Chapter 4
Come dawn's early light, an inspector from the insurer's office, a longtime friend of Sir Charles, had come to check up on the damage. The good news was that they could claim the damage and be compensated. The bad news was that it was barely a drop in the bucket against their debt. It was a little comfort, but a comfort nonetheless. As Sir Charles and his wife settled their affairs, Tom and Maddie made their way around back. Despite Maddie's best attempts, there was little to be done about Tom's rage, and it was clear whom he was directing it upon. Sonic and Knuckles, to their credit, had waited for them, but both were twitching as the Donut Lord marched up to them and scorched them both with a burning glare.
"Start explaining." He growled. "Now!"
"We didn't do anything!" Sonic blurted out. "In fact, Knuckles and I were the ones to put out the fire anyway, so really you should be thanking us."
"Thank you?!"
"You're welcome." Knuckles stated.
Tom's face had turned beat red, but Maddie calmed him with a hand to the shoulder.
"Tom, come on. I know the boys can be messy, but I doubt they'd willfully set the barn on fire. Heck, Rosie told me that they stopped using oil lamps in there for the express reason of not causing a blaze. How could the boys of caused it anyhow?"
"Why not ask the odd man out?" Tom said crossly, noting the absence.
"Tails took off some time before we started putting the fire out." Sonic said. "I'll bet he was hunting down the real arsonist."
"That or he started it with one of his contraptions and you two are just covering for him."
"Tom!" Maddie snapped. "That's quite enough! You should know our boys better than that. Don't forget what Rosie told us last night. There's been multiple versions of vandalism in town, including a bakery fire. Perhaps the criminal is moving up to the next stage."
Tom sighed through his nose and he ran a hand over his face. He looked up again, taking in Sonic and Knuckles' pleading looks. Indeed, he knew better. There's no way these boys would do something so dastardly, and they definitely wouldn't try to cover it up.
"Sorry, guys. I'm just so flustered about…well, everything."
"It is understandable, Lord of Donuts." Knuckles said, pounding a fist to his chest. "One's clan is their everything. You feel their pain as though it were your own, and Sir Charles and Lady Rosie are indeed feeling much pain."
"The nerve of the punk burning down their barn." Sonic growled. "And trying to kill a mother and her unborn baby to boot."
Suddenly, a flash of realization struck him.
"Wait a sec! You don't think they've kidnapped Tails, do you?"
"I certainly hope not." Tom said. "I'd really rather not have to run into the likes of GUN again. Or another Crazy Carl."
"We must search for him!" Knuckles declared. "I shall remove every tree from its roots if I must to hunt him down!"
"Now let's not go crazy." Tom said. "Maddie and I can't go off since that might make Uncle Chuck and Aunt Rosie suspicious, but take Ozzie with you. He's about as good a tracking dog as we can find out here."
"We'll take him." Sonic said, and he and Knuckles took off.
Maddie and Tom exchanged glances, both unsure. Tails was the youngest of their little brood, and despite his intellect he was still very much a child. Hopefully he wasn't the prisoner of some sort of pyromaniac, but who was to be certain. However, it was not the arsonist that the two needed to worry about so much as the eavesdropping butler that had been trimming the backyard topiaries.
………………………………………….
Tails groaned softly as a stray beam of sunlight roused him from his sleep. His everything hurt, and his everything just as well refused to move. Even his eyelids would have remained closed had it not been for the burning of the light. He cracked an eye open, and he willed his hand to ward off the light. He appeared to be lying on some sort of cot made from a sleeping bag with pillows stuffed inside; comfortable enough, but it was rather lumpy on his back. Upon further inspection, he found he was in a sort of treehouse, evidenced by the trunk in the center of the room and the branches poking through cutouts in the roof. All around him were small pieces of furniture and a few odds and ends. Chief among those ends that swiftly got his attention was a photograph that looked deftly familiar: that of Tom's father when he was younger and that of his brother, Charles, though the locale was different. It seemed to be from when the two had gone fishing, each having a large mouth black bass at the ends of their hooks. Perhaps this was an old treehouse they had played in when they were kids? If so, then how in the heck did he end up in here?
