This story is dedicated to the Dark Tails concept from The Sonic Return. Side stories are canonical but the order they occur in regard to the main story is debatable. Enjoy.
Side Story #1
In another time line something terrible is happening. The palace of Acorn is under attack and a line of partial, bloodied bodies of guards coat the entire entryway. The only ones left standing are King Sonic and Queen Sally. Standing near to the throne is none other than Tails, a wicked expression on his face and blood splattered on his hands and various places upon his body.
"Tails, what is the meaning of this!?" Sonic cries out to the murderous fox.
"Just having some fun, like old times." The twin-tailed fox replies.
"Fun? You call this fun!?" Sally exclaims.
"I know, I know, you're just sore that your time at the top of the chain is coming to an abrupt end. Maybe, just maybe, you shouldn't have expected me to be your lackey all these years? Did it ever cross your mind that maybe it was I that was meant for greatness!?" Tails replies.
"Tails, I thought you were happy being my sidekick all these years. What happened to all the times you looked up to me as your big brother?" Sonic adds quickly.
"A mere formality, now you are simply in the way and now I will get rid of you like the wretch you really are. You actually thought I could be happy as your third wheel, disgusting!" He spits out with great spite.
"Tails, no, please! These people did nothing to deserve your wrath and now you threaten Sonic himself?" Sally calls out, stepping forward. "What's wrong with you!?"
"Foolish woman, this doesn't concern you, sit back down before I drop you." The disgruntled Tails calls out to Sally, as if he didn't even know who she was.
"That's no way to talk to Sally, Tails! Apologize or I will make you apologize," Sonic says, jumping between both of them.
"You... make me apologize? You really don't know what creek you are in, do you? While you sit on your quilled ass growing fatter, I've been working my ass of to become the true ultimate life form and you're so caught up in old times thinking you're actually bad ass enough to take me on." Tails says with a dark chuckle. "Moron, wake up and smell the ashes... I'm correcting the great mistake that is 'Sonic the Hedgehog'." He says before lifting an open paw in his direction, a ball of oddly tainted red and black energy forming in his hand.
"Tails, stop this nonsense now! Do you even know what you're doing? You're supposed to be a genius and yet you think this is the right thing to do? I can understand you being jealous of Sonic, but not like this. He's your king, you have no right to just walk in here and show such utter disrespect to him!" The queen chipmunk calls out to him angrily.
Tails scoffs and instead, turns to point the energy at Sally Acorn.
"You wouldn't!?" Sonic calls out startled.
"You've done enough gabbing, now piss off!" Tails says as he launches the ball of energy directly at Sally. Sonic sees this and uses his sonic speed to dive in the way of the blast. A small explosion ensues and Sonic falls to his knees in pain.
"Sonic!" Sally cries out running up to him.
"That's right, get in the way, I'll make it two for one! Once I'm done with both of you, I'm going to go to every single time line that we exist in and erase any trace that you ever existed, as well as any weak copies of myself that ever bothered to kiss this asshole's blistered feet."
The disgruntled Tails then powers up another, much bigger ball of energy as his body swirls with a negative energy. Sonic then looks up with hurtful eyes, a bit of tears welling up in them.
"Why... would you do this? I love you little bro. I never wanted to hurt you..." He says, choked up.
The causes Tails to flinch. "Love me... you say." He looks a bit put off before suddenly bursting out in evil laughter. "Love, that's a good one, ha ha ha ha! There is no love in this world you fool, the only thing that matters is power!" He says before ultimately firing the large blast in their direction. Sonic pushes Sally back behind him and he grabs the blast, it's burning fury blistering his hands and front of his body with it's strange effect as he struggles to contain it.
Tails sees the struggle and begins to charge up smaller blasts against the larger one to help grind it in. The ensuing quandary causes Sonic to get desperate and in a sudden surge of heroics flashes into super form, as if he had the chaos emeralds... perhaps a residual effect of it brought on by his desperation.
"Too little, too late... your power isn't great enough to save you now!"
Using the distraction caused by Sonic struggling to contain the blast, Tails ceases firing only to focus on himself and tense up, suddenly bursting with power himself as he flares into his an altered form, one never seen before, hovering off of the ground with all red fur, arcing violently with a black power.
