Part 6
That night the hybrids rest outside of the village they have begun to call their home away from home. The armored leopardess is sleeping off her wounds in the doctor's house while the others huddle around a small campfire, that is, all except Fiona who seems to be keeping her distance from the others.
"What's her problem?" Duke asks the others, watching the vixen out of the corner of his eye.
"She's always been like this, even as a child, she was always a bit on the anti-social side," Tails explains.
"So you two go way back, huh?" Duke questions, looking back to Tails.
"Unfortunately, yes. As a girl, she was a pawn of Robotnik. He used her to lure me away from the freedom fighters with her charms, acting all loving toward me. I was almost roboticized because of her, but luckily the others managed to see through her charms and they got me out of the danger just before Robotnik's machines imprisoned me." The twin-tailed fox explains.
"What a bitch... did she even have any idea what she was doing?" The ferret asks in reply.
"I can hear you, you know!" The vixen complains, taking a couple of steps closer.
"Good, I want you to hear me!" He replies, standing up suddenly.
"So I made some mistakes, wanna fight about it?" Fiona says threateningly.
"I'll take you on any day!" The ferret replies, flaring up in flames.
Tails jumps up and gets between them.
"There no need for this! If anyone has a beef with her, it should be me." The male fox explains. "...and I wager that's she's paid for that mistake quite heavily already."
Fiona rolls her eyes and turns her back to them, trying to maintain her tough facade.
The ferret calms down and reclaims his seat before Darrien speaks up.
"You look kind of bothered yourself, Tails. What's on your mind?" The rat swordsman asks.
Tails turns to look back to the others. "Unfinished business... so to speak."
"What do you mean by that?" One of the others asks.
"I have to deal with Mammoth Mogul, it was a task given to me by King Sonic. He managed to escape last time I found him and I am not sure where he could be now." The twin-tail adds.
Darrien nods. "I'm not sure who this is but it must be important if a king gave you this responsibility."
"I'm willing to bet that he's still in the Country of Acorn somewhere... and if there's anyone who would know where he's hiding; it would be her." He says, looking over to Fiona once again.
"How would she know?" Duke questions.
"She was working for him." Tails replies simply.
"Shit, once a bad guy, always a bad guy... er, gal." The ferret complains.
Fiona then suddenly turns around and starts walking away.
"Where the hell are you going!?" Duke calls out again.
"I'm going to take care of Mammoth with my bare hands... and don't try to follow me!" She growls out before her dark aura appears, matching the darkness of the night and flying off in the distance.
"What shall we do?" Darrien then asks as the others look off to the dark horizon.
"I guess we leave it to her," Tails says before turning back to the others. "Besides, we have another hybrid to find."
"Do we really have to find all of us?" Duke asks annoyed.
"No, but accord to the prophecy, there's only going to be 3 survivors. The more we have on our side, the less likely that's going to happen."
"What about the cat?" Darrien asks.
"We have to wait until she's rested, besides we have no way of finding the other hybrid without Contessa." Tails replies.
"I feel another nearby." Darrien suddenly adds as something catches his attention.
The other two then turn toward a different direction as a familiar old kitsune drops in.
"Genra, I was wondering if you were going to show up," Tails says as Darrien grabs the hilt of his sword.
"It's okay, Darrien, he's my friend." The rat nods quietly before relaxing once again.
"I have grave news, my friend." The old man states. "The Floating Island where the master emerald is kept has been completely destroyed."
The others look shocked.
"The emerald itself is missing, I can only suspect that this is the Draconian's doing." The elder kitsune explains.
"What on Mobius would they want with the emerald?" Darrien questions the elder.
"They're likely using it as a great power source," Genra says.
"With a power source that deep, there's no telling what they're going to be capable of." Tails mumbled aloud. "I only wish I'd have thought of that, we could have protected it." Tails curses himself and looks down.
"You can't be everywhere at once, my friend, nor can I. There're things happening in this world as we speak that we're not there to defend. It's an unfortunate part of life." The elder comforts the twin-tail. "Eh, by the way, where is the shadow hybrid? I could sense her around here earlier but she seems far away now."
