Prophecy

by Asher Tye

Changed name from Silver Fox! In the world of Mobius, a prophecy exist of one who will one day bring the world to a great harmony. Whether he will do it through peace or destruction is a choice as simple... as the flip of a coin.

3. SF: The Brightest Hope

Silver Fox: Part 3
by
Cale David Kuecker

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First off is the legal shtick. Sonic, Tails, Rotor and all the rest are owned by Archie and Sega. The only characters that I created are Silver Fox, Tane, and Terror-bot. I also wish to apologize to Marvel Comics and Stan Lee for the similarity between Doctor Octopus' tentacles and the tentacles used by Silver Fox. Nothing personal, but I could not help designing the character without them. Also, this story may get a bit violent, so if you have a problem with it, stop reading. This is my third Fan-Fic so I would like some comments from those who read it. I hope there is nothing out there like this and if there is, I apologize, but this really did come from my mind. If you would like to use the story or Silver Fox as a basis for one of your own, please ask first, I would like to know who is using it. Also, I strongly advise you read Silver Fox: Part 1 and part 2 so that you may understand what is going on here. And finally, since the Ancient Walkers are in this, I will be referring to them as First for the beak guy, Second for the Pteronadon, and Third for the small gecko one.
This story is best viewed in Times New Roman, with a font size of 12-16.
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Timeline: One minute after the events in "Eye of the Storm" Silver Fox: Part 2
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Part 3: The Brightest Hope
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The Freedom Fighters watched in horror, unable to believe that Sonic the Hedgehog was dead. A single tear ran down Princess Sally's cheek as she watched the smoke clear. She turned her head from the scene, not knowing if the hedgehog she loved was lost to her, and not wanting to know if the worst had happened to her two friends. Suddenly, Charmy Bee cried out, "Look!" Sally turned back , expecting to see some new horror Silver Fox had unleashed on them, but instead saw both Super-Sonic and Hyper-Knuckles crash into the ground. Everyone ran over to the pair, with Sally ahead of all others, and watched as both animals returned to normal. Sally felt them for a pulse while Nicole scanned them for damage.
"They're both alive," Sally stated, very relieved indeed.
"Yes, but medical scanners indicate both have sustained extreme damage. They both require medical attention immediately," Nicole added. Sally could see that easily, for Sonic was bleeding badly as was Knuckles, and both had several bumps, bruises and dents forming all over their bodies.
"Get them back to Dr. Quack, now! Let's see if he can't fix them up," Sally ordered.

************************************************************************

In Robotropolis, Enerjak slept. With his powers gone, the cryogenic capsule was all that kept him alive. Dr. Robotnik had considered shutting it down, and thus eliminating a potential rival, but he was in no mood for the hassle the Freedom Fighters would give him if he did.
Suddenly, a green glow surrounded the container, and Enerjak's eyes soon opened. The lid of the pod flipped open as the ancient echidna stepped out.
"I take this to mean that the Freedom Fighters and my SWATbots have succeeded," Robotnik said.
"No, they got the tar beaten out of them. Sonic and Knuckles are both badly hurt, and Silver Fox destroyed a village," Enerjak replied. Robotnik visibly slumped when he received this news.
"So, now what do we do?" Snively, who had been nearby, asked. For once, neither Enerjak nor Robotnik had an answer.

************************************************************************

Aboard the Wing Fortress, every robot that could was shaking hands with Silver Fox, congratulating him on the successful mission. Those that couldn't shake hands were congratulating him in other ways. Even the Strike Force was getting congratulations.
Silver Fox had set the entire Wing Fortress on the ground under the cloak. He'd figured that his army deserved some time to relax as a reward for their hard work and success. This time off had soon transformed into a full blown party. 10-W-40 oil poured like water. Several of the Science and SWATbots had brought up games of skill for everybody's amusement, such as a dart board, a wrestling arena, and etc. Silver Fox found no fault in this, as it was fun for them and tested sensors and strength. He soon walked to the head of the room, ready to make an announcement.
"Excuse me! People, people, can we please settle down for just a minute?!" Silver Fox said. Unfortunately, none of the gathering could hear him over the noise. Silver Fox smacked the wall with a tentacle, and the resulting crash did get their attention. "First of all, I would like to congratulate you all on a successful mission. Thanks to all of you're efforts, Sonic and Knuckles are either dead, or seriously wishing they were. We have dealt a tremendous blow to the 'Alliance,' who will now think twice before underestimating us again. Soon, we will be ready for the next phase of my plan. Terra-bot and his crew have almost finished securing the areas needed on the Floating Island.
"There is another reason for this announcement. SWATbot 4326, come forward." The SWATbot did as he was told. "I want you all to see this." A big screen drops down behind Silver Fox. As the picture comes on, 4326 is seen commanding several robots during the battle. 4326 is doing very well with his strategies and is seen adapting his plans to unforeseen events.
"You did a very good job in organizing the troops. I have already made plans for my second in command, but your valor and intelligence have convinced me that you would make an excellent third in command. Tomorrow at 0700 hours, you are to report to Lab 4 for an upgrade to your new post. After that, I expect to see you on the bridge for your assignment. Congratulations, Commander."
"Th... Thank you, Lord Silver Fox," the SWATbot said, displaying the robotic version of being flabbergasted.
"You've earned it. Tomorrow, we will begin the next phase of my plan, but for tonight, you all have my permission to party." With that, Silver Fox hopped down and left, heading for his own private lab.

* * *

Upon arriving, he watched as a holographic generator came on-line. The generated image that appeared was labeled by the generator as only 75% complete. Even with the missing quarter, it had still taken on a distinctly echidna-like shape. What got Silver Fox's attention, though, was a small section near the center. He knew it was the key component he needed. When it was complete, which should be only in another week or so, no power in heaven or Mobius would be able to stop him.

************************************************************************

Tails still couldn't figure out what Silver Fox was up to. He'd seen through Silver Fox what had occurred, especially with Super-Sonic and Hyper-Knuckles, and was also unsure as to whether his friends were dead or alive.
Tails' computerized form was nearing the main driver program, and soon he would be able to punish Silver Fox for his cruel and thoughtless actions. The young kit summoned the computerized internal clock, soon noticing that it was almost time to send another message. Unsure if he would make it in time, Tails quickly began to craft his message.

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"Hook them up to two units of whole blood each; STAT!!" Dr. Quack yelled as Sonic and Knuckles were wheeled into his infirmary. Both were still bleeding badly, and Dr. Quack already could tell they had several broken bones.
"Doctor, both pulses are faint and still fading," one of the nurses said.
"I'm seeing several internal bleeders. Doctor, if we can't stabilize them soon, they aren't going to last much longer," another called.
"I know, but they're both loosing too much blood to operate on," Quack said, preparing a syringe, "Maybe this will help them."
The Princess watched as the doctor did what he could for her friends. "Dr. Quack, is there anything I can do to help?"
"Not unless you know someone who can perform miracles, Princess." The ground squirrel looked thoughtful for a while and then left. She had an idea of who to talk to.

************************************************************************

Robotnik waited, just a little impatiently, by the computers for word from anyone. He hated being left in the dark, not knowing what was going on. Unfortunately, he still didn't know how to get in touch with Knothole directly, and he wasn't about to send a message on a general frequency for anyone to pick up, as there wasn't a code around that Silver Fox had not been programmed to break. Robotnik cursed his own abilities and intelligence. If he hadn't thought of and fortified Silver Fox against everything, he could have ended this whole thing before it had gotten this out of hand. Suddenly, the communications system beeped to life.
"Greetings, Dr. Robotnik," said Princess Sally.
"Why Princess," Robotnik answered, "what a pleasant surprise. I was just thinking about you. How did your mission go? What has been happening?"
"I'll tell you later, right now I have to talk to Enerjak." Robotnik cursed inwardly. It galled him to be at the beck and call of the Freedom Fighters, but alone he'd be unable to defeat the Silver Fox robot. Mistakes and fate had forced him to join forces with his hated enemies, and he also knew Silver Fox would seize a killing advantage from any dissension. He sent a Crabmeat off to find Enerjak. An instant later, the echidna appeared out of nowhere.
"I understand you are looking for me, Princess," Enerjak stated.
"Yes, I need you to get to Knothole, now. It's a matter of life and death."
"Oh very well, I'll be there in a few seconds." With that, Enerjak disappeared and Sally cut off communications. Robotnik scowled at this, for he still did not know what was going on.

* * *

Sally had only just put up Nicole when Enerjak materialized beside her.
"Now, do you mind telling me what this is all about?" Enerjak asked.
"Due to the damage they sustained in their battle with Silver Fox, Dr. Quack says that Sonic and Knuckles might not survive without a miracle," Sally explained. "So, I figured you could use those powers of yours to heal them."
"You want me to waste my precious power on healing those two when I'll need all of my resources when Silver Fox and I clash again! Are you crazy!?!?" Enerjak screamed in rage.
"If they die, that's going to weaken us tremendously. It's in all of our best interests if you help them." Sally replied.
"And what if he attacks us now. I'd be too weak to fight him, all because I wasted so much time and energy healing two insignificant..." Enerjak's words were cut off as Sally slapped him.
"Insignificant!! You self-centered, pompous, arrogant, little creep. Sonic and Knuckles saved your hide, the least you can do is return the favor."
"I don't do gratitude," Enerjak said. Sally glared at him and then stalked off.

* * *

Both Sonic and Knuckles were slipping and fast. Dr. Quack knew that unless some miracle happened, they would both die before the night's end. He knew there was heavy internal bleeding in both of the animals, the problem still remained that he couldn't fix those bleeders until both got significantly more stable.
That was when Sally walked in. The Princess looked both incredibly angry and totally defeated.
"Welcome, Princess. What can I do for you?" Dr. Quack asked.
"Nothing, unless you can install a humility gland into someone I know," the Princess looked on the verge of an emotional breakdown. "I had a chat with Enerjak. I thought he might be able to heal Sonic and Knuckles. He thought differently."
"I understand," Dr. Quack said. "But I don't see how we can force him to do anything."
"I know, I know, and that's what makes it so frustrating. I know he has the power to save them, but he's too self-centered to help." Sally said. "He says he 'doesn't do gratitude.'"
"I understand Princess. We can only hope he'll come to his senses before its too late." Dr. Quack said.

