Hello! It's time for chapter six of this story! First, we've got reviews as usual!
1TGN: Knuckles is certainly a fitting addition to our story thus far, we'll be getting a bit more of him this chapter! As for Myriam, she's mostly original, but you'll get a bit more of exactly what she is eventually! With some answers to their questions, hopefully the gang will be able to get done what they need to without much issue! I promise I'll be answering all your questions eventually!
Perturbo: Myriam is certainly a bit of an interesting character, and I assure you, you'll get the answers about Tikal eventually! But for now, you'll just have to read on!
Void Reader: The story behind the Nightstalkers is interesting, and while the echidnas are a source of information about it, they're ultimately not a direct witness of the events, you'll get some more details of what exactly happened soon! Nightspawns are also certainly interesting and more than slightly terrifying!
AndTails: The group certainly got what they came for, but it only introduced more questions concerning it all. We'll have to see exactly what they do with their new found information soon!
Haloixix13: You're perfectly alright! I'm at least happy you're enjoying it! Angel Island certainly had a few things for our heroes! But things are only getting more complex as well, now there's something important about Sonic. Also, thanks for the compliment on descriptions, I've been trying much more than usual for this story and I'm glad to see it's working!
Let's get going!
Nightstalkers
Snap
As the trio exited the tower, several thoughts were on all of their minds. Sonic was the first to speak up.
"Sal, you know we can't go back now. I mean, with everything we just learned-"
"We promised their council we'd return once we knew where exactly these things came from, we got what we were looking for." She answered, "In any case, we'll come back here after and-"
"But what about Minerva, didn't the echidna say she could help us? Isn't it at least worth trying to see if we can't figure out more about these things?"
"I agree it is, but we were told to just come straight back, they need us back at Knothole Sonic, and you know that…"
The hedgehog sighed, she had a point after all. "Fine, but after, we'll at least try and see if we can't return to figure out more."
The group's exchange was interrupted by footsteps on the stairs behind them, the trio turned to find Knuckles, a brown and white trimmed cloak that hadn't been there before now wrapped around himself. "Figured you three could use some help." He commented.
"We'll gladly take it." Sally responded. "From what I can tell, you seem to know quite a bit, maybe you could help explain to Knothole what exactly we found here."
"Sounds like a plan to me."
The group of four set back off toward the stairs that would let them leave the island, as they did, Tails decided now was as good of a time as any to ask a few questions.
"So, that thing around your neck, what is it exactly?" The kit spoke gesturing to the small silver pendant.
"Well, it's a long story, but basically it's a container for Chaos Energy, which is the same stuff Myriam used to heal your arm."
"How did that even work?"
"Manipulating Chaos Energy is very hard and takes a lot of practice. Echidnas have a natural connection to the stuff, so while it's easier for us to manipulate it, it's still not easy."
"What can it do?"
"Lots of things actually, and if we run into any Nightstalkers on the way back, I'm sure you'll get to see it."
"Speaking of which," Sonic interjected. "What was all that earlier about Nightspawns? I mean, I'd only really heard stories about them…"
"They're incredibly dangerous, so much so that it's not really worth keeping them alive. Basically double agents for the Nightstalkers. One of them caused quite a stir up here… You see, we aren't as unified as we look. It's really a large coalition between many different warring tribes, which is what the robe colors are for. So the fact that one of them turned on members of a different tribe has obviously caused more than a little tension around here…"
"I can see that…" Sonic responded, taking a glance at a set of nearby blue robed echidna standing separate from all the others.
"Is it really necessary to…" Tails began, "Kill them? I mean, can't you just-"
"Let them leave?" Knuckles finished, "I mean, it's simply too big of a risk, what's to stop them from returning? Really, all we need to do now is to be prepared for when we meet Minerva, she's a Nightspawn, so we'll have to be ready for anything."
"Right," Sonic responded. "Well let's get this show on the road then!"
The others nodded in agreement as they reached the stairs and made their way down to the ground below. The trip back to Knothole would hopefully be relatively quiet…
-X-
The trip back up the mountain would take a while, but the group didn't quite mind, especially with the fact that Knuckles proved an interesting new companion.
"So, what's your story?" Tails asked the echidna during the early stages of their journey after they'd sat down for a short break.
"What do you mean?"
"Like… Where are you from?"
The echidna seemingly thought over his response before replying. "Well, I was born into one of the tribes responsible for defending Angel Island. From what I heard, it wasn't a particularly interesting job at the time. With the agreement between all the tribes, there wasn't really much fighting over the island… That all changed pretty quickly however when the Nightstalkers first started to appear. I mean, nobody was really prepared, to be honest, the job of being a guard at the time was more ceremonial than an actual position… We lost lots of echidna because of that…"
"What changed?"