"She's taken it upon herself to deal with Mammoth Mogul, or so it seems." Tails replies.
"I see, well we must not worry about that now, there is something pressing that needs our attention back in our dimension. The Draconians have started a coup against the council, and despite their power, they are unable to stop them due to the Draconians heavy political influence. The council seems to only be squabbling amongst themselves without proper direction." Genra explains to the others.
"Odd, you're talking about high-class kitsune, aren't you? How can we make a difference in that?" The hybrid fox asks.
"You've already proven you can stand against a class 6 pure-blood kitsune by yourself when you stood against the blue female. If you all come, you may be able to handle one even stronger... besides, Tails, you're needed for your direction as a leader... not your brute force."
"Alright, I'll do what I can but..." The young fox hesitates. "We're down two, and we can't leave the leopardess here by herself."
"I'll watch over her, you three should go. Tails knows the way, just follow him." The elder says before walking over toward the medical house. "Please hurry, things are getting worse by the moment." He says looking back to them before entering the house.
"Damn, we could really use Contessa's help right about now... but it's up to us." Duke states.
The three agree then power up and shoot off in the direction of the temple in the Downunda jungle.
"Wait, couldn't he just teleport us?" The ferret asks as they fly.
"One of us, yes, but I don't think he could do all three of us," Tails says back to Duke.
"No time for chat, let us hurry," Darrien calls out to the others.
The three fly on through the night, the sun rising in the direction they fly.
"I'm kinda nervous, I've never been to the other dimension before," Duke says.
"I didn't even know there was another one, but it seems our friend has been there before," Darrien says, motioning up toward Tails who leads the pack.
"I don't know what's going on there, nor do I think they'll take hybrids seriously... but if Genra thinks we can make a difference, then I'm all for it." Tails calls back to the others as they fly on over the expansive jungle.
Another hour passes and then Tails comes to a sudden stop, looking down onto the golden-shod building down below, just barely sticking up from the tall trees of the jungle.
"It's down here." Tails calls back to the others as they stop behind him.
The three then land down in front of the building. Tails powers down and looks around for the switch around the doorway, looking for several minutes before finally finding it.
"Ah, here it is." He states as he pushes in the loose brick, causing the heavy door to open and motioning the others to come in with him. Tails flares up his aura enough to create some light, the others doing likewise as they walk into the dark corridor of the ancient building. The inside seems oddly undecorated for an old building except for one large archway that stands in the middle of the biggest room directly inside.
"This is it, we just have to use our power while we stand in the archway and it'll bring up to the other dimension." The twin-tailed one explains as he steps up into the archway, flaring his power a little more before suddenly vanishing into thin air.
"Uhhh... okay..." Duke says before stepping up next under the archway. "Here goes nothing!" He says, flaming his power before also being zapped out of the building. Darrien then does the same and arrives with the other two standing on the outskirts of an ancient-looking city that is still buzzing with life. All of them fox-like, some with multiple tails and all of them checkered, spotted or otherwise splattered with various colors in their fur.
The citizens eye the others warily as they step up into the bounds of the city, especially Tails who looks a lot like them, minus the extravagant colorfulness.
"So this is it," Darrien mumbles aloud.
"I've never seen so many foxes in my life..." Duke mumbles as well before being rattled by an explosion that echoes out from the large tower in the center of the city.
"What was that?" Darrien looks over in the distance to see the smoke.
"Come on, we've got to hurry!" Tails calls back to them before powering up once again and flying off in the direction of the tower. The other two follow suit, looking around curiously as they fly over the city before being taken aback by the feel of power directly ahead of them.
Tails flies through a large crack in the building and lands down in what looks like an ornate courtroom. Standing in the middle of the room are several many-tailed kitsune who are dueling with each other, creating quite a mess of the room as others hunker down in the corners while others find ways to escape the maelstrom.
"Stop it, what are you doing!?" Tails calls out in frustration trying to run toward them before suddenly being knocked back by none other than two giant Draconians.
