Hey everyone! I'm sorry for the cliffhanger last time and the long wait, so I'm not gonna delay any longer! If you'd like, I'd also recommend reading the previous chapter again for a refresher!
1TGN: I'm sure Tails didn't expect it either! But Eggman certainly has a few tricks up his sleeves! The mask is certainly a question however, and we'll have to see how it ends up!
Perturbo: The mask has certainly got some creepy vibes to it, and we'll only have to wait to see what it does.
Guardian of 2fort: Definitely got some Rafaam vibes to it, and we'll have to see just how things go for our supreme archeologist.
HavalTheRock: I've wanted to flush it out and make it more of a story, so I'm glad you're enjoying it!
AndTails: Eggman filling our antagonist role is a super fun addition to the story that I've been really enjoying! We'll have to see it unfold from here!
Let's get started!
The Kitsune Legacy
Discharge
A shockwave of Chaos Energy shot through the room, instantly getting the attention of everyone present as they felt the sheer force of the discharge. To the other Mobians present, it was more powerful than they'd ever felt, and to Eggman, although he normally struggled to sense Chaos Energy, he certainly felt the one that had just come from Tails.
The machines in the room quickly short-circuited from the discharge, instantly dropping powerless to the ground as the kitsune looked at the other assembled Mobians and the singular scientist. A blue glow shone from the eyes of the mask like spotlights, and tendrils of blue energy whipped around his hands as he hovered a few inches from the stone floor. The shackles that had originally bound and restrained his powers shattered, dropping in fragments to the ground.
Instantly, everyone assembled groaned in pain and clutched their heads in their hands as powerful migraines burned into their brains. Instantly, they all felt a connection to the kitsune as he spoke.
"Kneel…"
Even though the command was a single word, it burned into their minds and drowned out all other thoughts. Any fire of defiance or resistance had been instantly snuffed out as the four other beings fell to their knees.
"You don't know how long I've waited for this moment…" The kitsune spoke, his voice seemingly inside their heads and all around them. Instantly, the walls of the chamber were aglow with images of the kitsune civilizations' rise and fall. Decades, centuries even, passed by in an instant as new chiefs were called to the throne, only to eventually and inevitably have their spirits added to the mask that now rested upon their last remaining descendant.
"I have seen countless other civilizations rise and fall, and yet, here at the end, I still stand… A symbol of defiance against this world."
The headaches were becoming unbearable now, slicing into their heads with a force none had ever experienced before.
The kitsune turned to Eggman, "Your attempts to defile this place have not gone unnoticed. You will leave at once, never to return."
Eggman didn't hesitate in obeying the command, wanting to get out of there as soon as he was allowed. The scientist quickly made his way up the stairs and out of sight.
The kitsune turned his attention to the remaining three Mobians. He sensed a tinge of concern in them, especially from the blue hedgehog. His distraught thoughts swarmed in his mind, something about a brother?
"Sonic!" A voice exclaimed in his mind. He recognized it as belonging to the being whose body he was now inhabiting. While he had known somewhat about the kitsune he was controlling, the knowledge of him having a brother was quite strange.
He turned his attention however to another in the room, an echidna… Tails' mind flared with images of destruction and slaughter, the kitsune suspected the spirits were going to do something to harm him. He resisted their movements and control, "Don't hurt him! He's my friend!"
"How can one of their kind be your friend!?" One of the voices questioned, "The echidna vowed to slaughter every last one of us long ago!"
"Don't hurt him, please! He's been helping me, and he's sorry!"
The spirit was silent for a moment, "Very well, I will return some semblance of control to you. But this will not be the last we will speak. Until we meet again…"
Tails' world spun until he found himself looking back out of the eyes of the mask, the blue glow fading from his eyes as he slowly descended back to the floor. The stone chamber was once again silent.
The other three assembled Mobians felt their migraines subside, and the Chaos Energy in the room dropped to normal levels. The kitsune moved to take the mask off of his face, only to seemingly hesitate at the last moment. Why should he take it off? He considered the idea, but he was in control now, and besides, the Chaos Energy that had and still did surge through him had felt wonderful, he wouldn't mind having that power once again.
"Tails?" Sonic tentatively spoke, "Tails is that you?"
The kitsune ran over and embraced the hedgehog, "I'm so sorry! I know I shouldn't have snuck out I-"
"It's alright, all that matters right now is that you're safe. He didn't hurt you, did he?" Sonic responded, checking over every inch of the kit like a concerned parent.