Sonic finally manages to deflect the blast, hurling off through the roof in the palace, creating a gaping whole where it is viewed blasting off up in the atmosphere, only to leave a much more terrifying visage hovering before them.
Glowing red eyes with narrow cat-like pupils glare to them with a wicked grin, his darker red body capped by a third tail which sways about confidently with the rest behind him.
"Yes, look upon me... the instrument of your death. I am not a god, but a god slayer. You should take pride in dying by my hands." The reddened Tails calls out before zipping behind Sonic so fast he couldn't even see him move, leaning back against his glowing, quilled back in a mocking fashion with an open palm facing in his direction. Sonic then looks back behind him with a shocked gaze just in time to be caught in another huge blast from his assailant's hand, this time the force is so great that it surges through the hedgehog and blows out the front of of the palace, his body being fiercely ripped apart by the violent energy as he gives his last breath, all of this despite his empowered form.
"Sonic!" Sally cries out as she witnesses his demise, running up to Tails and frantically trying to punch and kick at him. "I'll never forgive you for this!" She shouts out to him as she tries desperately to bring him down, but all in vain for each blow doesn't even land, blocked by the fox's incredibly dense aura.
One of Tails' hands is blackened by the power and forming a sort of blade as he makes a quick swipe across Sally's throat. A stunned look coming over her face as her head falls away from her body, both parts bloodily falling to the floor. Tails then floats away from the bloody mess, admiring his own handy work.
"Heh heh heh, excellent, now my greatest plan can unfold. Absolutely no unworthy beings will ever tread Mobius again, in any time line." He says before breaking into laughter again and flying off through the hole in the ceiling of the throne room. He flies straight up to a considerable height among the clouds where he can see the whole of Mobotropolis down below him. He then puts his hands together and charges up an intense power. He begins to chant and draws various runes in the sky with his finger tips. The entire area around the city begins to ripple with some strange vibration.
"In the end, all of the unworthy shall fall to my hands!" The dark Tails exclaims as he raises his hands open to the sky as the land beneath the city literally begins to break in large pieces, bringing about incredible devastation and the dying screams of masses as the broken city seems to be engulfed in a massive resulting pool of boiling blood.
The demented fox can only laugh as the whole process unfolds as the explosion releases a shock wave that will cause devastation for miles.
Ultimately, the only thing left of the bustling Mobian city is a giant impact crater and an enormous cloud of risen dust.
"Now to go to my lab and begin my eternal justice. I just know there's other time lines out there ripe for the picking... and I have just the one in mind." He says before flying off into the distance.
The evil Tails then flies to his laboratory where various machinery is found, he goes to one particularly large piece of equipment and presses some buttons causing it to whir to life. An image of another Mobius appears on the screen.
"If my calculations are right, this one is where a powerful copy of myself exists. I look forward to a real challenge, all the more wonderful it will be to break him and his precious friends. The chumps in this time line weren't even a proper challenge." He says with a cackle.
A large teleporter type device comes to life and the dark version of Tails steps into it as he's encompassed by a bright bluish light. A loud roar comes next as he is dematerialized from that dimension, only to reappear in the current 'New Mobius'. He carries with him a small scanner that he holds up, now in an unoccupied clearing in the Great Forest. He turns as the devices powers on and makes some beeping sounds.
"What is this fuckery?" He calls out a bit concerned as not one but several higher-tiered powers show up on his scanner.
"So, this time line has more than one target..." He says before licking his lips. "How delightful... I'll just be sure to engage them one on one and they'll be no problem. But first..." He looks over in the direction of Mobotropolis. "It's time to pay the Acorns here a small visit." He adds with a wicked grin before powering up his dark aura and shooting off toward his target.
Meanwhile, the normal Tails was working on a new project in his current lab with Fiona sitting down in a side room, legs crossed in an Indian-style sitting as she relaxes, letting her mind wander. A capsule about a foot in width and several feet in length was laying up on the desk. Next to the desk was a large sword with a crystalline blade.