****************************************

Enerjak looked after Sally as she stormed off, totally flabbergasted. In all his long life, very few had dared to strike him, and those that had had powers of their own to back them up. That this, this WOMAN had dared attack him was outrageous. Enerjak marveled at her courage. She'd risked being vaporized by a force infinitely more powerful than herself for the sake of her friends. He started after her.
When he reached the infirmary, Enerjak looked in through the window to see both Sonic and Knuckles lying unconscious on their beds. Both looked almost dead. Enerjak soon made his decision. He entered.
"What are you doing here?!" Sally snapped. Enerjak nearly jumped at the anger and hatred she projected towards him.
"I'm fulfilling your request, or do you not want me to heal your boyfriend anymore?" he answered, smiling. The Princess backed off a little, though she still kept an angry eye on him. Now that he was closer, Enerjak could more appropriately see the damage. He silently praised his long dead brother Edmund's persuasive argument for them to add a medical degree to their store of knowledge. The echidna concentrated, sending his mind and directing his power into the two unconscious creatures. Soon, at Enerjak's command, bones began to place themselves and mend at a supernatural rate, bleeding was halted as tears and rips in tissue and muscle closed up. The strain on Enerjak was great, mostly due to the fact that he'd never really tried this. It was much easier to destroy things than to actually fix up people. As he reached the damaged portions of Sonic's legs, the ancient echidna visible slowed down. If he screwed up here, Sonic would loose his super-speed and be of little use against Silver Fox. It was even more difficult since he was not very familiar with hedgehog anatomy. Soon, though, he'd fixed his allies as best he could.
"They should remain asleep for a couple of hours, but they'll be fine," Enerjak said as he opened his eyes.
"Thank you, Enerjak, thank you so...," Sally was soon cut off.
"This does not mean that my opinions or goals have changed at all. As soon as this campaign is dispensed with you will all be my enemies again. I only help now because it is intelligent to do so, but make no mistake, if there had been another way out, I would have taken it," Enerjak said as he walked out. Archimedes suddenly came out of his hiding place and leapt onto the confused Princess's shoulder.
"All I did was thank him and he..."
"Don't sweat it your royalness; Enerjak is like that to every one," the fire ant stated.
"Well, all we can do now is wait for the two of them to awaken," Dr. Quack interjected, hustling both out of the room.

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0700 hours
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The robot formerly known as SWATbot 4326 walked with tremendous confidence down the halls of the Wing Fortress. Not only did he now have the third highest ranking in this army, but he even had a name instead of a production number as well. He was Commander Tane. He had gone in early to receive his orders, so he could start his new job earlier. He remembered his meeting with Silver Fox well.

* * *

"So, Tane, you want your orders now, do you? I admire your industriousness," Silver Fox had said.
"Will you give me my orders ahead of time then?" Tane had asked.
"Why of course, dear boy," his leader replied, "You are to play a large part in my little scheme. You will head the operation on the Floating Island. The team there will report directly to you, who will then decide when their reports are important and complete enough for me to wish to read. You will also decide what parts of their reports have any pertinence to the mission's full goal, and if a lead looks promising enough to follow. With you rests total power over the mission, and total responsibility will fall on your head should it fail."
"And what is the mission's objective, my lord?" Tane had asked.
"To find the secret location of the Master Chaos Emerald." Silver Fox's eyes had glowed as he had said those last three words.
"You mean it really exists?" Tane asked.
"Yes, and soon you will find it, and then I shall have even more limitless power. Then we will proceed with the final phase of my plan. And before you ask; no, I will not tell you the rest. You shall see it when it happens. Now, report to your post on the bridge at 0700 hours."
"Yes sir." With that, Commander Tane left for his post.

* * *

As soon as he got to the bridge, Tane immediately went about contacting the mission's field commander, Terra-bot. It would be a glorious day when he proved to Silver Fox how capable he was.
"Terra-bot here. This better be good," the burly robot shark said.
"Have a care, fish food, lest you wish to upset your new commander."
"Silver Fox put YOU in charge of this mission? I don't believe it."
"I thought you wouldn't, so I'm now activating the command codes that prove it. From now on, you are to report directly to me and I will give your reports to him if they are required."
"Very well," had been Terra-bot's final words before Tane cut of transmission. Oh yes, it would be a glorious day.

************************************

Tails was very distraught. He had wound up missing his deadline and had not been able to send another message to Nicole. This in and of itself was not so bad, but now that he had overheard the conversation between his "host" and the new third in command, he was considerably more worried. When he'd been younger and still with his parents, his mother had told him stories of the legendary Chaos Emeralds, and the even more powerful Master Emerald. He hadn't believed the legend of the Master Emerald was anything more than that. But then the same had been true about the Chaos Emeralds and then he met Knuckles. If Silver Fox had found proof that it really did exist, then all of Mobius was in very real danger. Alone, Silver Fox had either killed, or come way too close to killing, Super-Sonic and Hyper-Knuckles. Tails' computer generated self shuddered at the thought of Silver Fox with the power of the Master Emerald backing him as well. And what was worse was that it would do very little good, and maybe even some bad, to tell his friends what Silver Fox was really going for, since he had no idea how Silver Fox was gonna take it. If they tried to move it, maybe he was watching for that so he'd find its location. Or, maybe he would take the whole island and literally tear it apart looking for the jewel. It was just too hard to second-guess his "host."
That was when Tails remembered what his robotic twin had said some time earlier, he had a team on the Floating Island. They weren't there to find proof of its existence, they were there to figure out where the echidnas had hidden the Master Emerald. Tails began to replay when Silver Fox had first mentioned it from the database, and found it had been started in Robotropolis. The realization hit him like a sonic-jackhammer; everything that Silver Fox had done since that time had been meant to divert all the attentions of his enemies. He'd hoped they'd bring Knuckles and the Chaotix in, because then they wouldn't figure out the truth till it was far too late to stop him. Miles "Tails" Prower began to quickly craft a message, praying that his warning would not be too late. He did not notice the seeker program that was quietly watching him.

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Knuckles had woken up roughly twenty-four hours after Enerjak had healed him, and he'd had a huge appetite. Enerjak had told Sally that he had used some of their natural energies to heal them, and they would more than likely be very hungry when they awoke. Knuckles, of course, had been a bit suspicious of Enerjak's sincerity in healing them, considering several ways that Enerjak could successfully double-cross them. This he said to Sally between bites of a PB&J sandwich, his third.
"It's just very discomforting to know that Enerjak has been fiddling with my innards. When I think of all the damage he could still do, I just shudder," Knuckles said.
"He swore that he did nothing that could damage you. No implanted spells, no demons left in to wreck you in the future," Sally had replied.
"The guy's word isn't worth the wind he uses to speak it, Princess, and he'd never pass up a good advantage."
"You're just being paranoid. If we go down, he goes down with us," Sally pointed out. Then she turned to Dr. Quack who was also in the room, attending to his other patient. "Doctor, how is Sonic doing?"
"Pretty good. Enerjak didn't do as good a job with him as Knuckles, but I think that Sonic will recover soon. It probably won't be long before he regains consciousness."
"That's good news at least. I need to go to the communications hut and see if anyone's spotted the Wing Fortress anywhere. It's a slim chance with that cloaking device, I know, but we have to try everything we can."
"Will do Sally." With that said, Sally left the hospital room.

****************************************

When she arrived in the communications hut, Rotor had it jumping with work. He had rewired several old radio sets as makeshift communications equipment. Now there were about twelve stations and each one was a flurry of incoming messages. At that point, Bunnie dashed out of the hut, ignoring Sally almost completely. The squirrel princess walked over to Rotor.
"Rotor, has anything new been reported in?"
"Yes, we're getting reports of attacks from Freedom Fighter bases saying they've been attacked by robotic forces. The messages say that the robots are attacking too fast to mount a resistance, but these same forces only wreck the villages; they don't even try to eliminate the base completely, just cripple them. And this is not just a localized string of attacks, these reports are coming from all over Mobius. Robotnik's outposts are also getting trashed, though they're reporting less casualties." Rotor replied, almost in hysteria.
"That makes sense. Has anyone actually seen where these attacks are coming from?"
"You mean has anyone seen the Wing Fortress, don't you? The answer is no. Sally, if we don't do something soon, we won't be able to do anything."
"I understand that, Rotor, but WHAT can we do? It's impossible to find any pattern to his attacks and the direct attack was disastrous. I'm not about to send good people to a slaughter," Sally said.
"Sally, good people ARE getting slaughtered out there!! You can't make a value call on those lives," Rotor shouted.
"I think Silver Fox is hoping we'll respond by sending more troops. He's trying to weaken us," a thought soon crossed Sally's mind. "Wait a minute. He said he only knew the location of twelve Freedom Fighter bases. That's why he only made thirteen missiles. How did Silver Fox learn where those other bases were?" Rotor blinked at this revelation, remembering the same conversation. It was an extremely puzzling question. How had Silver Fox learned all those new Freedom Fighter bases' locations?

