Things Best Forgotten
Disclaim-Oh, what's the point... If you think I actually own these characters and not Sega, please remind yourself what site this story is on, OK?
Another long wait between chapters that I must apologize for, but, sadly, the excuse remains the same as my last major occurrence of writer's block. For those of you who may have not known, which, this being the Internet where hundreds of people will probably read this by the end of the month makes it very difficult for anyone reading this to already have known, I lost my best friend about a month ago. He'd been living with muscular dystrophy, a truly remorseless and debilitating condition, and simply died in his sleep as I and his sister tried to wake him up one morning. This being my second major loss since my father also passed away in February of this year, I hope it's understandable that my additions to this and other stories are rather delayed.
At any case, the world still turns and here I am finally with this new chapter for all of you to read and enjoy. If you can't tell, the story itself is getting rather close to its inevitable climax point, so now is when the really good stuff and action begins to come into play! So, read, review, enjoy... Whatever you feel like. Just don't pour brown gravy all over your monitor if you hate it. I don't know why, but something just tells me that it would be a bad idea...
Chapter 9: Playful Vengeance
"Tails? Hey, bro, time for some grub! Come on upstairs!" Sonic shouted down into the underground workshop that his brother had been in ever since returning from town earlier. He was rather tempted to go down and bring the fox up himself since he didn't know what state Tails might be in at the moment alone in his workshop after the events of today. Still, he wanted to show Tails he still trusted the mentally unstable fox by not seeming to watch over him every minute like Sonic would probably have felt better to be doing now. It was a strange situation; Sonic needing to balance his concern for Tails' well being with the fox's own need to feel like he wasn't being treated like someone that needed constant supervision, and Sonic now unwillingly had found himself in the middle of it.
Luckily, Sonic's restraint was well rewarded as the fox in question soon appeared at the top of the stairs without even the need to ask twice. "What's for dinner?" Tails inquired in a flat voice, it being seemingly impossible for him to be enthusiastic about anything right now. Sonic couldn't necessarily blame him, though; as the hedgehog anticipated that he would be rather hard to please after a day like today as well.
"I know we already had some this week, bud, but I made chili dogs just the way you like them to try and cheer ya up," Sonic answered while setting a plate of steaming hot chili dogs in front of Tails' spot at the dinner table and motioning for the fox to sit.
Tails obliged to Sonic's unspoken request willingly as the hedgehog then brought a couple sodas to the table for them, as well as some chili dogs for himself, before sitting down across from the fox to eat. Even as Sonic took his first large bite out of his first chili dog, however, he could tell that something was wrong with Tails by the fact that his brother had yet to even touch his favorite food right in front of him. A chili dog placed in front of Tails usually had a life expectancy measured in nanoseconds, so the fact that his little brother had yet to even begin to taste the delicious meal sent a large warning sign to Sonic immediately.
"What's the matter, little bro? Do they look like I didn't cook 'em long enough?" Sonic asked as he wondered just how upset Tails would have to be to refuse a perfectly well made chili dog.
"It's fine, Sonic. I'm just… not hungry," Tails spoke as he poked the bun of one of his chili dogs with a finger idly.
"Come on, Tails, don't think I don't know ya better than that. You'd eat chili dogs all day long if we had enough of 'em," Sonic exposed his brother's obvious lie, especially since the hedgehog knew for a fact that Tails had to be hungry after going since the run back from town till now without any food.
Tails never responded, though, as the fox then poked one of his white gloved fingers into the almost overflowing chili sauce on top of the homemade chili dogs, removed it slowly, and licked his finger clean. Never, though, did Tails give any indication that he was actually going to eat more of the chili dogs themselves.
"I also think I saw some mint candy in there from the store the other day we might have for dessert," Sonic added more appeal to the fox's appetite by mentioning the one thing he loved more than chili dogs.
"No thanks, Sonic," Tails replied gloomily instead while shoving his full plate of practically untouched chili dogs away from himself to the center of the table.
"You sure, buddy? It's not every day you get a meal as special as this, you know," Sonic tried one last time to reason with the fox as he felt greatly surprised that his promise of mint candy on top of a chili dog supper was still not enough to get Tails to eat. The Tails Sonic knew so well would never have passed up a deal like that in a million years, which told Sonic that much more was going on right now than simply a lack of hunger on the fox's part.
"I know. Thanks anyways, though, Sonic," Tails responded as he then wasted no time in getting back up from the table and beginning to walk off.
