Hello everybody! Welcome to another chapter! Before we begin, it's review time as usual!
Perturbo: While it was certainly long, I didn't quite want to cut it anywhere in the middle, getting all of the next section of Tails' journey in one shot was important!
1TGN: Amadeus' trials are certainly intentional, and Tails' determination was exactly what he needed to push through! I wanted to have Rosemary be different from Amadeus, so I like her kind of sitting on the sidelines and silently observing, quietly reflecting on everything. Having Amadeus be the powerful sorcerer lets her be more of a wise sage, and I like their dynamic like that! Hopefully, you'll get to see what you're anticipating in this chapter!
Guardian of 2fort: Tails has certainly grown quite a bit in the past few chapters. Time in the mindscape is somewhat relative, so we'll have to see just how long has passed!
HavalTheRock: It's certainly a change, but I think it's better overall! Makes their relationship with Tails a bit more personal and lets us get to know them a bit better!
Let's get going!
The Kitsune Legacy
Crescendo
Sonic yawned as he awoke, groggily wiping the sleep from his eyes as he stretched out on the bed. As his vision came into focus he expected to see a pair of orange and white tails dangling from the bunk above him, and when that wasn't the case, a bit of concern crept into his mind.
"He's probably just downstairs working on something." He thought to himself.
The hedgehog jumped out of bed and stretched a bit more before he got completely ready for the day; however, he was going to find Tails. Making his way downstairs to the workshop, he found it completely empty, with no sign of his brother. Fear began creeping into his head, where would he have gone then?
Heading back to the main floor and checking for a note to say if the fox had gone somewhere, he turned up once again with nothing. He checked to see if the fox's shoes were present, only to find them missing.
"Where would he have gone without leaving me a note?"
Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. Wanting to quickly check if he was right or not he threw his shoes on and dashed off to the kitsune temple. Surely the kit had to be there!
With the structure in sight, the hedgehog noted a few destroyed Eggman robots outside, no doubt Tails' work, but why they were here he couldn't say. Dread wormed its way into the hedgehog's mind. He checked the interior of the temple, finding no trace of the fox. Finally, he descended the stairs down to where the gemstones from the other day had been, hoping to find the kitsune passed out on the ground. As he reached the bottom, he found the chamber empty, save for a single white glove, which finally caused Sonic to panic as the clues from the destroyed machines and the missing kit came together.
"Eggman was here! He took Tails!"
-X-
Tails slowly regained consciousness as the vision left his mind, as he did however, panic instantly filled his entire being as he realized he was no longer in the temple. He was surrounded by stark white walls, a small bed was in one of the corners, and a reinforced glass wall divided him from a nearby hallway.
"Well my little friend," A voice spoke into the room. Tails instantly recognized that it belonged to Eggman. "It would appear you've finally woken from your little nap!"
"Eggman! You let me out of here this instant or so help me!"
"Oh, feisty are we? Well, hopefully those restraints I put on your wrists will be more than enough to keep you under control."
The fox glanced down at his wrists and found a deactivated pair of energy shackles, he also noted a small gold band placed in their center.
"Now, normally these restraints would have been for Shadow should he ever be captured, but I guess we've both figured out you're quite the little Chaos Adept! Luckily, those restraints should keep it under control for now! You can thank me later! For now, I'll send someone down to get you so we can talk more in person!"
Tails tried to cast an illusion of himself, only to find his link to Chaos Energy wouldn't respond, the shackles around his wrists activated, connecting his hands so that they would remain next to each other, an identical pair he hadn't yet noticed also activated on his tails, preventing him from separating the two.
A group of Egg Pawns appeared outside the cell and escorted him out, pointing their weapons at him the entire way. Seeing no other choice, the fox complied, letting himself be transferred through several hallways to an observation deck, where he found himself on a small transport airship of sorts, looking out the windows into a blue cloudy sky.