"We got better and realized we actually had a job to do. We adapted, so far it's been working, but I don't know just how long it'll last, we need a more permanent solution."
"That's exactly what we thought." Sonic added, "This can't just keep going on forever."
"I agree one way or another, this needs to end."
Silence once again descended over the group, eventually, Knuckles spoke again. "So, uh-"
"Tails." The kitsune responded.
"Right, what's your story?"
The kitsune was silent for a moment, Sonic himself felt a bit worried and the question, as he suspected how this was going to end. Still though, he figured it'd be good to let the kit talk.
"I never knew my dad… I just never did. My mom… She was really my only family. I can't remember a time when she didn't love me, even though I'm not exactly normal…" He spoke, his namesakes gently flicking behind him. "I lived with her up until a few years ago when…"
The fox stopped, quiet sniffles could be heard now. Sonic gently made his way over and sat next to the fox as he tried to continue.
"I- I messed up and… They…"
The fox started to cry, gently resting his head on Sonic's shoulder. The hedgehog stroked his back as sobs started to come from the kitsune.
"It should have been me…" He quietly spoke to himself, "It's all my fault…"
"Tails…" Sonic said, "It's not your fault…"
"Yes it is! It's my fault she's dead! If I had been normal none of it would have happened, of course it's my fault Sonic!"
The kitsune was having a full breakdown now, a constant stream of tears ran down his face. Sonic simply hugged the kitsune tightly as he let all of his emotions out.
"I think that's enough for today bud… You actually got further than usual so maybe it's getting a bit better…"
The kit didn't respond, continuing to sob against the hedgehog.
Knuckles and Sonic exchanged glances, they'd speak more about this tonight…
-X-
Eventually, as night came and they settled into a cave for the night, Sally had volunteered for the first watch. Leaving the three remaining Mobians to themselves inside the warm cave. Tails, seemingly exhausted from the trek and events of the day, quickly fell asleep by the fire, wrapped in his cloak.
After making sure he was completely asleep, Sonic broke the silence.
"You know… I should probably thank you for talking with Tails earlier. He just really struggles to open up with anyone. So even getting him to talk about what happened is hard."
"What happened?"
"We're not exactly sure… All I really know is that Tails' mom died when he was a kid, he eventually arrived at Knothole and we've just kinda been family since."
"Dang, he's that young, no wonder it messed him up."
"Yeah, but he seems to be doing better lately, so hopefully things are improving."
The two sat in silence for a bit, the crackling of the fire the only noise that accompanied their thoughts. Sonic watched the slow rise and fall of the kitsune's chest as he was soundly asleep, eventually, the hedgehog himself grew relaxed and allowed his own eyes to flutter shut as sleep overwhelmed him.
-X-
As the morning broke and the group stirred from their slumber, Sonic made his way back into the cave, the four of them collected all their things and prepared for the journey that lay ahead. It was only about a day and a half to Knothole now, so they couldn't afford to waste any time.
They trekked on until they reached the rope they had used to descend the steep cliff on their way to Angel Island. Sonic volunteered to be the first one to go and he began the process of moving himself up the rope. It took some time, but eventually, he set his foot into the snow at the top and shouted down to the remainder of the group.
Eventually, the four of them had managed to reach the top and continued on their way home. Small talk between the members helped to break up the otherwise monotonous trip.
Tails however, was starting to feel a gentle tugging on his own soul. He needed to tell Sonic… He knew he did, but it wasn't very far to Knothole now, only another day really. Maybe he'd just be fine keeping to himself until then. At least once they got back he could-
His and everyone else's thoughts were interrupted by a glimpse of a figure against the snow and trees, the four quickly grouped up, preparing their weapons as the familiar trio of purple and yellow eyes gazed at them through the snow. The set was quickly joined by another as yet more Nightstalkers made their presence known and began circling the group.
Knuckle's pendant began to glow a faint green color as the same color began to gently emanate from his hands, yet another monster joined the assembled group. Internally, everyone in the group was worried. This was by far the largest group they'd ever seen. There had to be at least six of the monsters, and there was no telling if there were more…
The tension as the two groups sat, one completely surrounded by the other was broken however as Knuckles pulled one of his arms back and flung it forward as if throwing a spear, instantly, a bolt of green energy materialized before him and flew forward like a bolt of lightning, striking one of the monsters directly and sending it backward. As if on queue, the remainder of them charged the assembled Mobians and were quickly atop them. What followed was a mess of claws, energy blades, and bolts of concentrated energy. The fact that the Nightstalkers simply had the group outnumbered didn't bode well for them, but as Sonic dodged out of the way of another slash of claws, he knew he wasn't going to go down without a fight.