Sonic saw this and immediately dropped his half finished chili dog onto his own plate to enable him to confront the strangely acting fox without any distractions. "Just where do ya think you're goin', buddy?" Sonic asked Tails' retreating back in a tone that made the question clearly not a threat and, rather, a genuine concern.
"Back to my workshop. I've got a lot more work to do on those blueprints for the new Tornado, you know," Tails informed Sonic while he kept walking slowly towards the stairs leading to his basement workshop/hangar area.
This was the final straw for Sonic, however, as he refused to let the fox escape like this without so much as an explanation for why he was acting so strangely and uninterested now. "I don't think so, Tails. You and me need to have a talk about what's buggin' you right now before I'll let ya go back to working on your plane," Sonic demanded while he used his super speed to place himself in front of the door leading to Tails' workshop faster than Tails could reach it himself.
"What's bothering me? You want to know what's wrong with me?" Tails gave the hypothetical questions as he worked up the strength to say what he thought the well-meaning hedgehog still didn't seem to get. "Here's what's the matter with me, Sonic! I've been having horrible nightmares lately, half my friends I've ever known are now dead, I was blamed for it and would have gotten arrested unless they'd have found out the truth when they did, a cursed doll in the shape of me is the real one killing everyone and might still be out there, and now you think that I've lost my mind according to some psychiatrist! Well, Sonic, I'm just about one more second or strange sighting of you, only in black, from actually losing my mind now, and you simply want me to forget about all of it and eat my supper like a good little kit?! I know you're trying to cheer me up, but do me a favor and just… Don't!!" Tails shouted as the extremely upset fox dashed upstairs to his room since the path to his workshop was now blocked.
Sonic more felt than heard the door to Tails' upstairs room slam shut as the noise of wood half-splintering and a door hinge give way accompanied the enormous bang. Now alone downstairs, Sonic realized that he'd really blown it this time. If only he could figure out how he'd done it, though… Everything he'd done for Tails in the last couple days was always to help comfort or assist the fox as best Sonic felt he could, so how nothing but the best intentions and seemingly good deeds had earned this sort of behavior from his little brother towards him Sonic simply couldn't fathom. Sonic sighed as he sat down again at the table and stared down at his own barely started plate of chili dogs. He'd known that from day one he doubted his ability to watch over Tails, to provide the fox with everything the younger cub would need from a parent or older brother, but it was times like this when he was proven right and had no clue on what to do or say that caused Sonic to be harshest on himself for the pain Tails obviously felt.
In his vision's aimless wandering around the kitchen from the table, Sonic spotted something out of place on the counter separating this room from the small living room beyond. Stopping to look closely at it for a second, Sonic recognized the small cylindrical bottle sitting on the counter, Tails' medicine. Picking it up, Sonic remembered the psychiatrist's private conversation with him earlier in which he'd warned about the fox's likely unpredictable attitude which the medicine now in Sonic's hands was supposedly designed to help curb somewhat.
Sonic almost felt sick as he realized he now needed to depend on a pill to make his little brother happy. How could he have been Tails' big brother and still let it come to this point? Hadn't he tried his best to comfort the fox and be reasonable with him the last few days? What could he have done better to keep Tails from being in the state he was now? Was there anything he could have done at all? Shaking aside the painful self-interrogation Sonic now put himself through in his mind, the hedgehog slowly advanced up the stairs to the door leading into Tails' room. He would have knocked, but the door was broken from the vicious slam Tails had dealt it seconds ago and stood only half connected to its frame as Sonic instead carefully pulled the door open as not to have it come falling on top of himself in the process.
"Go away, Sonic," a muffled kit's voice greeted him from the bed immediately in front of Sonic as Tails' head was now buried in his pillows so only the tips of his large triangular ears still protruded slightly.
Sonic resolved not to give in so easily, however. "Look, bud, I really don't know what to say to ya right now, but I want to help with whatever it is you're goin' through," Sonic spoke sincerely to the obviously crying fox that was pretending not to listen. "I know you probably don't need these, and I really hope that's true, Tails, but would ya maybe take some of this medicine stuff now, for me?" Sonic requested after a long pause with no response to his first statement.
"So that's it, then? You came up here to tell me to take some magic pill that will solve all my problems?!" Tails shouted as a mildly enraged vulpine's face quickly shot out at Sonic through the pillows.