Eggman was patiently awaiting his arrival. "Well, it's nice to have you here! After what you did to my mech the other day, I was certainly interested in the new skills you'd demonstrated."
"How'd you even get me here?"
"It was quite simple really, you see, I thought about what had happened before that encounter, as you hadn't had the powers then, only to remember the temple! I had my machines do a little digging for me and while I did figure out a few things, there was one specific discovery that I made that we'll get to later. But imagine my surprise when one day in the dead of night, all my workers and guards get blasted to smithereens! I of course had to investigate, which is when I found you taking a bit of a nap on the floor. How was your training?"
Tails was a bit taken aback by the question, "H- How do you-"
"It was just some basic translation work, took a while to figure out exactly how those runes worked, but with enough brute force, you'll get there eventually. I think I know more about your little kitsune self than even you do!"
"Well, what do you want with me?"
"Oh, I don't want you specifically, you're just a tool for me to use. I'm after something much bigger, something I'm not even sure you're aware of…"
A sense of fear crept into the fox's mind, what could he even possibly be referring to?
"But enough of that, you'll see in just a little bit, we should be coming up on it soon after all!"
Sure enough, the craft he was in slowly descended from the clouds, revealing a mountain range before them, they were a good ways away from any sort of civilization. The craft slowly came to a stop, letting the observation deck have a clear view of the mountains in front of them.
"Autopilot disengaged." An autonomous voice spoke.
"Now let's see here…" Eggman spoke, sitting in the pilot's chair as an image of some of the kitsune carvings made its way to a projection before him. "It should be just about… There!"
The craft pushed forward, approaching the valley between two of the mountains, as approached the empty grassy valley, Tails felt a wave of Chaos Energy wash over him, as it did, a temple appeared in the valley similar in appearance to the one he knew.
"How…" Tails spoke somewhat dumbfounded at its sudden appearance.
"Ah, the wonders of illusions." Eggman answered, "I thought you would have known about that by now…"
Sure enough, Tails could still feel the Chaos Energy in the air around him being manipulated in a similar way as to when he cast illusions, if he had to guess, a large field of Chaos Energy was being manipulated by something here to conceal its location.
This raised a new question however, what was it hiding? But more importantly, what did Eggman want with it, and why bring him?
As the craft touched down outside the temple building, Eggman stepped out of his chair, making his way toward the exit, Tails was quickly escorted behind him. As they descended the ramp onto the grass below and began to approach the temple. A familiar metal doppelganger landed nearby, seemingly having flown behind the craft until they'd reached here. The fox glared at Metal Sonic but was unable to do much as the machine followed the party into the large stone structure. The sound of the Egg Pawns footsteps behind him echoed throughout the empty chambers.
"Now let's see here…" Eggman mused, pulling out a device of sorts. "If I were a source of great Chaos Energy, where would I be?"
After staring at the device for a bit and seemingly thinking over some things. He eventually seemed to decide on a direction and led the party down a set of stairs. As they descended down multiple flights, the kitsune grew more and more concerned. Just what was hiding here? While a Chaos Emerald would certainly fit the amount of energy being produced here, that didn't answer the question of bringing him. Neither did it answer how it'd gotten into an ancient temple, nor why it was so well hidden.
After descending for a bit, they eventually came to a point where the stairs ended, leading to a hallway, at the end of which was a door.
The doorway seemed to be carved of stone, and had many intricate runic carvings on it, despite being unable to read what it said, Tails knew that whatever was behind it had to be important.
"It would seem we're here…" Eggman added, "Now you might be wondering why I've brought you here. The carvings I've read state that only a kitsune can open these doors to the artifact contained inside, which is exactly what I need you for."
"If you think I'm going to open that door so you can take whatever's in there you can rethink your plan!" Tails exclaimed, finally realizing his purpose for being here. After saying it however, Metal Sonic brandished his claws, ready to attack the kitsune at a moment's notice.