"I'm almost finished, soon I will have a safe resting place for my gift." He says, looking over to the sword before something crosses his mind. He looks up with a startled expression.
"That's odd, I suddenly feel fearful... but of what." He says to himself before looking down at the sword closer. In the glistening blade he begins to make out what looks like a copy of himself, cloaked in a darker, evil aura.
"What is this?" He questions aloud, the talking finally catching Fiona's attention who cracks open a single eyes.
"What are you babbling about?" She asks him from the other room.
"Fiona, come look at this!" He calls out to her, who begrudgingly stands up and walks over into the room, her hands on her hips as she sees him bowed down, looking at the blade.
"Alright, what is it?" She inquires, a bit annoyed at the disturbance.
"There's something going on, it seems like she's trying to tell me something." Tails replies, motioning her to come over. The two then look at the blade as the Dark Tails is shown making a wreck of the Great Forest as he flies along before the scenery changes, this time to Acorn Palace.
"It looks like you, but there's no way that could be you, since you're right here." Fiona says before Tails adds.
"Yeah, and looks like he's heading to the palace... I have a bad feeling about this, we'd better investigate." He tells her, standing up. She nods to him and grins a bit, tugging somewhat at her black glove.
"Finally, a chance to get some action... I'm about bored to death." The vixen states before running out of the door, Tails soon following. The pair powers up and shoots off in the direction of Mobotropolis.
Meanwhile, the evil Tails was closing in on the city.
"I can hardly wait, I'm gonna martyr them all, just like I did before." He says with a dark grin.
He flies along for several minutes before the small scanner he brought begins to beep again. He looks down to it and sees a single power source closing in on him very quickly.
"What's this?" He calls out before coming to a complete stop, hovering in mid air just outside of the city limits. The source suddenly appears, flying in from the opposite direction.
The two lock gazes for a moment, it seems that Itan, the lightning hybrid has found the evil Tails before the others. The half-robotic lizard sparks with his energy as he looks to the other with suspicion.
"Who are you?" The lizard demands.
"What, it's just me, Tails. Don't you remember?" He tries to fake out the hybrid.
"I'm aware of who you look like, but who are you really?" Itan calls out, pointing in the other.
"Don't be ridiculous, it's your friend... eh, what was your name again?" He continues on before being unable to help but break into a grin.
"Tails would not forget one of his own... not to mention, Tails only carries two tails." He says, noticing the third tail swaying behind him. The lizard hybrid powers up, his electrical aura arcing violently around him.
"I'm giving you to the count of three to turn away and get lost before I bring you to justice." The hybrid calls out to him.
"Justice... what would you know of justice?" He calls out before powering up himself, surrounded by his darkened aura. Encompassed heavily in outer black and a dark red core.
Itan takes the initiative and strikes first, firing at the dark one with his lightning energy which strikes him with mighty flickers and crackles. The false Tails pretends to be electrocuted before regaining his composure unexpectedly.
"Is that all?" He says with a chuckle, causing Itan to flare up and strike at him even stronger but it just wasn't able to pierce the evil one's aura. This causes the triple-tailed fox to laugh at him.
"Damn, to think I got my hopes up. I saw this appearing on my radar and thought hey, maybe this one's worth my time. Now this... pathetic..." He says before dashing in, bridging the gap in the blink of an eyes and striking the lizard directly in the face. A splatter of blood issuing as the lizard grabs his stricken face just to feel another mighty blow delivered to his side by the fox's tails. He goes flying down to the land below, impacting with a mighty crash into the countryside.
The evil one then seizes the moment and charges up a sizable blast in an out-stretched hand before firing it down at the crashed hybrid. The dark ball spiraling as it crashes down into the lizard. He sees it coming and braces for impact just to get blown away, his body skidding across the ground harshly. He tries to get back up, but he's already very drained from the assault, unable to even sit up.
"No..." He says weakly before loud cackling ensues from the triple-tail, the lizard falling down defeated by his adversary.
"Enough distractions, now onward to my prize." He says before flying off, leaving the distressed lizard's life hanging in the balance from his wounds.
"Bah, this is going to be a piece of cake, if they're all at this powerless I could practically take them all on at once." He muses as he flies along, the tower of the palace coming into sight as he enters the city, flying toward it's center and landing on the highest tower.