"No, Tails! I came up here because something's wrong with my little bro, and… and I don't know how to make it any better!" Sonic shouted back himself as he simply couldn't handle the situation any longer. Unfortunately, any further words failed him even as Sonic knew that he needed to follow his outburst up with something more if he hoped to break through to Tails. Thus unable to speak and extremely frustrated, Sonic simply tossed the bottle of pills onto the floor at the foot of Tails' bed and walked out. He had wanted to say something to Tails about how much he cared, something he knew the fox might later call rather mushy coming from him, but Sonic was simply too confused himself to do so at the moment. Forgetting the chili dogs still uneaten on the downstairs table, Sonic exited the house to run around the Mystic Ruins a few times, the only thing that ever calmed him down best when he got this flustered.
Tails' expression of anger changed instantly as Sonic left and he heard the front door slam closed behind the blue hedgehog. Sonic might not have handled the situation very well or said what he needed to, but Tails had gotten from his frustration what Sonic had really meant to portray to the fox all along. Sonic was hurting maybe just as bad by seeing him feel this way as Tails actually felt himself. Regretting his treatment of his big brother a second ago, Tails felt a gnawing pit of guilt as the ears on his head slowly drooped until they were laying almost flat on the top of his head in his renewed sorrow. Sonic had only been trying to help the whole time. He'd known it all along, but Tails had still made him to be the enemy because he believed what that psychiatrist had said over his own word. Despite Sonic only wanting the best for him, Tails still had let himself feel betrayed by his older brother and had lashed out at him in anger which Sonic never did anything to deserve. Now faced with this new guilt, Tails quickly found that being alone wasn't really what he'd wanted just now as he felt worse than ever due to the addition of the most recent events.
Minutes passed, and Tails' downcast gaze eventually settled on the medicine Sonic had discarded laying nearby. A strange impulse told Tails to pick the small bottle up, and the kit slowly raised it to his eyes in curiosity. Not sure what he was doing or what to do in his strange mood of inactivity, Tails found himself reading aloud from the label encompassing the bottle. "May cause drowsiness, nausea, diarrhea, fatigue…" Tails mumbled senselessly as he felt like simply doing the action would mean something at the moment.
Eventually, Tails got up and progressed slowly downstairs to the kitchen where supper was still laying out and getting a little cold by now. Tails didn't mind, however, as the fox finally took hold of one of his chili dogs and began munching slowly on the favorite treat. After finishing the first one and his hungry stomach finally starting to show that it was approving of the meal Tails had refused earlier, he then opened the bottle of pills and shook out one of the colored tablets. He still didn't feel like taking the medicine, but, after the way he'd treated Sonic earlier, Tails resolved that his mood really did need some drastic changing, psychotic episode or not. Placing it in his mouth and downing the pill with some warm cola, Tails then proceeded to finish his meal in a strange solitude.
Shadow was biding his time now, leaning with his eyes closed against the window in the observatory tower in Eggman's current active base, his personal mission to retrieve the corpses of the three soulless Mobians he'd originally been sent to gather in the first place having run into a major snag. The only way to know now where the bodies had been relocated was through Eggman, but asking him directly would raise far too much suspicion. As it stood, even Shadow, the self acclaimed 'Ultimate Lifeform', couldn't as of yet find a solution to his current conundrum, barring the fact that he'd seen fit so far as to obtain a certain item as an insurance policy of sorts.
His eyes shot open instantly as the elevator doors to the large observation tower suddenly opened with a mechanical hiss. As if on a cue from Shadow's own contemplations, Eggman's chair slowly hovered in sporting its usual rider. An unconscious warning went off in Shadow's mind as he felt uncomfortable in Eggman having come to him this time rather than his usual summons through a communicator of some sorts. If he was concerned, though, Shadow's expression never showed it as he uncrossed his legs and stood erect while greeting the obese visitor. "Greetings, Doctor. You were looking for me?" Shadow asked in his normal, somewhat unfriendly tone as he already knew that Eggman wouldn't be up here for just the view.
"Shadow…" Eggman responded in a lower than comfortable voice. Already, Shadow's mind read the Doctor's blank expression and strange greeting as another major warning. Could he suspect my intentions already? Shadow thought as his mind quickly kicked into full alert. He still never allowed that to show on his outward features, however, as Shadow could have very nearly been the original author of how to 'play it cool'.
"You needed something?" Shadow responded again in his usual cold tone while his eyes and ears closely monitored the man's reaction.
"You, Shadow… I came for you," Eggman spoke again. Something was clearly off about the evil genius's actions so far, though. His words were soft and not in his typical voice, and his facial features seemed frozen like the rest of his body in a clearly unnatural manner.
