sonic could see that he was shaking with fear. The voices in the room came over through a com system above Knuckles' head.
"I'm sorry Tails, you know the routine by now." The ferret said. Tails just continued to rock back and forth in the corner.
"Tails honey, I'm afraid you can't stay in the corner. You could get hurt." The rabbit said as it crouched in front of him. It then took his hand and Tails let himself be led to the centre of the room. He then sat back down and buried his head in his knees.
"I'm gonna get hurt anyway." He said. The two orderlies just gave each other a glance.
"I know honey. I'm sorry." The female rabbit said before they both left the room leaving Tails on his own.
"I wish Sonic was here…" He sobbed as he burst into tears.
Sonic felt like crying himself.
"Aurora, can I go in there and stay with him?" He asked.
"I'm sorry Sonic but it is far too dangerous." She replied.
"What do you mean?" He asked in a confused state.
"You will find out soon enough." She simply stated.
Sonic went and pressed his hands up to the glass. Tails continued crying.
"Sonic…where are you?" He mumbled again between sobs.
"I'm right here Tails…I'm right here…" Sonic replied even though he knew Tails couldn't hear him.
Knuckles felt really bad for them both right now. Over the last few days, it seemed like his conscience had grown a lot and he was experiencing feelings of compassion and sadness which he would have just repressed earlier. He went over to Sonic and put his hand on Sonic's shoulder.
"Hey Sonic…We'll get him outta there." He said in a comforting voice that Sonic had never heard him use before.
"So you do have feelings!" Sonic said quietly. Knuckles blushed.
"Well ya better not tell anyone-I have a reputation to protect you know." He replied with a slight smile. This made Sonic smile too but they were both wiped away as they saw what had started to happen on the other side of the glass.
Tails suddenly was thrown back into a laid down position and each arm flew back behind him until it looked like he was being stretched out by an invisible force. Knuckles then realised what was happening.
"Sonic, maybe it's best you don't watch this time." He started.
"Why?" Sonic asked as Tails began writhing and squirming in his position. He seemed unable to move.
"Because I know what is going to happen here-I have already seen it and trust me it's not pretty!" He said.
"I've got to be there for him-I'm staying and that's that." Sonic said.
"Well you go ahead but I can't bear to watch it again. I've already seen it happen once and that was bad enough. This is one of the worst one's." Knuckles replied as he turned towards Aurora.
"You really think that Sonic is going to find this interesting! Watching his best friend get mutilated right in front of him!" Knuckles said to Aurora.
"It could help the situation." Was all she said. Knuckles didn't really know what she meant.
Sonic watched in horror as he realised what was happening. Tails must be tied down to something.
"Let me go!" Tails shouted. There was a moment of silence and Sonic could tell that Tails was being talked to. Tails could hear it but no one else could.
"No! I'll never tell you where it is! I promised Sonic I would never tell." Tails yelled at whatever he could see. Sonic began to wish that he hadn't made Tails promise him that.
"NO! SONIC! DON'T DO THIS! PLEASE SONIC! PLEASE!" Sonic heard Tails begging and crying through the radio.
"Snively told him that Mecha Sonic was you robotocized. That is who Tails is shouting at." Knuckles explained. Now Sonic understood what was happening.
"I can't believe he would do something so mean!" Sonic said as he watched Tails' eyes widen in fear and then he turned his head away and closed his eyes as tightly as he could.
"AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Tails let out an ear splitting scream as a horrified Sonic tried to make sense of what he had just seen. Several large gashes had just opened up on Tails' skin from nowhere.
"God Sonic! Please help me!" Tails begged as his body was thrown from side to side like he was being hit with an invisible force. Sonic looked on with his eyes wide at what he saw. This was worse than what he had seen in his dream-it was reality. Then Sonic was nearly sick when he saw Tails' arm snap before his eyes shortly followed by each of his other limbs.
"WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON!" Sonic yelled.
"Mecha is doing it to him coz he wouldn't tell where Knothole is" Knuckles shouted over Tails' screams. Tails then went silent as he fell unconscious with the pain.
"I have to go get him!" Sonic said as he started to run towards the door from which the orderlies had left. Aurora suddenly stopped him by raising from the ground again.
"Hey!" Sonic protested but she didn't let him down.
"Sorry hedgehog but it isn't that simple." She began. "Come…" She ordered and Sonic floated behind Aurora. Knuckles decided to go with them. He took one look back at Tails who was still lying un-conscious on the floor and saw the two orderlies enter the room again with needles. They must want to give him some medicine he thought to himself before turning back and walking off in the direction Sonic and Aurora had taken. However, before he had got very far, Knuckles realised that he had just been given the perfect opportunity.
He stopped mid-stride. What was stopping him from going to get Tails now? Why couldn't he just go and get him, take him to a safe place, then get Sonic and leave? He pondered this for a while. He knew there were problems with the plan. Firstly, where was he going to take Tails for him not to be found? Secondly, how was he going to get Sonic without alerting Aurora? Thirdly, how do they get back to Knothole?
Knuckles decided to cross those obstacles when he came to them. It was too good an opportunity to pass up. He began to walk quietly around to the side of Tails' cell, to the side where the door was. The orderlies had already left so it was easy enough for him to get in without being seen.