*****************************************

Tails was finishing his message, and not a second too soon. It was very close to the time when he would be able to send his message to Nicole. He'd done a little file search and discovered just how all this had happened, and he hoped Sally would understand. Suddenly, a Seeker program fired, nearly hitting the two-tailed fox. Tails jumped behind a what passed for a rock on this immaterial plane. He had to destroy the Seeker before it told Silver Fox he was here, or made him miss his deadline. How was the question racing through his mind. That was when it hit him. The Seeker was basically energy and could fire energy commands, such as the pause command it was using. Tails was also basically energy, why couldn't he do the same. Closing his eyes, the young kit suddenly saw all sorts of commands that were available. Though he wasn't terribly computer literate, and knew there had to be a more effective way he did not know of, Tails did see the command he needed; the DELETE command.
"Okay, let's hope this works," Tails said as he opened his eyes. He jumped out from behind the "rock" and opened fire from his paws. Unfortunately, the Seeker was no longer where it had been. He suddenly felt a numbness in his left tail, and realized that the Seeker was behind him and had "paused" his tail. He turned around in time to take another blast to his right leg, which also froze. In desperation, Tails pointed his paws at the Seeker. This time, the blast did hit something, though not the Seeker. The rock Tails had been hiding behind disappeared as the blast hit it. Tails whirled around, trying to catch the Seeker again, when it got his left arm. Desperate now, Tails let loose a final blast which struck the Seeker. With the offending program gone, Tails's body returned to normal. Noticing the time, Tails quickly sent his message, praying it would get to the others in time for them to do something. That done, Tails once more began his long trek, nearly completed, to Silver Fox's main driver program.

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Tane was feeling very pleased with himself. The force on the Floating Island had uncovered two likely leads two days ago. They had asked Tane which one to follow, and Tane had chosen what was now, obviously, the correct one. Since that time, they had been finding all sorts of evidence proving the Master Emerald's existence. Now they were closer than ever to discovering its location. The team was currently in the Sandopolis ruins, the next likely spot for any clues to their goal. That was when Silver Fox had announced that he would like them to be done in five more days. This had put somewhat of a hurry on Tane's task, and the new commander did not like to be rushed; unfortunately, Silver Fox generally had good reasons for pushing others.
"Commander Tane," crackled the comm-system.
"What is it, Terra-bot?" the commander asked.
"We've uncovered something of value in the ruins, sir. They appear to be hieroglyphics, dating back several centuries, millennia even. We're just now finishing the translation."
"Well, what do they say?"
"They appear to be directions... no, wait! It's a riddle. Do you wish us to transmit it to you?"
"Of course. Put it on screen now." Suddenly, the a fore mentioned hieroglyphics appeared on the screen. Then they faded to reveal their translation.

Lake of fire, walls of ice,
Neither takes the other's life,
But when they meet, or so they say,
A war was fought all through the day,
Till a power settled here,
Bright and green; a force to fear,
To tame the magic, just role your dice,
And go to the place where meets, fire and ice.

Tane looked at the riddle with genuine puzzlement. "And that is all there is to the riddle?"
"Yes sir, we can't figure it out either. The rest of the 'pictures' here don't talk about anything of import. Sir, I think that the answer to this riddle may be the location of the mission objective."
"Truly you are blessed with superior deductive skills," Tane said sarcastically. "We need to figure this out. You are to remain there until we do. Look for anything that might help."
"Very well sir." And with that, the transmission ended.

************************************************************************

Sally was fast asleep when Dylan came. He knew it probably wasn't fair to wake her up only two hours after she'd gone to bed, but Dr. Quack had said it was urgent. Gently, he reached over to her shoulder and began to shake her. It took only a minute of this before she woke up, still looking like she hadn't slept in days, which was true.
"Dylan, what is it?" Sally asked, with more venom then she'd intended.
"Dr. Quack said to tell you that Sonic has woken up. You told him to tell you as soon as he did." the porcupine responded.
"Very well. Tell Quack I'll be there shortly, okay." With his new orders now given, Dylan left. Princess Sally quickly got dressed and headed for the hospital.

* * *

Along the way, Sally had bumped into Antoine, who insisted on going with her to the hospital room. When they got there, Sally was amazed at the fact that Enerjak was also there as well. The older echidna was talking with Knuckles, though a better word might have been debating. Sally caught snippets of a conversation that she didn't like to think on.
"My brother was a weak-willed fool, Knuckles. With my power, I am overly qualified to lead this planet. My sheer omnipotence makes me infallible."
"Yeah, you proved that both times you were free. You underestimated your adversary twice, and didn't even bother to learn from the experience."
And so the debate went on, with Enerjak citing reasons why he should rule Mobius and Knuckles finding fault in his logic, while Knuckles tried to play up the honor of guarding the Floating Island, and Enerjak showed him reasons why it was futile. The squirrel then turned to Sonic, whose eyes were halfway opened as Dr. Quack went about testing his life signs. Sally sat down beside the bed.
"So, how're you doing Sonic?" she asked.
"All right I suppose," came the hedgehog's reply. Though he tried to sound better, Sally could tell from his voice something was bothering him.
"Sonic, what's wrong?"
"It's nothing, Sal. Just postcoma-blues I guess."
"Sonic, you know you can tell me anything that's...."
"Zut Allures!!" Antoine cried, suddenly becoming very rigid. Sally looked over to where he was looking, fully expecting to see Knuckles and Enerjak in the process of strangling each other, but only to find that they had the same bewildered looks on their faces (a first for Enerjak in a long time).
"Antoine, what's wrong?" Sally said. All she got in response was a string of French gibberish. She noticed, however, that he was pointing straight at Enerjak. She turned a quizzical eye to the old echidna.
"Princess, I have no idea what he's talking about," Enerjak responded, truly sounding innocent.
"Zhat ting on your chest, the small box-like ting, zhat was what he was wearinged."
"What who was wearing, Ant?"
"Zhe Silver Fox. Zhe night Sarah Tapper camed into Knothole, I had zhe nightmare. Silver Fox was destroying Knothole, he had zhis green glow around him, and was wearing that little box tingy. When you died Prinzess Sally, a crystal came out of your pocket. Zhe next day, we loosed zhe battle at Krystal. I am now tinking zhis cannot be a mere coincidence." Antoine explained.
"Enerjak, what is that thing?" Knuckles asked, fearing he already knew the answer.
"It is my Chaos Siphon, compressed a bit though. I still don't see what you're talking about."
"Do you think it could be a premonition, Sal?" Sonic asked.
"I'm not ready to rule it out. Nicole, scan Enerjak for anything that would transmit information."
"Scanning Sally... Scan complete... Transmitters located: four. Location: right shoulder."
"Nicole, track transmitter back to its source."
"Transmitter is broadcasting on a tight beam frequency, cannot pinpoint exact location, but currently transmitting to inside the Wing Fortress."
"Nicole, destroy the transmitter."
"Already done Sally. Locking on other transmitters.. transmitters found... transmitters destroyed." Enerjak noticed four small "poofs" of flame appear all over his body.
"What the.."
"Silver Fox must have planted remote controlled scanners on you. They were X-raying your body and sending the blueprint information on your armor back to him. Heaven only knows what he was planning on doing with it, or even how much he got of it," Sally said.
"There's really only one thing you can do with it, drain the power of the chaos emeralds into yourself," Knuckles said.
"But Tails only knew the location of one emerald. That doesn't sound like Silver Fox's style," Sonic said.
"I say we stake out the chaos chamber just in case," Knuckles said, "I feel fit enough to take on a whole army of Silver Foxes." At this, Enerjak looked at his long removed relation skeptically.
"A WHOLE army?"
Knuckles thinks about this for a second before replying, "I see your point, one is enough, thanks."
"Aren't you forgetting something. How are we gonna beat him. He's invincible. It's suicide to try to take him on," Sonic said, trying his best to hide the fear in his voice. Unfortunately for him, Sally picked up on it rather easily.
"Enerjak, Knuckles, Antoine, Dr. Quack, can you please give Sonic and I some privacy."
"What for. What can you two talk...." Enerjak started. Suddenly, both Antoine and Knuckles covered his mouth as they took him outside.
"If you need me, just push the button on the side of Sonic's bed," Dr. Quack said as he left. Now that they were alone, Sally began.
"OK Sonic, what's wrong? You've been acting edgy ever since our defeat at Krystal. Now what's gotten you so nervous?" Sally asked.
"I can't beat him, Sal. You saw what happened. I couldn't even handle his new badniks without you guys' help."
"So? Robotnik has handed you minor defeats before, and you've always managed to bounce back better than ever."
"You didn't see him, Sal. With Robotnik, at least he took me seriously and was really trying to kill me. We hated each other, but at least we respected each other's abilities. But with Silver Fox... Sal, he wasn't even tryin'. He didn't even take Knuckles and me seriously, we were just toys that were his to break."
"Knuckles doesn't seem to be letting that affect him. We'll find a way to stop Silver Fox, it'll just take more creativity and ingenuity than before."
"Sal, you still don't understand, I can't fight him again. Of the two of us, I took the most damage. I came within a hair's width of dying, and he wouldn't even have cared one way or another. All my speed, all my cunning, all my resourcefulness amounted to zilch against him. If I try again, it'll just end the same way, maybe worse."
"Sonic, what are you saying?"
"I'm saying, I can't go with you to the Floating Island. I can't face that kind of power again. I'd just quake with fear all the time, and I'd be of no use to you." Sally looks at her boyfriend, disappointment showing in her eyes.
"Sonic, one moment of weakness is no excuse to just give up. We've all gone up against a noticeably superior being, and we've all had to adjust."
"Sally, he wasn't even trying. And you heard Robotnik, the reason he used Tails was because he was sure I'd have trained with him. Silver Fox knows my moves better than I do. It'd be suicide to fight him."
"Sonic, Tails may know your moves, and conversely Silver Fox also knows them, but that just means you have to come up with new moves, ones he hasn't seen."
"That wouldn't work. You know that my speed is my biggest asset. I've already explored all the attacks that speed can let me do. And even if I came up with something new, it wouldn't matter how fast I did it, Silver Fox is still faster."
"So you can't use your speed to beat your enemy this time. That isn't all you are, Sonic. Perhaps it's time you exercised some of your other abilities, like your brain and intelligence."
"Come on Sal, you know I'm no good at that stuff. I'm not as smart as you or Rotor, and Silver Fox has already proven to be at the very least on you two's level of intelligence."
"I think you're smarter than you give yourself credit for. You've obviously spent a lot of time thinking about this and you seem to have used great insight into the matter. You are intelligent Sonic, and Silver Fox is a computer, there's no way an organic mind can think as fast as him, but he doesn't have true intelligence, just information he can access from a data base."
"That doesn't help me Sal. I'm sorry, but I can't go."
"I'm sorry too, Sonic. I'd hoped you had more confidence in yourself than just for your speed." With that Sally stood and left the depressed hedgehog to contemplate her words.