"No, I'm alright."
"Let's get that mask off of you, I think it'd be for the better."
As the hedgehog went to remove it however, the kitsune stopped him. "I actually quite like it." He spoke, "It's sort of a bit of my past I never knew about…"
"Tails… I don't think it'd be a good idea to keep that thing on. Just a second ago you were-"
"I'm fine Sonic, promise."
The hedgehog sighed, "Alright, if you say so."
Sonic did note the exhaustion in the kitsune, he was tired, and was struggling to remain awake.
"You look like you've been up all night buddy," The speedster commented. "I think that you could use some sleep."
The kit yawned in response, "Yeah…"
Sonic gently lifted the kitsune onto his back, letting the fox rest his head on his shoulder and close his eyes until he fell asleep.
"Do we dare get that mask off now?" Amy asked, eyeing the sleeping kit.
Sonic tentatively reached up to take the covering off of the kitsune, only to feel a spike of pain rush through his head, causing him to rapidly withdraw his hand. The pain in his temples was immense, it was almost as if the mask was guarding the kitsune, preventing itself from being removed. "Maybe we'll do it later…" Sonic mused once the pain was gone. "For now, let's just get out of this place."
The other two Mobians nodded in agreement and they made their way out of the temple.
Sonic still felt the kitsune resting on his shoulder, but concern however was his chief thought. What that mask was he wasn't sure, much less what it could do to his brother. The demonstration of just how much power it had only a few minutes ago certainly put him on edge. Still, there wasn't much he could do right now anyway, the best he could do was just let Tails get some sleep…
-X-
Sonic found himself unable to fully accept sleep. He turned over on his bed, contemplating everything that had happened today.
Tails was sound asleep in the bunk above him, the mask still present as he'd been unable to remove it himself, and the fox seemingly didn't want it removed. To the point he was asleep with it still on.
The fact of that mask still being here concerned Sonic, he'd seen and felt part of what it was capable of… Whatever that thing was, or whatever it could do, he didn't want it near Tails, but it seemed the kitsune didn't want to be without it either…
"What if it's because it can't be removed?" The hedgehog mused, before finally deciding that didn't make any sense, the kitsune would have had a way of getting it off, otherwise it wouldn't have been made in the first place right? Still, all the kitsune stuff recently scared him. He wasn't scared for himself, rather, he was scared for Tails. The kit had been through a lot of changes recently between his new powers and everything else that had occurred. Sonic hadn't really asked the fox how he'd been dealing with all of it, and maybe it was starting to get to him…
"Sonic, this is Tails you're talking about…" He thought to himself, "If anybody can handle this, it's him."
"I know but…"
"Sonic… He'll be just fine."
The hedgehog quietly sighed, his mental self had a point after all. It still wouldn't hurt to see how the fox was taking all of this however…
As he reassured himself that everything was well, he found himself gently falling into the clutches of sleep.
-X-
"Perhaps kitsune are more clever than I first thought…"
Eggman sat at one of the workbenches in his laboratory, the events from the day still burning in his mind, quite literally in fact, the headache he'd gotten from the fox still sat in the back of his mind.
For being an ancient forgotten race, he'd severely underestimated the kitsune. They seemed more prepared and powerful than he'd given them credit for… Knowing the echidna were their previous rivals really should have been his first clue…
Still, what he'd seen today had been a wondrous display of power, the kitsune were very clearly quite knowledgeable in many different facets, but that raised a question…
How exactly was he going to harness that power?
He'd had some ideas of course, a person with his genius level of intellect always had something up their sleeve…
Ultimately, it would all boil down to that freak of a fox that Sonic kept around.
"Well, if fox boy is going to be the solution to this problem, perhaps it's time I did a little more digging…"
The doctor smiled to himself, pulling up the records of all the encounters he'd had with Sonic and Tails over the years. He'd filmed each encounter of course, no reason not to study and learn from each failure after all. He sat back in his chair and scrolled many years back, all the way to when he and Sonic first clashed.
The doctor pushed his glasses up his nose, the light from the video feed reflecting off of them.
The great Ivo Robotnik wasn't about to go down without a fight…
Alright everyone, that's it for today, sorry for taking this long to update but I hit a bit of a wall of writer's block with this one, hopefully you all still enjoyed it! Leave a review and I'll see you all next time!