Chapter Thirty-Nine

Author's Note: Holy kre-jhap! Almost forty chapters and still going! And good fan-art! But don't let ScarletEbon hog all the fun! I'll take semi-decent fan-art as well. Don't be shy! An art of Regal and his hot groupies is up on fanartsdotnet, and Sonic's Heroic form and Mikael (with big sis) on ScarletEbon's Deviantart account. Ph33r his pimpness! Also, I'm working on a new fiction alongside of this: it came to me when I watched a Flash movie…

-- -- -- -- --

Sonic suddenly awoke to the hotel's wake up call, which, in turn, woke everyone else up at varying speeds. Sonic was the first to get up, so he got to the shower first. This, of course, was bad for Eberon, since Sonic liked singing rock songs in the shower. Tahra didn't seem to mind this, however; Sonic was a pretty good singer, actually.

The door to the bathroom swung open after a few minutes, and Sonic emerged, all squeaky clean and a towel around his waist, finishing on a high note. Eberon shut his ears, trying to block what he thought was noise. He was relieved when Sonic finally ended.

"Would you mind not singing like that, Sonic?" Eberon said. "It's very…annoying."

"I get next shower!" Knuckles said as he rushed into the bathroom.

-- -- -- -- --

The group was now on their way to the Kitsune Lord's palace. On the way, the group passed through a large market square. All through the city were almost thousands of kitsune, broken only by about a hundred members of other races. Most of the kitsune there had two tails, but a small number of them had three. Sonic wondered what this was all about, and Tahra, being who she was, was able to answer that.

"Kitsune social classes are genetically based. Three tailed kitsune are superior to two-tailed, even though the two tails are more common. The Kitsune Lord himself has a total of four, making him the head honcho in this city."

"Again with the discrimination…" Sonic growled.

"It's not like the commoners are treated badly. Three-tailed kitsune also have greater magical abilities, but with all this technology, it may have faded over time."

As this was being said, a yell from the crowd rang out as two kitsune around Mikael's age, a boy and a girl, both with two tails, bolted through the mass of people, with a middle-aged, three-tailed kitsune in pursuit. The two managed to push their way through the crowd, and passed a few feet from Sonic and his group.

"Come back here, you thieves!" the three-tailed kitsune cried.

"Should we help him?" Tahra asked the group. Without responding to this, Sonic started off to catch the children. It would easy for him…he was the fastest thing on two legs, after all. The rest of the group set off in pursuit as well, just to make sure Sonic wasn't running into trouble.

Sonic was bounding off of building walls, handstand jumping from street signs and doing just about anything else he could to stay above the crowd. The children proved to be very slippery, as Sonic nearly lost them a few times, but in the end, the two thieves made a wrong turn, and Sonic soon had them cornered. They were cowering in fear, fearful of what might happen to them. These were obviously poor little ones. As Sonic looked closer, he could definitely see that these were not pureblood kitsune…they were half-breeds!

"Okay, you two little bandits," Sonic said to them as calmly as possible in Brymbaal, "just that bag you stole to me, and I'll let you two go."

The owner of the bag finally arrived, and came up to Sonic.

"I must thank you, kind sir, for cornering these two dirty, thieving half-breeds. I'll make sure they get severely punished for this crime."

"Punished!" Sonic exclaimed. "Hey, they're just kids!"

"Children or not…they still committed a crime. Besides, this has been the latest of a spree these children have been a part of." The three-tailed kitsune glanced at Sonic's arm, and noticed the Mark of Penitence.

"Say, you must be this Sonic fellow I've been hearing about," he said, now losing his focus on the two children. "You're here to see the Kitsune Lord, are you not?" The two half-breeds, meanwhile, found a nearby fire escape and started toward it. Sonic, of course, noticed this, and a single look stopped the thieves in their tracks.

"Look, buddy…let these little guys off, huh?" Sonic asked. The two kids nodded nervously and presented the bag to the three-tailed kitsune, who surprisingly pushed it away.

"Keep it, you filthy mongrels! It's tainted, anyway. Besides, it is of no real worth to me anyway." The three-tailed kitsune stormed off, leaving Sonic and the two youngsters in the alley.

"Uh…thank you, kind sir," the male half-kitsune said nervously. "We're really sorry that we had to steal from the noble…"

"What's in that bag, anyway?" Sonic asked. "He said it was worthless."

The boy opened up the bag and pulled out a small workman's hammer, two small metal plates with holes in them and a box of nails.

"That's it?" Sonic exclaimed. "Some stuff from a hardware store? What would you kids need with this stuff? Are you building something?"

"It's none of your beeswax!" the boy retorted as he put the stuff back in the bag. He started up the fire escape. The girl stopped for a moment and gave Sonic a look of gratitude before following the boy. Moments later, the rest of Sonic's group caught up.

"Hey, Sonic…did you find those thieves?" Knuckles asked. Sonic nodded.

"Yeah, but they're just desperate little things. They were half-breeds, like Tails."

"Poor things," Tahra sighed. "They probably had to steal just to survive."

"The Kitsune Lord is so gonna answer for this!" Sonic said, clenching a fist in determination. He turned around and started marching back the way he had come from.