********************

"Sally, what happened?" asked Knuckles as he came across a sad looking squirrel.
"I'm just very disappointed in someone, Knuckles. I kind had more faith in him than he had in himself," came Sally's answer.
"Has Enerjak been messin' with you again? 'Cause if he has, I'll..."
"No, it's not him, it's Sonic."
"The blue blur? What's wrong?"
"He's scared to face Silver Fox again. After he nearly killed the both of you, Sonic's afraid what might happen if he tried again."
"He'd get killed," came Robotnik's voice from Nicole's screen.
"What's that supposed to mean, 'Buttnik?" Knuckles asked, looking down at Robotnik's picture.
"I designed Silver Fox to defeat you all, but Sonic was top priority. And Silver Fox IS the superior fighter. Sonic has a right to be scared."
"Sally, incoming message: source marker identical to recent message sender."
"Nicole, run all normal code breaking programs on the message, then display," Sally said.
"Bit code only code present, displaying message," Nicole said. Suddenly, the screen split in two, as the message displayed for all to see:

*SalE listen up. SF is plAin U al 4 saps. He's pulling coin trik. Tru goal is the Master Emerald. He knOs how tu mAk Kaos Sifon, and intends tu Us it tu drAn the power uv the emeralds and put it in himself. Us this to strIk. Gama ShEld won't let him absorb powers, has to turn oF. Plasma can kEp shEld down. Wil trI tu help during batle. SF canot get powers, wood becom unstopabl. Won't contact U agAn, so good luk. Luv TAls.*

"Message ends."
"By all that is holy," Knuckles gasped, "Did that little computer just say what I think it said?"
"Yes," Sally said, realizing that it was Tails who had been sending them the messages. More importantly she realized what he meant by "pulling a coin trick." It meant the same as in sleight-of-hand, one of the first tricks Sonic had taught him. All the time Silver Fox had been pestering them and nipping at them had been a diversion. If Silver Fox truly did have the ability to drain the magical power of the Master Chaos Emerald, then they had to stop him.
"Princess, I need to get back to the Floating Island pronto. I can't allow him to get the Master Chaos Emerald."
"I understand Knuckles, and under the circumstances, I am coming with you," Sally said, "But I don't think it would be all that bad if he did get the emerald."
"Have you gone mad squirrel??? You saw what he did with just his own powers, he'd become unstoppable if he got the Master Emerald!" Robotnik screamed.
"I hate to agree with ol' quadruple chins here, Princess, but he does have a point," Knuckles said.
"Hear me out," Sally said, redisplaying the message Tails had sent. "Tails said that plasma can keep Silver Fox's shields down, and we already know that as long as his shield is up, energy doesn't get to him. Doctor, can you design a deroboticizor that could fool Silver Fox into believing it was the Master Emerald?"
"If given the proper dimensions and attributes it would have to mimic, and with a good supply of luck, I should be able to construct such a machine."
"Knuckles, can you give Robotnik the information he requires to make a false Master Emerald?"
"Yeah, but I wouldn't feel good about it."
"What are you up to Sally?" Robotnik asked.
"I believe there is a way to defeat Silver Fox, but it will require all of us working as a single unit. Silver Fox tries to steal the Master Emerald's powers, but Robotnik has already set a deroboticizor in place camouflaged as the emerald. He lowers his Gamma Shield to absorb the energy, and that's when we hit him with the deroboticizor."
"We can use plasma disrupters to keep his shield down, and Enerjak might be able to keep Silver Fox in one place long enough to change him," Robotnik said.
"The hedgehog can help keep Silver Fox off balance.." Enerjak said.
"Sonic will not be coming with us, Enerjak. He's had some difficulty recovering from the last assault, and he thinks he'd be more of a liability than a help."
"I'll believe that," comes Robotnik's reply, though there is doubt in his voice. "In any event, we have to get started on this. Silver Fox is days ahead of us and may already have found the Master Emerald." Sally turns off Nicole's monitor and motions Knuckles to follow her. Their destination; Robotropolis.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the hospital room, Sonic is standing up, looking fit as a fiddle, though a little depressed. Sally's words have visibly struck home, as Sonic prepares to leave the hospital.
A few minutes later he is outside, simply walking (this story is just filled with firsts isn't it?) around and reflecting. *Am I really ready to throw in the ol' towel just because one robot could beat me a couple of times?* Sonic thought to himself. *Ah, who am I kiddin'. There's no way I can..*
*And so falls the brave and powerful hero of the Freedom Fighters.*
"Who said that?" Sonic asked as he spun around, looking for the voice's source.
*I am speaking to you telepathically, child. I am, what you might term, the Gaurdian Angel for all of Mobius, and it saddens me to see one so young believe himself to be finished.*
"Great, now I'm hearin' voices," Sonic said, when suddenly a lightening bolt hits the ground right in front of him. This is even odder in the fact that there are no clouds in the sky overhead. "Okay, okay, yer real. Sheesh. But how can I beat this guy, he's way too fast?"
*If speed was all it took to become a hero, then you would truly be nothing special. You must turn to your other, less obvious gifts Sonic, otherwise, Mobius will be doomed.*
"But how, I've used up every way I know how to fight. I've tried to out race him, I've tried to cut him, I've even tried Super-Sonic mode and nothin's worked."
*Then perhaps it is time for you to find a different way, oh blue blur. If being the hero were easy, if heroes did not at some point come across a challenge that seems insurmountable, then anyone would choose to be one.*
"But I couldn't..."
*Sonic Maurice Hedgehog!!* Sonic visibly shudders at his full name. *You need some serious help. Go to the cave in Sleepy Glen; you know the way. There you will meet some old acquaintances of yours who might be able and willing to help.*
"Wait a minute. If you're supposed to be the Gaurdian of Mobius, how come you don't just fix this."
*Because you and your friends still possess the hope of saving the world. Silver Fox is not a god, only god-like, and thus can be beaten. NOW GO!!!* Upon hearing this last part, Sonic departs at top speed, not wanting to anger this seemingly benevolent ally.

****************************************

Miles away in what appears to be a stronghold, three figures become visible. At the computers stands Locke, the father of Knuckles, and an unknown person hidden in a dark green cloak and hood. Athair is also in the room, though he is back in the shadows a bit.
The stranger turns to Locke and says, "Thank you my friend for allowing me to use Haven this day."
"I doubt Steppenwolfe would have approved of you using this place as a contact point to mind-speak with a hedgehog."
"Our two families have worked together for years, ever since both our bloodlines were born. I think you can tolerate my using it this once, especially since the Ancient Walkers said I needed to."
"I just hope this doesn't blow up in all out faces."
"That, my friend, is a concern of my own as well." With that, the cloaked figure raises its arms and disappears in a small tornado.

**************************************************

By now, Sonic has reached Sleepy Glen and the appointed cave.
"Hello, is anybody here!?!?!?!" Sonic shouts, still a bit skeptical of the logic behind his actions. No one answers, so Sonic takes the initiative and enters the cave. As soon as he does so, however, the whole place goes wavy and suddenly all is yellow. And, most importantly, the Ancient Walkers are now standing in front of Sonic.
"Oh boy."
"*INDEED*" came all three Walkers responses.

*************************************************

Robotnik had almost completed construction of the cloaked deroboticizor. He marveled at how simple it had been to construct such a device and also understood something far more sinister. It would be just as easy to do the same thing with a roboticizor. Unfortunately, he could not expand visibly on this with that blasted echidna watching his every move. *Oh, well,* Robotnik thought to himself, *there's always tomorrow, if we live that long.*
"Yo, doc. When's the deroboticizor gonna be ready?" Knuckles asked.
"Soon, Knuckles, very soon. Camouflaging the deroboticizor has proven to be exceedingly easy. But since young Tails did not go through your basic roboticization, I don't know if normal deroboticization will work on him, or, if it does, what adverse effects it may have on him," Robotnik replied.
"Is that concern I hear in your voice, Doctor?" Knuckles asked.
"I am concerned that should anything go wrong with young Tails's deroboticization, it could prove most detrimental to Mobius. There is no profit in destroying the world so quickly," Robotnik said, turning from Knuckles to continue his work.
As Knuckles walks out the door, he mumbles, "Your compassion is underwhelming."