Shadow noticed all this and wondered if it would be prudent for him to make his observations known. Eggman had surely never acted this way before, which sent Shadow a message that nothing of the ordinary would come out of this conversation by the time it was finished. "And?" Shadow answered Eggman's statement, feigning a hint of impatience in his voice that would normally arise from any normal one-sided conversation he was in.
"Join me… Join us," Eggman spoke eerily as if he had been transformed into one of the robots he spent so much time working on. It became glaringly apparent that something far from Eggman confronting Shadow about his intentions concerning the corpses of Vanilla, Cream, and Knuckles was taking place. If he'd been anyone else, even, Shadow was sure he'd have felt a twinge of fear growing inside himself.
That's when the elevator doors opened yet again, and the corpses in question stepped out to array themselves beside Eggman, cutting off Shadow's access to the only escape from the room. Shadow finally showed surprise on his face as he backpedaled a half step at this unexpected revelation. Playing it cool was out the window now as Shadow took a ready stance. He didn't know what was going on here, but if he had to fight through these supposed to be deceased Mobians to get out of here alive, Shadow wouldn't hesitate.
While his body was ready for action, however, Shadow's mind now raced to catch up with him. Unable to find any sense in what was happening whatsoever, Shadow's curiosity prompted an outburst. "What's going on here?!" Shadow shouted with a growl, suspecting that someone or something could hear him which would answer that question.
"Mweeee hee hee hee! Your master simply has opened Pandora's box, Shadow. Isn't it good to know that he trusted you so well when you assured him I was in there?" a creepy child's voice called out from behind the four zombie-like figures.
Shadow may not have recognized the voice, but realization dawned nonetheless as he finally began to comprehend the danger he was in. "You! If you wanted my soul, then why didn't you take it when I carried you from Tails' house?" Shadow questioned as he understood full well who, or rather what, he now addressed.
Also understanding that further deception and hiding was unnecessary, the Tails Doll produced itself floating above the group of reanimated beings blocking Shadow in. "I was locked in my box, don't you recall? A small, dark prison… No sunlight. No companions. A prison created to keep me for all eternity, forever sealed off from your world. Now freed, your souls shall all be mine, just like these minions before me now," the Tails Doll spoke, its voice changing emotions from solemn and remorseful to vindictive and childish with no discernable transitions between the two mood swings. "Curiosity, it seems, can kill far more than just cats!" it added with a vindictive laugh as it only had that one impulse to thank for its freedom yet again at the hands of his once called creator.
Shadow finally understood now. Eggman had met the same fate as Knuckles, Vanilla, and Cream. Their souls were now captured by this doll's evil, leaving only the bodies of the once living beings, which the Tails Doll apparently seemed to be capable of commanding as well. A lightning quick assessment of his current predicament told Shadow what should be done next. At this point, his only concern could be survival. Shadow needed to run, escape, get to someone with this information before he too could be claimed by this maniacal doll. Shadow knew it would be easier said than done.
"Oh, Shadow… Even you are so predictable in your feelings, just like all these other mortals," the Tails Doll spoke before Shadow could act on his resolve to flee. "You are right not to try and match me in a fight, but why must you creatures always try to run? You especially show very little fear even now, but still you focus on escape! Why not offer yourself up freely? Why drag on and resist with the vain hope that somehow I can be beaten? Do you so easily forget that I am immortal, and therefore cannot die?" the doll questioned philosophically to the trapped hedgehog, its childish and creepy voice conflicting greatly with the advanced vocabulary in which it spoke.
Shadow bent his legs in preparation to run as he felt a final response making its way through his mind to give to the possessed doll. "No, I will survive because I am the Ultimate Lifeform! If you are to take the souls of every living thing on this planet, mine shall be the last!" Whether or not the doll had a response to this, Shadow didn't wait to find out. He knew that a discussion would only play into the Tails Doll's stubby little hands, giving it time to set a trap from which Shadow would likely never be able to escape. So, at speeds only Sonic could match, Shadow plowed straight into the group of reanimated bodies.
The initial impact was made mostly on Eggman's chair, sending it and its soulless occupant flying across the room to settle uselessly to the floor, the Doctor's remains pinned beneath it. As the other three Mobians now closed in to assault Shadow, however, the hedgehog made a quick discovery by a passing glance towards the wreckage he'd caused with his first attack. Fallen just beyond Eggman's reach was the ornate chest Shadow recalled being the one in which the Tails Doll could be safely contained. Shadow smirked. He'd assumed that the doll would have been ingenious enough to hide or dispose of the box already, but clearly Eggman's clumsiness had resulted in it still being with the Doctor the whole time. It seemed that no matter whose evil plans the elderly genius became involved in, Eggman would always find some way to mess things up, a trait Shadow now saw as quite fortunate in this situation.