To further confound him, there were certain items that he knew couldn't have been from when the boys were young. There were tins of kippers, some freshly opened and others licked clean, littering the floor, as well as some half-eaten loaves of bread and a few empty bottles of root beer. On the more menacing side, figuratively and literally, there were various arrows hand made from twigs and sharped stone as well as some taser parts, some candle oil and rags for burning variations, and even some liquid rat poison soaked rags. Among them were some bolos, a number of knives both stone hewn and metal, some wooden spears, a makeshift shield crafted from a manhole cover, and, the coup de grace, a sword. Whoever was making this place their home was ready for war, and Tails did not want to find out if he was the opposition!
He immediately started to rise, agitating his injuries, but that didn't stop him from sitting up.
"Hold on! You're not ready!"
The sudden voice only further frightened the fox, and he finally spied his bag. He dove for it, his aching muscles crying out in protest, and he snatched it as he took out his laser pistol and took aim. The voice's source came from a slender figure robed in a cloak and their face hidden in a hood. Their hands were raised, revealing arms coated in a chestnut fuzz that could only belong to a Mobian. Was this another of those brute's comrades? Was this his jailer?
"D-don't come any closer!" Tails demanded, his voice squeaking. "I know how to use this, and I will use it!"
The figure tried to draw closer, but Tails shot a blast through the window, proving his point.
"I mean it! Stay back!"
The figure went perfectly rigid, as though impersonating a statue, though one hand slowly reached down into the pocket on its robe. When the hand came back out again, it held a tiny gold medal, the emblem of an acorn gilded into its surface. Tails' eyes went wide.
"Hey! That's mine! Give it back!"
The figure shook their head.
"No, this is mine. Yours, or should I say your father's, is still in your bag. Go ahead and look."
Tails blinked, and instinctively he looked down. Sure enough, hidden under his Miles Electric and boomerang, was his beloved medal. He fished it out, and he held it up to inspect it. Sure enough, it was the real deal, and he looked to the stranger again. He was now hopelessly confused, unbearably frightened, but also a strong bit intrigued.
"Who…just who are you?"
The stranger reached up to their hood, and in one swift motion they threw it off, letting a head of bright red hair tumble down past her shoulders. She was a chipmunk in species, and she stood with a very regal air with her back straight and her nose held high.
"I am Princess Sally Alicia Acorn, Daughter of King Maximillian Acorn and Queen Alicia Acorn, of whom my middle name is derived and was handed down from my maternal grandmother."
The pistol fell to the floor, followed swiftly by Tails' bottom lip as his jaw fell out. He stared at Sally incredulously, trying to piece together what to be the biggest coincidence in the history of the entire Multiverse.
"Princess? There was a freaking princess?! But how did…what?!"
He gave his head a furious shake, his thoughts suddenly so scrambled that he no longer cared how much pain he was in.
"This is too much! I mean, it shouldn't even be possible! Everyone in the Acorn Kingdom had to of been vaporized at the epicenter of the blast that shattered the planet."
"I don't know about that." Sally said. "You were there. In fact, that was the day you were born if I recall correctly: the sixteen of the tenth month, fifteen pounds, though two and a half each were attributed to your mutated tails, and your parents were Sir Amadeus Prower, master at arms, and Rosemary Prower, the keeper of the royal gardens and…"
"Enough! No more!"
Tails brain was absolutely swimming by now; it was just too much to reconcile. His mother had mentioned that his father was close to the king, but she hadn't mentioned he was THAT close. Close enough that the Princess herself would be in attendance to his birth. Or, at the very least, some him shortly after his birth and heard the exact measurements of his conception. He stared at Sally with new eyes. The genius part of his brain advised him that there was still a statistical probability that she was lying about all of this, but the curious child part was pushing past with a number of questions. In the end, curiosity won out.
"Just how are you even alive?" He asked. "I don't mean that offensively, I just genuinely want to know. I mean, I guess I'm just as curious how I even survived if I truly was so close. What exactly happened that day? Do you remember?"
Sally's kind face slowly darkened into a sneer. Oh yes, she remembered that day. All too well she remembered it.