-- -- -- -- --

The group traversed the seemingly endless streets of Quadtalia, but soon found the office of the Kitsune Lord. Only Sonic and Tahra were allowed to enter the office of the Kitsune Lord this time around, so Eberon and Knuckles had to stay in the lobby and wait. The two hedgehogs boarded an elevator, and it began to rise, all the way to the eighty-ninth floor of the building.

"Remember, Sonic…let me do the talking," Tahra said. "I do have connections after all."

"He really needs to explain himself when it comes to those half-breeds needing to steal just to survive. It isn't right."

"Sonic…like it or not, it's how things have been for the past, oh, six thousand years. Do you really think you can change a sacred law that's been in place for that long? You're thinking like Eggman!"

"I don't care…I WILL change it somehow. It just isn't right!"

The elevator door opened as Sonic said this. The two exited the elevator, and before long, were face to face with the Kitsune Lord in his office. The white-furred kitsune was much taller than most kitsune, about five feet tall, and, like Tahra had said, had four immense tails. He was wearing a red robe very similar to the ones the angels wore. He has a long snout, making him appear to be almost like a wolf rather than a fox.

"Ah, I've been expecting you, Sonic…" the Kitsune Lord said amiably. "I have heard of your travails via the Echidna Cardinals…your skill is quite impressive. Well, you seem to be an expert at defeating powerful forces of evil."

"It's what I do, sir," Sonic said respectfully. He'd let the Kitsune Lord have a piece of his mind when the time came. "So, what bad guys do I have to pummel to get the kitsune blessing?"

"There are reports of a colony of half-kitsune angels several miles from here. Our forces have somehow been unable to infiltrate the colony, and we feel that you'll be just the man…er…hedgehog, for the job. Their leader is one of the six Seraphim. I suggest you be very careful."

"Whatever," Sonic replied. "Anything else you want to say?" The Kitsune Lord shook his head to indicate that he did not.

Sonic decided to launch into one of his moral indignation speeches. "Well I do…what's with your stigma against half-kitsunes, anyway? They look just like purebloods!"

The Kitsune Lord rose from his seat. "Are you questioning the sacred and just system that's defined our society for millennia? You are obviously ignorant as to why it is the way it is!"

"Just? What kind of just system leaves entire races out in the cold, while the top ones roll in splendor! It's disgusting!" Tahra stopped Sonic's banter by yanking him out of the room before he could rant further. When they were back on the elevator, she was quite mad.

"What the hell is your problem, Sonic?" Tahra screamed at him before calming herself down. "I agree that the caste system in place is unjust, but that doesn't give you a reason to spit in the face of the ruler of an entire species about it!"

Sonic sighed. "Okay, you're right…I shouldn't have done that. But there's something about him I don't like…besides the obvious, anyway. I smell a rat. He seemed too eager for me to do it. I think he's up to something not good."

"Maybe you're right," Tahra replied. "When I last heard about him, he was call for a campaign to clean up the kitsune race. I wonder what he means."

"It means trouble to this blue hedgehog. Maybe Tails and I can reason with the Seraphim. You, Knuckles and Eberon do what you can to investigate this 'racial clean-up' business while we're gone."

-- -- -- -- -- --

"Just like old times, eh, buddy?" Sonic quipped as he and Tails, having reverted to his sixteen-year-old body, ran, at a speed Sonic preferred, down the road to the so-called angel colony. It had been quite some time since the two traveled together, just the two of them. Ever since Knuckles joined their little camaraderie, it had always been the three of them.

"I suppose it's nice to be just the two of us again," Tails sighed. "By the way, did you notice anything about Eberon that seemed familiar to you?"

"Not really…why do you ask?" Sonic asked.

"Oh, nothing really. It's nothing at all."

Sonic really hated it when things were being kept secret from him. He wondered what Tails was hiding. But that concern moved to the back of his mind when he and Tails were suddenly ambushed by three guards,that leapt out of the bushes, holding energy spears with white-hot points to their throats. Sonic glanced at the guards…they didn't wings. If they were trying to strike fear into their hearts, a big pair of feathered wings stuck out of one's back was good.

"Not the best way to introduce yourselves," Sonic quipped as he nudged the spear away from his throat, and backed away, in an attempt to avoid hostility.

"You must be the latest of the goons the Kitsune Lord has sent our way…" one of the guards retorted. "Consider yourself lucky that Miss Naylet is so benevolent, otherwise we'd pierce your throats right here and now…"

The name "Naylet" immediately caused Tails to pull the spear away from him. Never had he thought he would hear the name of his dearest sister again, at least not in the past tense. One of the guards notice Tails was a half-kitsune, and motioned his two companions to remove their own spears.

"Say, buddy…you look a LOT like Miss Naylet…" the guard said inquisitively.

"I'm her brother…" Tails said. Sonic jumped with exasperation.

"YOU HAVE A SISTER?" he exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me!"

"I haven't told you a lot of things, Sonic…" Tails sighed.

"So, you're Milos, eh? Then this blue guy must be Sonic. Miss Naylet foresaw your arrival, but apparently neglected to tell us what you look like. Sorry about the unwelcome welcome."

"Meh, it's all good," Sonic said more cheerfully, now that the immediate threat to his life had passed. "So, you gonna show us the way?"