Shadow came to a screeching halt and changed directions rapidly, in the process missing narrowly a full bodied charge by a once peaceful mother rabbit who clearly had been in athletics during her youth at one time judging by the force her blow had against the floor where Shadow had been. Swooping down with one hand while accelerating towards his new target, Shadow narrowly missed picking up the chest which was his goal by a white glove snatching it away half a second faster. Looking up, Shadow identified the annoying foe that now possessed the enchanted box as Knuckles, or rather Shadow recognized the fist as it pummeled him in the side of the face and sent the ebony hedgehog flying.
He was far from out yet, though, as Shadow regained his composure and twisted in midair to rebound back off a glass paned window back along his original path with fist extended. Unable to react in time to Shadow using his own attack's momentum against him, the demonically controlled Knuckles took Shadow's retaliation straight to his gut, knocking him back much like he'd done to Shadow and freeing the small chest from his grip. With one smooth flip, Shadow righted himself and grabbed the chest from midair, a smirk on his face as he looked up to the floating doll in pride. "Now that I have this, perhaps you might think twice about calling any further resistance 'useless'," Shadow commented.
He was smart enough to not try and capture the Tails Doll on his own right here and now, though, as Shadow expected the demonic creature certainly would have something else up its stitch work sleeves that would make it foolish to attack head on. Instead, Shadow ended his short gloating and continued with his original plan of escape, quickly making a dash for the now unguarded elevator before any of the downed zombie attackers could impede him further. Unfortunately, he'd forgotten just one as a small, young bunny now threw herself in his way. Shadow kept charging forward, however, knowing he could plow straight through the tiny rabbit far easier than any of the others he'd fought so far. His speed faltered, however, as Shadow couldn't help but see a defenseless child he was about to impale. He knew the real Cream was dead, that this was only a body possessed and under the command of a truly evil spirit that had murdered her to begin with, but seeing the young form in his path and knowing he was going to do great harm to it on purpose…
At the last moment, Shadow veered away and ran full speed into an adjacent window instead, breaking the glass on impact as he fell amongst the thousands of shards from the base's tower observatory towards the rest of the structure almost fifty feet below. Shadow didn't focus on the view or the sensation of falling, however, as the dark hedgehog closed his eyes in concentration. An emerald shone in his free hand as Shadow fished the contraband item he'd taken from Eggman's base earlier just in case of such an emergency and channeled its energy through himself. When he felt the focused power was at just the right level, Shadow envisioned a familiar hillside almost a mile away and shouted the mantra. "Chaos Control!" Shadow yelled over the rushing wind in his suicidal fall as a brilliant light engulfed him within the plummeting shower of glass and instantly dispersed, leaving only the shards of the window which were falling among him to hit the base's roof below.
"No fair, no fair, NO FAIR!!" a petulant child's voice tantrumed as the Tails Doll witnessed Shadow's unanticipated escape. "They are supposed to just stand still until I'm ready! What if I like playing with my food a little bit first, Hmm?! That doesn't mean it has to run away like this!" the doll fumed as Shadow had simply never stuck around long enough for it to capture his soul as well. After all, curiosity is what got Tails and Eggman to release the doll already before, through no especial persuasion from the doll itself, either, so why was Shadow able to overcome his own need to understand and get away?
Well, at least I know that my real target couldn't possibly resist being curious for even a second, Tails Doll mulled as its mood lightened in thinking about how easy it would be for him to obtain the soul of the one it was still most interested in. Shadow has a troubled soul anyways, not the most tasty. I'm better off leaving that one be. Still, thanks to that impatient black rodent I may need to act somewhat quickly before proof of my existence does get out. Where was I with poor little Miles last anyways? Oh yes, I remember…
By this time, all the defeated or otherwise avoided corpses which the Tails Doll had reanimated as his minions were upright and gathered once more. "You mortals are just as useless dead as you were alive! Clearly, if I can hope to even develop a mockery of an undead army, I will be needing more soldiers," Tails Doll spoke out loud although only itself could hear its words now regardless. A minute or so of the doll pacing in midair by floating in tiny circles thinking, and the demonic puppet seemed to have found its idea. "Oh, and I think I know just the recruits who might be, 'willing'…" it answered itself as the twisted laughter of a demonic child echoed throughout the base.