******************

On board the Wing Fortress, Tane carries an armload of paper to the rooms designated as Silver Fox's. *Even if it doesn't present a good image of my abilities to him, if I fail to get him the Master Emerald while we're so close, I might just turn into a paperweight,* Tane thought as he reached the door, *Just please let him be in a good mood.* As he enters, Tane sees Silver Fox is glowing a bright silver.
"Uh, sir, is something wrong with you?" Tane asked his leader.
"Nothing really, Commander," came the metallic fox's reply, "but I never would have guessed Dimitri's Chaos Siphon was so complicated."
"Sir?"
"That's right, you wouldn't know about that. Well, it's unimportant right now. What is it you wished to speak with me about?"
"Sir, I believe we've found an important clue to the location of the Master Emerald. It's a riddle, but both Terra-bot and myself can't figure it out." Tane hands Silver Fox a sheet of paper with the riddle on it, which the vibrium vulpine quickly scans.
"I see," Silver Fox said. "And none of you can figure out where this riddle is describing?"
"Well, begging your pardon, but we aren't as familiar with a the Floating Island as you are."
"Well, it is no crime to admit one's limitations. Are you aware of the two zones known as Ice Cap and Lava Reef?" Silver Fox asked his Third.
"Yes sir, those were our first guesses, but there's no place that the two zones come in contact with each other." Tane answered
"Actually, the two zones do come in contact with each other. In three places in fact. The problem is none of these are above ground." A map appears on a computer screen behind Silver Fox. Four dots appear on the map at seemingly random points. "Let's look at this logically. These two dots are part of a teleportation system. I somehow doubt it would be a viable location for the Master Emerald. This one here is likely since it has easy access from the surface, but if you were trying to hide something like the Master Emerald, you'd want to make it fairly difficult for some other yutz to get to. That leaves this point, which is an anomaly, as it is extremely close to the centers of both Lava Reef and Ice Cap. The icy cave surrounding it doesn't melt and the lava flowing through it hasn't cooled."
"That can't be natural sir. Either the ice would melt or the lava would freeze," Tane interrupted.
"Correct, but remember the rest of the riddle; 'Neither takes the other's life.' This HAS to be the Master Emerald's hiding place. Scramble the troops, Tane, we're goin' spelunking."
"Yes, sir!" came Commander Tane's reply as he dashed through the door. Alone now, Silver Fox looked at his wrist were a timer now read 00:00:00.
"Now we see just how well I trained my army. Soon, this world will be mine. Ha Ha Ha HA HA HA HA HA HA!!"

************************************************************************

Meanwhile, in another dimension, a bewildered hedgehog watches his "hosts" who have remained unmoving for all this time.
"Okay, I give. If you guys went ta all this trouble to get me here, why ain't cha doin' anything?" Sonic asked, stamping his foot impatiently.
"*WHAT MAKEST THOU THINK WE ART THE ONES THAT DIDST SUMMON THEE?*" came First's reply.
"*IT WAST NOT US WHO SUMMONED THEE, ONLY ASKED TO AID THEE IN THY QUEST,*" Second continued.
"*THOU HAST LOST THY PRIDE IN THY ACCOMPLISHMENTS, AND THIS HAS LED TO THOU QUESTIONING THY WORTH,*" said Third.
"Like I said to the other guy, there's no way I could beat Silver Fo.."
"*IS THERE? OR IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THOU HAST CONCEDED THE BATTLE BEFORE IT HAST TRULY BEGUN?*" said Second accusingly.
"The battle was over when Silver Fox took the field. There's nothin' I can do that he can't do better."
"*THEN MOBIUS IS DOOMED TO THE TYRANNY SILVER FOX WILLST MOST CERTAINLY BRING,*" Third said, hanging his head as he did.
"Hey, you can't lay all this at my doorstep. The other Freedom Fighters have every bit as good a shot at stoppin' him. Just because I'm not there won't mean they can't beat him."
"*BUT THOU HAST SAID THYSELF THAT THE YOUNG VULPINE IS UNCONQUERABLE,*" Second said.
"*TIS TRUE, AND NONE OF THY FRIENDS WILLST BE ABLE TO FACE HIM,*" Third concluded.
"And why is that, Sally's smart, Rotor's got brains too, and Knuckles is every bit a vicious in a fight as he needs to be."
"*BUT NONE OF THEM DO POSSESS WHAT THOU DOST, THE INSIGHT INTO THE VILLIAN'S MIND THAT CAN BE USED TO DEFEAT HIM, AND THE ABILITY TO ATTACK HIM FROM WITHIN,*" Third said.
"It's like Buttnik said, the kid's got..."
"*WHY DIDST THOU DO THAT?*" First said.
"Do what?"
"*THOU DIDST REFER TO THY NEMESIS AS A CHILD. FROM WHAT THOU HAST TOLD US, SILVER FOX IS NO MORE A CHILD THAN ROBOTNIK TIS,*" First said.
"I don't know. I guess I can't stop thinking about him as if he were Tails," Sonic conceded.
"*SURELY HE DOTH SHARE MORE WITH YOUNG PROWER THAN HIS FORM? IT DOST TAKE MORE THAN SIGHT TO MAKE A CONNECTION BETWIXT TWO BEINGS,*" Third said. Sonic thought hard on the Ancient Walkers' question. What had he seen in Silver Fox that reminded him so much of Tails. It was then that Robotnik's word came crashing down on him. Silver Fox was a personality that had been integrated with Tails own.
"They both show off."
"*CORRECT. UNDERSTAND THAT SILVER FOX IS NOT SIMPLY A SEPARATE ENTITY. HE IS THE DARK, THE EVIL SIDE OF YOUNG PROWER, AND A FORCE ONLY YOU, SONIC HEDGEHOG, CAN DEFEAT. BUT THOU MUST DO MORE THAN MERELY OUT RACE HIM. THOU MUST BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THY ENEMY'S MIND. THOU DOST HAVE ADVANTAGES OVER THE SILVER FOX THOU MAY NOT REALIZE; AND A HIDDEN ALLY WHO NEEDST ONLY YOUR SIGNAL TO AID THEE,*" First said.
"What good does it do me if he vaporizes me before I get within five miles of him?" Sonic asked. Before he could blink the Ancient Walkers had opened up a portal both strangely familiar yet uncommonly strange to the young hedgehog. It swirled with an unnatural energy that drew Sonic to it like a magnet. Power radiated from it, filling the hedgehog's body with a sense of pleasure he had only minutely felt before as Super-Sonic. All three Ancient Walkers encircle him with raised hands.
"*IF THOU DOST POSSESS THE COURAGE, THE KNOWLEDGE, THE WILL, THE WISDOM, AND THE POWER TO DO BATTLE WITH THE SILVER FOX AS THOUGH ARE, THOUGH THY LIFE WOULD MOST CERTAINLY BE FORFEIT, THOU MUST EXPRESS IT NOW!*" the Walkers said in union.
Sonic thought carefully. He knew it'd be sheer suicide to fight Silver Fox all by himself, and he also knew he didn't want to die. On the other hand, leaving his friends and deserting his little buddy simply for self-preservation, especially after saying he'd always be there for him, was unacceptable. Plus, Sonic didn't like the world Silver Fox would create if he won the Robot Wars. It was with these thoughts in mind that Sonic made his answer.
"Yes."
"*THEN THOU HAST A NEW PATH OPEN TO YOU THIS DAY. TAKE THIS PORTAL AND TRAVEL THE PATH IT TAKES YOU, NO MATTER THE EXTREME DANGER THIS ROAD POSSESSES, AND IT SHALT LEAD YOU TO THE TOOLS THAT SHALT GRANT YOU THE POWER TO MATCH THE SILVER FOX'S OWN. COMMON SENSE AND INSTINCT WILL TELL THEE HOW TO USE THEM. THOU WILT THEN BE TAKEN TO THY ENEMY, BUT THOU MUST HURRY, FOR TIME GROWS SHORT,*" came the Ancient Walkers' words. This being said, Sonic looked at the portal and, without a second thought, jumped into it.
Seemingly alone now, Third suddenly gives voice to a fact. "*THOU DOST KNOWEST THAT THIS BATTLE COULD VERY EASILY BECOME THE END OF THE YOUNG HEDGEHOG, DOST THOU?*"
"I disagree," comes a voice. Its owner steps out into the light, revealing him to be the same cloaked figure that contacted Sonic. His face is hidden in the darkness of his blue hood, while the rest of his body is hidden in the blue robes. The figure continues, "I have complete faith in Sonic's abilities to confront Silver Fox. However, we must all be ready to intervene if necessary, for the fate of Mobius hangs in the balance."
"*DO NOT FORGET WHO THY MASTERS ARE, GUARDIAN. IT TIS YOUR JOB TO SAFEGUARD MOBIUS, NOT OURS,*" Second retorted.
"Which I am, but, if you'll recall, my job description says I am allowed to do so in any way I choose. This situation is not yet completely out of control. Besides, we can't let the cat out of the bag too early, can we? Your Chosen One is still too young, and he has not yet learned even the basest elements of the powers he has or will inherit."
"*THY WORD DOTH RING WELL WITH TRUTH, GUARDIAN, BUT BE NOT UNPREPARED TO BATTLE THE SILVER FOX IF THOU ART NEEDED.*"
"I won't, you just remember, it is my decision as to at what point I am needed in this fight."
"*IF THIS SCHEME OF THINE'S SUCCEED, WE WILT SET THE AFTERMATH TO RIGHTS. A DELICATE TAPESTRY IS BEING WOVEN THIS DAY, AND IT IS EVER OUR TASK TO WEAVE IT PERSONALLY. *"
"In other words, when Silver Fox gets beaten, you want to be the ones to be seen fixin' all the things he's done. I can handle that, though I would like to know why you have this sudden interest in what you always used to say was my job too."
"*THOU WILT BE ENLIGHTENED ALL IN GOOD TIME, BUT FOR NOW FAREWELL,*" with that said all three of the Ancient Walkers depart in a flash of light.
"Thanks, I may yet need it," with this, the stranger to departs, though in a much less flashy of a way.