"Either way, I'll be able to make it work, now, are you going to cooperate, or are we going to maybe have a little accident?"
The fox snarled at Eggman, who simply motioned his arm toward the fox, Metal Sonic charged forward and socked the kit in the face, knocking him down to the floor.
"Fine, have it your way." The scientist added, "I don't really need your cooperation."
As he said that, the shackles on Tails' arms began to glow, and he felt Chaos Energy charge into his being once more, only, he wasn't doing anything to control it. He felt his connection latch onto something in the door, as it began to slowly creak open. The fox tried to sever his connection, only to find himself unable to as the shackles controlled his every move.
"As I'd said earlier, those shackles were designed to control Shadow. Did you really think you ever had a choice in the matter?"
The door finished opening and Tails felt his connection once again diminish. Even now however, with the restraints placed on him, he could still feel the Chaos Energy radiating from the next room. It was far stronger than any he'd ever felt, and it made him dread whatever might be awaiting.
Eggman meanwhile, was positively giddy. Not only had he succeeded in translating the ancient kitsune language, but he'd also managed to gain access to one of their most powerful secrets. Making his way into the chamber, he spotted a singular white object sitting on a pedestal in the center of the room. Leading his party inside, he made his way to the altar. The anticipation was killing him as he got a good look at the artifact.
A white mask with red markings stared back at him, a large toothy grin dominated the bottom of it, and two circular holes for eyes sat in its center. Shaped like the muzzle of a kitsune, it had obviously been designed to be worn by one of their kind, but that didn't matter, what mattered was how he was going to harness its power.
"What is it?" Tails asked, the doctor sensed a tinge of fear in his words.
"This my friend," He began, seeing no harm in gloating about his imminent victory. "Is called the Nine Tailed Mask. An ancient relic from a civilization long since forgotten. If what the writings say about this are true, then the spirits of chiefs and other powerful kitsune were sealed into this mask, granting incredible power to its wielder."
"But… You can't even use it!"
"While that may be true, I can still harness its power, I'm sure you've felt the Chaos Energy radiating off of it even now. With its power, there's no telling what I could accomplish!"
As Tails took in his words, and fear spread through his mind, he was unaware of a trio of heroes making their way down the stairs to rescue him.
-X-
To say Sonic was panicking would be a bit of an understatement. Not only had the kitsune snuck out during the night again, but he'd also been kidnapped!
He'd instantly rushed to grab Amy and Knuckles to try and track down the kit, knowing that Knuckles would be the best bet of finding his link to Chaos Energy, he and Amy had hopped in the Tornado and made their way to Angel Island.
Once the two had reached their destination, they'd quickly grouped up with Knuckles, who would consult Tikal, as to the kitsune's whereabouts.
Gathering around the Master Emerald, the spirit spoke. "I sense your friend, though I find difficulty in locating him, it would seem his connection is being hampered by a force of sorts. It would seem he is in the territory of the ancient kitsune tribes. Knuckles, I will align you to his energy so that you can better locate him over the large distance."
The echidna agreed and instantly felt his friend's presence far from them. As the spirit had professed, it was difficult to keep a hold on, but he could manage.
The trio jumped into the plane once more and set off, the trip was done mostly in silence as Knuckles tried to keep his confined strong. As much as Sonic didn't want to break his focus, questions rushed through his mind.
Why had Tails just left like that? Did he not trust him? What did Eggman want with Tails? Assuming it even was Eggman…
He hoped his brother would be okay…
As they approached a nearby mountain range, Knuckles directed them to an empty valley below, while they couldn't see anything there. The echidna was certain of himself, even if he wasn't quite sure why. As they approached however, the trio felt Chaos Energy ripple over themselves as a kitsune temple came into view.
"That wasn't there a second ago was it?" Sonic asked, "Looks like Eggman is here as well…" He commented, noting the small transport craft down below.