"This doesn't concern you, runt, get out of here before we squash you."
The twin-tailed fox flares up to full power and strikes one of the giant reptilians square against the head with flying kick, causing him to fall to the side forcefully.
"I don't know what you're doing here, but I don't have time to play with you." Tails calls out before giving a kick to the gut of the other, pushing him back and causing him to cringe with pain.
"Why you little shit, who do you think you're dealing with here?" The doubled-over reptilian questions before taking another hit by Duke, charred somewhat by his flames in turn. Darrien landing next to him with his sword ready.
It's just then that the dueling pair come to a stop, one atop the other, both having fans of tails, eight of them. They continue to struggle against each other before being consumed by another large explosion, knocking them apart.
"I won't let you do this!" The primarily yellow calls out to the other. "I won't let you sell out our kind!" He says before powering up his matching colored aura and charging the other once more.
The pair is then suddenly cut short by Tails standing in between them, his white aura rippling.
"Enough! I don't know what's going on here but trying to murder each other isn't going to solve anything." He calls out to them both.
"What, who the hell is this kid?" One of them questions as the other states. "No weakling child is going to get in my way." The gray kitsune flies up at Tails instead and lashes out at his face, the twin-tail narrowly managing to catch his fist and force him down on his knees, his aura flickering brightly against the other.
"You don't know what you're messing with kid! The fate of our world is in our hands." He calls out as he jumps back, breaking Tails' grip.
"Look, I admire what you're trying to do, but you're just intruding here." The yellowish kitsune calls out to him. "Get out of the way before yourself hurt!"
Tails clenches his teeth and begins to power up further, pressing his limit once again as he cries out. "If force is the only thing you'll listen to, then I'll make you listen!"
He pushes forth with a spiraling balls of power in both hand, pointed at both of them.
"That's enough from all of you!" Another voice suddenly calls out, another kitsune, this time mostly red with a total of nine tails states, clad in regal apparel; with another Draconian at his side. "Power down now or I'll destroy all three of you!"
Two other Draconians suddenly appear and wraps themselves around the other two hybrids.
"What the heck!" Duke calls out, Darrien grunting in pain as they're both squeezed.
Tails then powers down, as the two others that were skirmishing does as well.
"This heathen is trying to insist that these reptiles are here for our own good!" The yellow one calls out toward the nine tail, pointing to the other.
"That's because they are." The red, regal kitsune quickly replies before tapping his golden staff upon the ground. A giant red hand suddenly reaching up through the floor and holding the yellow captive as the gray one brushes himself off.
"What, are you nuts? I thought kitsune prided themselves on their self-sufficiency!" Tails calls out.
"Listen, youngster, I don't know who you are, but you should mind your own business. This is a dawn of a new age with two highly advanced species coupling together to create one great empire. We don't have time for riff-raff to try to force their opinions. The decision's already been made." The red kitsune says with a chuckle.
"What? No!" Tails says before flaring back up again, his aura arcing brightly and his fur tips glowing as he goes all out once again.
"You runt, who do you think you are? You're just a half-breed, aren't you? I suppose it's only natural for you to be lacking in sense." The nine tail says mockingly. "Get rid of him." He adds before turning to walk out of the room with his larger companion in tow.
The trapped kitsune still struggles to get free, as do the two other hybrids, bound firmly by their captors as the gray kitsune walks up next to Tails.
"Great, I even have an order for it now. I can exterminate you with a clear conscience." He says with a chuckle before powering up again, two more reptilian soldiers closing the gap between themselves and Tails as well.
.oO(Great, I don't think I can get out of this one. A class eight and two of those behemoths, plus Darrien and Duke unable to help.)
The gray kitsune pulls back for an attack and Tails cringes, preparing to block however much of it he can, only to not feel anything. He looks up in a bit of confusion and sees the giant reptiles backing up as the gray kitsune stands there with a conflicted look on his face, looking as if in pain.
The reason why suddenly becoming apparent as a large gaping slash, accompanied with a splatter of blood occurs upon the assailant. The kitsune falls to his knees and cringes as Tails looks around astonished at who could've possibly done that.