************************************************************************

Sally looked over where Robotnik's SWATbots were lowering the false Master Emerald into position. Knuckles had examined and re-examined it over and over, and he had been convinced of the authenticity. Enerjak was busy meditating, preparing to focus all of his power towards one goal, keeping Silver Fox in position long enough for him to be deroboticized. All the other Freedom Fighters were busy watching the skies, looking for the slightest ripple or block out in the sky to signal the Wing Fortress's presence.
"I guess all that leaves me with is to wait," Sally said.
"I would relish it were I you, Princess," came a metallic voice behind her. Turning to see what was talking to her, she was not surprised to see the newly reconstructed Mecha-Sonic. The robot was roughly twice as big as it was before, and armed with disrupters and the like. Sally had to give him credit; as far as war machines were concerned, Robotnik was probably the best in the business.
"It's not the wait itself which is unnerving, it's the fact that I know what's coming, and that it might very well wipe us out," the squirrel princess answered. Mecha-Sonic flew up to the top of the cave they were guarding. The plan was simple; keep Silver Fox's warriors from entering the cave, but let Silver Fox himself come through. Once in, it was Knuckles's job to make a convincing effort to stop him, and, when he dropped his forcefield, they'd release the plasma field. Then Robotnik would flip on the deroboticizor, and Enerjak would hold Silver Fox in position and, hopefully, that'd be the end of him. Sally went up to the surface to see if anything had happened. As she exited the cave, she had Nicole set up a detector field, hoping to catch the Wing Fortress. Suddenly, Antoine came running up to her in a panic.
"Prinzess Sally, PRINZESS SALLY! Zhe Winged Fortress has been spotted! It's heading zhis way!" the French fox screamed. But Sally did not need to be told that, the Wing Fortress had just made its way over the horizon. As she saw it come, and saw the first legions of Silver-SWATbots emerge from the foliage, Sally uttered the word she'd been afraid to say since this whole thing started.
"ATTACK!!!!"

* * *

Sonic continued on the strange pathway the Walkers had made for him. He'd run into unfriendlies a lot in the beginning, but had figured out that if he stayed in the center, they pretty much left him alone. The path seemed to be almost an exact replica of the zone where he'd had to get the Giant's Hand. It seemed only to be two dimensional, with only a void on either side, filled with what appeared to be junk. He'd seen things with only one eye, and things with millions of eyes, and any number of other weird creatures. While the adventurous side of him said to explore this new zone, he knew he'd only have a short while to get whatever tool he'd been sent for.
He finally came to what appeared to be a temple to some ancient god. The place was literally floating, and looked deserted. As the hedgehog approached the temple, its torches all suddenly sparked to life, as if someone had been expecting him. He raced inside, only to discover that the golden path he'd been traveling still directed him forward, to a huge door. Sonic cautiously opened the door, not knowing what to expect. What he found shocked him.
There, floating right above an altar, in a circle were seven elongated emeralds. At first, Sonic thought these were Chaos emeralds, but realized they were off color and too oddly shaped. He turned to look for anything else in the room when something even more shocking happened.
*Who dares to disturb our tranquility?* said the lead emerald, right into Sonic's mind. Not knowing what to think of this, Sonic replied as best he could.
"I, Sonic Hedgehog."
*You are the one whom the mighty Ancient Walkers have sent to us in your time of need?" the lead emerald said again.
"Y-yeah, I suppose you could say that," Sonic answered.
*If the Ancient Walkers have decreed us help you, Sonic Hedgehog, then prepare to receive our aid; if not, prepare to die," the emeralds said in unison. Then they began to twirl faster and faster, moving around Sonic and getting brighter and brighter. The hedgehog could feel their power as his body's molecules began to excite and tug as if being pulled apart.
"Wait a minute," Sonic said, terrified that he'd somehow failed his friends, "What are you? What's happenin' to me?"
*We are what are known to one and all as The Super Chaos Emeralds, Sonic Hedgehog, and you have been given a great gift to aid you in your fight." All Sonic saw was the light as it became too bright for him to look.

* * *

Aboard the Wing Fortress, or more specifically inside the mind of the Silver Fox, Tails watched through his jailer's eyes as the robots battled the Freedom Fighters. The vulpine had reached the main driver program, and had been able to add himself as a permanent feature of the algorithm. Silver Fox was too busy enjoying the carnage to notice him. Tails marveled at how that, when he'd entered the drivers section, it looked tremendously like Robotnik's command center in Robotropolis. Silver Fox himself was sitting at the chair, commanding the invincible body they were both in. The fox had been surprised at how much they looked alike, and hoped Silver Fox would have nothing sweeping the room for intruders.
But why should he, when he had so many defenses before getting here. Right now, Tails was trying to find a way to disrupt Silver Fox's operation. Being sure to stay out of his enemy's peripheral vision, Tails began to search all the control panels. That was when he realized, Silver Fox's eyes were closed, yet the controls all seemed to be moving.
*Of course,* the young vulpine thought, *This is HIS mind right now. He can control the body with his thoughts..* suddenly, a wicked looking smile spreads across Tails's face. *Which means he probably wouldn't even know if I were here if I walked right up.* With a new sense of security, Tails quickly begins to search for the console that would disrupt Silver Fox once more. His eyes soon fell upon a console in the corner of the virtual room, one which moved its controls more than any other. Tails made his decision.

* * *

The fight had begun. In Sally's mind, however, it looked more like a slaughter. While they did fight valiantly and as a cohesive unit, the Freedom Fighters were no match for the raw power of a seemingly limitless supply robots from the Wing Fortress. Added to this was the fact that Silver Fox had forged a disciplined and well organized army of the disorganized robots he'd so recently taken over. And because they were grossly outnumbered, the Freedom Fighters could only barely create a dent in their enemies' numbers. And, to make matters worse, Silver Fox himself had not yet shown up, which meant he was a wild card Sally couldn't predict.
"Princess," came Rotor's voice, "I think you're going to have to go to more drastic measures. If Silver Fox isn't here, then our trap is for nothing."
"I know, Rotor. Tell our people to fall back behind the treelines. You have five minutes."
"Yes ma'm!"
As Sally watched with grim determination, her friends retreated back to the trees before the cave. The squirrel prayed everyone had made it, since she could no longer wait for them. Grabbing Nicole, she then made her commands.
"Nicole, arm detonators."
"Arming Sally."
"DETONATE."

* * *

Silver Fox heard it, in fact the whole island heard it. A giant explosion from directly below the fortress.
"What happened down there, Tane!?!?!?!?!?" the metallic mammal demanded.
"The Freedom Fighters, they planted explosions all over the field, my lord. It took out most of my forces."
"Very clever, Sally," Silver Fox mused, "I'm through leaving this to chance. Assemble my Strike Force, I'm going down there to personally extract my pound of flesh."
"Yes sir."

* * *

For a few brief moments, Antoine had been relieved. He'd gotten off the field in time, and turned back to see the satisfying sight of robot parts littering the place. That's when he saw the Wing Fortress up above, opening its doors to release the new and improved badniks: Catakiller, Bat-Brain, Splatts, Octo-bot I, Jaws, Catakiller Jr., Buzzbomber, and Moto-bug. The robots wasted no time in attacking the Freedom Fighters, but this was not what scared Antoine most. What scared him the most was that Silver Fox himself had emerged, which meant big trouble. As the robot flew toward the cave, Antoine chased after him, hoping Sally could hold Silver Fox off until he got there.

* * *

Sally saw the incoming attacker, and prepared as best she could. To her surprise, though, instead of attacking, Silver Fox merely landed in front of her.
"I must commend your ruthlessness Sally. I truthfully did not think you had it in you to destroy an entire field. But now, I must ask you to step aside," came Silver Fox's oh so smug voice.
"It's not gonna happen murderer," Sally replied, in as brave a voice as she could. "I know what you're after and you're not getting it."
And this Silver Fox made a metallic laugh. "Do you actually think you can stop me Princess?"
"Let me put it this way, do you think I would try?" For a few moments, Silver Fox, Lord of the Wing Fortress and its resident robots, stared eye to eye with Sally Allicia, Princess and current head of the House of Acorn, in a battle of wills. Neither side gained nor gave as cold metallic eyes met the determined stare of fiery blue eyes. Muscles and hydraulic limbs tensed, ready at a moments notice to pounce at any sign of weakness.
"I truly believe you would," said the robotic fox, realizing that, for all his superior technology and weapons, he could not intimidate her. "Very well then, prepare to die."

* * *

Tails had to give his "Aunt" credit, if he'd been in her position, he probably would have fainted. That was when he saw both the controls for the tentacles and the quantum energy laser move and realized that Silver Fox would attack Sally if he didn't figure out how to operate everything real quickly.

* * *

"NOW BUNNIE!!!" All of a sudden, Bunnie Rabbot jumped tackling Silver Fox with all her might and trying to hold him down
"You think you can stop me, you robot wannabe? I moped the floor with you last time, and this time will be no different."
"Maybe so, sugar, but ya'll can't be sure o' anythin' in this life," saying this, Bunnie attached a small magnetic disk to the back of Silver Fox's neck, then quickly jumped off. "All right Sally, let 'er rip."
"Nicole, start the electro-magnetic pulses!" Sally exclaimed as her hand-held computer complied. All of a sudden, the disk glows and Silver Fox begins to feel its effect.
"Digital software compromised," he said as the Princess and Bunnie smiled. That was when he pulled out a surprise they had not counted on. "Anti-magnetic defense system has come on line." From Silver Fox's head, bolts of green energy attacked the offending disk, destroying it in the process. Now, fully in control of his body once more, Silver Fox continued his assault.
"Big mistake, girls. Prepare to say good-bye," Silver Fox jumped at Bunnie, ready to tear her apart as she crouched into a more defensible position. That was when they all heard the sound of an intruder.
"CHAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGE," came a familiar French accent. Running towards the three was Antoine, of all people.
"What do you want, coward?" Silver Fox said jauntily as Antoine drew his sword.
"I will not allow you to harm zhe ladies, you fowel beaste!" Antoine said in defiance, ready to fight to the death if need be. "If you want zhem, you shall have to come therue moi."
"That's almost exactly what that dumb tiger said before I killed him," Silver Fox grinned maliciously. "Prepare to meet the same fate fox-knight." With the speed of summer lightening, Silver Fox's engines rocket him towards his target, as his deadly blades prepare for their strike. All of a sudden, Silver Fox jerks back just before striking, to the bewilderment of all.
"No one dies today you jerk," Silver Fox said, but it was not his voice that spoke, it was Tails's.
"YOU! How did you get back here?" Silver Fox yelled, seemingly to himself.
"Tails, what happened?" Sally said, bewildered. Still struggling internally with Silver Fox, Tails could only answer her in gasps.
"Finally made it.... to his main... programs. Inserted... self into... his programs... and attacked him. Sally, you've got to... get out of... here."
"Face it kid, you don't have the strength to beat me," Silver Fox said, once more heading for Antoine with his deadly bladed attack.
"Sorry Ant," Tails said as the blades retracted, "this is the best I can do." With that, Silver Fox/Tails hit Antoine, sending him flying to safety.