………………………………
It was a day like any other, my mother was taking me to meet the new child born of my uncle Amadeus. Even amongst the other infants in the nursery, I could pick you up out of the lineup, those two tails a dead giveaway. Even my mother, who I was convinced knew everything, hadn't the faintest clue how you were born with such a deformity, or if it was even worth calling it that. But all of that changed suddenly when the trumpets sounded and the alarm bell was rang. I was rushed back to the castle, where from a balcony I beheld an enormous army amassed at our front gates. Charlemagne, the champion of the opposing Overlanders made a startling declaration.
"Send out the king, that I may fight him one to one!" He boomed. "If victory goes to him, then the Mobians will be seen as equals in the eyes of Overlanders. But should he fall, then all Mobians shall submit as our slaves."
It was a foolhardy ploy, but one my father could not afford to pass on. For centuries, war had ravaged our home between our two peoples, and any chance for peace was worthy of a fight. So my father, armed with our ancestral weapon the Sword of Acorns, marched out onto the battlefield to meet his foe. What followed, as I'm sure your mother described, was a titanic clash of epic proportions. My father's sword clashed against Charlemagne's chaos induced magic, splitting the earth and sky and scattering the winds all about. Every blow seemed to shake the planet to its very core, the powers of order and chaos clashing. At last, at the battle's crux, Charlemagne charged in for one final. My father brought up his blade to deflect, and the resulting collision sent shockwaves across the planet's surface. Already weakened by the prior battle, there was little else the land could do to resist the powers unleashed. It cracked, it crumbled, and then it began to fall apart. I was tossed to the wind, helpless and horrified as the castle I had called home for many years fell apart one cinder at a time. I lost track of my mother and the royal guard, as well as all the friends I held dear. I was alone and trapped in a literal cyclone of madness as I was thrown all about. Then, when all had seemed lost…well, I'm not entirely certain what it was. I only remember feathers and a flash of gold, and the next thing I knew I had landed in the bushes of a towering forest. There was no sign of my rescuer, an angel I was certain, and I knew not where I was.
…………………………………….
Tails was in utter awe as the story drew to a close, and he couldn't help but offer a sympathetic smile as Sally recanted her tragic story.
"Seeing as he didn't raise you, I can only assume Sir Amadeus did not survive the destruction of our home." Sally deduced. "I'm still not entirely certain how you survived, beyond that it must have been the same angel that rescued me. Perhaps an entire host. I don't know."
She managed a small grin.
"But what does that matter? You're alive, and now we're together. Neither of us have to be alone anymore."
That was when the grey wires in Tails' brain connected, and he remembered something very important.
"You couldn't be more right!" He said suddenly. "Listen, you're going to love this! You see, before I met you here, I was really…"
Suddenly, something moving fast smashed through the window. Fearing it was the brutes from last night, Sally dove for her sword, grabbing it and unsheathing it. Towering before her, arcs of blue lightning surging through his body, was a very livid looking blue hedgehog.
"You've got a lot of nerve, lady." He snarled. "Nobody messes with my friends and gets to walk away."
Sally, I afraid of this chaos charged fool, leveled her blade.
"So you are in league. I doubted that would be all after last night. Well then, what say we finish where we left off!"
Not giving her enemy a chance, Sally hit a secret release, opening a trap door under the hedgehog, sending him down to the ground as she gave chase. Tails tried to follow, but his bruised body crumbled to the ground, just in time for Knuckles to fly in on his dreadlocks.
"Fox! Thank heavens we found you in time! If that she-harpy has harmed you, I shall avenge each of your wounds many times fold!"
Tails shook his head angrily.
"No, you knucklehead! That was the person that saved me last night! I swear, it's like I'm the only one that uses their brain sometimes."
He forced himself to stand, Knuckles offering his shoulder.
"We've got to stop them from hurting each other. We gotta show Sonic and Sally we're all on the same side."
It was then Tails spied something lying nearby. It was a pouch with a little card with scrawled handwriting on it that read, "Angel Feathers". Tails picked it up and he opened it to peer inside. What he found made him grin.
"Yes! This could work!"
