Trinity: (typing like mad)

Shadow: Tsk tsk tsk. Looks like your running late.

Trinity: You're chapter had been finished already...

Shadow: Eh?

Trinity: This is for my Harry Potter story. I have to finish this and update my story.

Shadow: ...You-! That was internal advertisment!

Trinity: I like internal advertisment. It's as subtle as a gaint advertising sign in a game with higher resolution and b-e-a-u-tiful colors.

I don't own Sega's characters. Obviously.


Chapter 5– The War and The Legend

Tails sat on a patch of sand, staring into the glassy surface of the rushing river water. He had stayed next to the river or went to sit in the shade of the trees all day. All through the afternoon, bits and pieces of a terrible slaughter flashed through his mind. He would see them in the reflection of the water, or the glare of the heat wave in the distance. Once, he saw a piece of the scene in the glossy eye of a singing bird.

As day cooled down and the sun dipped behind the mountains, Tails became restless. Shadow had disappeared shortly after their conversation, and he hadn't returned yet. He was sure that Shadow wasn't going to abandon him, but he still wanted to know where he went too. Every time he turned to dive into the river and swim downstream to his house, the thought of Shadow telling him to stay held him back. To occupy his mind, he went fishing instead.

As the sky above him turned red, Tails became uneasy and restless again. He had lost faith in himself and was worried what he might do in the dark of night. Come on Tails, he thought reassuring to himself. It's not like you're gonna transform into a terrible creature under the full moon…You're not like that. Shadow said it was rage that made me do that. Not the night…

Tails heard a bush rustle up at the camp sight and light footfall. Tail's first thought was it was a thief, sneaking about the forest. He became worried when the foot steps came toward the riverbed. Tails scurried to hide in the tall grass, moving as quietly as he could. His heart raced in his chest and he watched the grasses barely a yard away tremble and reveal-

Shadow. Tails let out a breath, but kept low. A little playful smirk stole over his lips. Maybe he could-

"Come on, Tails. Get out of the grass." Shadow said with a roll of his eyes. "If you pounce on me, I'll eat your share of fruit."

"You never let me have any fun!" Tails pouted. He waddled out of the tall grasses and sniffed the fruit Shadow was holding out to him. "They're not ripe yet."

"Yeah, there a bit on the sour side. But it's nice and juicy and taste great. And unless you've managed to catch a fish, it's all we have."

Tails sighed and took the fruit from Shadow's outstretched hand. He took a little nibble of it and found it to be delicious. He snagged a second fruit from Shadow with a "yonk!" and ran off with them. Shadow rolled his eyes and trotted after him. He had already eaten his first fruit and was on his second one anyways.

Tails was up sitting on a thick branch high up in a tree, his fruit clamped firmly in his jaws. He was rummaging through the leaves while drinking the juices that flowed out of the fruit. He descended with an old, abandoned bird's nest that was conveniently shaped like a bowl. He dropped into the shrubbery below and started rummaging in the bushes.

"I love these berries!" Tails exclaimed happily. He held the "bowl" full of plump, orange berries above his head while waddling through the bushes. "They'll go great with the fruit you found!"

"Well, aren't you a happy camper," Shadow said dully. He started gathering the dead twigs that were scattered all around for the fire.

"Yeah! Camping's great! I just wish I could have caught some fish…"

"The fruit's fine, for now," Shadow said, looking over his shoulder in the direction Tails' voice drifted from. "Hey Tails, don't wonder of too far."

"You're starting to sound like an overprotective parent," Tails said. He stood up and looked over at Shadow. "You gonna adopt me?"

"How can someone who doesn't exist adopt you?" Shadow said with a sigh.

"What do you mean? You're right here!" Tails suddenly look uncertain. "Or am I hallucinating?"

"The government denies my existence, remember?"

"Well, that government is no more."

Shadow stared at Tails in alarm. "What do you mean? What's been happening while I was gone?"

"Gees, how could you not know? Then again, you didn't know anything about the war before…" Tails said as he plopped down next to the growing wood pile. "All I told you about was Sonic. Yeah, I have a lot of explaining to do."

Shadow got the fire going as the sky began to darken. One by one, little stars twinkled into view as the sky went from dark blue to inky black. Shadow sat with his back to the fire, looking at the river glistening under the moon's glow. Tails sat with his legs outstretched eating his dinner out of the old nest. When he was through, he turned to Shadow and settled down for a nice long talk.

"Okay, mister hedgehog," Shadow scowled at the smirking kit. He hated being called "mister" because it made him sound old (which he is). "Let's talk about the war.

"The first attack was launched on a desert trading town four years ago, the exact day you went missing. It was a devastating attack that left the town in absolute ruins. There were no survivors found in or near the destruction. As a matter of fact, most of the people who lived in that town were said to have simply disappeared. No sign of their bodies, or even remains, were ever found.