As the kitsune collapses, he sees standing behind her none other than the leopardess from before.
"Foolish, coming to a place like this without a plan." She states simply before turning around to face Tails. "Men, always rushing in first without thinking." She adds before taking the sword and thrusting it down into the grieving kitsune, causing him to be still. This causes the other two nearby reptiles to jump into the fray in a panic, only to be cut down easily by the swords-woman.
Tails gazes upon the bandaged cat. "What are you doing, you're still injured." More concerned with her state of health rather than how in the world she knew how to get there.
"Hah, this is nothing." She says as she shakes some of the blood off of her sword onto the ground. "Who's next?"
The two remaining reptilians clutch onto the hybrids tightly, who struggle for their freedom. The leopardess and Tails then turn toward them and run over in their direction. It's then that the large reptiles let go of the the two hybrids and make a leap of faith out of the break in the wall.
"Hah, and they're supposed to be the greatest warriors in the universe." The icy feline muses.
The remaining kitsune in the room have all fled amongst the commotion aside from one mother and her child. The four-tailed mother stands up, holding her single-tailed child as she watches the others.
"Wh-what's going to happen to us now?" She questions the hybrids from her spot nearby.
"I don't know, but I for one am going after that guy." Tails says to her.
"That guy is a chancellor of the council, be careful." She says to him simply before running out of the room to safety.
"You heard her, let's all go and make an example of that traitor!" The feline says, raising her sword again. Tails nods and look to the others.
"Between all of us that bastard doesn't stand a chance," Duke says with a raised fist.
The unified hybrids then run on in the direction the red kitsune left in, getting ready as much as they can for what could be a significant altercation.
"You realize, that I was only able to beat the eight-tail so easily because I got the drop on him. We won't have that advantage when we face against the chancellor." The female feline says.
"Yeah, I know... uh, by the way, what's your name?" Tails asks her.
"My name is Leena." She replies.
"Nice to meet you, Leena." Tails replies.
"Don't bother with the formalities, this could be our last conversation." The ice-aura feline replies.
The four of them make their way up several flights of marble stairs before they stand out on the roof, equally as ornate as the rest of the building where they find a spaceship hovering above it, just like the one that had destroyed the Floating Island.
The reptilian is floating upward toward it in a beam of light as the nine-tailed one turns toward them defiantly.
"Fools, you should have escaped while you had the chance!" He laughs. "Now you're all going to be pulverized to mere atoms."
"Is that a threat?" Leena questions him as a door opens on the spacecraft above and a large burst of energy is shot down toward the hybrids. They all instantly power up and brace themselves as it thrashes down harshly, bringing the entirety of the tower down to the ground with a large rumble and explosion.
The masses are appalled as the event happens, some of them even try to fire back at the massive craft although most of them aren't strong enough to penetrate the shields of the craft at all as the chancellor laughs, floating high above the wreckage.
"Wait until the rest of them get back and see their precious tower ruined and me nowhere to be found. It's glorious!" The red kitsune boasts as another beam shines down around him, beginning to pull him up to the ship as well.
A moment passes, all seeming to be lost before a ray of light flickers amongst the wreckage and Tails, now dusty and injured, but still very much alive shoots out of the rubble and into the sky, aura in full bloom, closing in on the floating kitsune and powering up a sizable blast of energy.
"No, you don't!" He calls out as he hurls the energy up at the fleeing kitsune, just missing him and hitting the blast doors that close behind him. It's then that the craft flickers oddly before flying off into the distance at an incredible speed, heading out toward space.
"Damn it!" Tails curses out before flying back down to the wreckage, moving the stone boulders out of his way as he looks for the others amidst the mess.
They slowly appear, also badly dirtied and somewhat injured but alive and well, even Leena, who already had wounds, now reopened and bleeding into her bandages. They meet up to the hovering Tails, who looks up to the sky with dismay.
"Is everyone alright?" Darrien calls out to the others.
"Yeah, I'm good," Duke replies.
"Not bad... all things considered," Leena replies holding a wound.