Just as that thought finished running through his brain, one of the several monsters managed to land a solid swipe against his leg, sending flashes of pain up his body as he struck back with his own weapon. A bolt of green energy flew next to his head and struck the Nightstalker in the face, sending it reeling away from the hedgehog. He glanced over his shoulder at Knuckles, who then turned to the approaching monster behind him and, with his hands ago with green light, landed a punch directly between the beast's eyes. A shockwave of energy was visible as the black furred attacker stumbled backward in pain.
As the hedgehog delivered a strike with his own dagger to another Nightstalker, he knew this was a futile effort. There were simply far too many of them to take down at once. He looked over to Sally on his right, who was also busy blocking a claw swipe with her energy blades.
On his other side, Tails ducked out of the path of a lunge aimed for his head, but the hedgehog could tell the kitsune was getting tired, and frankly, he was as well.
A yelp of pain came from the fox as a pair of claws struck across his chest. He tried to move, though due to exhaustion, he was simply far too late. Pain rushed through him as his eyes widened in panic and his brain rushed at a thousand miles a second.
"You're going to die!"
"It- It'll be fine… I just need to-"
"What, keep calm, keep control? You know you're going to die!"
"No, just relax Miles everything is-"
"Fine? Fine!? You know good and well everything isn't fine!"
Suddenly, the fox felt something in his brain snap, and fear rushed into his thoughts.
"Not now, any time but now! They'll find out they'll-"
"You're going to die! It's better than that isn't it?"
"I'll find a way! I'll-"
Tails' heart was practically pounding out of his chest as he felt his brain shut off, and his last thought before everything went black was that of complete and utter horror…
Sonic and the rest of the group had turned away to the remainder of the monsters, things weren't going great. Sonic himself was exhausted, and he could tell the others were as well.
"Well, you tried." He thought to himself, "You really-"
A loud snarl made its way to Sonic's ears as a flash of movement next to him launched itself as one of the Nightstalkers. He watched in almost fear and horror as Tails sunk his claws into one of the monsters, tearing at its fur and skin. The beast roared in anger as it swiped at the fox, only to be met with a swipe across its eyes, leaving a set of long red scratches across its features. The monster fled as the others turned away, slipping back into the shadows. The fox then turned his attention to Sonic, glaring at him as he sized up the hedgehog. Before he could say anything, the kitsune dove at him, giving him just enough time to dodge out of the way.
"Tails! What are you-"
The kit dove at him again, pinning him to the ground and growling. In that moment with their faces just inches from each other, Sonic saw the raw fury and bloodlust in the fox's eyes. He froze out of fear as a thought crossed his mind.
"This isn't Tails."
As the fox was about to sink his fangs into Sonic, he was tackled by Sally, who ignited one of her ring blades and threw the fox off of her. As the fox glared at her with rage in his eyes, he lunged forward. Sally was prepared however and as she delivered a kick to the kitsune's chest, she sliced at the bag still strapped to the fox's side, cutting the strap and allowing it to fall to the ground.
A bolt of bright green energy soared into the kitsune and struck him on his side, blasting him back into a nearby snowbank. Sally glanced over at Knuckles who was in the process of preparing another bolt of Chaos Energy, she scrambled over to the fallen bag, grabbing the tranquilizer pistol Tails had strapped to the side of it before they left, she silently thanked whatever had prompted him to bring it as she took aim at the kitsune making his way out of the snow toward her. Pulling the trigger the dart struck him in the arm, and while he continued forward for a few seconds, he quickly collapsed into the snow, his body going completely limp and numb as his eyes closed.
The remaining trio of Mobians took a moment to catch their breaths as Sally lowered the pistol. A thousand questions rushed through her brain. She'd never seen Tails, or any Mobian for that matter act like that.
"What…" Sonic stammered, seemingly still in shock from the events that had just occurred. "Just happened…"
The group simply sat in stunned silence for a second before Sonic eventually snapped out of his trance. Tails was still hurt, and he wasn't about to let him bleed out in the snow. As he stepped forward, a thought ran through his mind. One he might have had when Tails had pinned him down earlier, but one he hadn't wanted to admit. As he approached and knelt next to the kitsune, he gently removed the headband on his forehead, and pushed some of his thick bangs aside, before quickly flinching back in fear.
Underneath all that fur, a third eye sat on the kit's forehead.
Alright everyone, that's it today! Sorry for the cliffhanger but I'll pick up next time soon I promise! Let me know your thoughts and I'll see you next time!