"This incident repeated itself in other major towns all through the week, spreading out into the east. Bustling cities turning into burning, abandon towns over night. And all the residents simply disappeared, as if they never excited there in the first place. The military became very active, ready to move out when the word came. And the word came, about a month latter.

"At devastated cities that were along a certain line of longitude, large robotic armies appeared. The scientists and their military escorts who were station there were slaughtered. The robotic army began their march into the east, fanning north and south, destroying everything in its path. Forests burned, waters polluted, the soil covered in our blood. In the first year, the war covered half the globe.

"Our first thought was that Eggman had finally come up with a good plan for world domination. One that didn't require getting red of Sonic first. But…but they found his body at one of his destroyed bases. Perhaps they, his robots, joined that army and marched on, because nothing of Eggman's army was found.

"When Sonic found out, something seemed to click with him. As if he suddenly understood what was happening. He left for battle during the second year. He…did something unusual then. He left a letter telling us where he went. He never leaves us notice when he runs off. I wish he would have told us why he was going though, what it was that he noticed.

"Sonic disappeared at the end of the second year. By the middle of year three, the entire globe was engulfed in the destructive flame of the robotic army. The government officials had been killed, one by one. The army reduced to a few cut off squadrons. Only home town militia groups protected small groups of traveling survivors.

"Then, the robots just stared dropping, as if a pelage, a virus, had started spreading among them. It might have been some sort of self-destructive program that was set off when they completed their objective. What ever it was, it did what we couldn't do in three years in just three days- completely destroy the robotic army. Unfortunately, by this time, most of the world had been reduced to desolate wastelands.

"Most of the life on this planet has been killed off. The soil-robbed of its nutrients and filled with the poison from the robots. Most of the world's water is poisoned too. Next to zero vegetation can be found in most parts of the world, and most of things that manage to grow are poisoned. It's a true wonder how places like this valley survived, untouched. This entire forest would have been nothing more than burnt remains if it was anywhere else in the world."

Tails looked up the tops of the trees with wonder and a bit of melancholy. He was obviously very glad that he was sitting in one of the last forests of the world. The valley he came to with an old couple two years ago was spared the destruction of the world. They found other refuges and they built log cabins next to the river. And now, the once small town of Farsight has become a lively city, filling the broken world with hope.

Tails smiled to himself.

"This will become the capital of the untied world," he said to himself. "I know it will."

Shadow sat with his eye's closed, his ears listening to the rushing river. One of the last pure and clean rivers. He heard to sound of fish jumping out of the water to catch bugs skimming the moonlit surface. An owl hooted, then snatched the small fish from the waters surface and swooped into the high branches of a tree across the river. Shadow lifted his head looked over at the smiling kit.

"Tails, did you notice it?" he said after his moment of deep thought.

"Notice what?" Tails asked curiously.

"Sonic. He disappeared like the people at the beginning of the war," Tails sat up attentively, his mind sparked into life. "I don't know where they went, but Sonic went after them."

"And they have to be alive somewhere," Tails said, looking around as if he saw it all in a new light. "Those people had to have disappeared for a reason. But why?"

"I don't know, and-" Shadow paused, looking unsure. "I'm not sure, but it might have something to do with this legend I heard."

"A legend?" Tails said, looking skeptical.

"It has to do with Chaos emeralds and their power," Shadow sat still for awhile and stared into the flames.

"Are you going to tell me this legend?" Tails asked impatiently.

"When the world's end is nigh, and the beginning of the end has begun, the sky, and earth, and water will turn to poison. The plants shall parish in a world as such, and the creatures will dwindle to nothing. The people of the land will fall from this earth to the Next, living without life.

The people will suffer loss and pain, and they will know despair. They will gain no hope of ever living a good life again. They will be the lost, the forever miserable spirits of the Next.

When the world's end is nigh, and the world plunges into despair, the time of Chaos is at hand. The Emeralds power will be given to the seven and the end of the end begins. The seven beings will defeat the eighth, the Guardian. At the Guardian's death, the portal of the next earth will appear in his blood. The seven will cast their divine rule on those who lived without it before."

Tails sat wide-eyed, staring at Shadow. Shadow took a deep breath and looked into the kit's eyes.

"Did you understand what I was saying?"

"Of course not! What is 'living without life' suppose to mean?"

"Living without a god," Shadow said with a smile. "But you could make out what I was saying, right? Like I wasn't speaking a different language, right?"

"Excuse me? You were-!"

"No, I wasn't. I spoke in the language that the legend was told to me in." Shadow smirked at Tails awestruck face.


Trinity: Mwah ha ha ha ha ha!

Shadow: Erm, are you alright?

Trinity: No. I'm insane, remember?

Tails: Yeah, that makes us feel good.

Shadow: When are you gonna add other characters?

Trinity: In two or three chapters. And only if I get lots o' reviews! (wink wink nudge nudge)

Tails: A not so subtle hint! (XD)