***

"Give it up kid, ya can't win," Silver Fox said in the virtual battleground of his mind.
"And let you kill my friends, never you coward," Tails retorted, grabbing the controls for Silver Fox's quantum energy lasers. Silver Fox, of course, refused to take this lying down, and lunged at his young opponent, knocking him away from the controls, then following it up with an energy blast.
"Even if I can't kill you, you'll never save your friends' pathetic lives runt," Silver Fox said, turning towards the laser controls.
"You forgot something Silver Fox. In this world, if you can do it, so CAN I!!" and with that, Tails loosed a huge blast from his fists, which sent the evil robot ramming into a virtual wall. "Maybe next time you won't." He soon goes back to work trying to regain control of his body, oblivious to Silver Fox, who delivers an uppercut sending Tails back.
"The difference between you and I, cub, is that I know more tricks of the trade, such as this marvelous little command," a bright orb appears in Silver Fox's hands, "FREEZE PROGRAM!!!" A few quick hand gestures later, and the orb rockets towards Tails, striking the vulpine and freezing him in place. With that done, Silver Fox returns to his command chair, carefully noting when the command would wear off.

***

"Tails, are you all right in there?" Sally asked, worried as about why the robotic body had not moved since Tails's last communiqué. As she started to approach, a metallic hand grabbed her wrist.
"He had to take a powder squirrel-girl, but you perfectly free to play with me." A cruel smile appeared on Silver Fox's face, but Sally was not yet ready to call it quits.
"That's too bad, then I wouldn't have to do this." As she said this, the squirrel dropped to the ground and delivered what could be called an upper-kick. The result of this was that Silver Fox, taken off guard by this attack, let her go. Bunnie, who was behind the vulpine, grabbed his arm and threw him as hard as she could. Unfortunately, Silver Fox was ready for that, and landed on his feet, leaping and tackling the robo-rabbit. This, combined with the fact that Silver Fox gained extra thrust with his rockets, ended with the fem-bunny getting smashed into the wall of the cavern and loosing consciousness.
"Looks like you've run all out of friends Princess," said the metallic fox, as he walked towards the squirrel. Suddenly, Sally pulled out Nicole and fired her laser, which Silver Fox's shield did absorb. The laser did, however, distract him enough for Sally connect with a spinning side-kick. As she went for a second, though, a tentacle caught her and tossed her at the cavern wall.
"It doesn't matter if you kill me, machine, as long as one animal lives, you will be opposed."
"I'm shaking in my pistons," Silver Fox said as he grabbed her by the throat and lifted her. "Say good-bye, pest."
"Good-bye, PEST!" came a voice in defiance, which was directly followed by and golden streak ramming him through the opposite wall.
"Who, what, HOW?" Silver Fox said, stunned that some one had escaped his notice.
"Ya fergot where an' why, robo-junk. But I'll let ya have 'em anyway," the familiar voice said above Silver Fox, as the blur slowed down and stopped, revealing: Sonic the Hedgehog. "Guess who's baaaaack."
"Sonic!!" Sally exclaimed joyously.
"I don't know what you think your going to accomplish, hedge-rat. I beat both Super-Sonic AND Hyper Knuckles, what makes you think you can beat me alone, SUPER-Sonic?" Silver Fox said, getting airborne to face the golden hedgehog on equal terms. He was puzzled that his sensors practically screamed Sonic was more powerful than he should be.
"Nothing, dummy, but ya see, I ain't Super-Sonic. I'm only Super-Sonic when I'm empowered by the Chaos Emeralds. But, thanks to some help from the ol' guys (the Ancient Walkers), I've found the SUPER Chaos Emeralds, so say hello to ULTRA-SONIC." So saying Ultra-Sonic attacked again moving so fast as to create four holographic images trailing behind him. Thinking Ultra-Sonic was going to ram him again, Silver Fox deftly moved out of the way only to be hit from behind by an energy beam.
"I hope you like it, SF, I call it my Chaos Beam, something you can't absorb," Ultra-Sonic said as Silver Fox righted his orientation. Ultra-Sonic's cockiness was then rewarded, he felt the full force of his opponent's quantum energy lasers. "Uh."
"What's the matter, Ultra-Sonic, you can dish it out but you can't take it?"
"Oh I can take it all right. The question is can you." So saying Ultra-Sonic let loose with another blast of chaos power, which was promptly met with Silver Fox's lasers. The two beams fought against each other, neither gaining nor loosing ground as each gladiator placed more and more energy into the fight. Deciding it was time to end the stalemate, both let loose two more weapons. From Ultra-Sonic's eyes came a power blast, which in turn was met with Silver Fox's antimatter warheads. It was then that Silver Fox ducked out of the way, ending the contest.
"Why am I wasting my time with you, when the real prize awaits in yon cave?" said Silver Fox, who sped into the cave. Ultra-Sonic prepared to follow, when Sally caught his attention.
"Sonic, chase Silver Fox but don't stop him."
"Sal, are you feelin' all right? Don't ya know he's after the Master Emerald?"
"Why does everyone think I'm crazy? Sonic, we set a trap for Silver Fox, and you could add loads to the credibility of this. Think you can act well?"
"We'll see, won't we?" Ultra-Sonic stated as he gave chase to his quarry.