"The kitsune were quite knowledgeable in Chaos Energy." Knuckles added, "But concealing an entire building like that is something new to me, we better stay alert…"
As the plane touched down, the trio made their way inside the structure.
"It's just like the one before…" Amy commented. "Any clue where they might be?"
Sonic had a hunch, and directed the group to the stairs, thinking about the gemstone that had awakened the kit's powers before, he figured it was a good place to start in seeing if this temple had one.
As they descended the stairs, Sonic knew that this wasn't the same as the other. The stairs were much longer for starters and didn't seem to be ending soon. As they eventually reached the bottom, they heard Eggman's voice speaking, though exactly what he was saying was unknown to them. They noticed that at the end of a hall was a large stone antechamber, inside was Eggman and Tails, along with a handful of other machines, including Metal Sonic. As the trio approached, Eggman seemed to take notice of their arrival.
"Ah, if it isn't Sonic! Always here to ruin my plans."
Tails also seemed to take notice of them. Sonic noted the restraints placed on the kit's wrists.
"Let him go Eggman!"
"I will once I dispose of you rats once and for all!" Eggman answered, turning to the kitsune among the group. "Tails, would you do the honors?"
As he said those words, the restraints on his wrists began to glow once more, and soon, the entire group of Eggman, Tails, and the machines, vanished into the air.
Suddenly, Sonic was met by a strike to the gut, he flinched backward as a terrible thought entered his mind, Eggman and his guards were still here, those restraints hadn't been to capture Tails, they'd been to control his powers! They were all covered in illusions. As Sonic braced himself for another attack, he hoped Tails was trying to figure out a way to get them out of this.
The kitsune meanwhile, was struggling. The Chaos Energy he felt running through himself he had no control over, he tried to dispel the illusions but had no hope of doing so, meanwhile, Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy were having trouble dealing with their invisible enemy, and while they were doing fine for now, it was only a matter of time until they made a mistake.
As the fox sized up the situation, he realized something. With all the machines busy dealing with Sonic and company, nobody was watching him…
If he could get close enough to Eggman, maybe get the mask he'd had out of his hands… The scientist couldn't use the mask, but maybe he, as a kitsune, could…
He rushed at the scientist, throwing his weight at him while he was distracted, knocking the two of them to the ground as the mask tumbled out of the man's grasp. As the fox tried to run and grab it, he felt a pulling sensation on his tails and he yelped in pain as he was grabbed by one. Hoisted into the air by one of his appendages, the doctor laughed. "I didn't expect that! My, you are quite the little feisty one! Remind me next time to get a better restraint for you, I really should-"
Tails threw his weight forward, getting close enough to the scientist's other arm, and sunk his teeth into it. Causing Eggman to howl in pain as he released the kit once again. This time, the fox managed to reach the mask, but as soon as he leaned down and his hand made contact with it, he heard a voice in his mind.
"Put it on…"
Another voice quickly joined, this time a female.
"Fulfill your destiny…"
More voices quickly joined in.
"Put on the mask…"
"Join us…"
"Become what you've always dreamed to be…"
"All the power you could ever want…"
"One of us…"
"One of us…"
The voices joined together, chanting a single phrase that overwhelmed his thoughts, pushing out any other voice in his mind.
"One of us!"
"One of us!"
"One of us!"
The kit could feel his mind about to be overwhelmed and shattered, he thought about dropping the mask, but feeling the Chaos Energy coursing through his veins felt incredible, he slowly slid the mask toward his face. As he did, the chanting only intensified.
"One of us!"
"One of us!"
"One of us!"
Finally, he placed the mask so it covered his features, as he did, the voices finished their crescendo, he felt power surge through his body, unlike anything he'd ever experienced before. With the voices in his mind now at the highest and overwhelmed by power, his vision went black…
Alright everybody, that's it for today, I promise I'll have the update out soon, but I want to see some of your thoughts, plus you all know how much I like my cliffhangers! Please let me know how you felt about this chapter! I'll see you all next time!