"Far from it." Tails replies. "They got away and now the tower of the council is in ruins."
"Speaking of that, where the hell is the rest of the council?" Duke calls out.
"That's a good question," Leena replies.
"Not likely in a good situation, we've got to figure what happened here," Tails says before looking back down in the wreckage, sensing someone down below despite the others that are now surrounding the rubble in horror of the event.
"I think the other member is alive down there, let's go help him out." Tails says to the others before flying down toward one particular pile of rubble.
"Since when is he the leader?" Duke protests.
"Don't worry about it, we should discuss that later," Darrien says before flying down to Tails.
Leena remains indifferent and lands down near an open space as the rat and the twin-tail find the yellow kitsune in the rubble of the tower, is much worse shape than they are.
"Are you okay? ...dumb question." Tails says down to the crushed kitsune.
"Please, if you can, tell us what happened to the council," Darrien says taking a paw of the badly injured kitsune.
"They... were all summoned... to issues in different parts of the world. I... was skeptical so I remained behind. Now... I'm glad I did but... it has cost me... my life." He says weakly.
"Hold on, it's going to be alright, just hold on!" Tails says down to him.
"No... it's too late... for me. Please... please stop Chancellor Zachariah. You must... before he... makes contact with... A... A... Asell..." He continues trying to speak amidst the incredible pain and ultimately loses consciousness.
"Asell? Asell who?" Darrien asks, now looking back up to Tails who looks visibly shaken, having just witnessed a kitsune who fought the good fight perish before his eyes. Overwhelmed by a feeling that he hadn't felt since he was a child, that consuming darkness from the feeling of loss. He sighs for a moment before standing firm.
"I will avenge you... I promise." Tails calls out to the yellow kitsune before flying off to meet with Leena. Darrien hesitantly does likewise.
The hybrids assist the others in the beginnings of the cleanup of the tower, spending all day moving the rubble with their power and the assistance of anti-gravity machinery for the largest pieces. The job was still only about 10% done by the time nightfall had arrived in that dimension. The other hybrids have found safe spots to sleep, but Tails was still awake, walking through a quiet meadow in a park amidst the moonlight. Only a few kitsune were still out this late and Tails seemed oblivious regardless, as he stared out to the dark horizon, lost in thought.
"I was hoping to never feel that again... but it's different this time. It's not the loss of one I'm mourning. It's something more, something much bigger. I don't understand why I feel this way."
Tails clenches his teeth as he looks down before getting down on his knees, tears beginning to flow from his eyes.
"Why, why does it hurt so much?" He says to himself quietly.
"Ascension is never pleasant." A feminine voice calls out to him calmly.
Tails blinks and looks up, not expecting anybody notice him. "What do you mean?" He calls out as he wipes his eyes, looking up to a lady kitsune in a bright kimono, with only one tail apparent behind her.
"You're wanting to change the world, right? Not just anybody can do that, my dear." She replies in a soothing tone to him.
"Yes, I want for there to be no more war, no more suffering... I want... to restore balance." Tails says, quoting his feelings, even though he's not entirely sure of what he's saying.
"Balance, that ever fleeting concept..." She says before kneeling down next to him. "It's true that things in our world are unbalanced, but who's to say what true balance looks like. Light does not shine without the darkness for it to illuminate."
"Huh, who are you anyway?" He questions her.
"Who I am is not important, let's just say I'm someone who's been watching over you for a very long time." She says before standing up again.
"But, what do you mean by ascension? What am I ascending from, more importantly, what am I supposed to ascend to?" He questions her again.
"Only you can answer those questions." She says before adding. "I'm sorry dear, but I must go... you will see me again." The single-tailed kitsune says to him. "Remember what you are fighting for and most importantly, never give up."
She says before beginning to fade away. "Oh, and say hi to Amadeus for me." She adds as one more thing before vanishing out of sight.
"Huh? You mean my dad, how do you know..." He says before realizing he was speaking to thin air.
Tails looks down and sighs. "I will find a way for our world to know peace. We were so close before, then this happened. If only... there were a way..."