***

Meanwhile, inside the Caverns of Fire and Ice, Silver Fox was closing in on his quarry. He soon entered a huge cavern, where the walls were glazed with ice, yet also pouring with lava. And there, resting on a small island in a large pool of lava, was his prize, the Master Chaos Emerald. Readying his Chaos Siphon, Silver Fox slowly traveled to the emerald. Out of nowhere, Knuckles appeared, blocking his path.
"STOP!! As the Guardian of the Floating Island and the Chaos Emeralds contained therein, I cannot allow you to steal the powers of the Master Chaos Emerald." The echidna spoke in brave words, but Silver Fox's sensors told him the Knuckles's adrenaline levels were through the roof.
"Why is it everyone thinks they can dictate to me what I can and cannot do? If I want that emerald's powers, then I will have them."
"Over my dead and rotting corpse," Knuckles said defiantly.
"Your wish is my command," Silver Fox said, aiming as laser at the young echidna.
"Then I wish you'd get lost and bring my little buddy home," Ultra-Sonic said, hitting Silver Fox with some Chaos energy to stop Silver Fox. Knowing that he had to make this look hard, Ultra-Sonic rammed Silver Fox, knocking him back into one of Knuckles's ever famous uppercuts. Silver Fox broke their attack by grabbing Knuckles and hurling him into Ultra-Sonic. As the two tried to disentangle themselves, Silver Fox bolted for the emerald, only to be attacked by Ultra-Sonic. The two grappled, but even with his new enhanced speed and power level, Ultra-Sonic was not Silver Fox's equal in physical strength. It was no surprise that Silver Fox was able to easily throw Ultra-Sonic, but by then, Knuckles was back in his face. Using more of a strike and run tactic, Knuckles was able to keep Silver Fox from continuing, but only till a tentacle wrapped itself around him. Hitting on a way to get them both out of his proverbial hair, Silver Fox threw Knuckles to a lava pool at a velocity that prevented him from stopping, forcing Ultra-Sonic to go save his comrade.
As he landed next to the emerald, Silver Fox lowered his shield, ready to absorb the Chaos powers. Suddenly, he heard the familiar voice of Doctor Robotnik yell, "NOW ENERJAK!!!" Two beams of energy hit Silver Fox's feet, holding them there as what his sensors displayed as plasma generators became active. The facade of the Master Emerald left revealing the deroboticizor.
"Hold him Enerjak, I need time to do this right."
"I'm holding him Robotnik, but it's not going to be easy."
"You are correct sir," Silver Fox said as his rockets engaged at wide spread.
"Sonic, help me, hold him down with your powers too," Enerjak commanded. Using his Chaos Beam, Ultra-Sonic complied, attempting to force Silver Fox to stay still.
"You're both fools. Did you really think I didn't detect the plasma generators, and know something was up? Now watch and learn." With a mighty burst from his rockets, Silver Fox broke free as the deroboticizor let loose its beam. Flying higher into the cavern, Silver Fox headed for what he knew must be there.
"No, don't let him get to the emerald!" Knuckles cried.
"You hid the emerald in the roof of the cavern," Enerjak screamed as he and Ultra-Sonic sent blast after blast rocketing towards Silver Fox, "How dumb can you be?"
"There wasn't enough time to move it." The blasts all missed their marks, and Silver Fox reached the emerald.
"That was a mistake you'll forever regret, echidna, or at least for the thirty seconds left to you anyway," came the metallic voice as its owner began the Chaos Siphon. Soon, the Master Emerald was merely a black husk, while Silver Fox himself began to glow an emerald green.
"Yeeeeeeess. The power.... the absolute POWER," Silver Fox suddenly began to grow and, knowing they'd be crushed if the he didn't, Enerjak teleported Robotnik, Knuckles, Ultra-Sonic, himself, the emerald husk, and the deroboticizor to the outside. Soon, Silver Fox out grew the cavern and busted out in an impressive display. "Only one has the ability to change reality with the force of mind. And I am that force, I have that POWER. Power enough to make me Master of ALL THE UNIVERSE!!!!"
"By all that is good," Sally said as the entire world seemed to pause, "How can we stop him now?"
"Leave, my robot allies, return to the Wing Fortress and await my further instructions."
Ultra-Sonic racked his brain thinking of a way to stop the new, improved Silver Fox. As the robots left, returning to the Wing Fortress as ordered, a memory and a thought crossed his mind.
*The fission/fusion reactor keeps pouring energy into ol' SF's circuits. But the Master Emerald 'sposed ta have unlimited power, which he's now got. I've got it!*
"Yo SF, I guess now that you've got the power of the Master Emerald, ya might just stand a bit of a chance against us." This most certainly got Silver Fox's attention, as he turned towards Ultra-Sonic with a loud footfall.
"You are either extremely arrogant, or extremely foolish, Ultra-Sonic. Surely you must realize that, with the merest thought on my part, you could be reduced to cinders."
"Yeah, yeah, that and a dime 'll getcha a cup o' coffee. The truth is, you couldn't beat us as your normal self, so maybe this 'll even tha odds," Ultra-Sonic said, ready to move at a second's notice. Sure enough, a bolt of raw power crashed into the spot where the golden blur had been standing previously. "Ooooh, nice shot Robin Hood, maybe next time you'll try aimin'."
"I have all eternity to destroy you Ultra-Sonic, don't worry." Silver Fox said, aiming more blasts at the hedgehog. And so it began, with Silver Fox blasting bolts of increasingly more powerful energy while Ultra-Sonic dodged. Hoping she understood what he was doing, Sally followed Ultra-Sonic's lead. Soon, everyone had joined in, still not knowing what Ultra-Sonic had in mind, but realizing he must have a plan. This went on for about thirty minutes, until Silver Fox suddenly doubled-over as if in pain.
"ARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!" he screamed. Ultra-Sonic landed, a smile on his face.
"Finally," was all he said.
"What...What's happening... to me?" Silver Fox asked.
"Ya can't pour ten pounds of flour into a one pound bag," Ultra-Sonic answered.
"Sonic, what are you talking about?" Sally asked.
"It's his reactor. It's pumping him with energy same as the emerald. His circuits can't handle two sources of limitless power, so he's going into a meltdown," came Ultra-Sonic's reply. Then to Silver Fox he said, "Yo SF. If ya don't give back the powers ya stole from the Master Emerald, yer body 'll blow, and take everything, including your robotic army, with it."
Silver Fox looked at Ultra-Sonic skeptically for a minute, but soon realized the truth. He didn't want to die, or for his followers to die too.
"I swear I will make you pay for this hedgehog, I'll make you pay with your life and the lives of all you hold dear," said Silver Fox. Grasping the emerald, Silver Fox began to channel his energies back to it. Unbeknownst to him, Robotnik was ready and, as soon as the last of the Master Emerald's energies were returned, fired his deroboticizor at the now defenseless Silver Fox.
"Now who's laughing, you metallic moron?" Robotnik yelled as Silver Fox began to slowly transform back into Tails.
"Enjoy... your... victory... Freedom... Fighters. For... I... will... return,... and... next... time... you... will... not... be... so... lucky," were Silver Fox's final words as his transformation ended. For its part, the Wing Fortress disappeared, much to the relief of the victors, though all knew it would surely return again.
"Vital signs... normal. Brain activity... normal. It seems young Tails has been completely transformed." Robotnik said, then suddenly raised a laser to the unconscious fox. "Now to make sure this never happens again." Before he could fire, a scaly green hand grabbed his own in a vice-like grip. The hand, of course, belonged to the Ancient Walker, First.
"*ENOUGH,*" he commanded, as his two compatriots flanked Enerjak as well. "*THERE HAST BEEN ENOUGH LOSS OF LIFE THIS DAY. THOU AND THY AUTOMATONS SHALT RETURN TO THY CITY IMMEDIATELY.*" With this said, Robotnik and his SWATbots began to glow and then disappear, presumably to reappear in Robotropolis.
"*THOU DOST HAVEST A CHOICE, DIMITRI. THOU WERT NOT SUPPOSED TO ESCAPE FROM THY PRISON YET. THOU MAYEST RETURN THERE UNTIL THAT TIME COMEST, OR THOU CANST FORFEIT THY POWERS TO STAY WHERE THOU ART PRESENTLY. WHICH IS THY BIDDING?*" Second and Third said in unison. Enerjak could feel the power of these three, and silently swore to make it his own, and thus could tell these were not the kind of people one messed with.
"I choose to return to my tower." With that Enerjak too disappeared, leaving only Knuckles and the Freedom Fighters with the Ancient Walkers. The trio walked over to Sonic and slowly his Chaos powers began to drain from him, and he returned to his normal shade of blue.
"*THOU HAS ALL FOUGHT VALIANTLY AGAINST A FOE MANY TIMES GREATER THAN THEE,*" said First and Second. Third bent over Tails's body and place a glowing hand over the vulpine's face.
"*WE CANST NOT, HOWEVER, ALLOW THE YOUNG PROWER TO RETAIN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE CHAOS SIPHON, LEST THE SILVER FOX USE IT AGAIN NEXT TIME,*" he said.
"Whoa, what do ya mean next time?" Sonic asked. "We beat him, there's no way SF's commin' back."
"*THOU WOULDST BE A FOOL TO BELIEVE THIS, SONIC, FOR SILVER FOX IS FAR MORE POWERFUL THAN THAT. HE IST A PART OF YOUNG PROWER, HIS OWN DARK AND EVIL SIDE, YET EVERY BIT AS REAL AS YOU OR I. THOU CANNOT DEFEAT HIM SO EASILY.*"
"Easy, EASY. You think that was easy. Takin' on Robuttnik, that's easy, this guy was just plain nuts. And how will Silver Fox get back anyway?"
"*THOU WILLST LEARN SOON ENOUGH, SONIC, THOU WILLST LEARN SOON ENOUGH,*" is all the Ancient Walkers say before disappearing themselves, leaving the Freedom Fighters to contemplate their words.

***
EPILOGUE:

A few days later, inside the office of Dr. Quack, Sonic and Sally sit as the duck doctor examines Tails.
"Well my boy, it seems you're fit as fiddle, aside from the fatigue. If you'll just wait for a few minutes, I have to talk to Sonic and Sally for a minute in the other room." That said, the three "adults" go into the next room.
"Okay doc," Tails's voice followed up.
"Sonic, Sally. I didn't want to say this in front of Tails and scare him, but I think you should have a look at this." A projection appears, showing what appears to be a machine on a red background.
"Doc, what're we lookin' at?" Sonic asked.
"This is a sample of Tails's blood," the doctor answered. Then pointing at the little machine, he continued, "and that is a nannite robot."
"What's it doing in Tails's blood, Dr. Quack?" the Princess asked.
"Well, nothing right now, none of them in his whole body are doing much except replicating to replace destroyed ones. Apparently, these robots shouldn't pose a threat to young Tails on a day to day basis. However, if exposed to a combination of air, adrenaline, and plasmids, they're going to activate, repairing any and all damaged tissue instantaneously."
"Well that doesn't sound so bad Doc."
"If that were all I'd agree, but the nannites don't shut off, they replace the damaged cells with machinery then move on to the healthy parts. The end result is that in a matter of moments, the entire body is completely roboticized."
"Can't you remove them?"
"Normally yes, but these things have lodged themselves and their factories into too many key places in too many key systems in Tails's body. They've even worked their way into his genetic code. I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do. On the bright side, this renders Tails's virtually unkillable except by old age." This last comment only receives glares from Sonic and Sally. "Tough audience. Well, aside from that, Tails is free to go, though I want you to tell me if anything happens."
"Thanks doctor."
"Yeah, thanks doc, we'll keep ya up ta date."

************************************************************************

At night, Tails is sleeping peacefully in his hut, totally oblivious to Sonic watching him through the window. The nightmares had finally stopped for Tails, and he was sleeping soundly, but the hedgehog couldn't help but wonder if his own nightmares would end. Sonic sadly turned and started to walk the streets of Knothole, ending up at the Power Ring pond.
"Couldn't sleep, could you?" a voice asks, startling Sonic. He turns to find Princess Sally standing there.
"No, I guess not."
"Me neither. You're thinking about what Dr. Quack said, aren't you, and how it relates to the Ancient Walkers' warning."
"A little. It's just that, every time I look at my little buddy, I can't help but also see Silver Fox there too. It scares me to think what might have happened to us if we'd failed."
"Why Sonic Hedgehog, can it possibly be that you actually thinking about consequences?"
"Very funny Sal, but I'm serious. We could barely handle the guy this time, and next time we might not be so lucky."
"Sonic, listen to me. If you spend all your time worrying about this, you'll never be ready for him. We're just going to have to cross that bridge when we come to it."
"I guess yer right Sal. I just wish there was somethin' more I could do for the lil' guy."
"Sonic, all you have to do is treat him like Tails, and not be afraid of him simply because Silver Fox also lives in his body."
"Yeah, yer right. Thanks a lot for the advice Princess. Ya really put my mind at ease." With that Sonic got up to go to bed, leaving Sally to contemplate her thoughts.
"I wish someone would ease mine," she said as she looked up at the First Moon of Mobius. She had once thought it to the prettiest of all Mobius's moons, but its silvery color brought forth only the image of Silver Fox's evil face staring down on her and laughing at her veil of security. Her mind, though, reminded her that Silver Fox was gone, and Tails was home. This offered comfort in the idea that, as long as Tails was with them, the terror of Robotnik's greatest creation would not return. She went back to her hut, and slept soundly, for the first night in many months. And also, for the first time in many months, she dreamed peacefully, with no intrusion and no thought of the terror she and her friends had faced, though the back of her mind knew that sooner or later, she, and all her friends would once more have to face; The Silver Fox.

The End.



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