The impostor looks down from the height of the tower, admiring the view for a moment before putting all of his energy to his right foot and bringing it down upon the tower with a smash. The tower collapses, the sudden noise causing the Mobians inside to run out.
"What in the world is going on?" One of them calls out.
"I don't know, I just heard a loud crash and came running." Another says.
"Hey, look up there!" Yet another Mobian calls out and points up at the floating black and red clad fox before he suddenly charges down, hovering just over the gathered group.
"I'll be sure to savor it this time... no need to hurry." He says to himself before landing down in front of them.
"Hey, is that Tails?" A servant mouse calls out as the adversary lands before them.
"I don't think so and I don't like the look of 'em either." One other replies before the triple-tailed holds up a hand in their direction with a flat palm, indicative of an attack.
"Disappear..." Dark Tails says before forming a black energy ball in the palm but right as he's about to release it he hears something approaching from the side and is rammed in the side by a flying rocket-powered mechanical arm. He is knocked back several feet to the side and grunts as he gets back up to his feet, brushing some dirt off of him.
"What the..." He says before looking over and seeing the previous half-mechanical lizard as the robotic arm flies back and reattaches with with ease.
"You again, I thought you were finished!" He calls out as he spies the other.
"I'm… not about to lay idle and let you do as you please!" The lizard hybrid calls out, still hunched over and feeling weak from his previous defeat.
"Fine, I'll just destroy you then." The dark one retorts as he charges up and makes a blinding dash toward the other, closing in for a final attack before something else knocks him out of the way, this time getting blasted away nearly a 100 feet and crashing into the palace wall.
"Ugh, now what..." The fox mumbles as he frees himself from the rubble caused by his impact.
"Look, it's king Sonic!" Several among the crowd say along with the quiet rumble of chatter. As the hedgehog looks triumphantly from the attack.
"I don't know who you are, but I'm not about to allow you to make a mess of things here!" The hedgehog calls out.
"He was able to do that in his regular form?" Dark Tails asks himself as he fully stands up again.
"Good… and here I was thinking that this was going to be boring." He says with a dark chuckle as he he charges up once again and makes a sonic dash toward the hedgehog. Sonic spins up and meets his charge head on but is instantly overpowered getting knocked back even further, managing to come to a screeching halt right before smashing into a nearby house.
"Woah, his strength is major… I can't take any chances." He says before standing up and making an attempt to dash his way back inside the palace which is inevitably blocked by the evil one.
"I don't know where you think you're going, but there's no escaping me." He says to him as he skids to a halt once again. At this point a bolt of lightning hits the black and red aura covered fox with a loud clash. This causes him to cringe but nothing more before looking to the sight of the attack, the electrically covered lizard making another stand.
This causes Dark Tails to use his real speed, flashing around behind the lizard, delivering a hard blow to the back of his head.
"Fool, just die already!" The three-tail calls out in frustration.
Itan cries out in pain before falling unconscious to the ground from the blow. This causes him to lose his focus on Sonic, giving him a dash into the palace and find what he was looking for. Dark Tails catches onto it and flies in after him.
Standing in the throne room, Sonic opens a secret compartment on his throne and inside lies the deep power stones. He quickly takes them and puts them together, holding both sides as the power starts to take a hold of him. His body begins to hover in the air as a faint aura surrounds him.
"Good thing we kept these..." He says aloud before getting broad-sided by a blast of Dark Tails' power. The smoke clears and Sonic reappears unharmed.
"What?" The fox calls out confused by this, having not seen anything like this in his timeline. He then cringes and calls out even more power, the encompassing aura becoming all the more thick.
"Yeah, pretty cool, huh? Say good night, fox." Sonic says before spinning back up in mid-air and dashing into the triple-tailed assailant. This causes a great clash of power, cracking several pillars in the throne room. The fox blown back out into the hall and the hedgehog follows directly after, hovering over him while he downed and gives a couple of harsh kicks to the fox's upper body as he tries to stand back up.