Once inside, Knuckles walked over to the table which had now been replaced in the room. He looked over the various medicines, syringes and pills that were on it. He quickly grabbed as many as he could and put them in a small bag that he carried over his shoulder. –Tails could need them. Inside his bag already were a medical kit, a jacket, a radio and a gun. He took out the jacket to make room for the medicines. Knuckles turned when a small noise broke his concentration.
"Tails?" He asked as he rushed up to Tails who was beginning to wake up. Tails opened his eyes and saw Knuckles looking down at him with a concerned expression.
"What…what are you doing here?" He asked in surprise.
"I'll explain all that later, first we need to get you out of here." Knuckles replied as he eased his strong arms underneath Tails and lifted him gently.
"How do you feel?" Knuckles asked. It sounded like a stupid question but Tails didn't seem to be in any pain so Knuckles was confused.
"Um…pretty good really, I don't hurt much if that's what you mean." Tails replied as Knuckles began to carry from the room.
"It's probably those drugs they give you. Do you know anywhere we can hide til' I can get Sonic?" Knuckles said.
"Well, before I got put in here, I was wanderin' around for a while and I found out something; you can get rid of these light things that surround us by running-it's like you out run them or something." Tails said.
"That could help if Aurora tries to find us." Knuckles replied thoughtfully. "But it's goin' to be hard to run around with you in my arms." He continued.
The pair continued walking through the place. Every now and again Tails told him to take a left or a right.
"How do you know where you are going?" Knuckles asked.
"I can smell the outside." Tails simply replied. Well, he was a fox-that's what they did wasn't it? Knuckles thought as they carried on. Once reaching outside, they both went a little way into the darkness and stopped for a rest.
"What time is it?" Tails suddenly asked with a nervous tone in his voice. Knuckles soon realised why Tails was so worried.
"Er…you have about another 15 minutes." He replied. He saw Tails look to the floor then back up at him. At the same time he realised that Tails had around 3 hours for them to save him left.
"Well I suppose I'd better explain…" Tails started.
"I saw it." Knuckles said before he could begin.
"Oh…" Tails replied quietly. He looked into Knuckles eyes. "Knuckles…Um…well when it happens again…will you stay with me?" He asked. Knuckles wondered why Tails thought that he would leave him.
"'Course I will." He replied in a comforting tone that made Tails feel a little better.
Knuckles proceeded to take his radio from his bag and turned it on. He wondered whether to try to contact Sonic if he was still with Aurora. He decided that he could ask where he was without telling him that he had Tails. He pressed the speaker button down.
"Sonic…you there?" He asked into it. Static was all that could be heard for a few moments but then an unmistakable voice was heard over the radio. It made Tails' heart do a back flip-Now that Sonic was around; everything was going to be o.k.
"Hey Knux what's up?" Sonic said.
"Are ya still with Aurora?"
"Nope. She went to see Carla for some reason. She left me waiting here. How is Tails?" Sonic asked. He thought that Knuckles was still in there next to Tails' cell.
"He's woke up. He's outside with me now." Knuckles replied.
"What d'ya mean?" Sonic asked confused.
"I mean while you were messing about in there, I was busy getting Tails out of there." Knuckles replied then placed the radio up to Tails' mouth so he could speak into it.
"Hey Sonic!" Tails called happily.
"Hey lil' guy! I'm coming out right now. You o.k.?" He replied trying to sound cheerful.
"Sure Sonic. See you soon!" Tails said before hearing the click of Sonic's radio on the other side.
As Sonic went to leave, Aurora watched over him through her telepathic mind. A small smile reached the corners of her lips. Her plan was going well. Aurora thought over it in her mind.
Aurora wasn't really a bad person. She had planned to show them the state Tails was in so they felt more compelled to save him quickly. She left Knuckles alone as she knew what he would do. Her job was to help those who came here to rescue their loved one's but she was unable of telling them exactly how to do it. They had to care for the individual enough to be able to think of a plan to save him. Aurora just helped that along slightly.
Sighing, she turned back to Carla. No one had saved her. Her disease had caused her a long and drawn out death. Aurora felt pity for the young fox. She was so beautiful. Her snow-white fur and black tipped ears only seemed to accentuate her deep blue eyes. Why did people like Robotnik continue to live whilst hundreds of innocent children arrived in the Nothing every day?
Carla gazed up at her with sorrowful eyes. Aurora thought to herself and realised that there was an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.
"Carla, I am going to telepathically send you somewhere now. I can't tell you where but you will find out soon enough." She said with a loving gaze in her eyes. "I don't EVER want to see you here again o.k.?" She finished with a smile.
Carla looked confused for a moment but smiled back anyway. After her short speech, Aurora closed her eyes in concentration and a blinding white aura began to form around Carla. She slowly faded from vision and as soon as she could no longer be seen, Aurora opened her eyes…
I'm not too happy with this chapter, there's just something wrong with it. I think that they got away too easy. I know that Aurora was really letting them go without Knukles knowing it but still…Oh I don't know! I bet I get some 'constructive' critisism for this chapter though! Lol. Ok, only one chapter left now…Are you all going to miss me! I hope so. I want to warn you though, it IS going to have a NICE ending-Just so that you gore lovers know. Well, I couldn't put all that yuckiness in there and then not have a happy ending for poor Sonic and co. Could I! Please review-It would make my week! Oh yeah, sorry about the TINY use of a fan-char, I just wanted someone named after myself in one of my fics for some reason. She is in the next chapter a little bit so please don't flame me…In case you havent guessed, my real first name is Carla! Lol.