The fox then suddenly appears to lie down quietly as Sonic continues hovering above, wondering if that's really all there is when suddenly the fox makes a sign with his hand, lifting his pinky and index finger and striking into the hedgehog's chest suddenly with it.
"Blood Eagle Strike!" He calls out as the blow strikes the hedgehog in specific pressure points, causing him to real back and grab at his chest, unable to catch his breath.
"Idiot, do you actually believe those stones can possibly make you able to defeat someone like me?" He calls out as he jumps back up to his feet, the hedgehog still wheezing and trying to catch his breath.
"I'm beyond even the level of the seven chaos emeralds. There's nothing in Mobius that can stop me!" He cackles out before taking advantage of the disabled hedgehog with another firm punch that knocks him back over and into the throne room, skidding across the ground as he tries to breath, blood starting to leak from the stricken area on his face. The fox then gradually walks back up to him, clenching his fist to finish the job as he now leers over the other.
"Your very existence has caused me great pain… and now you will cease to exist in this timeline as well!" He calls out before pulling back for a big blow before suddenly feeling something grab around his throat, a red vulpine tail curling around his neck and holding him captive. The tail piercing through a black void just behind him as its owner walks into the room. Walking with another void just behind her with her tail hidden within it.
"You impostor, you dare come here and try to commit regicide without even telling anyone? I'll make sure you pay dearly. Nobody has that right, except for the real Tails… who would never be such a fool." Fiona calls out as she walks in with the true Tails flying in and landing back next to her.
"Sonic, are you okay!?" Tails calls out to his friend.
"Been better, old pal." He says, crawling back up to his feet and backing away from the three, finally able to catch his breath once again.
"Just take it easy, we can handle it from here." Tails adds before Dark Tails manages to break free from Fiona's tail, jumping way back away from them as he catches his breath.
"Fiona fox… it can't be, she reeks with kitsune power and she's nothing but a regular Mobian, a worthless example of one at that." He says between pants.
Fiona just crosses her arms beneath her breasts and closes her eyes. It was certainly not the first time she'd heard such slanderous words.
"Why you… who are you and what are you doing here?" Tails calls out the three-tail.
"Isn't it obvious who I am? I'm you." Dark Tails says to the other.
"Impossible, if I'm here then how could you be me?" Tails asks in confusion.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm from an alternate timeline… one where all the established kingdoms no longer exist and where the remaining freedom fighters are either dead or severely fragmented in their groups." The evil copy explains.
"Why, what happened to them?" The twin-tailed fox calls out to the other.
"I happened to them…" Dark Tails explains with a grin.
"Mobians are pathetic excuses for sentient beings, my so-called 'friends' left me behind to suffer alone confirming what I'd already known, that I was not like them; physically, spiritually, mentally… everything. They secretly feared me and would never notice me when I was around them. It was around then I learned of the kitsune, who as far as I am concerned, are my real friends. They told me all about Mobian history and taught me about how all the suffering I faced due to their inability to understand just what I am, it was then that I realized that they are nothing and should be treated as such. They were weak and I was strong, I finally no longer needed their approval and I killed as many as I could. Bunnie, Antoine, Rotor, Sally, Amy and our ridiculous excuse for a best friend, Sonic the Hedgehog. The body count must've been in the thousands and they all died like bitches."
Tails looks down, so this is what happens if he were to succumb to his inner darkness. One thing was for sure, he couldn't just let this version of himself have his way. There were times he felt incredibly alone but to take that out on everyone around him, just because he could, is as offensive of a thought as he could imagine. His cringes and he explodes out with his bright white aura.
"No way, I could never do something like that. Not all the darkness in the world could persuade me to commit mindless genocide, you just did them in like it was nothing and now you dare act like you're proud of it!?" Tails calls out to the other angrily.
"There's nothing to be upset about, I'm merely taking out the trash." The evil one says with a shrug.
"You, I will not allow you to kill anymore, especially not the ones I care about here! You are the true garbage and I will get rid of you here and now!" Tails says, taking steps forward, his boots smashing holes in the floor beneath him as he walks forward.
"Naturally someone like you wouldn't understand… you must be eliminated too, so bring it!" He says, giving a teasing wave of his hand.
To be continued
